Vegetation classification crosswalk database for use in GIS to synchronize vegetation map layers of the NPS Great Lakes Network to the U.S. National Vegetation Classification
Dates
Publication Date
2015-10-09
Citation
Hop, K.D., Menard, S., Key, R., and Gafvert, U., 2015, Vegetation classification crosswalk database for use in GIS to synchronize vegetation map layers of the NPS Great Lakes Network to the U.S. National Vegetation Classification: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F72N50B5.
Summary
The geodatabase contains 13 relate tables that together provide updated and synchronized classifications to an existing vegetation map layer for each of the nine park units in the Great Lakes Network (GLKN) of the National Park Service (NPS) Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring Program. The classifications include 1) vegetation types at every hierarchical level in the 2015 version of the U.S. National Vegetation Classification (USNVC) and 2) map classes that represent vegetation and land cover in the vegetation map layers. Furthermore, the tables provide a crosswalk between the two classifications (vegetation and map). Each park unit in GLKN has received, at different times over several years, vegetation data products from the [...]
Summary
The geodatabase contains 13 relate tables that together provide updated and synchronized classifications to an existing vegetation map layer for each of the nine park units in the Great Lakes Network (GLKN) of the National Park Service (NPS) Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring Program. The classifications include 1) vegetation types at every hierarchical level in the 2015 version of the U.S. National Vegetation Classification (USNVC) and 2) map classes that represent vegetation and land cover in the vegetation map layers. Furthermore, the tables provide a crosswalk between the two classifications (vegetation and map). Each park unit in GLKN has received, at different times over several years, vegetation data products from the NPS Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program. However, the vegetation and map classifications were at different stages of development over these years. With this geodatabase product, having a series of already linked relate tables, the original vegetation map layer for each park unit can be linked to the updated and synchronized classification information for both vegetation types and map classes.
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GLKN_USNVC_Clsf_XWalk.xml Original FGDC Metadata
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8.61 KB
application/fgdc+xml
GLKN_USNVC_Clsf_XWalk_2015.zip
3 MB
application/zip
Purpose
National park units within GLKN have received, through the NPS VMI Program, vegetation map layers for use in geographic information systems (GIS). For vegetation classification, the NPS VMI Program uses the USNVC, which follows the protocols and organization standards of the National Vegetation Classification Standard (NVCS). In 2008, the NVCS received significant hierarchical reorganization. The USNVC followed the reorganized hierarchy, and has since undergone numerous classification coding, naming, and conceptual adjustments. This left the classifications of the vegetation map layers at different versions of the USNVC, depending on when the map layers were produced. In Spring 2015, another release of the USNVC was issued, with a significant reclassification at all hierarchical levels, including classification names, codes, and concepts. Natural resource scientists and data managers from the NPS GLKN need an all-inclusive vegetation classification database that would provide a consistent crosswalk between the various vegetation map layers and the most current iteration of the USNVC, which this crosswalk of synchronized vegetation and map classification database provides. This crosswalk database is a tool for data managers and scientists to efficiently and effectively perform analyses of the vegetation data between park units and to produce consistent map displays of all park units using GIS. The crosswalk is also a tool to consistently monitor vegetation over time within a particular park unit. Finally, the crosswalk database might serve as a prototype for other networks within the NPS Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring Program that wish to use this database schematic as a template.
Communities
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC)
