Editing Oil spill (section)

=== History and development ===
ESI is the most frequently used sensitivity mapping tool yet. It was first applied in 1979 in response to an oil-spill near Texas in the Gulf of Mexico.<ref name=":6" /> To this time, ESI maps were prepared merely days in advance of one's arrival to an oil spill location. ESMs used to be atlases, maps consisting of thousands of pages that could solely work with spills in the oceans. In the past 3 decades, this product has been transformed into a versatile online tool. This conversion allows sensitivity indexing to become more adaptable and in 1995 by the [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)]] worked on the tool allowing ESI to extended maps to lakes, rivers, and estuary shoreline types.<ref name="NOAA 2002"/> ESI maps have since become integral to  collecting, synthesizing, and producing data which have previously never been accessible in digital formats. Especially in the United States, the tool has made impressive advancements in developing tidal bay protection strategies, collecting seasonal information and generally in the modelling of sensitive areas.<ref name=":6" /> Together with [[Geographic information system|Geographic Information System Mapping (GIS)]], ESI integrates their techniques to successfully geographically reference the three different types of resources.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) Maps and Data {{!}} response.restoration.noaa.gov|url=https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/resources/environmental-sensitivity-index-esi-maps|access-date=2021-05-29|website=response.restoration.noaa.gov}}</ref>