Navigation

National Waterway Network (NWN)

The National Waterway Network (NWN) is a geographic database of navigable waterways and channels in and around the United States, for analytical studies of navigation performance, for compiling commodity flow statistics, and for mapping purposes. The NWN is comprised of a link database and a node database. Links are line strings, which consist of beginning and end points (nodes) with intermediate vertices (shape points). Links represent either actual shipping lanes (i.e., channels, Intracoastal Waterways, sealanes, rivers) or serve as representative paths in open water (where no defined shipping paths exist). Nodes may represent physical entities such as river confluence's, ports/facilities, and intermodal terminals, USACE nodes, or may be inserted for analytical purposes (i.e., to facilitate routing).

Links & Nodes

Links are line strings, which consist of beginning and end points (nodes) with intermediate vertices (shape points). Links represent either actual shipping lanes (i.e., channels, Intracoastal Waterways, sealanes, rivers) or serve as representative paths in open water (where no defined shipping paths exist). 

Link Geospatial Data

Nodes may represent physical entities such as river confluence's, ports/facilities, and intermodal terminals, USACE nodes, or may be inserted for analytical purposes (i.e., to facilitate routing).

Nodes Geospatial Data

Linktons

Tonnage is summarized for each link in the National Waterway Network by commodity and direction (up bound and down bound). The commodities include: Coal | Petroleum Products | Chemicals | Crude Materials | Manufactured Goods | Farm Products | Machinery | Waste | Unknown

Linktons Tabular Data & Historic Files

Linktons Geospatial Data

Infrastructure

Facilities

The Facility files provide data for ports-and-waterway facilities and other navigation points of interest, such as docks, anchorages, etc., that describe the physical and inter-modal (infrastructure) characteristics of sites at the coastal, Great Lakes, and inland ports of the United States; with additional data for facilities in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the trust territories of the Pacific.

The data includes location (latitude, longitude, waterway, mile, and bank); operations (name, owner, operator, purpose, handling equipment, rates, and details of open-and-covered storage facilities); and type of construction (length of berthing space for vessels and/or barges, depth, deck elevation, and details of rail-and-highway access). Additional attributes included in the data are the unique navigation-unit identifier, official name, facility type, United Nations Location Code, a location description, stress address, city, state, zip code, county, congressional district, TOWS link location identifiers, port name, waterway name, mile, bank, and service-initiated dates.

Facilities Geospatial Data

Facilities Tabular Data

Milepoints

The Navigation Milepoint geospatial web service provides data for over 11,000 waterway milepoints including the physical locations of individual mile-markers along inland navigation waterways, as well as additional waterways, in the United States. The file is a collection of milepoints sourced from the Corps of Engineers Inland Electronic Navigation Charts (IENC), NOAA, and other various stakeholders. 

Learn more about IENC Data

The collection includes location (latitude, longitude, waterway, mile). Additional attributes included in the data are the unique navigation-unit identifier, city, state, zip code, county, congressional district, TOWS link location identifiers, port name, and waterway name.

Milepoint Geospatial Data

Port and Port Statistical Areas

The Port and Port Statistical Area web service allows users to visualize and access two USACE enterprise-wide feature classes: the Port Feature Class and the Port Statistical Area Feature Class, both of which include polygon geometries used to organize commerce data and vessel movements. The GIS service includes attribution on port name, boundary description, and associated legislative documentation.  The primary use of the new GIS layer is for public reporting on waterborne commerce statistics related to tonnage and commodity types, which USACE’s Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC) performs annually. The port boundary GIS file allows users to visualize each statistical port, and it can be combined with other dock and vessel statistics compiled by USACE, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

A Port Area is defined by the limits set by overarching legislative enactments of state, county, or city governments, or the corporate limits of a municipality. A port typically refers to a geographical area that includes operational activities related to maritime transport as well as acquisition, operation, and management of port infrastructure and property, such as might be associated with ownership, concession, construction approval, or policy decision-making authority.

A Port Statistical Area (PSA) is a region with formally justified shared economic interests and collective reliance on infrastructure related to waterborne movements of commodities that is formally recognized by legislative enactments of state, county, or city governments. PSAs generally contain groups of county legislation for the sole purpose of statistical reporting. Through GIS mapping, legislative boundaries, and stakeholder collaboration, PSAs often serve as the primary unit for aggregating and reporting commerce statistics for broader geographical areas.

Principal Port

The Principal Port file utilizes the USACE enterprise-wide Port Feature Class including port codes, polygon geometries, port names, and commodity tonnage summaries (total tons, domestic, foreign, imports and exports) for the top 150 Principal Ports. The Principal Port file contains USACE port codes, geographic locations(longitude, latitude), names, and commodity tonnage summaries (total tons, domestic, foreign, imports and exports) for Principal USACE Ports.

Top 150 Principal Ports Geospatial Data
Port and Port Statistical Area Commerce Data
Port and Port Statistical Areas Geospatial Data