A GLOBAL, SELF-CONSISTENT, HIERARCHICAL, HIGH-RESOLUTION SHORELINE DATABASE

We present a high-resolution shoreline data set amalgamated from two d atabases in the public domain. The data have undergone extensive proce ssing and are free of internal inconsistencies such as erratic points and crossing segments. The shorelines are constructed entirely from hi erarchically arranged closed polygons. The data can be used to simplif y data searches and data selections or to study the statistical charac teristics of shorelines and landmasses. The data set can be accessed b oth electronically over Internet and from the National Geophysical Dat a Center, Boulder, Colorado; it comes with access software and routine s to facilitate decimation based on a standard line-reduction algorith m.