Digital Coast
NOAA is a U.S. federal agency providing national weather, climate, ocean, and coastal intelligence, ingesting 6.3 billion observations daily to serve the public, coastal managers, aviation, maritime, and fisheries sectors through the Digital Coast platform and related decision-support tools.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1970
- HeadquartersWashington, United States
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Digital Coast does
NOAA is a U.S. federal science agency within the Department of Commerce that provides environmental intelligence spanning weather, climate, ocean, and coastal domains. It operates a national observation network that ingests roughly 6.3 billion observations per day from satellites, ships, aircraft, buoys, and radar, and runs high-performance supercomputing models that produce public forecasts, hurricane tracking, aviation turbulence warnings, climate projections, fisheries stock assessments, and coastal management tools such as the Digital Coast platform.
Its core product surface includes operational forecasts (hurricane tracks, aviation turbulence, severe weather alerts), the Digital Coast data and decision-support platform serving coastal resource managers, fisheries management outputs, climate monitoring datasets, and ocean observation programs including the international Argo float array. The underlying technology stack combines satellite remote sensing, in-situ sensors, numerical prediction models, and a data distribution backbone serving federal, state, local, commercial, and public users.
The business model is non-commercial federal appropriations-based: NOAA is funded by congressional budget authority, supplemented by Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocations, and distributes data, forecasts, and decision-support tools largely free of charge. Customer segments include the general public, state and local coastal resource managers, commercial aviation and maritime operators, the commercial fishing industry, emergency management agencies, and research institutions.
Digital Coast firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Digital Coast
- Legal name
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Website
- https://noaa.gov
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1970
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- NOAA is a U.S. federal agency providing national weather, climate, ocean, and coastal intelligence, ingesting 6.3 billion observations daily to serve the public, coastal managers, aviation, maritime, and fisheries sectors through the Digital Coast platform and related decision-support tools.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Digital Coast industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Coastal Geospatial Data and Decision-Support Tools
- NAICS
- Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (54136), Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (541360)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Coastal & Marine Resources Administration (Oceans, Fisheries, Shorelines) (BPAIAMAI)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Oceans, Coastal & Marine Resource Management (BPADALAI)
Keywords
Where Digital Coast is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Digital Coast business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- Federal Appropriations: NOAA is funded through annual congressional appropriations from the Department of Commerce budget. Funding supports all core operations including satellites, weather forecasting, fisheries management, and research programs.
- Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Funding: $3.3 billion provided through IRA to build Climate-Ready Nation, including hurricane hunter aircraft, supercomputing capacity, climate forecasting infrastructure, and facility upgrades.
- Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Funding: Nearly $3 billion over 5 years for habitat restoration, coastal resilience, and weather forecasting infrastructure, distributed across Climate Data and Services ($904M), Climate-Ready Coasts ($1.467B), and Fisheries & Protected Resources ($592M).
- Data Licensing and API Services: NOAA provides environmental data products through commercial and government channels including nautical charts, satellite imagery, and specialized data services to mariners, aviation, and commercial entities.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free public services |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels10 records
Digital Coast product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Digital Coast provides coastal resource managers with geospatial datasets, analytical tools, and training resources for coastal decision-making. It operates as a free online platform hosted at coast.noaa.gov under NOAA, the U.S. federal environmental intelligence agency within the Department of Commerce. The platform supports shoreline management, sea-level rise analysis, land cover mapping, and planning workflows used by federal, state, and local coastal practitioners.
Product overview
No information available about Digital Coast products and services in the provided sources.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Quantifiable outcome
- Saves approximately 650 lives per year through severe weather warnings
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Digital Coast
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Digital Coast technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature8 records
Digital Coast partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- University of Miami - Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological LaboratorycoreCollaboration with hurricane scientists from University of Miami working at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory for hurricane research and tracking improvements.
- Louisiana State University (LSU)coreLead scientists at LSU conducted the annual Gulf of America hypoxic zone survey aboard the LUMCON research vessel Pelican. Partnership for 40 years of continuous hypoxic zone measurements.
- Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON)coreLUMCON led the annual hypoxic zone survey cruise in the Gulf of America, providing research vessel and scientific expertise for 40 years of measurements.
- State-led Nutrient Reduction ProgramscoreMississippi River/Gulf of America Hypoxia Task Force collaboration with member states, agriculture partners, wastewater sector, and industry to reduce excess nitrogen and phosphorous in surface waters.
- Sea Grant Programs at 34 UniversitiescoreSea Grant network at top universities in every U.S. coastal and Great Lakes state and territory. In 2020, $87 million investment resulted in $519.5 million in economic benefit. Creates and maintains healthy coastal communities through university-based research.
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)coreEPA co-chairs the Mississippi River/Gulf of America Hypoxia Task Force with NOAA, supporting leadership of states implementing nutrient reduction strategies.
- CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation)coreInternational partnership for Argo float deployment and ocean data collection. CSIRO researchers deploy Argo floats to gather data throughout the water column.
- Ocean Exploration TrustcoreNOAA scientists and partners mapping deep waters and seabed in the Cook Islands. Partnership for ocean exploration and deep-sea research.
- International Satellite OperatorscoreJPSS satellites along with satellites operated by international partners provide additional data as they travel in polar orbit, capturing every spot on Earth twice a day with instruments that can see through clouds.
- Tribal Nations and Indigenous CommunitiescoreNOAA's Tribal Relations Team ensures meaningful consultations on policies with tribal implications. Includes federally recognized Indian tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders. Programs include coastal resilience, drought resilience, and habitat restoration grants.
Scale indicators16 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Digital Coast competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Spire Global: Spire Global provides commercial satellite-based maritime and weather data (AIS, ocean wind, atmospheric profiles) that competes with NOAA-derived products in the coastal and ocean monitoring space.
- Google Earth Engine: Google Earth Engine is a cloud-based geospatial analytics platform that ingests NOAA and other public datasets and provides coastal managers with on-demand analysis tooling, competing with Digital Coast on analytics user experience.
- Planet Labs: Planet Labs operates a high-cadence commercial Earth observation constellation providing daily imagery used for coastal change detection, shoreline mapping, and environmental monitoring — a direct private-sector alternative to NOAA's coastal remote sensing products.
- Maxar Technologies: Maxar provides high-resolution commercial satellite imagery used for coastal mapping, infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response, often layered onto NOAA's navigational and shoreline datasets for situational awareness.
Broad incumbents
- U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): USGS is a peer U.S. federal science agency providing authoritative geospatial data (e.g., National Map, EarthExplorer, coastal elevation) that complements and overlaps with NOAA's coastal datasets, serving the same coastal and natural resource manager user base.
- Esri: Esri's ArcGIS platform is the dominant commercial GIS used by coastal resource managers to consume, analyze, and visualize Digital Coast data. Directly comparable as the analytical layer atop NOAA's coastal datasets, but Esri is a private commercial vendor rather than a public provider.
- National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA): NGA is a U.S. federal agency producing authoritative geospatial intelligence including nautical and coastal data for defense and navigation; comparable to NOAA in mission and data type, but with a defense-oriented customer base.
- NASA Earthdata: NASA Earthdata distributes satellite-derived Earth observation datasets (sea level, ocean color, atmosphere) that overlap with NOAA's coastal remote sensing portfolio and serve similar scientific and coastal management audiences via open APIs.
Others
- Mapbox: Mapbox is a commercial mapping and location platform that ingests public geospatial data (including NOAA tilesets) to deliver modern visualization layers for coastal and maritime applications, comparable as a downstream consumer and visualization layer.
Regional players
- Copernicus Marine Service: Copernicus is the EU's flagship open ocean and coastal monitoring program delivering satellite and in-situ data products. It is directly comparable in mission and data delivery model but serves European rather than U.S. coastal managers.
Market position
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Digital Coast social profiles
Digital presenceDigital Coast financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Digital Coast leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Digital Coast subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries6 records
Digital Coast funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Digital Coast M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Digital Coast
What does Digital Coast do?
Digital Coast provides coastal resource managers with geospatial datasets, analytical tools, and training resources for coastal decision-making. It operates as a free online platform hosted at coast.noaa.gov under NOAA, the U.S. federal environmental intelligence agency within the Department of Commerce. The platform supports shoreline management, sea-level rise analysis, land cover mapping, and planning workflows used by federal, state, and local coastal practitioners.
Is Digital Coast a public or private company?
Digital Coast is a private company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.
When was Digital Coast founded?
Digital Coast was founded in 1970.
Where is Digital Coast based?
Digital Coast is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.
How does Digital Coast make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Federal Appropriations are the primary driver. The others are inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Funding, bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Funding and data Licensing and API Services.
Who are Digital Coast's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Spire Global, Google Earth Engine, Planet Labs and Maxar Technologies. Broad incumbents are U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Esri, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and NASA Earthdata. Mapbox is listed as an others. Copernicus Marine Service is listed as a regional player.
Does Digital Coast have an API?
No public API is recorded for Digital Coast.
What industry is Digital Coast in?
Digital Coast's product category is Coastal Geospatial Data and Decision-Support Tools. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAIAMAI, Coastal & Marine Resources Administration (Oceans, Fisheries, Shorelines), with a secondary code of BPADALAI, Oceans, Coastal & Marine Resource Management. Its NAICS code is 54136 and its SIC code is 8731.