Annual Water Data Reports Mapper

Instructions: How To Use the Mapper

This interface provides a map view of the locations of sites with USGS water data. Google Maps are used to provide speed and versatility in a format that is familiar to many users. The interface can be used most efficiently by following a few basic rules:

Center and zoom to area of interest.
Clickable sites and more than one type of site will not display until zoomed in to avoid clutter and excessive drawing time.
Specific areas can be selected using the drop-down list.
Select site types using checkboxes and Water Year of interest using the drop-down list.

Water Year

A Water Year is the 12-month period October 1 through September 30. The water year is designated by the calenar year in which it ends and includes 9 fr the 12 months. Thus, the year ending September 30, 2008, is called the "2008 Water Year".

The Mapper displays locations of sites where data are published for any given water year, and only one year can be displayed at a time. A drop-down list is provided to select water years with data available through this interface. Data is available for prior years from USGS Publications.

Displaying Sites

	Surface‑Water Sites (SW)
	SW Only
	SW with Water Quality
	SW with Climatological
	SW with Ecological

	Ground‑Water Sites (GW)
	GW Only
	GW with Water Quality
	GW with Climatological
	GW with Ecological

	Climatological Sites (CLIM)
	CLIM Only
	CLIM with Water Quality
	CLIM with Ecological

The Mapper is designed to not display clickable sites until they can be clearly located at smaller scales (10 miles or less) in the map view. This approach provides a reasonably fast drawing time. Site types can be turned on and off on the display using the checkboxes.

At larger scales where sites are not clickable (greater than 10 miles), an overlay shows the distribution of sites. The purpose of the overlay is to provide an indication of site density in an area of interest. Sites shown in the overlay can not be identified or selected.

The general scheme of the site symbols is that an open (unfilled) symbol indicates the collection of basic water-quantity data only; such as streamflow, water level, or precipitation. A closed (filled) symbol indicates the collection of additional types of data at a primary site type; such as water quality, climatology, or ecology. Shapes and colors are also used to indicate differences between sites. Surface-water sites use triangles, ground-water sites use circles, and climatological sites use squares. Basic site type colors are black, red, and blue, respectively, with a closed symbol in the basic color indicating the collection of water-quality data. Blue and green indicate the collection of climatolgy or ecology, respectively. In the rare case of conflicts in categorizing a site, the descending general hierarchy of presentation is basic quantity, water quality, climatology, and ecology.

Selecting Sites

At scales of 10 miles or less where sites are clickable, selecting (clicking) the site will identify it by site number and name. A link is also provided to open a view (PDF) of the annual Water Data Report for the year displayed.

Background View

The default background view is a shaded relief terrain map. Several background map types are available and can be selected:

Map - This shows a map with a traditional depiction of roads, parks, borders, bodies of water and more.
Satellite - This shows aerial imagery.
Hybrid - This shows a modified composite of the Map and Satellite views.
Terrain - This shows physical elevation as shaded relief and elevation lines. It also includes street names and other information.
USGS - This shows USGS topographic map.

Navigating in Google Maps

You can navigate (move your view) in two dimensions in any Google Map. To pan (move the map), do one of the following:

Click and drag the map
Press the up arrow on your keyboard to move north
Press the down arrow on your keyboard to move south
Press the right arrow on your keyboard to move east
Press the left arrow on your keyboard to move west

Additionally, you can zoom in or out pressing the + or - keys. Move the cursor over a location and use the mouse scroll button to zoom in or out on that location. To center and zoom in on a location, double click the location.

Using the Navigation Controls

The navigation controls you see at maps.google.com are shown on the left. Navigation controls include:

Arrows - Click the appropriate arrow buttons to move the view north, south, east or west. Click to return to your original view.
Zoom - Click + to zoom in on the center of the map. Click - to zoom out.
Zoom slider - Drag the zoom slider up or down to zoom in or out incrementally.

Using the Overview Map

The overview map (shown left here) appears in the bottom right corner of the map. It helps orient you by showing the location of current map view in the context of a larger geographical area. The area currently displayed in the map is show as a purple box in the overview map. At any time, click to hide the overview map or click to display it again.

As you pan or zoom in the map, the overview map view changes accordingly. You can change the existing view in the map by doing one of the following:

Drag and drop the purple box in the overview map.
Drag and drop the area outside the purple box to pan the map.

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://wdr.water.usgs.gov/adrgmap/instructions.html
Page Contact Information: Annual Data Report Team
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