Measuring the Coastline from Maps: A Study of the Scottish Mainland

Abstract

While attempting to devise a methodology for the assessment of the impact of planning decisions on the coastline of Scotland, it became apparent that a means of mapping information concerning the coastline and coastal zone was necessary. This meant that the maps had to be capable of being produced in bulk, they should be easy to alter and produce at different scales and with different information. It was therefore decided to investigate the potential of computational techniques to produce the required maps. This was performed by employing a d-Mac digitising table to generate the required coordinates and by processing the information on the University of Aberdeen's ICL system 4/70 computer, the output being on drum plotter.