Help Information
for the Online Locator of Coastal Public Access Sites

Also available in PDF format (107 KB)

The Coastal Public Access Sites viewer displays information useful to prospective visitors to the Massachusetts coastline (hopefully, that's you!). Along the Coastline Drive that roughly parallels our 1500-miles of spectacular ocean shoreline; the public has access to over 1,000 beaches, parks, conservation areas, and other government and non-profit land trust owned waterfront properties. This Locator will help you find these varied places and discover what each has to offer, ranging from the well-publicized expanses of National Seashore down to the smallest footpaths and landings typically known only to locals. To learn more about CZM's ongoing effort to get the public to the shore, and about hard-copy access guides published to date, see the CZM Website.

What you should know before you begin
  1. Turn off pop-up-blockers. Pop-ups are a way for advertisers to use the internet to display a message that is hard for a person to miss when they are surfing the Internet. To get the maximum utility from this online viewer, other browser windows need to open. This will allow users to get complete information, including maps, when selecting sits of interest. Most internet browsers allow you to do this. If using Internet Explorer, select Tools from the menu, then Pop-up Blocker, then Turn Off Pop-up Blocker. To turn off pop-up-blockers in other web browsers refer to that browser's help menu.
  2. After clicking on Zoom in and out, and the hand icon, there will be a Retrieving Data progress bar that appears to show that the map is redrawing to a new view. This process can take a moment.
  3. If an icon in the Basic Tools is pressed then another Basic Tool is press while the viewer is performing the previous command this message will be displayed Response from previous request(s) not received. Press O.K. and wait a moment for the original command to stop drawing and then continue with your next use of the Basic Tools.
BASIC TOOLS

base map button icon Return to Base Map - Use this tool to reset the map view to its original view of Eastern Massachusetts. To reset the view, simply click on this button in the tools.

Choose a Town - Choose a town is a drop down list of all the cities and towns that are on the coast of Massachusetts. This is another way to zoom into a specific city or town that you are interested in.

Choose a Site - Choose a site is a list of all the sites that are in the Locator. When the name of a site is clicked another map viewer will open zoomed into the chosen site.

zoom in button icon Click this "Zoom In" button and draw a red box around the area you wish to zoom closer in to. To do this, place the cross in the upper right or left corner of the area you want, continue to hold the left mouse button and drag the mouse diagonally across the map to the size of the box to cover the area you want to see. Then release the left mouse button and the map will zoom in. The border of the box you draw will become the new size of the map. Note choose carefully where the user places the first point because once you left click you can not move to a new area until the map has finished redrawing. Another option to Zoom In is to left click on the map near the place of interest and the map will zoom in to that area.

zoom out button icon Click this "Zoom Out" button and draw a red box around the area you wish to zoom out to. To do this place the cross in the upper right or left corner of the area you want, continue to hold the left mouse button and drag the mouse diagonally across the map to the size of the box to cover the area you want to see. Then release the left mouse button and the map will zoom out. The border of the box you draw will become the new size of the map. Note choose carefully where the first point is placed because once you left click you can not move to a new area until the map has finished redrawing. Another option to Zoom Out is to left click on the map and the map will zoom out that area.

hand button icon Click the "Hand" button if you wish to move up, down, left, or right on the map but remain at the current zoom level. This is called panning. Once you click the Hand button, the cursor will change to a four-directional arrow. Click and drag the map in the direction in which you want the map to move. The map goes blank for a couple of seconds and a Retrieving Data progress bar appears to show that the map is redrawing to a new view. If you leave the boundaries of the map window, the application will automatically move the map in the direction of where the cursor left the window.

identify button icon Site Information - Use this tool to get more info about a coastal site. Turn off pop-up-blockers. Click the "i" tool first and then click inside the colored coastal site area or on red triangle. Data for that area is displayed in a new window (site name, owner, address, town, restrictions, descriptions, directions, and facilities).

print button icon Print the Map - Turn off pop-up-blockers. Click on print button icon and you will be asked to create a print page. The page will have a title, map and legend. The legend will appear immediately, but it may take a few seconds for the map to appear on the page. For a one page print out, set all margins to 0.5 inches and choose Landscape. After the print page has been fully generated, simply choose print from the File menu to print the page.

To print out the descriptions and directions for a site of interest. Zoom into the area of interest. Click on the Identify identify button icon tool. Next click on the print icon icon and you will be asked to create a print page. This will print out information from the last site selected. For a 1 page print out, set all margins to 0.5 and choose Landscape. After the print page has been fully generated, simply choose File from the menu and Print to print the page.

ADVANCED TOOLS

camera button icon View Site Photos - When you click the center of a camera (camera button icon) on the map when using the camera button icon tool, a picture is launched in another window giving the user a general idea of what the area of interest looks like including any points of reference, for example a sign. Here are detailed instructions.
  1. Turn off pop-up-blockers.
  2. Zoom into the area of interest. You will not see any camera icon (or pictures) unless you zoom in very close.
  3. Next click on the camera button icon tool, then place the plus cursor over the center of the camera and click. A picture will appear in another window.
  4. When finished viewing the picture close the picture's browser window. They do not close when you go to view another picture.
find an address icon Locate Address Find an Address - Enter into the form either a street address or a 5 digit ZIP code (i.e. 251 Causeway St. and 02114) or a street name and a cross street name. (i.e. Causeway St. and Medford St.). Find zip code is a link to the United States Postal Service for finding Zip Codes. Click the Locate button and different possible matches will appear. Click on the blue number link to zoom to that address.

eraser icon Clears the address in Find an Address

hide overview map icon Hide/Show the overview map - Click on the overview map to change location. This is a Locus Map.

Locus map Locus Map - Location map that shows you where you are in Massachusetts.

XY icon Click on the map to get latitude, longitude and decimal degrees. This is for use with a GPS (Global Positioning System) or an automobile navigation system (example: OnStar).

Other Helpful Hints
  • To get more information about this project click on the links in the title bar. This will take you to the Massachusetts Coast Guide to Boston and the North Shore and Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Website.
  • In the legend Water Body Label, New England Label, and Towns in the Locator appear without any symbol is because it is a label not a shape.
  • Each site has a name. To view these site names zoom into the area of interest until the names appear.
  • The Legend will become more detailed as the user zooms in on the map.
  • In Internet Explorer the "Back" toolbar icon will only go back to a couple of pervious screens, sometimes none at all. To get back to the Base map click on the base map button icon Icon in Basic Tools (top item) or use the zoom in button icon Zoom In and zoom out button icon Zoom Out tools.
Add Favorite Web Sites to a Web Browser

Summary
A web browser favorite or bookmark, hereafter referred to as a favorite, allows you to easily return to a previously viewed web page. Normally a favorite is created by opening a web site and then simply choosing the Add to Favorites option on your web browser. Because the Coastal Public Access Site Data Viewer involves opening a series of files, you cannot use the bookmark created from the Coastal Public Access Site Data Viewer main page. Instead you need to make a minor edit to the saved bookmark before it can be used again.

Procedure
Follow the steps below to open a Coastal Public Access Site Data Viewer web site, create a favorite, and then make a minor edit to the address of the favorite. The instructions below describe Adding Favorites in Internet Explorer web browsers. Follow similar instructions for your web browser of choice.
  1. Open the Coastal Public Access Site Viewer. When the viewer is completely loaded, the address will end in viewer.htm.
  2. Use the Add to Favorites option of your web browser to save the favorite.
  3. From your Favorites list, right-click on the newly created favorite and select Properties.
  4. Click the Web Document tab. In the address field, remove the "viewer.htm" from the address. Click OK.
  5. You can now use this favorite to open the Coastal Public Access Site Viewer.
More Information about Site Descriptions

Parking Lot Sizes:
  Small Parking Lot - Number of cars 0 -15 spaces.

  Medium Parking Lot - Number of cars 16 -50 spaces.

  Large Parking Lot - Number of cars over 50 spaces.

Small Boat Put-In:
  Refers to a boat launching area for a small boat that can be carried like a kayak, canoe. Usually the area is sand, or mud.

The Locator has a link to trail maps for specific sites. Trail maps can be found by clicking on the Site Information "Site Information" tool, this will bring up an information table and under the header Trail Info their will be a link to a trail map for that site "Click for Trail Info". Another place to view a list of trail maps would be in the "Choose a Site" the site names that have a trail map associated with them will be in red.

Frontage:
  Frontage is how much land each site has that is touching the shoreline. This length is calculated in miles.

Contact Information

After reading the User Guide and are still having a problem please use the contacts below.

For technical questions about the Data Viewer, contact:
  Aleda Freeman at MassGIS

For non-technical questions, including data collection, contact:
  Dennis Ducsik at CZM