Spatial Data

Topic

Topic pages summarize knowledge and resources within a subject area

Recent Topic Edits

• Landscape Scales
• Shoreline Management Act
• Stream Crossings and Fish Passage Barriers
• Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment Model

Salish Sea References

• Watershed Characterization Mapper
• The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
• PRISM Project Search
• Washington Coastal Atlas
• WDFW's Salmonscape Map

Wiki Rules

• Wiki text does not reflect the policy or opinion of any agency or organization
• Please adhere to our Social Contract and Style Guide
• Complain here, and be nice.

Spatial Data are a particularly important resource for ecosystem stewardship, and are rendered and analyzed within a Geographic Information System. Spatial Data are developed by Local, State, Tribal and Federal agencies, and are frequently improved through both field verification and improvements in Remote Sensing. Data sets generated by state and federal workgroups are often extensive, providing coverage of whole landscapes, while local and tribal data may be more accurate, as they may incorporate ground truthing. However with increased use of high resolution aerial photograph interpretation and LiDAR, this is also changing. Tracking developments in data, sharing information on the strengths and weaknesses of individual data sets, and where to find the best data for various purposes is a useful function of this platform.

A large volume of localized spatial data are available on hard-drives across the Salish Sea. This page is focused on considering the lineage and purpooses of large scale data sets that offer an inventory of features at a landscape scale (base data) that are in common circulation and define "what we know" about the landscape at a large scale and allow for large scale landscape summary and comparison.

General Notes

• No individual agency is responsible for tracking spatial data as common property. Agencies tend to promote the own data.
• Variation in origin results in different systems for describing shorelines, stream-lines and watershed boundaries, resulting in different lineages data, where new analyses are build on old line or polygon sets, increasing the value of the data associated with that particular lineage.

LiDAR & Topography

• Finlayson 2005 lowland puget sound topobathymetry provided the first complete LiDAR-based topobathymetric layer for Puget Sound, which supported
• USGS 2020 Topobathymetric Model of Puget Sound represents an upgrade of that effort, but does not include headwaters or
• Washington Department of Natural Resources operates a Washington LiDAR Portal to aggregate and distribute state and local assets.

Shorelines

• ShoreZone Geodatabase reflects the beginning of shoreline spatial data in Puget Sound, and still provides the only complete inventory of shoreline biota.
• File:McBride et al 2009 nearshore habitat geomorphic classification.pdf is a shoreline classification completed by SRSC which was more focused on shoreline conditions potentially affecting salmonid use rather than the geomorphic analysis completed by PSNERP.
• Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project developed an extensive geodatabase describing historic and current conditions, and established
• Puget Sound Watershed Characterization Project completed a shoreline characterization effort that summarized Priority Species and Habitats data.
• Beach Strategies for Nearshore Restoration and Protection in Puget Sound expanded on the PSNERP shorelines, adding directional routing to drift cells, and better characterizing sediment supply.
• Washington State Department of Ecology maintains a set of shoreline data
• Puget Sound Beach Slope Estimate was a short term effort that began exploring the use of "gourmet" high detail shorelines based on higher resolution LiDAR and includes a BAS estimation of Highest Astronomical Tide (HAT) in Puget Sound using USGS 2020
• Cramer Fish Sciences has been developing an inventory of shoreline spatial data to support shoreline planning including a set of shoreline inventory datasets.
  • Puget Sound Large River Delta Tidal Restriction and Wetland Mapping completed an enhancement of data describing large river deltas
  • Puget Sound Tidal Restriction and Wetland Mapping - extends work on large river deltas to the rest of the shoreline, and including over-water structures as migratory corridor impacts.
  • Automating Landscape Connectivity for Puget Sound River Deltas and Pocket Estuaries aims to provide automated connectivity metrics describing the relative accessability of salmonid habitats.
  • Puget_Sound_Marine_Riparian_Mapping

Hydrography

Streams and Rivers

A wide range of agencies and efforts have produced stream lines to describe free flowing waters of the state.

• Washington DNR Hydro Layer
• WDFW Fish Distribution Layer
• SSHIAP Stream Layers
• NHD Plus
• County Stream Layers

Modeling

Significant modelling efforts produce spatial data that can then by summarized to produce spatial data.

particles of clay, silt, sand, gravel, or cobble, transported by water, are called sediment.