Natural Vegetation of Central California based on Kuchler (1977)

Frequently-anticipated questions:

• What does this data set describe?
  1. How should this data set be cited?
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
• Who produced the data set?
  1. Who are the originators of the data set?
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
• Why was the data set created?
• How was the data set created?
  1. Where did the data come from?
  2. What changes have been made?
• How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?
  1. How well have the observations been checked?
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the data, including topology?
• How can someone get a copy of the data set?
  1. Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
  2. Who distributes the data?
  3. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
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  5. How can I download or order the data?
• Who wrote the metadata?

Title:

Natural Vegetation of Central California based on Kuchler (1977)

Abstract:

A polygon coverage of Historical natural vegegation for central California based on the work of A.W. Kuchler.

Supplemental_Information:

A statewide coverage is available from the Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific GIS Service Center. See URL: <http://www.mp.usbr.gov/mp400/geopage/metadata/kuchler.html>

1. How should this data set be cited?

   Endangered Species Recovery Program and the Bureau of Reclamation MPGIS Service Center, 1999, Natural Vegetation of Central California based on Kuchler (1977): Endangered Species Recovery Program, Fresno, CA, US.

   Online Links:

   • <http://arnica.csustan.edu/esrpp>

   Other_Citation_Details:

   U.S. FWS, 1998 Recovery Plan for Upland Species of the San Joaquin Valley, California.

2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

   West_Bounding_Coordinate: -123.29

   East_Bounding_Coordinate: -115.391

   North_Bounding_Coordinate: 40.9719

   South_Bounding_Coordinate: 32.5188

3. What does it look like?

   kuchler_sjv.jpg (JPEG)

   Graphic of theme kuchler_sjv

4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

   Calendar_Date: 1999

   Currentness_Reference: publication date

5. What is the general form of this data set?

   Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
   1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Vector data set.

   2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator

      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:

      UTM_Zone_Number: 10

      Transverse_Mercator:

      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.9996

      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -123

      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0

      False_Easting: 500000

      False_Northing: 0

      Planar coordinates are encoded using Coordinate pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 10
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 10
      Planar coordinates are specified in meters

      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1927.
      The ellipsoid used is Clark 1866.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378206.4.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/294.98.
      

7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

   Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:

   Attrbutes are CNAME for the common name of the vegetation type and SNAME for the scientific name of the vegetation type.

   Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: Kuchler, 1977

1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
   • Endangered Species Recovery Program and the Bureau of Reclamation MPGIS Service Center

2. Who also contributed to the data set?

   Scott Snover (ESRP) Nancy Norvell (ESRP) Micheal Sebhat (USBR) D. Edwards (USBR) Scott E. Phillips (ESRP)

3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

   Endangered Species Recovery Program
   GIS Analyst
   
   
   US
   

   (voice)
   559 453 1227 (FAX)
   gis@esrp.org
   

   Contact_Instructions: Contact by electronic or postal mail

To show Historical vegetation in the Central Valley of California for Figure 2. of the SJV Recovery Plan.

1. Where did the data come from?

   KUCHLER (source 1 of 1)

   Kuchler, A.W., 1997, The map of the natural vegetation of California.: John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, US.

   Online Links:

   • <http://www.wiley.com/>

   Other_Citation_Details:

   Pp. 909-938 plus supplement in Terrestrial vegetation of California (M.G. Barbour and J. Major, eds.)

   Type_of_Source_Media: paper

   Source_Contribution: Coverage digitized from the map source.

2. What changes have been made?

   Date: 1995 (change 1 of 1)

   (The following was taken from a text notes written by Scott Snover or Nancy Norvell of ESRP). "The original coverage was digitized from the original map published by A.W. Kuchler in 1977. The Lat-Long intersection points on the original map were used to generate a tic file. The map was digitized one section at a time, a section being the area bounded by four tic points (i.e.- 1 degree Lat by 1 degree Long). Each of these sections was done individually and later joined together in a master coverage. Rather than try to digitize directly from the original map, which was folded and heavily creased, copies of portions of the map were used, taking care to make sure that as many creases as possible were flattened to obtain a clean copy. Also, since some of the original shade symbols did not copy clearly, or the border between two shade symbols was indistinct, the borders were copied by hand from the original map. In some areas along the coast or along lakebeds where the copy was unclear as to where all the lines were. In these cases, a coverage showing either the coastline or the lake boundaries was brought up as a back coverage and the relevant arcs were traced on the screen." (end of quoted text). Addtional digitizing and edits were done by the Bureau of Reclamation MP-GIS Service Center. The statewide coverage was reduced to the Central Valley coverage by ESRP.

   Person responsible for change:
   

   Endangered Species Recovery Program
   GIS Analyst
   
   
   US
   

   (voice)
   559 453 1227 (FAX)
   gis@esrp.org
   

   Contact_Instructions: Contact by electronic or postal mail

1. How well have the observations been checked?

   Unknown. The attributes are consistent with Figure 2. of the SJV Recovery Plan.

2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

   This data represents a regional view and is not accurate to the parcel level. The Lat-Long intersection points on the original map were used as control points.

3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

   Polygon features that were completely outside of the study area were omitted.

5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

   Arcs connect to each other at nodes. Arcs have direction and left and right sides. Arcs that connect to surround an area define a polygon.

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: none

Use_Constraints:

None. Acknowledgement of the Endangered Species Recovery Program would be appreciated in products derived from this data.

1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

   Endangered Species Recovery Program
   GIS Analyst
   
   
   US
   

   (voice)
   559 453 1227 (FAX)
   gis@esrp.org
   

   Contact_Instructions: Contact by electronic or postal mail

2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

   Arc Export file of kuchler_sjv

3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

   No warranty, expressed or implied is made by the ESRP regarding the utility of the data, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. These data are geographic illustrations and do not represent legal boundaries.

4. How can I download or order the data?
   • Availability in digital form:

     Data format:	ARCE (version 7.2.1) no compression
     Network links:	<http://www.esrp.org/gis/>

   • Cost to order the data: Data may be accessed online without charge.

5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?

   computer with software to import ARC/INFO GIS data

Dates:

Last modified: 02-Jul-1999

Metadata author:

Endangered Species Recovery Program
GIS Analyst


US

(voice)
559 453 1227 (FAX)
gis@esrp.org

Contact_Instructions: Contact by electronic or postal mail

Metadata standard:

FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)