A New Map of Global Islands
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1.
United States Geological Survey
- 2. Esri
- 3. United States Geological Survey | USGS
- 4. University of Colorado
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1.
American Association of Geographers
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2.
United States Geological Survey
- 3. Group on Earth Observations (GEO)
Description
As part of an intergovernmental commission for a high spatial resolution and data-derived global coastal ecosystems map, a new datalayer and map of global islands was produced. The new data represent the most standardized, current, and detailed global islands data yet available. The 340,691 mapped islands were classed by size into 5 continental mainlands, 21,818 big islands (>1km2 ), and 318,868 small islands (<1km2 ). The GIS data are available in the public domain as high spatial resolution (30 m) polygons. Herein we 1) summarize the objectives and methods for producing the new islands data, 2) describe the ongoing effort to name the bigger islands (>1km2 ), 3) present a series of graphics for a visual depiction of the islands at global, regional, national and local scales, 4) present the Global Islands Explorer as an online visualization and query tool developed as a simple window into the data for use by a variety of audiences, and 5) describe the availability of the data.