Every three years the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Coastal Services Center conducts a comprehensive customer survey, the results of which are used to hone Center services and products. For the 2002 effort, over 400 individuals completed the survey with an overall office response rate of 74 percent.
The following information summarizes some of the survey's results.
A variety of technology-based tools are becoming nearly commonplace for the coastal resource management community.
It wasn't that long ago that geographic information systems (GIS) were the new kids on the technology block. The initial promise of this technology seems to have been realized, as 92 percent of respondents indicated their offices use GIS. The same can be said of the Internet since nearly all respondents (99 percent) reported having Internet access.
There is a dramatic increase in the number of offices investing in remote sensing technology. While only a third of the respondents classify themselves as "familiar" with remote sensing, in the last three years, the percentage of offices that have one to two staff members using remote sensing has nearly doubled. Furthermore, respondents said they expect the use of remote sensing and other technologies, including on-line information search tools and visualization tools, to see continued growth.
Despite the increased use of technology, there is a need to improve the way technical tools and information are used.
One of the primary attributes that makes GIS useful is its ability to help decision makers "see" the various components of a scenario or issue. This visualization capability also is helpful for outreach and education professionals, but only a quarter of these respondents know the details of their offices' GIS use.
Although 70 percent of respondents believe that increased access to information and technology will be a high priority in the next three years, nearly half of the respondents indicate that they never make spatial data available to the public or do not know if they make this data available.
Spatial data are frequently used to address high-priority issues.
Offices currently use spatial data to address the issue rated as their highest—habitat restoration and monitoring. Other high-priority issues where spatial data are used include land use planning and growth management, watershed planning, water quality monitoring, and nonpoint source pollution. Three quarters of the respondents indicate their offices use shoreline spatial data.
Even in this information age, face-to-face communication is the preferred way to get information.
Over 90 percent say talking with colleagues and friends and attending professional meetings, conferences, workshops, and trainings are the most frequent ways they share new ideas and information. The majority of respondents find talking with colleagues and friends to be the most useful.
There is a need for additional training courses.
Training opportunities always rank high on the coastal resource manager's wish list. This year, leadership in coastal management and performance measures are two topics that people ranked highly. Survey respondents also classified themselves as unfamiliar with needs assessments, surveys, interviewing, group data collection, resource valuation, and cultural, historic, and heritage resource management. Not surprisingly, it was found that people are more likely to participate in training if little travel is involved.
Coastal zone management is a dynamic field.
Fifty percent of respondents have been in this field for over 15 years, but 42 percent have been in their current positions for five years or less
To see additional survey results, please visit www.csc.noaa.gov/survey/.
