Feasibility of a Worldwide Coastal Reference and Coding System Based on the IHO Ocean and Seas Definition

Coastlines form the geometrical basis of common Geographic Information Systems (GIS). For example, country borders must match the coastline, rivers flow up to the coastline, and a variety of legislation applies up to a defined distance from the coastline. In this article, we propose a well-defined coastline in a structured GIS format that complies with the IHO (International Hydrographic Organization) Ocean and Sea definitions. Once this line structure has been defined and digitized with an agreed accuracy, it may be used as a building block, for example for matching river mouths and country borders to the coastline, but also for additional functions such as creating a hydrographic coding system. A coding mechanism has been developed, based on available mathematical formulae, which enables the rapid computation of similar codes based on any high quality geometric data. An application of the system is demonstrated, in order to assess how grouping and ordering data along a coastline may be explored. Analysis of the coding system also enabled an assessment of how coastline length can be compared with data originating from different sources and / or morphology.

DE JAGER Alfred; 

2015-09-07

COASTAL EDUCATION & RESEARCH FOUNDATION

JRC92788

0749-0208,   

http://www.bioone.org/doi/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-14-00189.1,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC92788,   

10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-14-00189.1,