Northern Ireland Historical Shoreline Change Analysis, 1800s Onwards

Historical shoreline positions for the Northern Ireland coastline, analyzed from Ordnance Survey maps and aerial imagery dating back to the early 1800s. The dataset, provided by Ulster University via OpenDataNI, includes rate-of-change statistics calculated at 25-meter intervals using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS). It visualizes shoreline change and assesses historical rates of retreat and accretion along the coast.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal erosion risk based on historical rate-of-change statistics.
• Visualizing long-term shoreline movement using the Net Shoreline Movement (NSM) and Shoreline Change Envelope (SCE) metrics.
• Calculating decadal shoreline change rates using End Point Rate (EPR) and Linear Regression Rate (LRR) statistics.
• Assessing areas of coastal retreat or accretion for management planning using spatially displayed transect data.

Strengths

• Analysis spans over two centuries, from the early 1800s onwards.
• Rate-of-change statistics are calculated at a high spatial resolution of 25-meter intervals.
• Derived from multiple historical data sources including Ordnance Survey maps and aerial imagery.
• Includes multiple statistical measures of change (NSM, SCE, EPR, LRR, WLR).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the Northern Ireland focus.

Provenance

Source

OpenDataNI, Ulster University

Collection Method

Analysis of historical Ordnance Survey maps and aerial imagery using the ArcGIS Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS).

Time Range

Early 1800s onwards

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 11:23:33.698021; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Ireland coastline