Keywords
Theme:
network, transportation, waterway
Place:
United States, Puerto Rico, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, Intracoastal waterway
Stratum:
ground
Temporal:
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Description
Abstract
The National Waterway Network is a comprehensive network database of the nation's navigable waterways. The data set covers the 48 contiguous states plus the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and water links between. The nominal scale of the dataset varies with the source material. The majority of
the information is at 1:100,000 with larger scales used in harbor/bay/port areas and smaller scales used in open waters.
Purpose
The National Waterway Network is a geographic database of navigable waterways in and around the United States, for analytical studies of waterway performance, for compiling commodity flow statistics, and for mapping purposes.
Supplementary Information
Links in the waterway network represent actual shipping lanes or serve as representative paths in open water where no defined shipping lanes exist. Nodes may represent physical entities such as river confluences, ports/facilities, and intermodal terminals, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE nodes), or may be inserted for analytical purposes. Approximately 180 USACE ports are geo-coded in the node database.
_________________
Status of the data
In work
Data update frequency:
Continually
Time period for which the data is relevant
Date and time:
2009
Description:
publication date
Publication Information
Who created the data: Vanderbilt Engineering Center for Transportation Operations and Research Vanderbilt University, Research and Innovative Technology Administration's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (RITA/BTS)
Date and time:
2009
Publisher and place:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Navigation Data Center, New Orleans, LA
_________________
Data storage and access information
File name: waterwaynd
Type of data: vector digital data
Location of the data:
http://www.bts.gov/programs/geographic_information_services/
Data processing environment: Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.2.6.1500
Accessing the data
Data format: ESRI Shapefile
Size of the data: 0.168 MB
Data transfer size: 3.750 MB
How to decompress the file: No compression applied. However, if using digital transfer online option, note access instructions.
Access instructions: The NTAD DVD can be ordered from the online bookstore at www.bts.gov. NTAD can also be downloaded from the Geographic Information Program web sit at http://www.bts.gov/programs/geographic_information_services/.
Available media: DVD
Constraints on accessing and using the data
Access constraints:
None
Use constraints:
Acknowledgment of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (RITA/BTS) National Transportation Atlas Databases (NTAD) 2009 would be appreciated in products derived from these data.
Details about this document
Contents last updated: 20090413
at time 08394800
Who completed this document
Geospatial Information Program
Research and Innovative Technology Administration's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (RITA/BTS)
mailing and physical address:
202-366-DATA (voice)
answers@bts.gov
Standards used to create this document
Horizontal coordinate system
Geographic coordinate system name: GCS_WGS_1984
Details
Geographic Coordinate System
Latitude Resolution: 0.000000
Longitude Resolution: 0.000000
Geographic Coordinate Units: Decimal degrees
Geodetic Model
Horizontal Datum Name: D_WGS_1984
Ellipsoid Name: WGS_1984
Semi-major Axis: 6378137.000000
Denominator of Flattening Ratio: 298.257224
_________________
Bounding coordinates
Horizontal
In decimal degrees
West:
-179.317482
East:
179.129710
North:
72.198914
South:
-53.000000
In projected or local coordinates
Left: -179.317482
Right: 179.129710
Top: 72.198914
Bottom: -53.000000
_________________
Lineage
FGDC lineage
Process step 1
Process description: Extraction of spatial and type attributes for waterway features from NA, DLG and TIGER
Source used: DLG
Source used: NA
Source used: TIGER
Source used: USACE
Source used: WLN
Source produced: ORWW
Process date: 1994
Who did this process
Bruce Peterson
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
mailing and physical address:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, TN
United States of America
6155744419 (voice)
6155743895 (fax)
gto@stc10.ctd.ornl.gov
Process step 2
Process description: Specification of offshore, coastal and Great Lake network nodes and links on NOAA, followed by direct digitization of specified nodes and links.
Source used: NOAA
Process date: 1995
Who did this process
Mike Dimaiuta
Vanderbilt Engineering Center for Transportation Operations and Research
mailing and physical address:
Nashville, TN 37235
United States of America
6153223683 (voice)
6153223365 (fax)
dimaiuma@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
Process step 3
Process description: Merging of inland and offshore waterway networks. A specialized program was written to merge the two networks. In general, Vanderbilt node locations were accepted as authoritative when both data sets had the same elements. This meant moving an Oak Ridge link incident to that node. If the link was classified geographically ocean or Great Lakes, and a Vanderbilt link or chain existed with the same ID and endpoints, the Oak Ridge link was discarded, after transfer of Oak Ridge attributes. If the Oak Ridge link was within 2 km of the new end nodes' location: and 1) if a duplicate Vanderbilt link existed with a higher source code, it replace the Oak Ridge link, or 2) the Oak Ridge link was moved by a logistic adjustment to the new location. (This causes modest disruption to the preponderance of the shape, yet assured that the angle of approach to the displaced end node location was preserved.) If the link was functionally classed "deep draft" and a duplicate Vanderbilt link had an authoritative source code, the Oak Ridge link was replaced. Otherwise an additional shape point was added at the end to snap to the new node location without disrupting the original link shape. If the link had a Vanderbilt duplicate with the same ID, the Oak Ridge link was so flagged to be manually resolved. The composite network was then cleaned manually, resolving all cases of still remaining duplicate links and deciding case-by-case how to smooth or otherwise accommodate a highly displaced Oak Ridge shape into the Vanderbilt digitized node location, using TIGER shorelines as a background.
Source used: TIGER
Source used: ORWW
Source used: VUWW
Source produced: WWAY10
Process date: 1994
Who did this process
Bruce Peterson
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
mailing and physical address:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, TN
United States of America
6155744419 (voice)
6155743895 (fax)
gto@stc10.ctd.ornl.gov
Process step 4
Process description: Heads-up digitizing of WWAY10 to add shape points to inland waterways where straight links still existed. Incorporation of comments from users (Vanderbilt, ORNL, and USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center) of WWAY10 and error correction.
Source used: WWAY10
Source used: DLG
Source produced: WWAY11
Process date: 1995
Who did this process
Mike Dimaiuta
Vanderbilt Engineering Center for Transportation Operations and Research
mailing and physical address:
Nashville, TN 37235
United States of America
6153223683 (voice)
6153223365 (fax)
dimaiuma@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
Process step 5
Process description: Upgrades to link shape and attribute data based on information from US Army Corps of Engineers CWIS projects as published in their digital projects notebook. Includes the addition of new links, removal of unnecessary links/nodes, and splitting of links to more effectively relate the digital waterway network to the physical network as maintained by the Corps of Engineers.
Source used: DPN
Source used: WTWY20
Process date: 1999
Who did this process
Kevin Little
Vanderbilt Engineering Center for Transportation Operations and Research
mailing and physical address:
Vanderbilt University, Box 1625, Station B
Nashville, TN
United States of America
615.322.3696 (voice)
615.322.3365 (fax)
krl@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
Process step 6
Process description: Metadata imported.
Source used: I:\GIS\Data\NTAD\2009\ntad2009\polyline\waterway\awaterwaynd.xml
Process step 7
Process description: Dataset copied.
Sources
Source 1:
USGS Digital Line Graph (DLG-3) Series
(DLG)
Media: stable-base material
Scale denominator: 24000
Contribution: Inland navigable waterways spatial and type attributes
Currentness of this source
Source 2:
National Atlas
(NA)
Media: Unknown
Scale denominator: 1.2M
Contribution: Inland navigable waterways spatial and type attributes
Currentness of this source
Source 3:
TIGER/Line files
(TIGER)
Media: Unknown
Scale denominator: 100,000
Contribution: Inland navigable waterways spatial and type attributes
Currentness of this source
Source 4:
NOAA Navigation Charts
(NOAA)
Media: stable-base material
Scale denominator: varies
Contribution: Inland and offshore navigable waterways spatial and type attributes
Currentness of this source
Beginning date and time:
unknown
Ending date and time:
1994
Source 5:
1:100,000 Quad maps
(QUADS)
Media: stable-base material
Scale denominator: 24000
Contribution: Inland navigable waterways spatial and type attributes
Currentness of this source
Source 6:
Waterway Link Network
(USACE WLN)
Media: stable-base material
Scale denominator: no scale
Contribution: Corps of Engineers links and nodes on inland and offshore navigable waterways.
Currentness of this source
Source 7:
USACE Mile Markers
(USACE MM)
Media: stable-base material
Scale denominator: none
Contribution: Inland navigable waterways locational mile markers.
Currentness of this source
Source 8:
Inland Waterways
(ORWW)
Media: unknown
Scale denominator: none
Contribution: Addition and correction of Inland navigable waterways attributes. Conflation of inland and offshore waterways.
Currentness of this source
Beginning date and time:
unknown
Ending date and time:
1994
Source 9:
Vanderbilt Waterway Network
(VUWW)
Media: stable-base material
Scale denominator: varies
Contribution: Offshore and coastal waterways spatial and operational attributes
Currentness of this source
Source 10:
National Waterway Network ver 1.0
(WWAY10)
Media: stable-base material
Scale denominator: varies
Contribution: Offshore, inland, and coastal waterways spatial and operational attributes
Currentness of this source
Source 11:
National Waterway Network ver 2.0
(WWAY20)
Media: stable-base material
Scale denominator: varies
Contribution: Offshore, inland, and coastal waterways spatial and operational attributes
Currentness of this source
_________________
Spatial data quality
Horizontal positional accuracy
The "shape source" field in the link database, and the "node source" field in the node database indicate the data sources used to derive link and node placements. The accuracy of each network element is correlated to the data source used to derive that element. For example, links and nodes derived from 1:100,000 scale DLGs are more accurate than links and nodes derived from 1:500,000 scale NOAA Navigational Charts. Links with unknown/missing sources are usually schematic representations of USACE links.
Off-Shore: NOAA Charts vary in scale. Larger scale charts were used in harbor/port areas, while smaller scale charts were used in open water. For channels, sea lanes, and Intracoastal Waterways, shape points were placed as needed to ensure that link segments fall within waterway boundaries.
Inland: Links digitized from 1:100,000 DLG files, or large scale NOAA charts are the most accurate representations. Shape points were placed as needed to ensure that link segments fall between waterway shorelines. Links derived from Corps milepoints have shape points approximately one mile apart. The Corps milepoints were mainly derived from 1:24,000 and 1:100,000 scale maps. Therefore, the shape points derived from Corps milepoints are often as accurate as shape points derived from 1:100,000 DLG files. However, line segments connecting the shape points may not accurately represent the curvature of the waterway.
_________________
Spatial data description
Vector data information
ESRI description
waterwaynd
ESRI feature type: Simple
Geometry type: Point
Topology: FALSE
Feature count: 6285
Spatial Index: TRUE
Linear referencing: FALSE
SDTS description
Feature class: SDTS feature type, feature count
waterwaynd:
Entity point, 6285