Historical Shoreline Data for St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, Lake Michigan

A high-resolution historical shoreline dataset for St. Joseph and Benton Harbor on Lake Michigan, Michigan, automated for use as a GIS data layer. The data are derived from shoreline maps produced by the NOAA National Ocean Service and its predecessor agencies, based on imagery interpretation and field surveys. The attribution follows the NGS-developed C-COAST scheme, influenced by the S-57 standard for hydrographic data.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical shoreline change based on high-resolution geospatial data.
• Creating coastal base maps for GIS applications based on the derived shoreline layer.
• Translating shoreline data into S-57 compliant formats for hydrographic systems based on the C-COAST attribution scheme.

Strengths

• Data are described as 'accurate high-resolution historical shoreline' suitable for GIS.
• Derived from authoritative NOAA National Ocean Service shoreline maps.
• Attribution scheme (C-COAST) was developed to conform data from various sources.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data formats are limited to PDF and HTML, which may not be ideal for direct geospatial analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Derived from shoreline maps produced by NOAA NOS and predecessor agencies, based on office interpretation of imagery and/or field survey.

Time Range

Historical (specific range not provided).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 20:50:25.056643; freshness should be verified.

Geography

St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, Lake Michigan, Michigan, USA.