Why Use This? This matrix was created to provide the planning and coastal management communities with an expandable chart to compare the functions and methods of publicly available sea level rise and coastal flood web tools. The information in each column is provided by the web tool owner. Specific questions about the tools can be addressed to the tool owner through the contact information provided in their matrix column. For more information or to suggest additional web tools, visit the national matrix page.

Suggested Citation: The Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flood Web Tools Comparison Matrix. The Nature Conservancy, NOAA's Office for Coastal Management, Climate Central. URL, Date Access:

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Tool		EMBED	Climate Central Surging Seas Risk Finder	NOAA's Office for Coastal Management Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts Viewer	NOAA's Office for Coastal Management Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper	Maryland Department of Natural Resources Maryland Coastal Atlas - Ocean Use, Coastal Hazard, and Near-shore Data
Tool			Surging Seas Risk Finder Climate Central	Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts Viewer NOAA's Office for Coastal Management	Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper NOAA's Office for Coastal Management	Maryland Coastal Atlas- Ocean Use, Coastal Hazard, and Near-shore Data Maryland Department of Natural Resources
10	GENERAL	Geographic Scope Geographic extent the tool defines or covers (i.e. national, statewide, county…)	Available for the entire contiguous coastal U.S. -- 22 states and Washington, D.C. -- with releases planned for HI and AK in the future.	National (with the exception of AK)	Coastal areas along Gulf of Mexico and East Coast	Maryland State - Maryland Chesapeake Bay inland and inter-tidal waters
10	GENERAL	Link The URL or link where the tool can be accessed.	riskfinder.climatecentral.org	coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/slr, coast.noaa.gov/slrdata/	www.coast.noaa.gov/floodexposure	www.dnr.maryland.gov/ccs/coastalatlas/Pages/
10	GENERAL	Description Brief 2-3 sentence description of the purpose of the tool.	Searchable web tool providing 1) maps users can customize, embed, & download; 2) downloads: spreadsheets, slideshow-ready tables & graphs, & fact sheets; 3) individual community analyses; 4) area comparisons; 5) local sea level & flood risk projections. 100+ demographic, economic & infrastructure variables analyzed for 1000s of communities from zip code to statewide levels.	Tool allows users to visualize community-level impacts from coastal flooding or sea level rise and provides easy access to inundation and elevation data via NOAA's Digital Coast.	A mapping viewer designed to help coastal communities start discussions about coastal flood hazard impacts with maps that show people, places, and natural resources exposed to coastal flooding.	Maryland state specific mapping application displaying coastal and inland hydrological, conservation and coastal hazard datasets for use by planners, the public and state, county or federal agencies.
10	GENERAL	Target Audience The assumed users of the tool (e.g. planners, coastal managers, public)	Decision makers, planners, coastal managers, emergency managers, federal and state agencies, journalists and the general public	Decision makers, planners, coastal managers, floodplain managers, emergency managers, coastal scientists and engineers, general public	Decision makers, planners, coastal managers, floodplain managers, emergency managers, general public	Decision makers, planners, coastal managers, floodplain managers, emergency managers, coastal scientists and engineers, general public
10	GENERAL	Skill Level Low (no formal training other than basic computer skills); Medium (need moderate amount of knowledge about coastal management or processes to interpret results); High (need high level of knowledge to interpret information).	Low	Low to Medium	Low	Medium
10	GENERAL	Main Tool Outputs Qualitatively different tool functions or modules that a user can take from the tool. For example, a map might be the primary output, however, the tool may also allow the user to comparisons, scenarios or generate reports.	Maps, community analyses, wide area analysis comparisons, projections, downloads & reports	Maps, sea level rise scenarios, photo simulations, flood frequency graphs	Maps	The ability to download Attribute tables and queries of attribute tables is available. Most of the map layers can be downloaded into a GDB or shape file format which includes all table data. There are tools like the Transect tool that provides calculations that can be used for other computations and yes, a map can be printed or downloaded in several different formats.
10	GENERAL	Year Released Year the most current version of the tool was released.	Rolling release starting Fall 2013	2011 Gulf of Mexico / 2012 US West and Mid-Atlantic Coasts / 2013 US NW, SW and Pacific Islands / 2014 Puerto Rico, USVI, NE / 2015 Louisianna	2015	July 2017
10	GENERAL	Date Column Last Updated	July 2016	April 2017	October 2015	May 2018
10	GENERAL	Top Three Strengths As succinctly as possible, list the top three strengths that make this tool unique.	1) Comprehensive tool providing exposure analysis, comparisons, and projections, as well as an interactive map. 2) Analyses cover ~100 variables, and conducted for 1000's of individual areas (zips, cities, counties, states, planning and legislative districts at all levels). 3) Local projections combine sea level rise and storm surge to give integrated risk estimates by decade.	1) Easy to use via Web browser, with GIS analysis results and map services available; 2) Uses consistent data sets and analysis for coastal areas nation-wide; 3) Includes photos and allows users to customize local scenarios and visualize impacts of sea level rise at known locations.	1) Allows users to select a location and explore maps that show people, places, and natural resources exposed to coastal flood hazards; 2) Creates a collection of maps to download or share online to communicate flood exposure; 3) Provides guidance for using the maps to engage community members and stakeholders in conversations about potential coastal flood impacts	1) Focus on intuitive map tools to show a host of data focused on near shore, estuarine, and ocean map layers for the state of Maryland. 2) Coastal Hazard data including storm surge and sea level rise map data for the Maryland Chesapeake Bay and its Tributaries. 3) Links and tools to help access the map data catalog of Marylands large iMap collection of Maryland hosted mapping datasets including imagery, LiDAR, and project specific mapped data within Maryland.
10	GENERAL	Top Three Limitations As succinctly as possible, list the top three weaknesses or limitations that coastal planners or managers might encounter using this tool.	1) Map should not be used for site-specific decisions (supplement with direct field measurements of elevation), as wider-area analyses are more robust than point-by-point mapping; 2) Levee data are incomplete, and maps/analyses incorporating levees assume condition good and heights infinite; 3) No physical modeling of storm surge or waves on top of sea level rise.	1) Inundation scenarios do not include coastal storm surge, riverine flooding, erosion or other coastal processes; 2) Appropriate for use as a screening-level or planning tool allowing zoom in scale of approximately 1:18,055, but provides map services and data download for more in depth analysis. 3.) Includes fully enclosed federal levees as mapped by the USACE National Levee Database. Partially enclosed, regional, or local levees have been added in certain locations.	1) Cannot customize outputs or load additional local inputs directly into the tool; 2) Appropriate for use as a screening-level or planning tool allowing zoom in scale of approximately 1:18,055; 3) Changes or updates to source datasets will not be reflected in the tool until the next data update is completed	Users cannot add in values for individual calculations or queries. Erosion, accretion, and inundation values may be averaged but existing totals are required for use based on previous analysis results. Additional third party mapping layers or local data can be added in but the are a limited group of tools that allow changes for those layers (e.g. transparency, overlay order, printing). Queries can be requested using the Contact feedback page but otherwise the set queries on some data layers is all that is available currently.
10	GENERAL	Point of Contact Please give a key contact for questions about the tool and its future development. Name and email address.	Dan Rizza: drizza@climatecentral.org	Darlene Finch: darlene.finch@noaa.gov	Russell Jackson: russell.jackson@noaa.gov	George Edmonds: george.edmonds@maryland.gov
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Base Sea Level Elevation Reference surface for which elevation is zero, such as mean higher high water. All other given elevations are computed as the height above this surface.	Mean Higher High Water (MHHW)	Mean Higher High Water (MHHW)	Mean Higher High Water (MHHW)	NAVD88
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Flood/Inundation Controls Method inundation or water levels are changed by the user (e.g. slider bar, radio buttons)	Slider bar with inundation delineated in 1 foot increments from 1 - 10 feet. Toggle button to the right of the slider to view inundation ​risk from sea level rise, tides, storms, and tsunamis in meters: 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 5, 10, 20 & 30.	Slider bar with inundation delineated in 1 foot increments from 0 - 6 feet. Scenarios Tab includes ability to view SLR scenarios by scenario or by year and compare to inunation layers to view impacts.	Users selects individual coastal flood hazards or composite flood hazards.	none
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Flood Layers Represented How are the inundation or flood level indicated on the map. Does the map use colors to show flooded areas?	Blue - inundation; Hatched - low-lying but isolated	Blue gradient - inundation depth; Green - low-lying areas	FEMA flood Zones (1%, 0.2%, V-Zones), Category 3 hurricane storm surge zones (SLOSH MOMs), sea level rise inundation (from NOAA Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts Viewer), shallow coastal flooding (from NOAA Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts Viewer), coastal flood hazard composite	Firm maps, Storm Surge (SLOSH Model), Sea Level Rise Affecting Marsh (SLAMM), Inundation map (2 ft. to 10ft.)
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Uncertainty Represented Yes/No. Is uncertainty of the flood levels indicated on the map?	No for elevation, yes for projections	Yes	No	Yes
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Way Uncertainty Represented If uncertainty is represented as indicated in the field above, then how is it represented? Briefly describe.	Map does not represent uncertainty in elevation values. However, projection tool presents different sea level rise models and scenarios, and reflects uncertainty information as available for these.	Confidence is noted as High vs. Low, so the areas not highlighted as high or low indicate a high confidence of not being inundated: " . . . the blue areas denote locations that may be correctly mapped as "inundated" more than 8 out of 10 times. Areas with low confidence represent location that may be mapped correctly (either as inundated or dry) less than 8 out of 10 times."		Metadata and service description offers data quality information.
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Projects local sea level rise Yes/No. Includes localized (not just global) projections for the amount of sea level rise over time. Local projections must take into account regional and local factors such as sinking land.	Yes	Yes, Scenario and Marsh tabs provide local relative SLR scenarios	No	Yes
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Projects future flood elevations Yes/No. Includes projections for how high "standard" floods -- e.g. "1-in-100 year" floods -- will reach in the future, accounting for sea level rise and/or changing storms.	Yes	No	No	Yes
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Projects future flood risk at fixed elevations Yes/No. Includes projections for the future annual and/or cumulative risk of floods to fixed elevations -- e.g. 5 ft. above today's sea level -- accounting for sea level rise and/or changing storms.	Yes	No	No	No
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Projection time periods assessed Include all years/periods for which projections are made.	each decade 2020-2100	Yes out to 2100	No	2050 and 2100
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Flood projections factor in changing frequency or intensity of storms Yes/No. Self-explanatory. Not applicable if flood projections not provided.	No	No	No	No
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Allows choice of projection scenarios/models Yes/No. Choice of emissions scenario or choice of sea level rise model such as NOAA's lowest, intermediate low, intermediate high, or highest sea level rise scenario; USACE lower, middle, or upper sea level rise projections; or the range of IPCC sea level projections.	Yes	No	No	No
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Shows levees Yes/No. Shows levees on map. Include source of levee information if possible.	Yes	Yes - Links to USACE NLD	No	No
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Factors in levees Yes/No. Factors levees into map and any analysis of vulnerable areas. Summarize methods if possible.	Yes	Yes, using FEMA base flood elevations.	Yes if they are captured in LIDAR based elevation data	No
20	SLR AND FLOOD SCENARIOS	Inundation Model Used Briefly and in as non-technical as possible, describe the modeling method used.	Modified bathtub approach, modeling hydrologic connectivity and locally adjusted Mean Higher High Water levels.	Modified bathtub approach, modeling hydraulic connectivity and locally adjusted Mean Higher High Water levels.	The various coastal flood hazard layers displayed are derived from different modeling methods. Refer to layer source information.	Sea level rise broken into feet ranges 0-2, 2-5 and 5-10 dataset derived from of high-resolution topographic data (LiDAR) that the State of Maryland in cooperation with local and federal agencies has acquired to identify areas vulnerable to inundation and flooding.
30	EXPOSURE ANALYSIS	Tabulates exposure within designated areas Yes/No. Gives total land, housing, etc. exposed at different flood or sea levels, within units such as cities or counties	Yes	no just overlay visualization of social and economic data	No	No
30	EXPOSURE ANALYSIS	Exposure types tabulated Variables analyzed, such as land, housing, property value, population, roads, airports or other infrastructure	>100 demographic, economic, environmental and infrastructure variables	No	No	No
30	EXPOSURE ANALYSIS	Designated areas for tabulation Geographic units within which exposure is tabulated, such as cities, counties, states or zip codes	zip codes, cities, counties, states, local through federal legislative districts, planning districts, state agency districts	No	No	No
30	EXPOSURE ANALYSIS	Shows or lists individual exposed facilities or public infrastructure Yes/No. Tool is able to give the user output that would allow them to evaluate potential vulnerable facilities and/or public infrastructure. Output could be either a map, or a report/listing.	Lists all facilities analyzed in tables for download. Shows select facilities and infrastructure on map.	No	Yes, through visualization overlays	No
30	EXPOSURE ANALYSIS	Compares exposure across designated areas Yes/No. Includes display (e.g. heat map) showing how different areas compare (e.g. how do counties compare for exposure of housing)	Yes	No	No	No
40	SHORELINE PROCESSES	Other Flooding Scenarios Modeled Other than the model scenarios above, are there other flooding scenarios mapped? (i.e. specific storm scenarios, shallow coastal flooding, base flood elevations)	Fully integrated analysis of SLR projections with flood risk	Shallow (Nuisance) Coastal Flood Frequency	See all flood datasets listed above	Yes
40	SHORELINE PROCESSES	Coastal Erosion Yes/No. Does the method used take coastal erosion processes into account?	No	No	No	Yes
40	SHORELINE PROCESSES	Sediment Dynamics/Deposition Yes/No. Does the method used take coastal sediment dynamics and deposition into account?	No	No	No	Yes
40	SHORELINE PROCESSES	Storm Events Yes/No. Does the method used take the impacts of future storm events into account?	Fully integrated analysis of SLR projections with flood risk	No	No	No
40	SHORELINE PROCESSES	Habitat/Species Change Yes/No. Does the method allow the user to visualize potential impacts to habitats and changes in species distribution?	No	No	No
40	SHORELINE PROCESSES	Marsh Migration Yes/No. Does the method allow the user to visualize the potential impacts to coastal marshes and how they may migrate with rising sea level?	No	Yes	No	Yes
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Basemap Options What types of base map(s) are used in the tool? (e.g. satellite imagery, topographic, streets, hybrid maps)	Satellite, Streets	Satellite, Open Streetmap, Dark	Satellite, grey canvas	Satellite, Streets
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Main elevation data source Examples include LIDAR or National Elevation Dataset.	Lidar	Lidar	Lidar	Lidar
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Main elevation data source vertical accuracy Published error. Use maximum error, or accuracy standard, when different sub-datasets have different error.	Same as NOAA	NOAA/USGS specs 9.25cm RMSE	NOAA/USGS specs 9.25cm RMSE	NOAA/USGS specs 9.25cm RMSE
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Horizontal resolution Dimension of elevation grid cell size.	5 Meters (~15 feet)	5 Meters (~15 feet)	Varies across datasets.	5 Meters (~15 feet)
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Other Available Data Layers Beyond the inundation/flooding layers, what other unique data layers are available?	On map: Social Vulnerability, Population Density, Ethnicity, Income, Property, Landmarks. In analysis and comparison tools: about 100 population and infrastructure variables.	Flood Frequency, Social and Economic Vulnerability at Census block groups, Marsh Impacts, Photo visualizations of key landmarks	Population density, poverty density, elderly density, employment density, projected population change, developed land cover, critical facilities, land cover changed to developed (1996-2011), natural areas and open space, potential pollution sources.	Marsh impacts
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Place name searchable	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Maximum Zoom-in What is the farthest in a user can zoom in with the tool?	1:4,500	Tile cached data to 1:18,055	Tile cached data to 1:18,055	Parcel level scale
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Map Services Available Yes/No. Are the data layers in the tool available as map services that can be accessed by the public?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Data Download Available Yes/No. Are the data layers in the tool available for download by the public?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	If data download available, please list types If answered yes for Data Download Available, please list the layers that are available for download.	Summary tables and detailed lists in Excel for 100+ demographic, economic, infrastructure and environmental variables, tabulated by state, county, municipality, zip code, planning and legislative districts, & more	Inundation, confidence, shallow coastal flooding, SOVI, and DEMs, and Marsh migration upon request		All Maryland iMap REST map services
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Does tool use other map services? Yes/No. Does the tool consume other map services from other providers as a part of the tool? If so, which ones. (please specify)	No	Yes, ESRI Basemaps	Yes, ESRI Basemaps, Esri Population Change Projections 2012-2017	Yes, ESRI Basemaps, any REST map service or feature service
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Additional Software Needed Yes/No. Does the user require additional software in order to use the tool?	No	No	No	No
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Cross Platform Yes/No. Is the tool platform and operating system independent? (i.e. can it operate on all computer platforms equally well)	Yes (modern browsers)	Yes	Yes	Yes
50	TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS	Mobile Compatible Yes/No. Will the tool operate on any mobile platform (e.g. iPad, iPhone, Android)?	On modern tablets/phones	Yes, but not phones	Yes	Yes
60	OTHER	Training Requirements Does the tool require training before it can be used efficiently?	None but support available as needed.	None	None	None, but map stories, on launch page, give "how to" examples
60	OTHER	Documentation, Training & Technical Resources Describe the types of documentation on tool methods and training resources available.	Research papers for each state, FAQs, methodologies, tutorials	FAQs, methodologies, and related technical documents; brief "First Time Tips" video; 56-minute recorded webinar, In-person or online training available upon request	FAQs, data documentation, new training link to the tool that includes a pre-recorded detailed demonstration	Maryland iMap offers online resources for using standard iMap mapping applications which covers the Coastal Atlas basic interactive tool sets. Map stories have been created along with videos accessible from the Coastal Atlas launch page to help user see how atlas tools and data can be used to visualize the data for planning.
60	OTHER	Is the tool based on, or featured in, any peer-reviewed publication(s)? If so, please list (INCLUDE LINKS IF AVAILABLE) Please list the peer-reviewed publications that the tool, or underlying model, has discussed and/or featured the tool.	Based on Strauss et al 2012 and Tebaldi et al 2012, Environmental Research Letters. Featured in Wong-Parodi G, Fischhoff B, and Strauss BH (2014) Climatic Change, 1-9, Stephens et al 2014 Science Communication, and the Science of Science Communication II Sackler Colloquium PNAS 2014.	Marcy, et al., 2011. “New Mapping Tool and Techniques for Visualizing Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts.” In Proceedings of the 2011 Solutions to Coastal Disasters Conference, Anchorage, Alaska, June 26 to June 29, 2011, edited by Louise A. Wallendorf, Chris Jones, Lesley Ewing, and Bob Battalio, 474–90. Reston, VA: American Society of Civil Engineers.	None	Kerski, et al., 2018. "The Coastal Atlas from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources" Spatial Reserves - A guide to public domain spatial data Spatial Reserves Wordpress, February 5th 2018 spatialreserves.wordpress.com/2018/02/05/the-coastal-atlas-from-the-maryland-department-of-natural-resources/
60	OTHER	Costs Are there costs involved in using this tool? Does the user community bear any of the development cost directly?	None	None	None	The State of Maryland as a whole is part of an End User License (ELA) agreement with ESRI which does require payment from all the state agencies combined for purchase of the ESRI map products used with ArcGIS Desktop and online mapping applications like the Coastal Atlas.
60	OTHER	Are Future Versions Planned? Please describe if there are plans for future improvements to the tool.	Yes	Version 3.0 released in 2017	Future updates anticipated	Yes, the ESRI Web Application and the Maryland iMap platforms are kept up to date which required migrating to new releases and/or versions as necessary. Additionally new map serives are added to the atlas when available and existing map services are updated as required for currency.