Figure 1. Retrieval of project and data from the SOFIA data-base website. Click for larger image.

The South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Program is an intergovernmental effort to restore, preserve, and protect the fragile ecosystems of south Florida. One goal of the restoration effort is to develop a firm scientific basis for resource decision- making. Information required for the decision-making process includes biologic, cartographic, geologic, and hydrologic data that relate to the ecosystems of the mainland of south Florida, Florida Bay, the Florida Keys, and the Florida Reef tract. Numerous Federal, State, and local agencies and other scientific organizations individually collect, analyze, and store data in separate data bases, making access to the information difficult.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed the South Florida Information Access (SOFIA) website and data base (http://sofia.usgs.gov) as a central location for storing, maintaining, and retrieving data, metadata, and geospatial introduction by referenced data sets produced by participating Federal, State, regional, and local agencies. All data being collected by the USGS as part of the south Florida Place-Based Studies (PBS) Program will be included in the data base, either in data tables or as related files. The data base currently holds information for 64 projects, 53 stations, and more than 3 million data values for 48 environmental parameters. This is a dynamic data base with new projects and data added daily.

The PBS data base is online and available through the SOFIA public web site or directly at URL http://www.envirobase.usgs.gov. The web-based interface allows direct query and retrieval of project information, data collected, findings, and summaries. Although most of the data is stored in the data base, the interface also provides access to the project information found on the main SOFIA website and to USGS data stored in other data bases. Project information can be retrieved by title, geographic area, principal investigator, investigating agency, or ecosystem topic (fig. 1). Data are retrieved through a multistep process such as by data type (fig. 2), station name, county, parameter, or collecting agency (fig. 3). The data are output as text files, along with a base map with the designated station locations. Users can register on the site to receive updates when new information becomes available.

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(This abstract was taken from the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (GEER) Open File Report (PDF, 8.7 MB))

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