MassGIS Massachusetts (Priority Natural Upland Forest Vegetation Community, 2003) vector digital data MA MassGIS http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/laylist.htm SDE_DATA.US_MA_D5FORST_200320030301 This layer represents the coastal components of the priority natural vegetation communities in MA. This layer is one of eight that depict the distribution of natural community systems identified by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP) as most critical to the conservation of the Commonwealth's biological diversity (Barbour et al., 1998). These eight layers are: coastal, coastal plain pond, vernal pool, acidic peatland, riverine, maritime sandplain, pine barrens, calcareous. For descriptions of these community systems, refer to Barbour, Simmons, Swain and Woolsey, "Our Irreplaceable Heritage: Protecting Biodiversity in Massachusetts" (1998). SPECIFICS FOR THE UPLAND FOREST COMMUNITIES: This theme is a polygon coverage vectorized from classified satellite imagery. It depicts the distribution of several upland forest types derived from Landsat 5 imagery acquired on April 7, 1998. Additional information about the methods used to create these data is available from Philip John at MassGIS at (617) 626-1185. MassGIS is maintaining this layer. This layer is intended for researchers, students, and policy makers for reference and mapping purposes, and may be used for basic applications such as viewing, querying, and map output production, or to provide a basemap to support graphical overlays and analysis with other spatial data. This mapping is intended for planning purposes only, as a guide to potentially valuable natural sites to be protected. All sites should be field checked before any action is taken on them. Aerial photo-interpretation can identify vegetation, but cannot assess the quality of a site for biodiversity, or the actual presence of rare plants and animals. en 20030301 ground condition In work Continually -71.376563 -70.481846 42.263416 41.495200 210307.000000284007.000000805497.500000890335.000000 none Priority NaturalVegetationCommunitiesUplandForestConservationHabitatPolygonEnvironment MA USA United States New England Massachusetts 20030301 none. For educational purposes only. MIT GIS Lab GIS Specialist mailing and physical address
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge MA 02139 USA (617) 258-5598 gishelp@mit.edu 9-5 Microsoft Windows 2000 Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 1; ESRI ArcCatalog 8.3.0.800 SDE Feature Class Most of the information is derived from stereo photo-interpretation of springtime 1999 and 2000 1:12,000 scale color infrared aerial photography. The mapping also includes upland forest classification created by MassGIS from Landsat satellite imagery. The result is a comprehensive regional vegetation cover map that provides plant community information at a variety of scales. Natural Community System types were interpreted in stereo from 1:12,000 scale color infrared aerial photography flown in the spring of 1999 and 2000. The delineations were digitized directly into ESRI's ArcView 3.2a software by "heads-up" on-screen digitizing and by use of the Optem Digital Transfer Scope (DTS), which allows digitizing with the computer's mouse while viewing the aerial photo through the stereoscope. For many of the wetland community types, the on-screen digitizing involved reshaping and relabeling existing digital DEP Orthophoto Wetlands polygons to more specifically delineate and describe the community. The DTS was used to more accurately delineate the boundary of the new polygon. All polygons were digitized to correspond to features on the MassGIS 1:5,000 Black and White and Color ortho imagery data layers, usually at a screen scale of approximately 1:3,000 to 1:5,000. Field and collateral information were used as much as possible to assist in the interpretation. Important sources of digital information were the wetlands and eelgrass data from the Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) Wetlands Conservancy Program (WCP) and the Plymouth pitch pine data from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass). Field information from local ecologists and watershed team leaders and community information from the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program were also important in determining southeastern community types and locations. The southeast upland forest classification was created using a Landsat 5 satellite image acquired on April 7, 1998. All DEP Orthophoto wetlands and all land use types except forest were masked out of the spring satellite image before the image was classified as coniferous or other. The coniferous forest was then removed, and the remaining forest reclassified as deciduous or mixed forest. Classifications were checked against the 1:5,000 scale black and white orthophotos and the color infrared photography. When completed, all ArcView shapefiles and the forest raster image were converted to ArcInfo coverages. The mapping is now complete for the Buzzards Bay, South Coastal, Taunton, Ten Mile, Narragansett Bay and Mt Hope Bay watersheds in the southeast.and the North Coastal, Parker, Ipswich, Shawsheen, and portions of the Merrimack and Boston Harbor watersheds in the northeast. It is under production for the Suasco, and portions of the Charles, Merrimack and Nashua watersheds. SPECIFICS FOR THE UPLAND FOREST COMMUNITIES: This theme is a polygon coverage vectorized from classified satellite imagery. It depicts the distribution of several upland forest types derived from Landsat 5 imagery acquired on April 7, 1998. Additional information about the methods used to create these data is available from Philip John at MassGIS at (617) 626-1185. \\Rotch-10\somerville\metadata_template.xml Metadata imported. Q:\sdeload8\somerville\feet\metadata_template.xml Metadata imported.Q:\sdeload8\MA_metadata_template.xml20031105Metadata imported.Q:\sdeload8\MA_metadata_template.xml20031106Metadata imported.Q:\sdeload8\MoreMassGIS\VegComm\us_ma_d5coast_2003.shp.xml20031106Metadata imported.Q:\sdeload8\MoreMassGIS\VegComm\us_ma_d5peat_2003.shp.xml20031107Metadata imported.q:\sdeload7\us_ma_d5forst_2003.shp.xml20031211 Vector G-polygon 329989 Complete chain 16484 Point 4 Point 4 SimplePolygonFALSE329989TRUEFALSE coordinate pair 0.001000 0.001000 meters State Plane Coordinate System 1983200141.71666742.683333-71.50000041.000000200000.000000750000.000000 North American Datum of 1983 Geodetic Reference System 80 6378137.000000 298.257222 GCS_North_American_1983NAD_1983_StatePlane_Massachusetts_Mainland_FIPS_2001 Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates1.000000 SDE_DATA.US_MA_D5FORST_2003 Feature Class329989 SDE_DATA.US_MA_D5FORST_2003.AREA Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. SDE_DATA.US_MA_D5FORST_2003.AREADouble8163 PERIMETER Feature geometry. ESRI Coordinates defining the features. PERIMETERDouble8163 VCFOREST_ Area of feature in internal units squared. ESRI VCFOREST_Double83110 VCFOREST_I Perimeter of feature in internal units. ESRI Perimeter is always zero for point coverages. Values are automatically generated. VCFOREST_IDouble83110 GRID_CODE Internal feature number. ESRI GRID_CODESmallInteger220 GEOMETRY User-defined feature number. ESRI GEOMETRYGeometry400 OBJECTID Forest Categories http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm#attributes 1coniferoushttp://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm2mixed deciduous and coniferoushttp://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm3deciduoushttp://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm4other small unclassified siteshttp://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm99not part of the upland forest communityhttp://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htmSequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. OBJECTIDOID4100 GEOMETRY.AREA GEOMETRY.AREADouble000 GEOMETRY.LEN GEOMETRY.LENDouble000 COMM_DESC COMM_DESCString60 LABEL LABELString10 GEN_LABEL GEN_LABELString36 SQ_FEET RADIUS2 CB_BUF CB_BUF_MET bldg.aat FID Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Shape Feature geometry. ESRI Coordinates defining the features. FNODE# Internal node number for the beginning of an arc (from-node). ESRI Whole numbers that are automatically generated. 3 TNODE# Internal node number for the end of an arc (to-node). ESRI Whole numbers that are automatically generated. 3 LPOLY# Internal node number for the left polygon. ESRI Whole numbers that are automatically generated. RPOLY# Internal node number for the right polygon. ESRI Whole numbers that are automatically generated. LENGTH Length of feature in internal units. ESRI Positive real numbers that are automatically generated. BLDG# Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. BLDG-ID User-defined feature number. ESRI DXF-LAYER MIT GIS Lab GIS Specialist mailing and physical address
77 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge MA 02139 USA 617-258-5598 gishelp@mit.edu 9-5 Downloadable Data 0.101 99.212 20031211 MIT GIS Lab Maggie Scott GIS Specialist mailing and physical address
77 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge MA 02139 617-258-5598 gishelp@mit.edu 9-5 FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001-1998 local time http://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.html ESRI Metadata Profile enhttp://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.htmlESRI Metadata Profile 2003121115225000FALSE20031211152252002003121115225300{D0395610-038E-4655-AA2E-DA1008B54AC5}FALSEMicrosoft Windows 2000 Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 1; ESRI ArcCatalog 8.3.0.800SDE_DATA.US_MA_D5FORST_2003210307284007890335805497.51-71.376563-70.48184642.26341641.49521ISO 19115 Geographic Information - MetadataDIS_ESRI1.0dataset002Server=mapmaker.mit.edu; Service=5150; Database=oracle; User=sde_data; Version=SDE.DEFAULTArcSDE Connection99.212SDE Feature ClassNAD_1983_StatePlane_Massachusetts_Mainland_FIPS_200132998920031211