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?

   Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, 20050930, Vegetation Classification Sampling Points used in 2002 to Develop the Association-Level Vegetation Map.

   Online Links:

   • <http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/ftp/vegmapping/frhi/frhiplot.zip>

   This is part of the following larger work.

   Pennsylvania Science Office of The Nature Conservancy, 20051231, Vegetation Classification and Mapping at Friendship Hill National Historic Site.

2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

   West_Bounding_Coordinate: -79.932877

   East_Bounding_Coordinate: -79.916424

   North_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.785514

   South_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.762722

   Description_of_Geographic_Extent: Friendship Hill National Historic Site and environs

3. What does it look like?

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

   Calendar_Date: 31-Dec-2005

   Currentness_Reference: 20051231

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 (32)

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

      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator

      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:

      UTM_Zone_Number: 17

      Transverse_Mercator:

      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 0.000004
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.000004
      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 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222.
      

7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

   frhi_veg_plots_2004

   attributes from shapefile table (Source: Pennyslvania 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 code (Source: NPS four letter park code plus unique number)

   NPS four letter park code plus unique number

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)
   • Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program

2. Who also contributed to the data set?

   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 17055
   USA
   

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

Why was the data set created?

To identify locations of plots from which data was collected to use in the classification and mapping efforts at Friendship Hill National Historic Site.

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: 31-Jul-2005 (process 1 of 2)

   All vegetation plot sampling followed the USGS/NPS Vegetation Mapping Program protocols. The protocol recommends that each vegetation association should have been sampled at least three times in order to capture the naturally occurring variation within the park. If each of the identified formation-level vegetation types represented only one association in Friendship Hill National Historic Site, the minimum number of plots needed would have been 25. This assumed that areas labeled with modified 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.

   However, it is more likely that some formations represent multiple associations, and that a few formations actually represent the same single association. Therefore, we concluded that approximately 30 plots would be sufficient to capture the range of vegetation types based on our initial reconnaissance of Friendship Hill National Historic Site and previous vegetation mapping efforts at this and other parks. Polygons labeled Conical-crowned temperate evergreen forest were not sampled because they represented extremely small remnants of conifer plantations, a vegetation type adequately sampled at other nearby parks. Many of the Medium-tall sod temperate or subpolar grassland polygons were also excluded from sampling because they represented frequently mowed grasslands in which the plants could not be identified.

   Plot sampling was conducted in June and July 2004. In total, 32 plots were sampled throughout Friendship Hill National Historic Site. All vegetation types were sampled over a range of environmental variables. The two additional plots were added to the original sampling strategy. These plots were placed in a Saturated temperate perennial forb vegetation polygon and a Medium-tall sod temperate or subpolar grassland polygon in order to sufficiently capture the variation in species composition and environmental setting.

   Data sources used in this process:

   • C:\NPS 6 Parks\NPS 6 parks GIS\FONE GIS\WPC data points\fone_veg_plots.shp.xml

   Date: 31-Jul-2005 (process 2 of 2)

   Metadata imported.

   Data sources used in this process:

   • C:\DOCUME~1\C-SPER~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\xml33.tmp

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?

   Each plot is represented by one point. All points fall within the mapped polygons.

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?

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/frhi/index.html>

   • Cost to order the data: None

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:

Last modified: 15-Dec-2005
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>