Alaska Maps

Digital Data Availability Summary

Click for local parcel information. Map courtesy Digital Map Store

Why is marine cadastral data important for conservation and marine spatial planning?

Marine Cadastral Data Management

The Information Resource Management Office of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR) participated in TNC’s 2010 Nationwide Comparative Assessment of State-level Marine Cadastral Data. TNC interviewed ADNR staff and reviewed relevant Internet sites to collect information on Alaska’s marine data needs and marine cadastral data management.1 ADNR also completed a written inventory (pdf) of Alaska’s state-level marine cadastral data (SMCD).2

State Data Management: State data management is spread throughout a number of agencies. ADNR is the principal state agency concerned with state lands although a large portion of Alaska, 242 million acres 65% of the state is federal land. As a consequence federal agencies play a larger roll in managing the states spatial data infrastructure as compared to many other states.

Marine Cadastre and Supporting Data

Alaska’s current priority for marine spatial data development is coastal biology and geomorphology. A partnership effort between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), ADNR, Alaska Fish and Game, and TNC has recently completed ShoreZone mapping and imaging of portions of southeastern and central Alaska. ShoreZone technology catalogs geomorphic and biological resources at better than 1:10,000 scale, and produces low-tide oblique aerial imagery that allows viewers to “fly the coastline.” Geomorphic and biological data is indexed to the best available digital shoreline. Current access to ShoreZone data for Alaska is through NOAA Fisheries, but ADNR is in the process (2010) of adding ShoreZone to its Alaska Mapper data portal.

Cadastral Reference System: Alaska does not currently manage its marine cadastral data as a unified system, but has produced for TNC a first-cut inventory of state-level marine cadastral entities, data, and authoritative sources. While Alaska uses the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) in the uplands, it does not currently use a cadastral reference grid in coastal and marine waters, except in a few coastal and estuary areas where the PLSS is already extended. Staff in the ADNR Information Resource Management Office is investigating options for extending the PLSS or the Outer Continental Shelf block system into all state waters, but there is no current funding or mandate for implementing a marine cadastral grid. Staff believes a marine grid would be helpful for indexing resource information, organizing the reporting of management information, providing a common sampling-area size for scientific research, and integrating data from different feature data sets—functions already performed by the PLSS in the uplands.

Supporting Reference Data

Shorelines and Bathymetry: Coastlines used in state spatial data were interpreted from Landsat imagery in the 1980s; however, shoreline mapping does not yet support a complete coastline at 1:63,360 scale. These shorelines are available from the ASGDC. Bathymetry comes from the National Ocean Service at 1:250,000 scale.

Coastal Imagery: No complete high-resolution orthoimagery is available for the State of Alaska. ADNR is working to develop 1:24,000 scale imagery with 1-10 m resolution. There is no high-resolution ortho-imagery series that covers the entire coast.

Marine Jurisdictional and Submerged Lands Boundaries: State, municipal and tribal marine boundaries are available from the ASGDC and the Alaska Mapper. A compilation of Submerged Lands Boundaries that describes the extent of the Alaska’s submerged lands could not be identified.

Ownership, Leases and Other Authorizations: Alaska land records (including tideland and submerged land) are available online in the ASGDC; they are extensive and complex although possibly incomplete. The inventory submitted by ADNR indicates that federal, state, and tribal tideland and submerged land parcels are available, but municipal parcels are not. However, Alaska Mapper contains a data layer called Municipal Tidelands.

The inventory indicates that aquaculture leases are in the Alaska Mapper, but other place-based use authorizations are not, although spatial data on authorizations for oil and gas, sand and gravel, cables and pipelines, and marinas do exist somewhere. However, the ASGDC contains layers on Aquaculture and Tidelands, including aquatic farms, easements, leases, shore fisheries, tidal conveyances, mining (state offshore permit or lease; and oil and gas), and lease sale boundaries.

Marine Managed Areas: The inventory indicates that no data are available on marine managed areas, yet several Alaska Coastal Management Program areas are listed in Alaska Mapper, and a very large number of diverse marine managed areas can be found through the National MPA Inventory and De Facto MPA Inventory.

Local Parcel Information: Boroughs are Alaska’s rough equivalent of counties; however, only about half of Alaska’s land area has borough government. The Office of the State Assessor maintains a list of property tax jurisdictions that is composed of 12 of Alaska’s 16 boroughs and 13 cities outside of organized borough boundaries. Deed records are maintained and available statewide.

GIS Portals

• Alaska Mapped. Imagery and elevation data collected through the Alaska Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative, including the Best Data Available Layer (BDL) that provides a statewide imagery base layer. (web site)
• Alaska Mapper. Interactive access to the State of Alaska Land Records. (web site)
• Alaska State Geo-Spatial Data Clearinghouse (ASGDC). Downloadable GIS data, interactive online maps, maps and CDs, and links to state and local agencies with GIS web sites. Online maps include Alaska Mapper for access to State of Alaska Land Records, and Tidelands and Aquatic Farms. Data layers not listed above may provide helpful contextual information. (web site)
• Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA). Viewable and downloadable satellite and aerial imagery, including historical imagery, available in multiple formats and via multiple services. (web site)

Reference and Supporting Data

Cadastral Reference Grid

Shorelines

Coastal Imagery

Bathymetry

Marine Jurisdictional Boundaries

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources maintains state, municipal, and tribal boundaries in digital spatial form.

Submerged Lands Boundaries

No data found. May be implicit in, or extractable from, DNR Land Records (2006); see Pubic and Conservation Lands, below.

Ownership

Submerged Lands Parcels

General Property and Parcel Data

Public and Conservation Lands

Leases and Other Use Authorizations

Aquaculture and Shellfish

Other Use Authorizations

Marine Managed Areas

The National Marine Protected Areas Center’s MPA Inventory (web page) includes more than 60 marine areas managed for conservation purposes within Alaska state waters. Four are members of the National System of Marine Protected Areas:

The National Marine Protected Areas Center also maintains a De Facto MPA Inventory for marine areas managed for purposes other than conservation. It includes 31 marine areas managed by federal authorities within Alaska state waters. Most of this area is for international security and military training stations between Alaska and Russia, and most is managed by the Air Force. A report summarizes the De Facto MPA inventory, and a downloadable shapefile for the inventory may soon be available. (web page)

Local Parcel Information

Boroughs are Alaska’s rough equivalent of counties; however, only about half Alaska’s land area has borough government. The Office of the State Assessor maintains a list of property tax jurisdictions that is composted of 12 of Alaska’s 16 boroughs and 13 cities outside organized borough boundaries. Deed records are maintained and available statewide (see above).

Community Profile Maps

Aleutians East Borough (web site)

Anchorage City and Borough (web site)

Bristol Bay Borough (web page)

Haines Borough

City and Borough of Juneau (web site)

Kenai Peninsula Borough (web site)

Ketchikan Gateway Borough

Kodiak Island Borough (web site)

Lake and Peninsula Borough (web site)

Matanuska-Susitna Borough

North Slope Borough (web page)

Northwest Arctic Borough (web site)

Sitka City and Borough (web site)

Yakutat City and Borough (web site)

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