Most states have detailed information showing the boundaries of various kinds of public land at the federal, state and local level. Government agencies also have all kinds of map information that is useful for all kinds of outdoor activities from hunting to 4-wheeling to horse riding to hiking to boating to fishing and everything in between. I have started a project to locate that data where it is hosted on Geographical Information System (GIS) servers and produce online maps so everyone has a super easy way to see and use that data. The types of GIS data that these online maps will display include: 1. Boundaries of public land 2. Recreation features such as picnic areas, campgrounds, boat launches, trailheads, etc 3. Fishing and hunting information 4. Habitats 5. Public safety including wildland fires and earthquakes So far I have completed online maps for several states, including California. The type of data that is available varies by state. I have also completed several national level online maps. Below is the homepage link for this project. Please take a moment to read through the text before you start playing with the map links. Also, if you want to get the most out of these maps, be sure to read the “Tips”. Public land map homepage: http://www.propertylinemaps.com/p/public_land_map.html Edit: Opps! I forgot to include an important point in my post. The map legends are really important to help you understand the story the map is telling you. To see the map legends, click the button in the upper left corner that says "About this map". All of these online maps are displayed by Gmap4 which is an enhanced Google map viewer that I developed. Using the same software to display all of this GIS data from coast-to-coast means you see a consistent interface based on the familiar Google maps and you also get the same broad feature set for every map. For those that are GIS savvy (or would like to be) you can peek under the hood and see how the magic works by visiting my GIS page (written at a newbie level): http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4_gis-viewer.html Wait... there’s more... or soon will be. Each GIS feature you see on these maps have more information (called “attributes”) stored on the GIS server. Currently Gmap4 does not let you click a GIS symbol and see the attribute data. I plan to add that feature this winter. Think of this as my Christmas present to you. Enjoy! Joseph, the Gmap4 guy
I love Gmap4!! I've put an icon on my iPhone home screen because i use it so often. Very well done Joseph, keep up the good work!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Here is an update on my ongoing project to produce online maps that show public land and other recreation information. You can now click on any of the GIS data displayed on these maps and a popup will appear that displays all the attribute data that the GIS server has for the thing that you clicked. For example, here is a map that shows different kinds of public land in California. The data you see on this map comes from a GIS server operated by the state. If you click on any of this land then you will see a popup with the attribute data. To see the map legends, click the “About this map” link in the upper left corner. http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gma...land_map/state/CA/CA_public_land_boundary.txt Here is another example using a new map I added to this project. This map shows all the current weather watches and warnings. If you click on any of the colored areas then a popup appears that displays the attribute data. The attribute data includes links to weather service pages that have all the details for the spot you clicked. http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gma...aps.com/p/public_land_map/USA/USA_weather.txt The homepage for this mapping project is: http://www.propertylinemaps.com/p/public_land_map.html As time allows, I will be posting map links for additional states. So if I have not got to your state yet, eventually it will get added. Here is another example. The following map displays symbols for recreation opportunities (campgrounds, trailheads, etc) on most of the national forests. For this demo the map is zoomed in on an area of the Sierra National Forest. The data that puts the symbols on the map comes from a GIS server operated by the Forest Service. Sometimes this GIS server is slow so it may take a few seconds for the red symbols to appear. Click any red symbol to see all the attribute data. http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gma...com/p/public_land_map/USA/USFS_recreation.txt The attribute data you see on the above map includes a link (RECAREAURL) that will take you to a web page the Forest Service maintains with more details about the thing you clicked. Of course you can zoom and pan this map to any other national forest. Click the “About this map” link in the upper left corner of the map to learn how to turn other GIS overlay layers on and see their attribute data. Among other things, you can display a GIS layer for Forest Service roads that allow motorized use and a different GIS layer for roads that are closed to motorized use. If a road is hard to see then change the basemap to “All white basemap”. Note that some forests have not yet loaded their road data onto the GIS server. Finally, every attribute popup always has a link titled “GIS server directory”. This link takes you straight to the GIS server that includes the data layer that is presently displaying attribute values on the map. A new Help page (http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/help_files/gmap4_gis_help.html) walks you through (1) understanding the key information the GIS server directory provides and (2) how to use that information to build your own custom Gmap4 links to display the GIS data that *you* want to see. Joseph, the Gmap4 guy
