Prior to July 1, 2004, the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) was known as the Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI). The institute name has not been changed in historical data sets or references to work completed by the Florida Marine Research Institute. The institute name has been changed in references to ongoing research, new research, and contact information.
The source information of this data set was collected and maintained solely for the internal uses of the Coast Guard. It has not been verified for accuracy or completeness by the USCG or by FWRI. The Coast Guard makes no representations that this information contains an accurate description of aids to navigation or their actual positions. Many fields in the original ATONS database may contain data that are no longer used; therefore, the data are suspect. Consequently, this information should not be used, published, or relied on for the purpose of navigation. Furthermore, it will be subject to change without notice. The Coast Guard makes no representations that this information contains an accurate description of the wrecks and obstructions or their actual positions. Thus, this information should not be used, published, or relied on for navigation. Typographical errors do exist in this data set.
FWRI updates these data annually. For the most current ATON information, please contact the appropriate USCG district.
A note about data scale:
Scale is an important factor in data usage. Certain scale datasets are not suitable for some project, analysis, or modeling purposes. Please be sure you are using the best available data.
1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the county level. 1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base mapping such as property parcel boundaries. 1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the multi-county or regional level. 1:125000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the regional or state level or larger.
Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should be considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with your data before using it for projects or analysis. Every effort has been made to supply the user with data documentation. For additional information, see the References section and the Data Source Contact section of this documentation. For more information regarding scale and accuracy, see our webpage at: <http://geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html>
General ATON abbreviations from: <http://www.uscgboating.org/safety/aton/abbreviations.htm>
FWRI edited the positional accuracy for only gross errors of logical consistency. FWRI deleted point data that did not have coordinates in the source spreadsheets. Point data that were obviously on land were corrected wherever possible if there was an obvious, verifiable typographical error (such as incorrect coordinates that could be corrected by using the coordinates for other aids in the same water body and the appropriate NOAA nautical chart as reference). FWRI used a NOAA nautical chart as the background to visually verify any points that were moved.
FWRI formatted the new spreadsheet with the same attribute items and attribute field lengths as of 2002 data. The 7th district coordinates which were originally in degrees, minutes and seconds were converted to decimal degrees. The excel file was converted to a dbase file and later to a shapefile using "Add XY" function in ArcMap 8.3. The shapefile now contains Florida 7th district ATON data for 2004 representing both Federal and Private ATONS. This data set was used to update the peninsular Florida section from the 2002 7th and 8th district ATONs file.
The shapefile received had 19351 records some of which fell outside the FGDL extent. The records that fell within the FGDL extent were selected out and exported to a new shapefile. Therefore this data set does not represent all aids to navigation for the Seveth and Eighth Coast Gaurd Districts. The final FGDL data set has 16601 records. For a complete Seventh and Eighth USCG District data set visit the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission-Fish and Wildlife Research Institute site at <http://ocean.floridamarine.org/mrgis/viewer.htm>
- Reprojected data to FGDL Albers HPGN - Added a DESCRIPT field to attribute table based on AID_NAME - Added a FGDLAQDATE field based on date received from source - Renamed shapefile fromatons_uscg_20022004_point to CGATON_2002 - Upcased all records in the table
This is a detailed description of the attributes for the ATONs. These attributes were obtained from multiple spreadsheets from the USCG Seventh and Eighth Districts. An individual aid may not have values for all of the attributes listed.
B - Black Bn - Beacon C - Can Buoy F - Fixed Fl - Flashing Fl (2) - Group Flashing Fl (2+1) - Composite Group-Flashing G - Green Iso - Isophase J - Junction (S or T Dayboard) K - Rectangular (Range Dayboard) M - Octagonal Dayboard MO (A) - Morse Code N - Nun Buoy Oc - Occulting Pri - Private Q - Quick (Flashing) R - Red S - Square Dayboard s - seconds T - Triangle Dayboard W - White Y - Yellow