Identification_Information: Citation: Citation_Information: Originator: Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program Publication_Date: 20061231 Title: Accuracy Assessment Points for Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site Vegetation Mapping Project Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data Online_Linkage: http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/ftp/vegmapping/alpo/alpoaa.zip Larger_Work_Citation: Citation_Information: Originator: Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program Publication_Date: 20061231 Title: Vegetation Classification and Mapping at Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: report Description: Abstract: Location of thematic accuracy assessment sampling points used in the vegetation classification and mapping of Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site. Purpose: To identify the locations of sampling points used to assess the thematic accuracy of the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site vegetation association map. Time_Period_of_Content: Time_Period_Information: Single_Date/Time: Calendar_Date: 20061231 Currentness_Reference: 20061231 Status: Progress: Complete Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None planned Spatial_Domain: Description_of_Geographic_Extent: Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site and environs Bounding_Coordinates: West_Bounding_Coordinate: -78.859390 East_Bounding_Coordinate: -78.451793 North_Bounding_Coordinate: 40.470841 South_Bounding_Coordinate: 40.349216 Keywords: Theme: Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: none Theme_Keyword: thematic accuracy assessment Theme_Keyword: vegetation community classifcation Theme_Keyword: vegetation association map Theme_Keyword: National Park Service Place: Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: none Place_Keyword: Pennsylvania Place_Keyword: Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site 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 Access_Constraints: none Use_Constraints: none Point_of_Contact: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program Contact_Position: Ecologist Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: 208 Airport Drive City: Middletown State_or_Province: Pennsylvania Postal_Code: 17055 Country: USA Contact_Voice_Telephone: (717) 948-3962 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (717) 948-3957 Data_Set_Credit: Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy Native_Data_Set_Environment: Microsoft Windows 2000 Version 5.0 (Build 2195) Service Pack 4; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.1.0.722 Data_Quality_Information: Logical_Consistency_Report: ESRI point geometry. Completeness_Report: Each accuracy assessment point is representaed by one point in the shapefile. All points fall within vegetation association polygons. Lineage: Process_Step: Process_Description: The number and distribution of sampling points was determined according to the USGS/NPS Vegetation Mapping protocols. A stratified random sampling approach was used, distributing the sampling effort across the 16 vegetation associations. Polygons labeled with modified Anderson level II categories were not included in the thematic accuracy assessment sampling. The polygons labeled as mosaics were grouped with the association that was the least abundant between the two associations in the mosaic. The number of samples per association varied according to the rarity of the vegetation type, both in terms of number of polygons and polygon size. The following rules were used to determine the number of points assigned to each association: Scenario A: The class is abundant. It covers more than 50 hectares of the total area and consists of at least 30 polygons. In this case, it is recommended that 30 polygons be selected at random from the set of association's polygons. One sampling point will be assigned to each of the 30 selected polygons. Scenario B: The association is relatively abundant. It covers more than 50 hectares of the total area but consists of fewer than 30 polygons. In this case, it is recommended that 20 polygons be selected at random from the set of association's polygons, and that 1 sampling point be assigned to each of the 20 selected polygons. If the association contains less than 20 polygons, some polygons will contain multiple sampling points. The number of sampling points assigned to each polygon is determined by the relative area of that polygon compared with the other polygon in that association. Scenario C: The association is relatively rare. It covers less than 50 hectares of the total area but consists of more than 30 polygons. In this case, it is recommended that 20 polygons be selected at random from the set of association's polygons. One sampling point will be assigned to each of the 20 selected polygons. Scenario D: The class is rare. It has 5 - 30 polygons and covers less than 50 hectares of the area. In this case, it is recommended that 5 polygons be selected at random from the set of association's polygons. One sampling point will be assigned to each of the 5 selected polygons. Scenario E: The association is very rare. It has fewer than 5 polygons and occupies less than 50 hectares of the total area. In this case, it is recommended that one sampling point be assigned to each polygon. Scenarios B, C, D, and E were used in the sampling design. Scenario A was not used for this sampling design because no association met the criteria of that scenario. The number of sampling points for Northern Red Oak - Northern Hardwood Forest was doubled from that recommended by the protocol in order to better assess the accuracy of that type. In order to randomly select the polygons in Scenarios B, C, and D, the Create Random Selection tool in Hawth's Analysis Tools was used in ArcGIS. For all of the scenarios, the Generate Random Points tool in Hawth's Analysis Tools was used to randomly determine the location of the sampling points in the polygons. The total number of thematic accuracy assessment sampling points assigned through this procedure was 131. In June 2006, each accuracy assessment point was located in the field using a Trimble GeoXM global positioning system (GPS) unit, with the datum set to North American 1983 (Conus) and the coordinate system set to Universal Trans-Mercator (UTM) zone 17. Three additional sampling points were added to the original sampling plan for a total of 134 sampling points. Process_Date: 20060331 Spatial_Data_Organization_Information: Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Vector Point_and_Vector_Object_Information: SDTS_Terms_Description: SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type: Entity point Point_and_Vector_Object_Count: 134 Spatial_Reference_Information: Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition: Planar: Grid_Coordinate_System: 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_Coordinate_Information: Planar_Coordinate_Encoding_Method: coordinate pair Coordinate_Representation: Abscissa_Resolution: 0.000064 Ordinate_Resolution: 0.000064 Planar_Distance_Units: meters Geodetic_Model: Horizontal_Datum_Name: North American Datum of 1983 Ellipsoid_Name: Geodetic Reference System 80 Semi-major_Axis: 6378137.000000 Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 298.257222 Entity_and_Attribute_Information: Detailed_Description: Entity_Type: Entity_Type_Label: alpo_veg_aa_2006 Entity_Type_Definition: attributes of shapefile table Entity_Type_Definition_Source: Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program Attribute: Attribute_Label: FID Attribute_Definition: Internal feature number. Attribute_Definition_Source: ESRI Attribute_Domain_Values: Unrepresentable_Domain: Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Attribute: Attribute_Label: Shape Attribute_Definition: Feature geometry. Attribute_Definition_Source: ESRI Attribute_Domain_Values: Unrepresentable_Domain: Coordinates defining the features. Attribute: Attribute_Label: AA_OBS_ID Attribute_Definition: accuracy assessment point number Attribute_Definition_Source: NPS four letter park code plus unique number Attribute_Domain_Values: Unrepresentable_Domain: NPS four letter park code plus unique number Attribute: Attribute_Label: UTM_X Attribute_Definition: Easting coordinate of site location. Attribute_Definition_Source: USGS Attribute_Domain_Values: Unrepresentable_Domain: Easting coordinate added using XTools Pro. Attribute: Attribute_Label: UTM_X Attribute_Definition: Northing coordinate of site location. Attribute_Definition_Source: USGS Attribute_Domain_Values: Unrepresentable_Domain: Northing coordinate added using XTools Pro. Distribution_Information: Distributor: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: USGS BRD Center for Biological Informatics Contact_Person: USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Coordinator Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Room 8000, MS 302 City: Denver State_or_Province: Colorado Postal_Code: 80225 Contact_Voice_Telephone: (303) 202-4220 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 303-202-4219 Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: gs-b-npsveg@usgs.gov Resource_Description: Downloadable Data Distribution_Liability: 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. Standard_Order_Process: Digital_Form: Digital_Transfer_Information: Format_Name: HTML Digital_Transfer_Option: Online_Option: Computer_Contact_Information: Network_Address: Network_Resource_Name: http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/alpo/index.html Access_Instructions: Internet Access Fees: None Metadata_Reference_Information: Metadata_Date: 20061120 Metadata_Review_Date: 20100511 Metadata_Contact: Contact_Information: Contact_Organization_Primary: Contact_Organization: USGS BRD Center for Biological Informatics Contact_Person: USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Coordinator Contact_Address: Address_Type: mailing and physical address Address: Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Room 8000, MS 302 City: Denver State_or_Province: Colorado Postal_Code: 80225 Contact_Voice_Telephone: (303) 202-4220 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 303-202-4219 Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: gs-b-npsveg@usgs.gov Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001.1-1999 Metadata_Extensions: Online_Linkage: http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt/community/fgdc_metadata/255