A federal-state partnership for mapping Florida's coast and seafloor

Abstract

The Florida Coastal Mapping Program, a partnership of state and federal agencies, has a goal of having modern, consistent, high- resolution sea-floor data for all of Florida’s coastal zone in the next decade to support a myriad of coastal zone science and management applications. One of the early steps in the implementation process is to prioritize and justify mapping needs. This is accomplished by holding six regional workshops across the state during which stakeholders and partners are introduced to a newly developed geospatial prioritization tool. Users independently utilize the tool to populate grid cells for a given region, and the result is a cumulative perspective on sea floor mapping priorities to inform future mapping initiatives. The tool also allows participants to indicate their primary use of sea floor mapping data and types of additional data required for their science or management need.