Online map helps researchers, public zoom in on NC shoreline

The public can now access an online digital map that shows more than 12,000 miles of North Carolina’s estuarine shoreline.

The North Carolina Division of Coastal Management and East Carolina University worked together to create the detailed map of estuarines, which are transition areas where freshwater and saltwater mix. The map identifies shoreline types, such as marshes or swamp forests, and structures, such as piers and bulkheads, along estuarine waterways.

Braxton Davis, director of the state Division of Coastal Management, said local governments and researchers can use the maps to monitor changes in the shoreline, study erosion and better understand development trends.

“This is a really exciting project,” Davis said in a statement. “This work will provide a wealth of useful data for North Carolina’s coastal management program.”

The project digitized aerial photography for all 20 coastal counties and includes 2.2 million acres of estuarine waters.