The Matrix was designed to help communities identify the current "value" of their navigational and port infrastructure, allowing them to extrapolate the potential costs for maintaining these resources in the face of changing water levels and storm conditions due to climate variation. Potential secondary economic impacts, such as those that could be anticipated as the result of the failure of primary support infrastructures, can easily be added to matrix data to expand the scope of economic impacts (this could be many times the value of primary structures). Secondary costs could involve: buildings, land-based transportation facilities, commercial and recreational docks and staging areas, private investments such as grain elevators and storage facilities, as well as public investments like water treatment facilities, cultural resources, public access points, and even sensitive wetlands and estuaries, etc. The Matrix is designed for use in any port, harbor, or marina within the Great Lakes region. The Matrix can also be linked to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "current infrastructure condition ratings," being conducted in Great Lakes ports and harbors to offer a more concise view of current actual condition, and to help identify potential threats to various infrastructure types.