ERDC/CHL CHETN-IV-31
December 2000
Database of Inlet Navigation
Projects and Structures
by Steven A. Hughes
herein provides information about the on-line database of tidal inlet navigation projects and
structures available on the World Wide Web. The technical note describes the database content,
overviews how to access the database with a web browser, and explains how to extract
information from the database.
DATABASE CONTENT: The Database of Inlet Navigation Projects and Structures is a web-
server-hosted database that is accessed via a customized web interface using any web browser
program. No additional browser plug-ins are required. The database was developed by the
Coastal Inlets Research Program (CIRP), and it contains over 1,230 individual records of
navigation structures and tidal inlets located around the coast lines of the United States and its
territories, including 330 records from the U.S. Great Lakes.
This Web-accessible database is based on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers data sets converted to
electronic form in 1994 at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC),
Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL). The three main data sources were the following:
a. A list of 342 inlets for the continental U.S. (Barwis 1975)
b. A list of 108 inlets along with associated tidal prism, cross-sectional area, and other
information (Jarrett 1976)
c. A database summarizing about 400 detailed breakwater and jetty case histories given in a
series of nine reports written for the Repair, Evaluation, Maintenance, and Rehabilitation
Other original data sources included National Ocean Service (NOS) Tide and Current Tables,
and Corps of Engineers dredging records. The capability of including and viewing digital
images of tidal inlets and navigation structures was added when the database was converted to a
web-enabled application.
Each database record has data fields for various parameters related to the inlet or to the inlet
structure. The data fields are grouped into three categories:
a. Geographic information. Includes inlet or structure name, state and coast where located,
and which Corps office has responsibility over the region.
1
O. P. Smith. (1989). "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers database of coastal structures,"
unpublished report, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS.
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