Maryland's Coastal Atlas - Tools for Resource Management

Our ocean and estuarine environments today face an era of unprecedented activity. Wind farms and other energy facilities, commercial fishing, diverse recreational uses, and shipping highways are all competing for use and space. To ensure the protection of Maryland’s critical ocean and estuarine resources and the coastal economies that depend on them, the Coastal Atlas has been developed to provide direct access to available data needed for coastal and ocean planning efforts. From finding the best location for oyster reef projects to locating fish rearing habitat to helping local communities identify areas vulnerable to sea level rise and erosion – the Coastal Atlas will assist users in identifying potential conflicts so that they can then be avoided early in the planning process.

 Maryland’s Coastal Atlas is an online mapping and planning tool that allows state and local decision-makers to visually analyze and explore data for coastal and ocean planning activities.  The data available through the Coastal Atlas includes physical characteristics, human uses and ecological resources. Through the Coastal Atlas, users will be able to visualize, query, map, and analyze available data to better manage marine and estuarine resources. The tools currently available, and those that will be continually developed for the Coastal Atlas, are designed to support better decision-making by transforming available data into information tailored for specific issues.  Based on the needs of the user, the Coastal Atlas provides a mapping tool specific to coastal environment, whether in ocean and estuarine waters or near shore habitat.