LBA-ECO LC-01: Topography of Northern Ecuadorian Amazon Intensive Study Areas
Updated 2mo ago
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Available on 2 platforms
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Description
Topographic and geomorphological data for four Intensive Study Areas (ISAs) in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon, part of the University of North Carolina's Carolina Population Center Ecuador Projects. The dataset includes study area boundaries, point elevation features, 20-meter elevation contours, and derived digital elevation models (DEMs), terrain aspect, and slope layers. Data are provided in ESRI shapefile and GeoTiff formats across six compressed files.
Use Cases
Modeling terrain slope and aspect for erosion or agricultural suitability studies based on the derived DEM layers.
Delineating watershed boundaries within the Intensive Study Areas using the elevation contours and DEMs.
Providing a topographic base layer for socio-ecological research linking population data to landscape features.
Conducting viewshed or line-of-sight analysis for infrastructure planning using the elevation data.
Strengths
Data is derived from detailed 1:50,000 scale topographical maps, suggesting a high level of cartographic detail.
Contains multiple derived products (DEM, slope, aspect) from the primary elevation data, increasing utility.
Appears on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA Earthdata, Data.gov), indicating validation and broader recognition.
Limitations
Metadata conflicts on freshness: one source lists a last update of 2026-04-10, while another cites 1993-01-01, creating uncertainty about data currency.
Column names and exact row/size counts are unknown, limiting precise understanding of data structure and volume.
Only boundary data is provided for the southwestern ISA, making it less complete for topographic analysis in that specific area.
Provenance
Source
University of North Carolina's Carolina Population Center (CPC) Ecuador Projects.
Collection Method
Digitized from 1:50,000 topographical maps; DEMs, aspect, and slope derived from digitized elevation data.
Freshness
Conflicting: 2026-04-10 (Data.gov) vs. 1993-01-01 (NASA Earthdata).
Geography
Four Intensive Study Areas (ISAs) in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon (northern Oriente), Ecuador.
License is listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov but requires checking the specific terms. Data for the southwestern ISA is limited to boundaries only.