Lake Ontario 2023 ESI: Socioeconomic Human-Use Lines and Points

Lake Ontario's United States shoreline and adjacent lands and waters are covered by this geospatial dataset. It contains vector lines and points representing socioeconomic human-use resources, including crude oil pipelines, airports, beaches, heliports, and historical sites. The data was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of the 2023 Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) for the Lake Ontario system.

Use Cases

• Modeling potential oil spill impacts on socioeconomic infrastructure based on pipeline and airport locations.
• Assessing coastal recreational and cultural resource vulnerability based on beach and historical site data.
• Planning emergency response and resource management based on mapped human-use and management points.

Strengths

• Geographic scope is explicitly defined, covering the U.S. portion of Lake Ontario and listing 13 islands and 12 major bays.
• Data structure includes related stand-alone tables (SOC_DAT, SOURCES) for detailed type and source information.
• Part of a larger ESI framework characterizing shoreline habitats, biological resources, and human-use resources for oil spill sensitivity.

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 datagov platform, focusing solely on the U.S. portion of the lake.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely compiled from various sources for the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) mapping program.

Time Range

2023

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:25:40.918385; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United States portion of Lake Ontario, including specified islands and bays in New York.