Environmental Sites: Maps

• Digital Orthophoto
  A 50 billion pixel GIS registered digital orthophoto (6 inch pixels, 468 square miles, 2 foot contour lines) (3 square miles available now, planned completion this year). This is planned to provide a continuous tone image for the entire City. The continuous tone digital orthophoto image (digitally orthographically corrected to an accuracy of 6 inches over a distance of 47 miles) can be matched with all of the vector image layers in the GIS. Both the contone digital orthophoto and the more than 250 vector data GIS layers are available at continuously variable map scales to index documents.
  The digital orthophoto can be viewed by going to this City of Los Angeles. After clicking “accept conditions” you will go to: http://navigatela.lacity.org/scripts/welcome.pl?pii=1 Then, by typing in an address of “1111 Figueroa”. This is the address for Staples Center. Click on the blue highlighted address. This will show the parcels surrounding Staples Center. Scroll down to the bottom of the list of check boxes. Check “Aerial Photo”. This will show a photo of the area. Scroll up and uncheck “parcel detail” to see a photo of the area covered by the parcels. You can see the letters “Staples Center” on the roof. You can grab the image with the little hand and drag the image around. You can also zoom in and out using the magnifying glass tool icons.
  This aerial photo of Staples Center and the surrounding area is a portion of the photo that is planned to cover the entire City by the end of the year. Other map features include (near the bottom of the scrolled list): Graffiti Zones, Geologic Faults (Earthquake Faults), Hillside Grading, Hi Potential Methane, High Wind Area, Liquifaction/Subsidence, Potential Methane, Fire Brush Clearance, (in the middle) Street Resurfacing, Flood Plains, Storm Pipes (Drains), Storm Drain Inlets, (top) Truck Routes (High, Heavy). There are a total of more than 250 layers in the GIS system that can be used to index City documents on the Internet. There is a more detailed description. - Steve Gilheany and Todd Gaydowski, SLA listserv.
• EnviroMapper
  EnviroMapper, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency online mapper, is "a dynamic way to view and query environmental information. EnviroMapper maps several types of environmental information, including drinking water, toxic and air releases, hazardous waste, water discharge permits, and Superfund sites. EnviroMapper also links to text reports, which provide even more information." Mapping is done at zip code, city, county, and state levels. - INFOMINE
• GEOSOURCE
  Web resources for cartography, human geography, physical geography, planning, geoscience and environmental science. By the Faculty of Geographical Sciences of Utrecht Unversity, Netherlands.
• The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book
  eBook by Environment Canada and the EPA. Chapters include physical characteristics and their responses to settlement, exploitation, and industrialization; natural processes; human impact; present concerns; joint managment of the Great Lakes; and New Directions. Also maps and factsheets.
• Green Maps
  Green Maps showcase the resources that beneficially impact our quality of life. Many Green Maps are a complete inventory of the area's environmental status, and take on an essential role in defining relevant new views of the city while directly connecting us to sustainable choices. Each locally-made Green Map is independently produced, and the process undertaken in each locale varies greatly. - site intro. Categories include: Continental Directory; Folding Maps Published on Paper; Web-Based Maps Published Online; Maps Published in Other Media; Preliminary Published Maps; Preliminary Not Yet Published; Project in Progress; New Projects; Youth Maps; Bilingual Maps.
• Enterprise Geographic Information System (EGIS)
  Community environmental maps searchable by zip code.
• Internet GIS indexed documents and Digital Orthophoto
  The City of Los Angeles has placed just over 500 thousand images on the Internet. The 75 megapixel images are indexed using the City GIS (Geographic Information System). The images were scanned from 35 mm film at an optical resolution of 10 thousand by 7,500 pixels. The project is scanning approximately 6 thousand images per day and is planned to soon reach the goal of putting 800 thousand to 1 million images on the Internet. Most images are scanned at 1 bit per pixel, but the scanning system supports 8 bits per pixel and, in next month's planned ease-of-use site update, the storage and display system will supports 24 and 36 bits per pixel as well as multispectral imaging.
  The system is also designed to support (modeled as a map layer) an approximately 50 billion pixel 8 bit GIS registered digital orthophotographic image (6 inch pixels, 468 square miles, 2 foot contour lines) (the image is 316 thousand pixels by 474 thousand pixels, with an irregular polygonal edge.) (3 square miles are available now, completion planned for this year). This is planned to provide a continuous tone image for the entire City. The continuous tone digital orthophoto image (digitally orthographically corrected to an accuracy of 6 inches over a distance of 47 miles by 31 miles) can be matched with all of the vector image layers in the GIS. Both the contone digital orthophoto and the more than 250 vector data GIS layers are available at continuously variable map scales to index documents. In next month's planned ease-of-use site update, the system will be enhanced to support realtime continuous roaming and zooming (from 1 pixel to 50 billion pixels) (and more) over a dialup Internet connection through progressive transmission of resolution of 1 bit, 24 bit, 36 bit, and multispectral images. (Currently the systems supports discontinuous raster and vector based roaming and zooming in 8 bits over the range.)
  In addition, the system has an extensive relational database which can be used in conjunction with the GIS system's 250 layers of vector information for over 900 thousand parcels that can be used to locate the images. The images are of City maps and blueprints of the built infrastructure. Other examples of GIS layers of GIS information include: Graffiti Zones, Geologic Faults (Earthquake Faults), Hillside Grading, Hi Potential Methane, High Wind Area, Liquifaction/Subsidence, Potential Methane, Fire Brush Clearance, Street Resurfacing, Flood Plains, Storm Pipes (Drains), Storm Drain Inlets, Truck Routes (High, Heavy).
  The system also supports interactive submission of large format images for the redlining of plans and the issuance of permits over the Internet. The redlining capability can also be used by field workers to input data, via the Internet, that can be used to create real time maps of field incidents, events, and status on the Internet.
  SYSTEM DISCLAIMER FOR ENGINEERING VAULT RECORDS: These files, documents, and / or communications are described, identified, indexed, abstracted, scanned, stored, retrieved, transmitted, displayed, printed, and / or otherwise acquired and / or provided under a feasibility pilot program and do not constitute an announcement, guarantee, schedule, and / or specification of any present and / or future service, product, and / or capability. All public documents remain available through existing public access methods. Documents accessed through existing public access methods take precedence
  over these files, documents and / or communications. - Steve Gilheany and Todd Gaydowski, SLA listserv.
• Map Collections: 1500-1999
  Extensive map collection by the American Memory Project, Library of Congress. Of particular interest: Conservation and Environment.
• Population, Land Use and Climate Estimates (PLACE)
  SEDAC is pleased to announce the beta release of a new dataset, Population, Land Use and Climate Estimates (PLACE). This dataset makes interdisciplinary geospatial data usable by analysts who require data aggregated to the national level. It includes estimates of the population and area within distinct classifications of biomes, climate
  zones, coasts, elevation, population density, and slope. The dataset consists of aggregates of sub-national, geospatial data to the national level in standard tabular format. - SEDAC News, Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University.
• ScoreCard
  Pollution locator. Map generator. Environmental issues include: Criteria Air Pollutants, Hazardous Air Pollutants, Lead Hazards, Potential Sources of Land Contamination, Animal Waste from Factory Farms, Chemical Releases from Industrial Facilities, Clean Water Act Status, Watershed Indicators, and Setting Environmental Priorities. From Environmental Defense.
• Southern California Areal Mapping Project
  SCAMP is a cooperative mapping project between the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Division of Mines and Geology. The project provides a variety of geologic-information products for public access in southern California-including geologic and geophysical maps and reports that describe the geologic setting and geologic history of
  southern California. these maps and reports are providing a foundation for specialized investigations of geologic hazards and earth resources, and can be used for land-use planning decisions that involve earth-science data. - site intro
• Spot 5 Mapping http://www.spotimage.com/home/ 
  Spot 5 was launched by the French Space Agency, CNES, on May 4, 2002 and has recently been moved into the same polar orbit as Spot 2 and Spot 4 at an altitude of 830 km. Spot 5 will provide high resolution imagery (5-m and 2.5-m panchromatic) with a swath of 60 km, beginning in approximately 2 months. Spot 5 also carries the VEGETATION instrument, designed for land cover mapping and monitoring at a resolution of 1 km. - SEDAC News, Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University. May 2002 (Vol. 3, No. 5)
• United Nations Atlas of the Oceans
  Information relevant to the sustainable development of the oceans. Designed for use by policy makers who need to become familiar with ocean issues and by scientists, students and resource managers who need access to underlying data bases and approaches to sustainability. - site intro. Includes links to news and ocean-related topics.