Vl-31 

 SECTION 6. ALTO'lATION OF THE INVEHTORY 



The products of an inventory are neat, I'/ell-orqanized tables, and 

 lists containing the information required in tne subject area. The 

 National Estuarine Inventory, tlien, required a technique which 

 could be used to store, retrieve, and maninulate a wide variety of 

 information types to describe t!ie iynan.ic conditions of t.ie Nation's 

 884 era's. The two prerequisites were huge capacity and great flexi- 

 bility. To satisfy these needs, all Inventory data amenable to tiie 

 technique are automated. 



All of the automated in-f'ormation has been placed on niagnetic taoe, 

 including both numeric and narrative information. I^etrieval is 

 possible either by Estuarine rcjister Area number (Table VI. 1.5) or 

 by the individual descriptor itself (Table VI.l.C), making it possible 

 to call for any combination of descriptors ^or any combination of 

 Estuarine "!eqister Areas. 



Programming "as also developed to secure printouts in a finished 

 format so tiiat if necessary, printout from the Inventory could be 

 photographed directly for inclusion in a report as a table (TA31.E 

 VI. 1.7) or as computerized plots (Figures VI. 1.3 and VI. 1.4). "ost 

 of the tables in this report -./ere prepared in this fashion (TADLE 

 VI. 1.8). The caoability for storinn narrative information also 

 increases the svstem's usefulness as a resoository for management 

 information. 



Although much qualitative information is automated in the Inventory, 



