Field Plots 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?
  8. What biological taxa does this data set concern?
• 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?

What does this data set describe?

1. How should this data set be cited?

   North Carolina State University, Center for Earth Observation, 200703, Fort Necessity National Battlefield Vegetation Mapping Project Vegetation Plots - Modified.

   Online Links:

   • <http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/ftp/vegmapping/fone/foneplot.zip>

   This is part of the following larger work.

   Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, 20050930, Vegetation Classification and Mapping at Fort Necessity National Battlefield.

2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

   West_Bounding_Coordinate: -79.641425

   East_Bounding_Coordinate: -79.574660

   North_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.880555

   South_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.803275

   Description_of_Geographic_Extent: Fort Necessity National Battlefield and environs

3. What does it look like?

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

   Beginning_Date: 01-Jul-2003

   Ending_Date: 30-Sep-2005

   Currentness_Reference: 20050930

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

   Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

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):

      • Entity point (47)

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

      The map projection used is Transverse Mercator.

      Projection parameters:

      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.999600

      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -81.000000

      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.000000

      False_Easting: 500000.000000

      False_Northing: 0.000000

      Planar coordinates are encoded using coordinate pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.000016
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.000016
      Planar coordinates are specified in meters

      The horizontal datum used is WGS84.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS84.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222.
      

7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

   fone_veg_plots_2003

   attribute table for shapefile (Source: Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program)

   FID

   Internal feature number. (Source: ESRI)

   Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

   Shape

   Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI)

   Coordinates defining the features.

   PLOT_CODE

   plot number (Source: NPS 4 letter park code + unique number)

   plot codes consisting of NPS 4 letter park code and unique plot number

   crd_alt

   Field used to indicate whether X, Y coordinates for the plot have been altered to protect a rare species that could be vulnerable to collection (Source: NCSU)

   Value	Definition
   yes	The X, Y coordinates for the plot have been altered.
   no	The X, Y coordinates for the plot have not been altered.

8. What biological taxa does this data set concern?

   Taxonomy:

   Keywords/Taxon:

   Taxonomic_Keyword_Thesaurus: none

   Taxonomic_Keywords: Standardized National Vegetation Classification System

   Taxonomic_Keywords: vegetation classification

   Taxonomic_Keywords: alliance

   Taxonomic_Keywords: community association

   Taxonomic_Classification:

   Taxon_Rank_Name: Kingdom

   Taxon_Rank_Value: Plantae

Who produced the data set?

1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
   • North Carolina State University, Center for Earth Observation

2. Who also contributed to the data set?

   The shapefile from which this data set is derived was created by the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, Pennsylvania Science Office of The Nature Conservancy, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
   Pennsylvania Science Office of The Nature Conservancy
   Ecologist
   208 Airport Drive
   Middletown, Pennsylvania 17057
   USA
   

   717-948-3962 (voice)
   717-948-3957 (FAX)
   

Why was the data set created?

Plant community classification

How was the data set created?

1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

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

   Date: 11-Sep-2003 (process 1 of 2)

   All vegetation plot sampling followed the USGS/NPS Vegetation Mapping Program protocols. According to the protocol, each vegetation association should be sampled at least three times in order to capture the naturally occurring variation within the park. If each of the eight mapped formations included only one association in Fort Necessity National Battlefield, then the minimum number of plots needed would have been 24. This assumed that polygons labeled Anderson level II categories would not be sampled and that for formations with less than three polygons, one plot would be placed in each polygon.

   Based on the initial reconnaissance and previous vegetation mapping efforts of the park, it was determined that several formations in the park included multiple vegetation associations, thereby requiring more sampling effort. Forty-five polygons, stratified across formations, biophysical environments, and aerial photography signatures, were selected for sampling. Since Fort Necessity National Battlefield was classified as a medium-sized park, the sampling area encompassed the entire park and representative polygons of each formation-level vegetation type were selected for sampling.

   Within each polygon selected for sampling, a plot was established in an area most representative of the existing vegetation community. Locations of the plot centers were captured with a hand held Trimble GeoXM GPS unit in the field. Points were collected between 20030619 and 20030911.

   Data sources used in this process:

   • C:\NPS Vegetation Mapping (1637)\vege mapping\GIS\veg_points_corrected\fone_points\fone_points
   • C:\NPS 6 Parks\NPS 6 parks GIS\FONE GIS\WPC data points\fone_plots_only.shp.xml

   Data sources produced in this process:

   • Vegetation plots shapefile

   Date: Mar-2007 (process 2 of 2)

   The vegetation plots shapefile was altered to create a shapefile suitable for public distribution. The X, Y coordinates for each plot that contains a rare plant species that could be vulnerable to collection were rounded as follows: the coordinate value was rounded up if the last three digits = 000-499; the coordinate value was rounded down if the last three digits = 500-999. Coordinates were altered in this manner for three plots. As a result, it is possible that some or all of these points now fall outside the park boundary. A field named "crd_alt" was added to the shapefile attribute table; the value for this field is "no" if the plot coordinates have not been altered and "yes" if the plot coordinates were altered.

   Person who carried out this activity:
   

   North Carolina State University, Center for Earth Observation
   Campus Box 7106
   Raleigh, NC 27695-7106
   USA
   

   (919) 515-3430 (voice)
   

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?

   The plot number attributed to each point is correct.

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?

   Each plot is represented by a point. The X, Y coordinates for three plots have been altered, as described in the second processing step below, to protect rare species that could be vulnerable to collection.

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

   ESRI point geometry

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

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

Access_Constraints: None.

Use_Constraints: None.

1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
   USGS/CSS/Core Science Analytics and Synthesis
   c/o USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Coordinator
   Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Room 8000, MS 302
   Denver, Colorado 80225
   

   (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?

   The name of the shapefile that this metadata record documents is: fone_veg_plots_2003.shp

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/fone/index.html>

   • Cost to order the data: None

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:

Last modified: Mar-2007
Last Reviewed: 24-May-2010

Metadata author:

USGS/CSS/Core Science Analytics and Synthesis
c/o USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Coordinator
Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Room 8000, MS 302
Denver, Colorado 80225

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

Metadata standard:

FGDC Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001.1-1999)

Metadata extensions used:

• <http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt/community/fgdc_metadata/255>