Great Lakes Socioeconomic Features for Oil Spill Sensitivity Analysis

These feature classes contain vector polygons, lines, and points representing socioeconomic human-use resources for the St. Clair and Detroit River System in southeastern Michigan. The data, part of the 2019 Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, includes features like abandoned vessels, airports, archaeological sites, campgrounds, pipelines, railroads, and roads. The study area covers portions of Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, and western Lake Erie.

Use Cases

• Modeling potential oil spill impacts on socioeconomic infrastructure based on listed features like pipelines and roads.
• Assessing coastal zone management priorities based on the location of cultural features like archaeological and historical sites.
• Planning emergency response routes and resource allocation based on the spatial distribution of airports, heliports, and campgrounds.

Strengths

• Data is structured as a geodatabase with separate spatial layers (points, lines, polygons) and related attribute tables (SOC_DAT, SOURCES).
• The description specifies a clear study area covering multiple connected water bodies and adjacent lands in southeastern Michigan.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely compiled for the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) program to characterize sensitivity to spilled oil.

Time Range

2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:30:55.708024; freshness should be verified.

Geography

St. Clair and Detroit River System, including parts of Lake Huron, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, and western Lake Erie in southeastern Michigan.