California River Basins Environmental Data and GIS Layers
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Description
California's 149 river basins are covered by a geospatial data management system aggregating over 60 data layers per basin, including vegetation, land ownership, dams, and water quality. The system, developed by SCIOPS, was designed to provide a unified resource for river conservation decisions. Initial development integrated data for 13 demonstration basins, with plans to cover all basins by June 1998.
Use Cases
Analyze relationships between land ownership layers and water quality parameters across river basins.
Map the distribution of rare and endangered species relative to National Wetlands Inventory designations and dams.
Assess native fish habitat by overlaying vegetation, soils, and farmlands inventory data layers.
Create custom regional maps for planning by querying integrated data sets like vegetation and hydrologic unit codes.
Strengths
Aggregates 60 or more distinct data sets for each of 120 river basins.
Provides a common geographic reference framework using the Reach File system and Hydrologic Unit Codes for statewide consistency.
Limitations
Data currency is unknown; the description references a target completion date of June 1998, indicating potentially outdated information.
The specific row counts, sample sizes, and completeness metrics for individual data layers are not provided.
Provenance
Source
SCIOPS, via NASA Earthdata.
Collection Method
Acquisition and integration of computer-based river resource information from multiple sources into an Aggregated Information Model (AIM).
Time Range
Development timeframe referenced is the 1990s, with a target of June 1998 for full basin coverage.
Geography
State of California, USA, covering 149 river basins.
Primary access appears to be through a web-based interactive mapping system (ICE MAPS); direct download of raw data files and their formats is not described. License terms are unknown.