NAWQA SW GIS aggregation (Fall 2004) for FY01 Topical Team basins

For internal use only

Fall 2004: Topical Team SW GIS coverages requested from FY01 SU

Guidelines for Preparing SW GIS Coverages for National Data Aggregation

These guidelines are directed to FY01 study units which have basins for NEET, ACT, ULUG/EUSE, MERCURY, and TANC Topical Teams.

Timetable

Send SW coverages to Molly Maupin on or before October 29, 2004.

08/20/04

Purpose:

This document describes the contents and procedures for preparing the first set of SW GIS coverages of basin boundaries from FY01 study units for those sites identified in Topical Team studies. It explains what basin boundaries are being requested and specific information about coverage and metadata content and format.

Scope:

Please submit a complete set of the following:

FGDC-compliant metadata (in text format) for each and every basin boundary coverage that is submitted. One text file must exist for each basin coverage.
Basin boundaries that are listed in the FY01_Fall04_TTbasinreq.xls spreadsheet that have not been previously aggregated in the last year. Coverages for some of these sites were submitted in the Summer 2003 FY01 SW GIS aggregation of FY01 study units, (denoted with X in column C). These sites DO NOT need to be resent unless they have changed.

If your study unit cannot create a coverage for a site, please explain in the "Notes" column within the spreadsheet. This column is also a good place to put special explanations for coverage names that are slightly different from the STAID-naming convention (see #1 Coverage name in instructions below). Please send the spreadsheet back in the final package if you have made entries to it (see #8 below).

All basin boundary documentation must be FGDC compliant, if any of the basins listed in the spreadsheet were created during Cycle-I and documentation only exists that was created using the old ARCINFO DOCUMENT command, then it will need to be updated. USGS Enterprise GIS supports a metadata webpage that is very useful. It explains how to import old ARCINFO DOCUMENT metadata into ArcCatalog, which is the preferred method for converting old documentation to FGDC-compliant documentation. The text file of documentation that is to be sent for this request can be made from the ArcCatalog files. There are instructions on how to create a master template that can be used to create the requested text-formatted FGDC-compliant metadata files for coverages that were created the same way. ArcCatalog is the recommended software that NAWQA is using to create, update and export metadata for basin boundary coverages. DOCUMENT metadata is no longer acceptable.

If you have questions about basin boundaries, or metadata conversion and updating processes, please call the following persons:

Molly Maupin (mamaupin) for questions about the requested basins shown on the attached spreadsheet or instructions for this request.
Curtis Price (cprice) for metadata, ArcCatalog and DOCUMENT questions.

Guidelines

The following are standard conventions and procedures for SW GIS coverages creation and submittal. All coverages will be checked for errors and a spreadsheet is produced and sent back to SU's for basins with questions. An example of the output spreadsheet from the checking program (Basinpi.aml) is here . This is what will be sent back to study units that have basins which have not passed a QA/QC test.

Use standard naming convention (#1)
Coverages are projected into the national projection parameters (#2).
Coverage PAT tables contain the STAID item, defined according to standards (#3)
Every coverage has a FGDC-compliant metadata file in text format (#4).
Each coverage has only one basin (polygon) (#5).
Coverages have topology; you must build or clean before submitting.
No shapefiles, regions or geodatabases should be sent. Please send only coverages.
No coverages for related sites, send a coverage for the primary site only.
The CHECKDATA program has been run and the QA/QC checklist (#6) has been performed for all sites.
A README file is provided in the directory if necessary, to explain missing basins, coverage names for coverages that do not comply with the standard naming convention, etc (#7).
How to submit coverages, metadata, and if necessary the updated FY01_Fall04_TTbasinreq spreadsheet that contains your comments and notes (#8).

1. Coverage name:

Some sites are identified in the request spreadsheet that will need to have two separate coverages submitted, one which delineates the total potential (contributing and non-contributing) drainage area and another which delineates only the contributing drainage area. The total potential drainage area coverage should include contributing plus non-contributing area and should depict a larger area than the other coverage. This coverage might include those areas that provide flow during storm conditions or when certain man-made contributions are in effect. The total potential drainage area coverages should be named with a 't' prefix before the unique 8-digit STAID number and these coverages will be used to compile a separate set of ancillary data to aid in hydrologic analyses of water-quality during high-flow conditions. The other coverage should delineate only the contributing drainage area for the site and should depict a smaller geographic area. This coverage name should have the 'b' prefix before the unique 8-digit STAID number.

For sites that have only one coverage that depicts the drainage area, a 'b' prefix should be concatenated with the 8-digit STAID. If your study unit has reservoir coring sites, then name the basin boundary coverages 'r' + 8-digit STAID. For those STAIDs that are longer than 8-digits, use only the first 8 digits. If the first 8 digits are not unique, then use the first 7 and the 15th digit to guarantee uniqueness of names. Here are a few examples:

        STAID                           COVERAGE NAME
        04087000                        b04087000
        04086307                        b04086307
        435426488092701                 b43542641
        435426488092702                 b43542642
        02334080                        r02334080

2. Projection parameters:

Please project coverages to the national albers projection, with central meridian at -96 and North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83):

        PROJECTION ALBERS
        UNITS METERS
        DATUM NAD83
        PARAMETERS
        29 30 00
        45 30 00
        -96 00 00
        23 00 00
        0.0
        0.0

3. Polygon attribute table (PAT) template:

At minimum, include STAID, defined as a 15-character wide item:

        AREA            4  12   F  3
        PERIMETER       4  12   F  3
        Bxxxxxxxx#      4   5   B           or Txxxxxxxx# or Rxxxxxxxx#
        Bxxxxxxxx-ID    4   5   B           or Txxxxxxxx-ID or Rxxxxxxxx-ID
        STAID          15  15   C

Additional attributes are optional as long as they are explained in the metadata. Please keep the first four attributes in the covername.PAT file as they are defined above. If for some reason STAID is defined as anything other than character, then leading zeros will be dropped and the STAID will no longer match other data files. Use leading zeros in station numbers where applicable.

4. Metadata:

Metadata that was created using the ARC DOCUMENT command is no longer sufficient. It is necessary to ensure that all metadata is FGDC compliant. It is necessary to create a metadata file for each coverage that accurately describes it, keeping in mind that the metadata will be read and used by people outside of the USGS who may not understand the NAWQA program and why, or how, basins were constructed. Submit a metadata file (in text format) for each coverage called covername.met. See metadata tools for help on how to create metadata files. Also, metadata should be checked for structural problems using the metadata tools 'mp' and 'cns'. Instructions on how to use these tools are also located in the metadata tools link, under "Using existing metadata and metadata templates".

By-products of the coverages you provide, such as statistics of fertilizer/pesticide use, landuse may have wide distribution outside the USGS. Therefore, the metadata you provide about how the coverage was initially created will preempt future questions. It is important to include any possible constraints on the use of the data. Metadata should accurately reflect the particulars for the basin in which it references. Using a master template is fine but individual editing of some sections of the metadata are necessary.

5. QAQC:

Study Units should use the following checklist to avoid further questions. It is up to the Study Unit to ensure that the coverages are present, in the correct format (projection, topology, STAID populated) and free from errors (CHECKDATA, mp have been run and errors corrected). The process of submitting coverages will go smoothly if these checks have been made. This list summarizes them as 'Critical' or 'Non-critical'. A 'Critical' check that fails will have to be corrected by the study unit.

Critical a). A basin boundary exist for each sites as requested in the FY01_Fall04_TTbasinreq spreadsheet. (see SCOPE section)
Critical b). A README file exists that lists all sites in the current submission. It may contain any other
explanatory information about coverage names, or information pertinent to particular coverages.
Critical c). STAID is correctly populated and defined in the covername.PAT.
Non-critical d). The coverages have polygon topology.
Critical e). Projections of the coverages comply with the national projection parameters.
Critical f). The location for the sample site are located within the basin boundary.
Coverages will be drawn and compared with site locations using coordinates from NWIS to verify that
the coverage includes the site. Sites that plot noticeably inside or outside of the coverage boundary
will be questioned. If you have coordinates that are collected from NAWQA fieldwork that differ from
NWIS C009 and C010 values, then a note in the README file would be sufficient.
Non-critical g). The basin boundary coverage drainage area and NWIS drainage area are within 10%.The area derived from
a basin boundary coverage will be compared to the NWIS drainage area for that site. Differences greater
than 10% between the two areas will require additional verification and checking.
Critical h). FGDC-compliant metadata for each basin boundary coverage are provided in ASCII format using correct
naming convention. Metadata files should be checked using mp and errors should be cleaned up.
Critical i). CHECKDATA.aml has been run and ALL errors have been corrected. See next section.

6. Run the CHECKDATA.AML program

Use the CHECKDATA.AML program to ensure that basin boundary coverages are free of potential ARC-related problems. Fix any detected errors; they are marked with an "!" in the output file. Because CHECKDATA is in the arc custom patch, you probably already have it as an arc command. Syntax for the CHECKDATA.AML program is as follows:

 Arc:checkdata {NOREPORT | REPORT_FILE}

If you don't have the patch installed, the AML can be downloaded from http://sd.water.usgs.gov/usgs/nawqa_gis/checkdata/. CHECKDATA will be run on the coverages after you submit them and is considered a critical error and will precipitate questions if there are errors.

7. README file

A README file is a handy way to convey special circumstances about coverages, such as when standard naming conventions don't work or when there are missing basins that will not be provided in the current aggregation. Please create and store a README file in the directory where the coverages are located so that when they are 'packaged up and sent' using instructions in the next section the README file goes with the coverages. If there are no special circumstances for coverages in your aggregation, then put only a list of all coverages that are present in the current aggregation.

8. Submit coverages, metadata and spreadsheet:

Copy all basin coverages and their associated text-formatted metadata files into an empty directory. Make sure that the README file is there too. If explanations or additional information has been added to the FY01_Fall04_TTbasinreq spreadsheet, then copy it to this directory too. Move (cd) to the new directory, then archive (tar) and compress (gzip) the entire directory. Copy the compressed archive file into your anonymous ftp area. The syntax for the UNIX tar commands is:

tar -cf - * | gzip -c > /var/ftp/pub/suidsw.targz

(NT users can get tar and gzip utilities from here.

Please do not use WinZip to archive ArcInfo datasets. If you do not have gzip available on NT, you can get it from

ftp://hqwiftp.er.usgs.gov/pub/GIS/arcinfo/gbin.tgz

Please e-mail Molly Maupin (mamaupin) with the FTP address of the compressed tarfile when it's available.

THANK YOU!


U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey Maintainer: Molly Maupin Privacy Statement \|\| Disclaimer URL: http://idaho.usgs.gov/webwork/mamaupin/guidance/TT01_swgisFall04.html