Lake Erie 2022 ESI: Navigational and Marine Infrastructure Points

Lake Erie's U.S. coastal portions in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York are covered by this geospatial dataset. It contains vector points representing human-use resources like access points, anchorages, boat ramps, ferry terminals, lock and dams, marinas, and ports. The data is part of the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) for the Lake Erie System, characterizing sensitivity to oil spills, and was produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Mapping marine infrastructure density based on point locations for access points, marinas, and ports.
• Modeling oil spill impact scenarios based on proximity to sensitive human-use resources like ferry terminals and anchorages.
• Planning coastal resource management based on the geospatial distribution of boat ramps and lock and dams.
• Integrating human-use data with biological and shoreline habitat layers for comprehensive environmental sensitivity assessment.

Strengths

• Data is part of a structured Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) geodatabase with related attribute tables (SOC_DAT, SOURCES).
• Covers a defined study area: the U.S. portion of Lake Erie from the Michigan/Ohio border to the New York/Canada border.
• Specifies seven resource categories: access points, anchorages, boat ramps, ferry terminals, lock and dams, marinas, and ports.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-03-13 22:25:14.513977; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely collected and compiled for the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) program.

Time Range

2022 (inferred from dataset title).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:25:14.513977.

Geography

United States portion of Lake Erie, covering coastal portions of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.