U.S. Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands ESI: MGT (Management Areas)

This data set comprises the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) data for the Virgin Islands. ESI data characterize estuarine environments and wildlife by their sensitivity to spilled oil. The ESI data include information for three main components: shoreline habitats, sensitive biological resources, and human-use resources. This data set contains polygonal data for human-use resources.

The ESI data were collected, mapped, and digitized to provide environmental data for oil spill planning and response. The Clean Water Act with amendments by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 requires response plans for immediate and effective protection of sensitive resources.

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Prepared by Research Planning, Inc., Columbia, South Carolina for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service, Office of Response and Restoration, Hazardous Materials Response Division, Seattle, Washington; United States Environmental Protection Agency; United States Coast Guard; U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources; British Virgin Islands Conservation and Fisheries Department; and United States Department of the Interior.

Resource Description - ESI Atlas for Virgin Islands

Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by NOAA regarding the utility of the data on any other system, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. NOAA warrants the delivery of this product in computer-readable format, and will offer a replacement copy of the product when the product is determined unreadable by computer input peripherals, or when the physical medium is delivered in damaged condition.

Contact NOAA for distribution options (see Distribution_Information).;

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DO NOT USE MAPS FOR NAVIGATIONAL PURPOSES. Besides the above warning, there are no use constraints on these data. Acknowledgment of the publishers and contributing sources listed in Data_Set_Credit (below) would be appreciated in products derived from these data.

The software packages used to develop the atlas are Environmental Systems Research Institute's ARC/INFO(r) (version 8.0.2) and ORACLE(r) RDBMS (version 8.0.5.0.0). The hardware configuration is Hewlett Packard workstations (models 715/50 and 712/80i with 4 X-terminals) with UNIX operating system (HP-UX Release A.10.20). The following files are included in the data set: benthic.e00, birds.e00, bio_lut.e00, biofile.e00, biores.e00, breed.e00, breed_dt.e00, esi.e00, fish.e00, fishl.e00, habitats.e00, hydro.e00, index.e00, invert.e00, invertl.e00, mgt.e00, m_mammal.e00, reptiles.e00, seasonal.e00, shelfbnd.e00, soc_dat.e00, soc_lut.e00, socecon.e00, sources.e00, species.e00, status.e00, t_mammal.e00, wetlands.e00.

The attribute accuracy is estimated to be "good" given the years of ESI experience, the data input methodology, the quality control review sessions, and the digital logical consistency checks.

The majority of management area data came from existing digital sources. See the Lineage section (below) for specific information on each source. For the few management areas not covered by existing sources, hard copy boundary information was transferred to USGS 1:24,000 topographic quadrangles and digitized.

Human-Use Resources: Several human-use, or socioeconomic, features are included in ESI atlases. Entity points and complete chains (arcs) are digitized into the data layer SOCECON, and managed area polygonal data (GT-polygons) are stored in the MGT data layer. Both data sets are linked to the data table SOC_DAT using the SOC_LUT lookup table and the items HUNUM and ID. HUNUM is a unique reference number concatenated with the atlas number (for the Virgin Islands this is 67). ID is a unique combination of the atlas number, an element specific number (MGT = 11) and a unique record number. The table SOC_DAT contains the human-use number (HUNUM), feature type (TYPE), name of the facility (NAME), owner/manager or contact person (CONTACT), telephone number (PHONE), geographic source (G_SOURCE), and attribute source (A_SOURCE). Detailed contact information is only included for select management features, where available. Source information is included for all features.

The human-use resources were obtained in either digital format or in hardcopy format on 1:24,000 scale maps. Under this project, new digital data sources are imported, projected, checked for quality control, and integrated into the spatial data structure (for selected resources). The data are checked using both digital and on-screen procedures. To finalize the data checking process, each data layer is checked using a standardized form by two GIS personnel (a technician and the GIS manager), and each attribute database is checked using several programs that test the files for missing or duplicate data, rules for proper coding, GIS topological consistencies (such as dangles, unnecessary nodes, etc.), and ORACLE(r) to ARC/INFO(r) consistencies. A final review is made by the GIS manager, where the data are written to CD-ROM and the metadata are written. ESI data are processed into multiple formats to make them useful to a wider community of GIS/mapping users. Distribution formats include ARC export, MOSS and Shape files, and MARPLOT map folders. An ArcView ESI project and ESI_Viewer product are also included on the CDs for ease of use of the ESI data. The database files are distributed both in the NOAA standard relational database format (see NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS ORCA 115) and in a simplified desktop flat file format. This metadata document includes information on both of these database formats. The section Spatial_Data_Organization_Information refers to the source files in ARC export format only.