The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service GIS Steering Committee is working on standard procedures for creating, converting and utilizing spatial data. The first standard to be addressed relates to the creation of digital boundary information for Service lands. The first document below should be considered a Working Draft ; it has been through several review cycles, but has not been formally adopted yet. It is the best current information available for FWS staff on procedures for digitizing boundary information from hardcopy maps.
Also available below is a draft version of a process to use GPS readings to create a digital boundary layer. This document will eventually be incorporated into the full SOP, but has not yet undergone as extensive a review. It is, however, the best current information on using GPS for this process, and we wanted to make it available to FWS staff. References in this document to appendices are numbered to correspond with the complete SOP; those appendices are also listed separately below.
For further information on the Service Lands Spatial Data Guidelines Project click here to view the Project Charter.
To download a compressed (pkzip) version of the digitizing processes (Arc/Info and AutoCad), in MS Word format click here This copy was updated on January 21, 1998 and contains all appendices along with the document. If you need a copy of pkzip, click here for a self-extracting file.
To download a compressed (pkzip) version of the GPS process in MS Word format click here This copy was updated on January 22, 1998 and does not contain any appendices.
The appendices can be also downloaded separately below. Appendix 1 has been zipped due to it's size. The others have not. All of them are in MS Word format.
Appendix 1 - List of refuges and associated
3 letter literals
Appendix 2 - Tools to use in automation
processes (AMLs, ...)
Appendix 3 - Sample metadata file for refuge
boundary information
Appendix 4 - Sample GPS metadata
Appendix 5 - List of Wetland Management
Districts and related codes
Appendix 6 - List of easement codes from
the Realty Manual
Appendix 7 is the process of automating refuges boundaries for Alaska. It is
not posted here due to its size (300K zipped). If you need information concerning
that process, please contact Deb Southworth Green.
For additional information regarding this Web page, contact Deb Southworth Green, in the Division of Information Resources and Technology Management.
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Keywords=GIS, data, sop, operating, procedures, boundary, GPS
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