USGS:Biology Biological Informatics Program Vegetation Characterization Program Effigy Mounds National Monument Boundary FAQ Metadata

Boundary FAQ Metadata

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Frequently-anticipated questions:

• What does this data set describe?
  1. How should this data set be cited?
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
• Who produced the data set?
  1. Who are the originators of the data set?
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
• Why was the data set created?
• How was the data set created?
  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
• How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?
  1. How well have the observations been checked?
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the data, including topology?
• How can someone get a copy of the data set?
  1. Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
  2. Who distributes the data?
  3. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
  4. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
  5. How can I download or order the data?
• Who wrote the metadata?

Title: Effigy Mounds NM Boundary (EFMOBNDP)

Abstract:

EFMOBNDP is an ArcInfo polygon coverage representing the best depiction of the monument boundary currently available.

1. How should this data set be cited?

   NPS Midwest Region GIS Technical Support Center, 20010827, Effigy Mounds NM Boundary (EFMOBNDP): NPS Midwest Region GIS Technical Support Center, Madison WI.

   Online Links:

   • <http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/efmo/index.html#geospatial_veg_info>

2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

   West_Bounding_Coordinate: -91.2404404

   East_Bounding_Coordinate: -91.1585007

   North_Bounding_Coordinate: 43.1095123

   South_Bounding_Coordinate: 42.9361382

   Description_of_Geographic_Extent: Effigy Mounds National Moument, Iowa

3. What does it look like?

4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

   Beginning_Date:

   Ending_Date: 25-Jul-2001

   Currentness_Reference: Ground Condition

5. What is the general form of this data set?

   Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: map

6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
   1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • Complete Chain (14)
      • GT-polygon composed of chains (4)
      • Area Point (3)

   2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator

      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:

      UTM_Zone_Number: 15

      Transverse_Mercator:

      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.9996

      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -93

      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0

      False_Easting: 500000

      False_Northing: 0

      Planar coordinates are encoded using Coordinate Pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest .1
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest .1
      Planar coordinates are specified in meters

      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1983.
      The ellipsoid used is Geodetic Reference System 80.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257.
      

7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

   EFMOBNDP.AAT

   Arc Attribute Table (Source: None)

   LENGTH

   software computed value (Source: None)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	3653
   Maximum:	9359
   Units:	METERS

   ARC_SOURCE

   Source information for each arc in the data set describing how it was created or from where it was acquired. (Source: Midwest GIS TSC Staff)

   Value	Definition
   survey	Arcs constructed using the most current survey available.
   constructed	Arcs constructed using ArcView and ArcInfo tools based on supporting data.
   water resources	Arcs extracted from the service-wide, lower-48 boundaries data.

   EFMOBNDP.PAT

   Polygon Attribute Table (Source: None)

   AREA

   software computed value (Source: None)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	571507
   Maximum:	3215831.5
   Units:	Square METERS

   PERIMETER

   software computed value (Source: None)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	3653
   Maximum:	9359
   Units:	METERS

   AUNIT

   Value identifies the three units of the park. (Source: None)

   Character field

1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
   • NPS Midwest Region GIS Technical Support Center

2. Who also contributed to the data set?

3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

   NPS Midwest Region GIS Technical Support Center
   c/o Peter Budde
   GIS Coordinator
   B102 Steenbock 550 Babcock Dr.
   Madison, Wisconsin 53706
   USA
   

   (608)-265-3515 (voice)
   (608)-262-2500 (FAX)
   peter_budde@nps.gov
   

   Hours_of_Service: M-F 0730 - 1630 (Central)

The intended use of all data in a park`s GIS library is to support diverse park activities including planning, management, maintenance, research, and interpretation.

1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

   NPSB (source 1 of 3)

   National Park Service Water Resources Division, Unpublished material, NPS Boundaries in ArcInfo Interchange Format (DOS Zipped).

   Other_Citation_Details:

   As of 03/04/2002, this data set was available at: <http://www.nps.gov/gis/data_info/>

   Type_of_Source_Media: digital spatial data

   Source_Scale_Denominator: 9600

   Source_Contribution:

   The Effigy Mounds boundary extracted from this data set was the previously used boundary depiction. It provides the foundation for the new version which has been updated with a recent land acquisition and additional GPS survey data.

   fer8 (source 2 of 3)

   Peter Budde NPS Midwest Region GIS Technical Support Center, 20010416, Iowa Natural Heritage Tract: NPS Midwest Region GIS Technical Support, Madison, Wisconsin.

   Other_Citation_Details: Also known as the Ferguson Tract and the Heritage Addition.

   Type_of_Source_Media: legal land description

   Source_Scale_Denominator: 24000

   Source_Contribution: Boundary of land recently added to the monument.

   surv (source 3 of 3)

   Mohn, Roger R. , 20010410, Effigy Mounds NM Boundary Survey-Selected Segments: Roger R. Mohn, Harpers Ferry, Iowa.

   Other_Citation_Details: Scale of survey drawings provided to the park-1:4800

   Type_of_Source_Media: hard copy

   Source_Scale_Denominator: 4800

   Source_Contribution:

   Survey monument positions from the hardcopy map were converted to ArcInfo coverages and used to create the corresponding boundary lines.

2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

   Date: 09-Feb-1998 (process 1 of 10)

   Downloaded the NPS Water Resources Division version of the lower-48 park boundaries from the NPS FTP site.

   Data sources used in this process:

   • NPSB

   Date: 09-Feb-1998 (process 2 of 10)

   In ArcEdit, the boundary for Effigy was selected. The selection set was then reversed with "nselect." The selected set was then deleted leaving only Effigy.

   Date: 18-Feb-1998 (process 3 of 10)

   The coverage was projected from Albers to UTM 15, NAD83.

   Date: 21-Jun-2001 (process 4 of 10)

   Used the ArcInfo "generate" command to produce points and lines from positions listed on the harcopy survey. Projected the survey positions in Iowa-North State Plane to UTM Zone 15, NAD83.

   Data sources used in this process:

   • surv

   Date: 26-Jun-2001 (process 5 of 10)

   The county road along the northwest boundary of the North Unit was buffered by 46 ft to produce a replacement for the Water Resource version of the boundary.

   Date: 27-Jun-2001 (process 6 of 10)

   The buffered-road boundary was edited to account for private property along that boundary segment. This was done based on the DOQQ for the area.

   Date: 27-Jun-2001 (process 7 of 10)

   The survey-based and the buffered-road layers were added to the Water Resource boundary coverage to replace the corresponding existing arcs. Arcs were edited as little as possible when snapping the coverage polygons closed.

   Date: 27-Jun-2001 (process 8 of 10)

   The boundary of the Heritage Addition was appended to the the boundary coverage. The South Unit boundary segment adjacent to the Addition was removed, and the corresponding Addition-South Unit arcs snapped to close the polygon.

   Data sources used in this process:

   • fer8

   Date: 14-Aug-2001 (process 9 of 10)

   An attribute field was added and populated to account for the source of each arc in the data set.

   Date: 30-Aug-2001 (process 10 of 10)

   Errors in both the PAT and AAT user-id values were corrected by calculating new values equal to the internal system-id values. The ArcInfo command IDEDIT was then used to snyc the attribute table id values with the label file values.

3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

1. How well have the observations been checked?

   Descriptive attributes have been and verified by NPS staff. Measured attributes are software computed and based on currently accepted algorithims applied in ESRI software.

2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

   Variable, depending on the source of a particular boundary segment. Currently, the source scale of all boundary lines are 1:24,000 or better.

3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

   NONE

4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

   All known boundary lines have been included. The park is currently funding a legal survey of selected bounda lines.

5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

   The data set is topologically clean. The data set has been reviewed for topological errors.

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: none

Use_Constraints:

Not for use at scales greater than 1:12000. Given that only sections of the boundary have been legally surveyed, this depiction of the boundary is only authorized for use as reference for resource management.

1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

   USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Coordinator
   U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Biological Informatics, MS 302, Room 8000, Building 810, Denver Federal Center
   Denver, Colorado 80225
   USA
   

   (303) 202-4220 (voice)
   (303) 202-4219 (FAX)
   gs-b-npsveg@usgs.gov
   

2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

   The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. These data and related graphics (if available) are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such.

   The information contained in these data is dynamic and may change over time. The data are not better than the original sources from which they were derived. It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data appropriately and consistent within the limitations of geospatial data in general and these data in particular. Any related graphics (if available) are intended to aid the data user in acquiring relevant data; it is not approriate to use the related graphics as data.

   The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data. It is strongly recommended that these data are directly acquired from an U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service servers and not indirectly through other sources which may have changed the data in some way. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the utility of the data on another system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This disclaimer applies both to individual use of the data and aggregate use with other data. It is also strongly recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of the metadata file associated with these data. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this metadata report does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey and National Park Service.

4. How can I download or order the data?
   • Availability in digital form:

     Data format:	HTML
     Network links:	<http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/efmo/index.html#geospatial_veg_info>

   • Cost to order the data:

     Organizations/individuals may need to provide suitable media to reporduce the data.

Dates:

Last modified: 31-Dec-2004
Last Reviewed: 02-Nov-2007

Metadata author:

USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Coordinator
U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Biological Informatics, MS 302,
Room 8000, Building 810, Denver Federal Center
Denver, Colorado 80225
USA

(303) 202-4220 (voice)
(303) 202-4219 (FAX)
gs-b-npsveg@usgs.gov

Metadata standard:

FGDC-STD-001.1-1999 Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata, 1998 Part 1: Biological Data Profile, 1999 (FGDC-STD-001-1998)

Metadata extensions used:

• <http://metadata.nbii.gov/portal/community/Communities/Toolkit/Metadata/FGDC_Metadata/>