Esri’s Applications Prototype Lab has just stood up Your Future Coastline?, an online map visualization application that lets you see the coastline impact of mean sea level rise for the United States. While the application has a disclaimer that it’s not science or meant as a predictive tool, it is a useful exercise to see how dramatically things will change should the sea level rise significantly, and what those implications are on a local scale.
I’ve long wondered what the implications are for the Florida retreat of my in-laws, which we visit each year at this time. Looks like their place is good up to four feet, which certainly isn’t much, and their mobility would be dramatically impaired at even one foot of sea level rise. One interesting feature, whether intentional or not, is that if you grab to move the map it reverts to its original state. This lets you quickly view a before and after view for how dramatically local areas will be affected.
It’s hard to fathom the dramatic changes that seem to be in store or the ways in which we might need to adapt. This viewer puts the problem into perspective, and it’s a cool demonstration project for a speedy and visually appealing web application built with Esri technology and Microsoft Silverlight.
Read more about the app in the Applications Prototype Lab Blog.
