The south Florida ecosystem, encompassing the Kissimmee River Valley, Everglades, Florida Bay, urban areas, developed agricultural areas, rangelands, and wetlands, has been altered greatly over the past 100 years. Resource managers, Federal, State, and local agencies, and other groups are seeking to reverse environmentally damaging actions taken during that period. The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a research program in support of the restoration of the Everglades and south Florida ecosystem in 1995. USGS personnel have been conducting research projects designed to provide sound scientific information upon which resource managers can base their decisions. The USGS also has recognized the need for a central site to provide all interested parties with information from this research and access to these data. The South Florida Information Access web site (SOFIA) was created as a 'one-stop-shopping' access point for research on south Florida. All USGS South Florida Place-Based Studies research projects, ranging from mercury contamination in the Everglades to coral reef decline, are online at this site. The site provides project descriptions, proposals, publications, data (through our data exchange site), presentations, and contact information, as well as general interest items, such as photographs and posters. The SOFIA site also is a portal through which you can access our extensive database and internet map server (IMS).

Figure 1. SOFIA’s current publications interface (2002). [larger image]

The SOFIA site has grown tremendously since its initial development in 1996. The site increased from fewer than 100 pages in 1996 to over 3,600 webpages in 2002. The site also contains over 250 publications: circulars, fact sheets, open file reports, lectures, papers, posters, and reports. Included are not only publications created by the south Florida program, but historical documents dating to the early 1970’s as well. This effort involves locating and digitally scanning historical documents from all disciplines. By 2003 we will have an extended search interface to our publications that will allow users to customize their searches based on a variety of parameters.

Within the last year, we have enhanced our data exchange site and added new sections to the site, including the ability to view projects by topic, region, scientists, or program. The data exchange site includes a variety of data, including hydrology, biology, ecology, mapping, and chemistry. We also maintain a robust metadata collection that is FGDC-compliant and acts as a member-node of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).

Figure 2. South Florida Information Access (SOFIA) homepage. [larger image]

Contact: Heather, Henkel, U.S. Geological Survey, 600 Fourth Street South, St. Petersburg, FL, 33701, Phone: 727-803-8747 ext. 3028, Fax: 727-803-2032, hhenkel@usgs.gov, Question: Information Systems.

(This abstract was taken from the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (GEER) Open File Report 03-54)

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