GeoCoast Open provides a range of historic images and diagrams extracted from BGS archives, memoirs and other publications that can provide a reference for coastal change. It also contains a detailed suite of statistical data based on the underlying datasets (GeoCoast Premium). These include, for example, percentage of county at threat from inundation and percentage of county coastline with high susceptibility to erosion. In addition, GeoCoast Open coastal domains provides a summary of the underpinning GeoCoast Premium datasets by classifying segments of coastline based on their morphological characteristics and geological properties, providing a benchmark for describing the coastline and coastal change which can be applied nationally. The BGS GeoCoast dataset is a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based analysis for indicating multi-hazards and interdependencies within the coastal zone of Great Britain (not including Orkney and Shetland). GeoCoast represents the natural geological coastline (around the mainland of Great Britain) as if no coastal defences or made ground are present. This will be of particular value in areas where coastal defences are no longer maintained. GeoCoast will offer anyone with assets, or an interest in the coastline around Great Britain, access to easy-to-use datasets linked to geohazard data. This will allow users to interpret potential interdependencies in terms of erosion, flooding, habitat and other vulnerabilities. The data are delivered in GIS ESRI point, polyline and polygon format (other formats available on request).
