Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Geospatial is in NOAA’s DNA

NOAA is fundamentally a science and geospatial data organization, mapping from the sun's surface to the ocean depths. GIS integrates our diverse data, services, and communities into products that address critical societal issues. We deliver mission-critical data empowering users to protect lives, property, and coastal resources.

Oceans and Coasts

At the National Ocean Service, GIS supports foundational operations to manage and conserve coastal and marine resources. By anchoring everything from nautical charting to emergency response, GIS converts science into solutions that sustain coastal communities and support the blue economy.

• Safe Navigation: Powers next-generation precision charting for maritime commerce.
• Response & Restoration: Provides a spatial common operating picture for oil spills, storm recovery, and debris removal.
• Ecosystem Conservation: Manages deep-sea corals and National Marine Sanctuaries.
• Coastal Resilience: Translates forecasting and sea-level data into sustainable community planning tools.
• Innovation Project: Building a "GIS for the Ocean" is the vision for the NOAA/Esri Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), a collaboration project designed to transform complex ocean data into intuitive insights to support the Blue Economy. For more information, check out the Ocean and Coasts Information System (OCIS) offsite link beta site. 

Weather and Climate

NOAA is recognized for timely weather and climate information. From extreme heat and flooding to hurricanes and tornadoes, GIS serves real-time intelligence to protect life and property. Bridging raw observations and actionable warnings, it is a critical conduit for weather safety and climate resilience.

• Deliver Real-Time Alerts: Pipelines live weather data to emergency responders and the public.
• Simplify Climate Complexity: Distills long-term trends into intuitive, visual intelligence for local planning.
• Protect Life and Property: Translates forecasts into targeted, actionable warnings.
• Map the Extremes: Provides the spatial and temporal context to visualize and understand climate trends.

The Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA) 

The Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA) was signed into law on October 5, 2018. The GDA codifies the committees, processes, and tools used to develop, drive, and manage the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), and mandates that federal agencies like NOAA inventory data, follow standards, share assets, and eliminate duplication.

Central to NOAA's strategy is the NOAA GeoPlatform offsite link, an ArcGIS Online hub making data discoverable to governments, the private sector, and the public. This directly supports the GDA's goal of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) for seamless integration.

NOAA achieves standardization via metadata documentation adhering to federal baselines, ensuring interoperability. NOAA also promotes open standards by offering data in multiple formats, including those compliant with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), optimizing utility.

NOAA’s Data Supports the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)

NOAA develops and maintains foundational datasets, or National Geospatial Data Assets (NGDAs) offsite link, that drive national geospatial programs and platforms, including:

• Geodetic Control offsite link – benchmarks providing precise horizontal and vertical positions for the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS);
• Oceans and Coasts offsite link - Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs), Marine Protected Areas, Maritime Boundaries and Limits of the U.S. NOAA Coastal Mapping & Shoreline products, Sea-level Trends, and Tides and Currents. 
• Elevation offsite link - U.S. Coastal Lidar Elevation data, Multibeam Bathymetry, Marine Tracklines, and Hydrographic Surveys data;
• Land Cover offsite link - Coastal Change and Analysis Program (C-CAP) high resolution land cover and change data; 
• Climate and Weather offsite link – GIS data for critical forecasts, radar, warnings, hurricanes, tsunamis, and complex climate models;
• Imagery and Satellites offsite link – a wide range of satellite-derived products and services;