| What
is ESI? |
ESI stands for the Environmental Sensitivity Index.
It is part of the Louisiana Gulf-Wide Information System.
The data of the ESI characterize coastal environments
and wildlife by their sensitivity to spilled oil. It
includes shoreline habitats, sensitive biological resources,
and human-use resources as well as the biological and
socio-economic components of the Louisiana Gulf-Wide
Information System (G-WIS). |
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Who
created the ESI?
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This project was supported by the Minerals Management
Service (MMS) in New Orleans, LA. This project was coordinated
by Louisiana State University (LSU), Center for Coastal,
Energy and Environmental Resources (CCEER) and the Department
of Geography and Anthropology. The majority of natural
resources data used to develop the larger LA G-WIS data
set were provided by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife
and Fisheries. Research Planning, Inc. (RPI) performed
the shoreline classification, data processing, prepared
the final metadata as well as contributed to the conceptual
design of the project. |
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| What
areas of the state are covered? |
Most of the ESI data is located in southern Louisiana
below 31 degrees North latitude. However, some datasets
of the ESI cover the entire state and a few extend far
into the Gulf of Mexico. |
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| What
is the format of the data? |
The spatial datasets of the ESI are in ESRI shapefile
format with corresponding Geomedia csf files. The shapefiles
are in Geographic coordinates, North American Datum 1983.
The attribute files of the ESI are in dBase dbf format. |
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| What
is the time frame of the data? |
The
range of time for this data is from 1972 to 2002. |
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| Why
is the spatial and attribute data separate? |
One
set of attribute tables serves as the attribution for
all the spatial layers. As a result, the user only needs
to download this set of tables once and then download
the required spatial layers. Warning: the
joining of the spatial layers to the attributes is complex.
Consult the entity relationship diagram in GIF image
file la_gwis_er.gif
which is enclosed with all the ESI datasets. |
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| What
spatial layers are included? |
The list of layers included in the ESI is available in
the html file GWIS-ESI_README.htm
which is included with each downloadable layer. Click
here to list all the downloadable layers. |
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Where
can I find more information about the ESI?
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There is metadata in various forms included with each
ESI layer. In additional to the files mentioned above,
there is metadata for each layer. To view the ESI FAQ
metadata, click
here. |
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