MassGIS Massachusetts (Priority Natural Sandplain Vegetation Communities, 2003) vector digital data MA MassGIS http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/laylist.htm SDE_DATA.US_MA_D5SNDPL_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 SANDPLAIN COMMUNITIES: Sandplain Systems are complex mosaics of native grassland and heathland found on dry sandy soils, usually near the coast. Most of this data in the southeast is a subset of grassland and heathland types from the UMass Plymouth pitch pine data, with some polygons removed, added or changed based on review of the 1999/2000 aerial photos and field information. In areas outside of the UMass project area, polygons were interpreted and digitized from the aerial photos. Non-sandplain grasslands that might still have habitat value are included as GR, CGR, or G2. MassGIS is maintaining this layer. Questions concerning the data interpretation should be directed to Janice Stone at 413-545-5533 or Philip John at 617-626-1185. Development of this information in other regions of the state is continuing. 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 -71.319227 -70.518958 42.884353 41.506427 215092.031000280151.188000806700.062500959319.625000 none Priority NaturalVegetationCommunitiesSandplainConservationHabitatPolygonEnvironmentFloodingFloodGrasslandHeathSand 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 ACIDIC PEATLAND COMMUNITIES: This data was created by starting with DEP's digital Orthophoto Wetlands, creating a new set without the coastal and bog wetland types, and then adding, deleting and changing these polygon shapes and labels based on aerial photo interpretation of the 1999/2000 photos and field information. In some areas where this wetland layer did not exist, the wetlands were interpreted and digitized from the aerial photos. \\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.xml20031106Metadata imported.Q:\sdeload8\MoreMassGIS\VegComm\us_ma_d5rvrne_2003.shp.xml20031106Metadata imported.q:\sdeload8\MoreMassGIS\VegComm\us_ma_d5sndpl_2003.shp.xml20031211 Vector G-polygon 1737 Complete chain 16484 Point 4 Point 4 SimplePolygonFALSE1737TRUEFALSE 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_D5SNDPL_2003 Feature Class1737 SDE_DATA.US_MA_D5SNDPL_2003.AREA Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. SDE_DATA.US_MA_D5SNDPL_2003.AREADouble8163 PERIMETER Feature geometry. ESRI Coordinates defining the features. PERIMETERDouble8163 VCSANDPL_ Area of feature in internal units squared. ESRI VCSANDPL_Double83110 VCSANDPL_I Perimeter of feature in internal units. ESRI Perimeter is always zero for point coverages. Values are automatically generated. VCSANDPL_IDouble83110 NHCODE Internal feature number. ESRI NHCODEString1000 LANDUSE User-defined feature number. ESRI LANDUSEString1600 LABEL Abbreviations for NHESP community types. http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm#attributes Xnot part of the Sandplain/grassland communityCGRcultural grasslandGRother grasslandSHEsandplain heathlandSGRsandplain grassland LABELString1000 GEN_LABEL G1native grasslandG2managed or disturbed grasslandG2-CCmanaged grassland in a clearcutG2-FPmanaged grassland in a frostpocketHEheathlandHE-FPheathland in a frost pocketPL-G2managed grassland under a powerline or right of wayPL-HEheathland under a powerline or right of wayAIRPORTairport grasslandsCEMETARYunused grassland in a cemeteryFIELDgrassy "natural" fieldHAYFIELDoccasionally mowed grasslandPOWERLINEgrassland under powerlinesXnot part of Sandplain/grassland community GEN_LABELString36The codes used in the UMass Plymouth pitch pine data layer, or more general landuse types for new areas.http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm#attributes00 GEOMETRY The label codes from NHCODE, with a little grouping of types for simplifying map layout. The types are SGR, SHE, GR, CGR, and X for not part of the Sandplain/grassland community. http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm#attributes GEOMETRYGeometry400 OBJECTID OBJECTIDOID4Grassland, Heathland, and X for not part of the Sandplain/grassland community.http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm#attributes100Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. GEOMETRY.AREA GEOMETRY.AREADouble0A combination of the label codes from NHCODE and COMM_TYPE, with preference given to NHCODE. Intended to give more complete information than either column alone, but also to group certain types such as wetland forest into more manageable units for map layout. The codes are the same as used in the NHCODE and COMM_TYPE fields, except for WS, which is the three DEP wetland forest types (WS-1,2 and 3) combined as wooded swamp.http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm#attributes00 GEOMETRY.LEN GEOMETRY.LENDouble0Herbaceous, Shrubs, Trees or X for not part of the Riverine community., to simplify color types in map layout.http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/natveg.htm#attributes00 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 1.851 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 2003121115231900FALSE20031211152320002003121115232100{54705AE4-8C12-448E-8F68-636887D5E9F8}FALSEMicrosoft Windows 2000 Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 1; ESRI ArcCatalog 8.3.0.800SDE_DATA.US_MA_D5SNDPL_2003215092.031280151.188959319.625806700.06251-71.319227-70.51895842.88435341.5064271ISO 19115 Geographic Information - MetadataDIS_ESRI1.0dataset002Server=mapmaker.mit.edu; Service=5150; Database=oracle; User=sde_data; Version=SDE.DEFAULTArcSDE Connection1.851SDE Feature ClassNAD_1983_StatePlane_Massachusetts_Mainland_FIPS_2001173720031211