A geospatial inventory of critical coastal infrastructure in the Caribbean: Methodology and dataset

Hurricanes and sea level rise pose significant threats to infrastructure and their critical services. Planning for a disaster-resilience future requires high-resolution, standardized data. We created a standardized approach for identifying, inventorying, and quantifying infrastructure at risk from natural hazards. This dataset used arial imagery publicly available through ESRI during the period 2015-2020 and digitized coastal critical infrastructure facilities (seaports, airports, energy facilities, and wastewater facilities) and their assets (e.g., buildings). It establishes a standardized database of critical infrastructure facilities in the Caribbean that can be used to conduct risk assessments, urban planning, or tracking land use change over time. This study used ESRI World Imagery, a cost-effective source of high-resolution imagery for detailed mapping. ESRI World Imagery provides one meter or better satellite and aerial imagery worldwide, including 15m Terra Color Imagery at small and mid-scale (1~591M down to 1:72k) and 2.5 SPOT Imagery (~1.288k to 1:72k) and is typically captured within the last three to five years. An imagery scale range of 1:1,000 - 1:8,000 was used, allowing for the digitization of larger features and parcel boundaries while ensuring smaller features could be captured accurately. The project includes the following two components: (1) Standard Operating Procedure for Heads-Up Digitizing Critical Coastal Infrastructure - To standardized an approach for geospatially inventorying critical coastal infrastructure, we developed SOP for Digitizing Critical Coastal Infrastructure in ArcMap. Heads-Up Digitizing is a method of manually tracing geographic features using aerial imagery. The SOP lays out clear guidelines and directions for mappers to develop similar geospatial data. (2) Geospatial dataset - We identified 386 critical coastal infrastructure facilities across 28 Caribbean nations/territories, with over 19,000 ha of coastal land dedicated to critical infrastructure. This includes 71 Airports, 98 Energy Facilities, 170 Seaports, and 47 Wastewater Treatment Facilities.
For additional information, see the published paper and project website listed in "related work" above.