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NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center (NDGC) is the data archive and distribution center for Office of Coast Survey (OCS) digital hydrographic data. NGDC maintaines the National Ocean Service Hydrographic Data Base (NOSHDB) providing survey coverage of the coastal waters and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the United States and its territories.
Data products from OCS surveys vary depending on the age of survey but general products include Descriptive Reports (DRs), smooth sheet images, survey data images, and textual gridded data for use in GIS. Most OCS surveys have at least a copy of the DR (a narrative document describing the conditions under which the work was performed and factors affecting the adequacy and accuracy of the results) and a scan of the smooth sheet (a final, neatly drafted, accurate plot of a hydrographic survey). The NOSHDB also contains data digitized from smooth sheets of hydrographic surveys completed between 1851 and the mid-1970's, and from survey data acquired digitally on NOS survey vessels since the early 1970's. These OCS data products may be viewed and saved by using the NOS Hydrographic Survey Data Viewer. |