FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION
VERSION 2004

TITLE: 2001 SNOWY PLOVER LOCATIONS

Geodataset Name:       SNPL
Geodataset Type:       SHAPEFILE
Geodataset Feature:    POINT
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
This data set shows the locations where snowy plovers were observed in Florida during January and February 2001.
DATA SOURCE(S):                    US Fish & Wildlife Service
SCALE OF ORIGINAL SOURCE MAPS:     N/A
DATE OF AUTOMATION OF SOURCE:      February 2001
GEODATASET EXTENT:                 State of Florida

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES:

Datafile Name: SNPL.DBF
ITEM NAME WIDTH TYPE N. DECIMAL DEGREES
FID
4 OID ---
Shape
0 Geometry ---
SITE_ID
8 Number ---
Z_SNOWY
10 Number ---
SITE_NAME
55 String ---
COUNTY
12 String ---
STATE
6 String ---
SITE_LAT
9 String ---
SITE_LONG
11 String ---
OWNER
17 String ---
DATE
8 Date ---
SITE_HABIT
15 String ---
HABITAT_CO
26 String ---
SNOWY_HABI
16 String ---
SNOWY_LAT
13 String ---
SNOWY_LONG
14 String ---
SNOWY_DD_X
12 Number 6
SNOWY_DD_Y
12 Number 6
OBSERVER
49 String ---
ADDITIONAL
81 String ---
SITE_ID_2
10 String ---
ATLAS_PG
15 Number ---
Descript
55 String ---

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES:

Item
Item Description
FID Internal feature number.

Shape Feature geometry.

SITE_ID Survey site ID number

Z_SNOWY Number of snowy plovers observed

SITE_NAME Descriptive name of survey site

COUNTY County name

STATE State name

SITE_LAT Latitude at approximate center of survey site

SITE_LONG ongitude at approximate center of survey site

OWNER Land Ownership

DATE Date of census

SITE_HABIT Habitat description of survey site

HABITAT_CO Habitat Comments

SNOWY_HABI Description of habitat where snowy plover was observed

SNOWY_LAT Latitude of snowy plover observation

SNOWY_LONG Longitude of snowy plover observation

SNOWY_DD_X X-coordinate of snowy plover location

SNOWY_DD_Y Y-coordinate of snowy plover observation

OBSERVER Name of observer(s)

ADDITIONAL Additional comments taken from the census datasheets

SITE_ID_2 Snowy plover observation site ID number

ATLAS_PG DeLorme Florida gazetteer page that corresponds to plover location

Descript FGDL added field based on SITE_NAME

USER NOTES:
GeoPlan relied on the integrity of the attribute information within the original data.

To create this GIS layer, data was taken from the "2001 International Piping and Snowy Plover Winter Census: Individual Census Reports" that were submitted to the US FWS from individuals throughout the state.

A note concerning data scale:

Scale is an important factor in data usage. Certain scale 
datasetsare not suitable for some project, analysis, or
modelling purposes. Please be sure you are using the best
available data.

1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that 
are at the county level.

1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base 
mapping such as property parcel boundaries.

1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that 
are at the multi-county or regional level.

1:250000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that 
are at the regional or state level or larger.

Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should 
be considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with 
your data before using it for projects or analyses. Every 
effort has been made to supply the user with data 
documentation. For additional information, see the 
References sectionand the Data Source Contact section of 
this documentation. For more information regarding scale 
and accuracy, see our web pages at:

http://www.geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html
REFERENCES:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife:

http://www.fws.gov/
DATA LINEAGE SUMMARY:

This data set was created using ArcView 3.2

The process steps for creating the snowy plover locations
were as follows:

1. If a specific latitude and longitude was given for a
snowy plover location in the "Individual Census Reports",
that data was entered into a table in the format DD MM SS.
If no coordinates were given for the specific location of
the bird, then the coordinates of the survey site was
entered into the table. 

If no coordinates were provided, they were determined from the
accompanying field map and entered into the table. 

2. Appropriate data from the "Individual Census Reports" was
entered into the table as each record was created.

3. The latitude and longitude fields were converted to
decimal degrees using the ArcView sample script
"dms2dd.ave"

4. The shapefile was created by "Adding an Event Theme"
using the decimal degree coordinates created in the
previous step. 

5. The shapefile was projected from the standard geographic
projection to a custom FL Albers Equal-Area Conic
projection using the ArcView Projector! extension.

6. Plover locations in the panhandle of Florida were
checked against DOQQ's (from FL DEP, 1994, 1m resolution)
and county boundaries (TIGER/Census data, 1990, 1:100K).
Some points were moved to better line up with these data
layers. Also, some points were moved to better match the
field maps that accompanied the "Individual Census
Reports". (Some coordinates reported were approximations
and were not collected with a GPS unit.)

7. Plover locations outside of the panhandle and along the
Gulf coast of Florida were checked against DRG's (USGS
1:100K) and a detailed coastline layer (from FMRI/NOAA,
1993, 1:40K). Some points were moved to better line up with
these data layers. Also, some points were moved to better
match the field maps that accompanied the "Individual
Census Reports". (Some coordinates reported were
approximations and were not collected with a GPS unit.) 

8. The plover location along the Atlantic coast of Florida was
checked against DRG's (USGS 1:100K) and county boundaries
(TIGER/Census data, 1990, 1:100K). The point was moved to
better line up with these data layers. Also, the point was
moved to better match the field map that accompanied the
"Individual Census Report," as the coordinates were not
reported for this site.

All data sets used to confirm accuracy were provided by
FGDL (Florida Geographic Data Library) Version 3.0. 

9. Once all points were checked for accuracy; the shapefile
was projected back to the standard geographic projection
using the Projector! extension.

10. The attribute table was modified to show the new
latitude and longitude of the points. This was done by
using the FieldCalculator request "[Shape].GetX" and
"[Shape].GetY" for decimal degrees and using the ArcView
sample script "dd2dms.ave" on these new fields to get the
degrees, minutes, seconds values.

11. These correct values were then copied into the
attribute table of the existing snowy_plover shapefile in
the Albers projection.
Process Date: 20010215

MAP PROJECTION PARAMETERS:

Projection                          ALBERS
Datum                               HPGN
Units                               METERS
Spheroid                            GRS1980
1st Standard Parallel               24  0  0.000
2nd Standard Parallel               31 30  0.000
Central Meridian                   -84 00  0.000
Latitude of Projection's Origin     24  0  0.000
False Easting (meters)              400000.00000
False Northing (meters)             0.00000

DATA SOURCE CONTACT (S):

Name:
Abbr. Name:
Address:


Phone:

Web site:
E-mail:
Contact Person:
         Phone:
        E-mail:
US Fish and Wildlife Service
USFWS
1601 Balboa Ave.
Panama City, FL
32405
850-769-0552 x247

http://www.fws.gov/ wendygierhart@hotmail.com Wendy Gierhart
FGDL CONTACT:
Name:                   FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY
Abbr. Name:             FGDL
Address:                Florida Geographic Data Library
                        431 Architecture Building
                        PO Box 115706
                        Gainesville, FL  32611-5706
Web site:               http://www.fgdl.org

Contact FGDL: 

      Technical Support:	        http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfeed.html
      FGDL Frequently Asked Questions:  http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfaq.html
      FGDL Mailing Lists:		http://www.fgdl.org/fgdl-l.html
      For FGDL Software:                http://www.fgdl.org/software.html