Shoreline maps
Watch your coast move
The shoreline of any coast for every year since 2017, drawn from satellites, with where it retreats and where it grows measured every 50 m. Try the demos, then order your own.
$9 per area · ready in about 10 minutes · free in Business
Demo
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How it works
Satellites, every year, the same way
The clearest pictures of each year
Eight cloud-free, glare-free satellite pictures per year are stacked into one calm picture of the coast at 10 m detail.
The waterline, drawn the same way every year
Water and land are told apart from the colours and the line between them is traced to better than a pixel, so years can be compared honestly.
Measured every 50 m
Lines across the coast every 50 m measure how far the shore moved each year. You get the rate, the total and the places that move most.
What exactly do I get?
One shoreline for every year since 2017 (and 5-year steps since 1985 if you ask), drawn from the clearest satellite pictures of each year; measuring lines every 50 m along the coast with the net movement and the yearly rate; a list of the places that move most; and the same as files (GeoJSON, KML for Google Earth, CSV, a picture).
How precise is it?
The yearly shorelines come from 10 m pictures and are placed to better than a pixel; a rate is typically good to ±0.8 m per year over the 2017 to today span. Change smaller than that is noise; beaches that move several metres a year stand out clearly. Tides are not removed, so flat beaches look noisier than steep ones.
Which coast can I order?
Any coast on Earth, in areas of 0.25° by 0.25° (about 27 km on a side), up to four areas per order. Areas with no coast are refused before you pay.
How long does it take?
About 10 minutes per area, twice that with the long record. You get an email when it is ready and the order page refreshes by itself.
Who is it for?
Owners and associations on the water, realtors, towns and parks, engineers before a survey, and anyone who wants to know whether the beach is coming or going.
Shoreline positions are satellite estimates; they do not replace a survey for legal boundaries.