Digital Outer Limit of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

NOAA's Office of Coast Survey (OCS) is responsible for generating the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Traditionally, this maritime limit has been generated by hand from the low water line depicted on paper, U.S. nautical charts. Upon final approval by the U.S. Baseline Committee, the EEZ is applied to the next edition of nautical charts produced by OCS. Due to new cartographic production processes, OCS is developing improved techniques for generating more accurate, digital maritime limits. Through the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software such as CARIS' LOTS and ESRI's ArcGIS, OCS will provide NOAA cartographers and the public with the latest vector representations of these boundaries. Digital limits of the EEZ for the United States are contained within a zipped file listed by region. Within each zipped file, there are two sets of files 1) a dbase IV or tab-delimited text file containing points representing the outer boundary and 2) a shapefile representing the points as a single polyline. Both the current edition and these files may be superseded by the publication of a new chart edition. These files may or may not be current.