MapBrowser Tutorial

Most of the basic navigation tools in the MapBrowser webGIS application should be familiar to users of common desktop GIS applications like ArcMap. However, some of the MapBrowser's custom query tools and data loading functionality may be confusing, so we've put together this brief tutorial on working with the MapBrowser.

Contents

  1. Choose Initial Layers
  2. Select Quads
  3. Select Plot Points
  4. Map Tools

Choose Initial Layers

Before selecting individual plots, you may first wish to orient yourself to the map by area or by available information for individual quads. To do this, you can select and apply the layers best suited to your objective. Those layers with checkmarks to the left will be added to or will remain on the map when the “update” button is clicked. Add or remove layers by clicking in the box to the left of the desired layer. When you click “update”, the layers with checkmarks next to them will appear on the map to the left.

For example:

In this example, upon clicking update, the map will depict only the 30 minute quads and the data available for each plot on the map. Selecting “Plots” will give you a quick graphical depiction of the type of data available for each area. Selecting “Photos” will tell you which plots photos are available for. The layers under “Other VTM” provide a digitized view of the information on the original analog maps created in the 1930’s and in 1945.

Select Quads

Before you can find information specific to individual quads, you must “select” them. This can be done by first clicking the “Select VTM Quads” button to the right of the map. You will be able to select individual quads by clicking a point on a map, or several adjacent quads by clicking and dragging the mouse to form a red square around the area, as in the figure below.

Selection of quads will return available information for those quads selected. The types of information that will appear are the Quad Number(s), the Quad Name(s), “Plot Map”, “Plot Points”, “Veg Map”, and “Photos”. Not all data are available for all quads. Plot Maps and Veg Maps are scans of original maps created by the Wieslander team. Plot points are points where individual sets of data were taken. To add the available layers, click the box to left of the desired layers for the quad(s) you are interested in so that a checkmark appears in the box. Click “Add Data” to update the map. Note: The “Photos” column does not provide another layer, but provides links to scanned photographs, if they are available, for each quad.

If you are looking for a specific quad, you may wish to click on the dropdown menu box which says “Select a location”. You can use the scrollbar on the right to find the location you are looking for. When you find it, clicking on it will produce the quad zoomed in and centered on the map to the left. If you choose to zoom in on your desired quad first, you will still have to select it via the “Select VTM Quads” button on the right if you wish to view data for the quad.

Select Plot Points

When you have added plot point layers for the quads you have selected, you can view data for the available points by clicking the “Select Plots” button to the right of the map. You can select an individual point by clicking on it, or any number of adjacent points by clicking and dragging the mouse to form a red square around the area. The selected plot points will become red stars, as shown below, and the data for those points will appear to the right of the map.

Please note that plot data for each quad are available for download in the data section of the site.

Map Tools

The following are a number of tools surrounding the map that allow you to manipulate the scale at which you are viewing it, the area of the map you wish to focus on, etc.

Zoom In – Click on the icon and then click on an area you wish to zoom in on, or click and drag to select a larger area you wish to focus on.
Zoom Out – Click on the icon and then click on the map to zoom out.
Zoom to Full Extents – Click on the icon and then click on the map to return to initial fully zoomed out view.
Recenter – Click on the icon and then click on the area of the map which you would like to be in the center of the map area.
Pan Map – Click on the icon and then click and hold down the mouse button. Drag the mouse to move the map.
Identify Feature – Click on the icon and then click on a feature you wish to identify. For example, clicking on a plot point will give you the plotkey and other information regarding the plot.

Other tools are “Map Size” at the top which allows you to change the size of the map, and “Print” at the bottom which allows you to print the map you have generated as well as save it to your computer.

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