Geography

Area method compared with Transect method to measure shoreline movement

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Vector GIS represents shorelines as polylines that show the boundaries between land and water. This article compares two methods to measure how boundaries move among time points. The Area method converts the polylines at various time points into polygons of either land or water. The Area method measures temporal change as loss or gain of land areas. The Transect method requires subjective decisions to draw a baseline near the shorelines and then to draw transects that emanate from the baseline to intersect the shorelines. The Transect method measures temporal change as the distance between the intersection points along each transect as in the software packages AMBUR and DSAS. This article compares the conceptual foundations of the two methods. We illustrate how the Area method produces results for cases where the Transect method encounters practical difficulties. We list each method’s characteristics, so researchers can align the method with their research question.

Publication Title

Geocarto International

Publication Date

1-1-2022

Volume

37

Issue

20

First Page

5963

Last Page

5984

ISSN

1010-6049

DOI

10.1080/10106049.2021.1926556

Keywords

AMBUR, boundary movement, coastal studies, DSAS, GIS, shoreline change

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