2018 AP: Northern Ireland Shoreline Change Analysis Since the 1800s

Historical shoreline positions for the entire Northern Ireland coastline, analyzed from Ordnance Survey maps and aerial imagery dating back to the early 1800s. Ulster University produced this digital asset using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) to calculate rate-of-change statistics at 25-meter intervals. The dataset was last updated on 2026-03-18.

Use Cases

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

Strengths

• Analysis spans over two centuries, from the early 1800s to 2018.
• Rate-of-change statistics are calculated at a high spatial resolution of 25-meter intervals.
• Derived from multiple historical 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 is 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 to 2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 11:23:45.656607; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Ireland coastline