Abstract

The Littoral Environment - The Next GIS Frontier
Track: Defense and Intelligence
Authors: James Hill

The littorals, the coastal interface where land meets sea, are generally defined as the intertidal zone (between high and low water) by the coastal engineering and oceanographic communities. In a military context, the littoral region is significantly increased extending seaward to a depth of 60 meters and landward a distance of 200 km relative to the shoreline. While still representing a relatively small portion of the world's total surface, this re-defined littoral zone is home to over 60% of the world's population, the location for over 80 percent of the world's capital cities, and the vast majority of market places and routes thus defining a likely area of future military missions. This presentation demonstrates the power of combining imagery and geospatial information to help define the physical, operational, and potential threat environments of the future in an ArcGIS system derived from commercial imagery collection and coastal field work.