Category Archives: Fall 2016

Gap Analysis Program (GAP) Protected Areas and Land Cover Data Viewer

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This geographic website is for the Gap Analysis Program (GAP) Viewer of the USGS for Protected Areas and Land Cover Data.

Separated into two different viewers for user clarity, the viewers provide users ranging from the public to professional land managers a spatially explicit inventory of the Protected Areas of the United States and a consistent nation-wide inventory of vegetation and land-use patterns for the United States.

This compilation of data types for the Gap Analysis Program is being served by the United States Geological Survey for aid in conservation, land management, planning, and recreation, amongst other uses.  In order to increase collective knowledge, these interactive maps are designed to disseminate up to date, concise, and specific data to facilitate the planning and management of biological diversity on a local, regional, and national scale.

Data viewers like these can be exceptionally helpful to both grab data and see data without the need to use any local semblance of a Geographical Information System.  In accordance with our national park projects and our final projects, I could see these viewers becoming exceedingly helpful in data gathering and analysis.  I encourage you to check them out and see how you can utilize them!

PAD: https://maps.usgs.gov/padus/

LCD: https://maps.usgs.gov/padus/

Live Earthquakes Map

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Website: http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/

This website maps earthquakes from around the world using data from the US Geological Survey feed. It provides information about the location, the date and time (including how long ago it happened from the current viewing time),  the magnitude, and the depth of the quake in a table below the map. On the map itself, dots corresponding to the magnitude of the earthquake are placed at the geographic location of the quake, providing a clear visual display of where recent earthquakes have occurred.

This website clearly relates to our class discussion on the lithosphere and earthquakes specifically. Being able to visualize the location and magnitude of recent quakes drives home the theory of plate tectonics (thanks Alfred Wegener) because you can see that earthquakes most often occur along certain, invisible boundaries. I also like that this map shows how frequently earthquakes occur, even smaller ones that are not necessarily detectable without technology. I think this drives home the point that earthquakes are a common phenomenon that frequently, and often heavily, impact human life.