Staring out at the ocean on a warm summer day is one of life's greatest pleasures. But for many beachgoers, the simple act of trying to find public beaches near me has become a frustrating exercise in navigating locked gates, misleading signs, and private security guards.
Across the United States, public beach access is under threat. While laws generally guarantee that the shoreline (the wet sand below the high-tide line) belongs to the public, coastal property owners and commercial resorts use a variety of tactics to privatize public shorelines illegally. To fight back, you need more than standard navigation apps—you need the Open Sands Index.
The Hidden Tactics of Beach Privatization
How do private interests block you from reaching the sand? They rely on three primary methods:
- Gatekeeping Paths: Putting up illegal "Private Property" or "No Trespassing" signs on established public easements.
- Physical Obstructions: Deploying barricades or fences close to the tide lines.
- "Ghost Chairs": Commercial rental vendors placing rows of empty lounge chairs across the public shoreline, monopolizing space and tricking visitors into thinking the entire beach is private.
Because these barriers are often erected informally, local governments struggle to monitor them. That is where satellite mapping and crowd-sourced data come in.
What is a Beach Score?
The Open Sands Index scores beaches on a scale from 0 to 100 based on public accessibility, proximity to public parking, and the presence of commercial monopolization. A higher score means a beach is open, accessible, and friendly to the public.
Exposing Closures with Satellite Intelligence
The Open Sands Index is a first-of-its-kind public shoreline tracking database. By combining Geographic Information System (GIS) data with high-resolution satellite imagery, our scoring engine monitors coastlines in real-time. We analyze access proximity, ghost chair density (detecting row counts of rental gear from space), and physical obstructions encroaching on public easements.
Crowd-Sourced Shoreline Protection
Data science can only do so much from space. The real power of the Open Sands Index comes from beachgoers like you. When you visit a beach, you will be able to use our upcoming mobile web app to check its score, locate public easements, and report violations.
If you encounter an illegal sign, barricade, or a wall of rental chairs blocking access, you will be able to submit a geo-tagged photo directly through the app once it is launched. These reports will feed our database, automatically adjusting the beach accessibility score and compiling data to help local advocacy groups reclaim the shorelines.
Our beaches belong to everyone. Expose illegal restrictions and find your next public shoreline easement with the Open Sands Index.
Status: Open Sands Index™ is currently in development.
Written by The Glass Collective Team