NEPA Map Mashup
Website URL
https://www.cynthiaannett.org/2020-workshops/nepa-map-mashup
Visualizing Geospatial Data for Analysis and Report Writing
Information about locations that includes address, latitudes and longitudes, or other geospatial coordinates, can be visualized on a map. There are many interactive mapping platforms on federal, state, county and municipal websites that will allow you to turn on and turn off layers for environmental data (for example, locations of Superfund sites or flood risk), add layers for jurisdictional boundaries (for example, tribal reservation boundaries), and other types of information that you wish to use in your analysis and reports. Most of these platforms will allow you to export from the GIS (typically ESRI ArcGIS) in PDF or JPG format for use in your reports. Today we are going to look at ways of exporting the map data in a format that can be used to create your own maps, allowing you to add your own information and customize your map for analysis, reporting, public outreach, and collaboration with colleagues. You can make your own map mashup on free, user friendly platforms like Google Earth Pro and My Maps, so that you no longer need specialized training or a software license to do simple GIS analyses.
Today we will focus on exporting data from federal databases useful for planning and conducting NEPA reviews. Since all of the data will be exported from public databases, and since our emphasis will be on collaborating with colleagues, we will use Google My Maps. This platform is a cloud based mapping platform that is password protected as part of a Google Account using Google Drive. You will need to be able to access Google Drive on your computer, which may require getting permission from your IT department for use on a work computer.
Class Assignment
The simplest way to use a map for your report is to look up the location on the public Google Map and use 3D and Street View to do a virtual site visit. Go to maps.google.com
Use the search bar to find your location. Switch to Satellite View and then you can use 3D view. Use Street View and the photographs in the side bar to get a close up of the location.
You can print the map as a PDF file by using the menu in the upper left corner.
If you have Google Earth Pro on your computer you can use a much more powerful platform that will also let you access satellite imagery from different dates. For a tutorial on Google Earth Pro (desktop) click here. For today we will use Google Maps and the Google My Maps platform for our work.
We will use the subject property in your class assignment as an example today and go through a series of online platforms to find data for your analysis and report. But first we need to make sure that the location can be mapped - the first step to geospatial analysis is quality control.
You will need to use only one address at a time when you add this location to your map, so you can search for 1417 E. 62nd Place, Chicago (that should be enough for the map to find the location) but you cannot enter 1417-1419 E. 62nd Place, Chicago. This can be a problem when you are importing a spreadsheet of locations to Google My Maps. The good thing is that My Mp will highlight locations which could not be mapped and will give you the opportunity to open the Data
Table for the layer and make corrections. You can also look at the spreadsheet before importing and clean up any problems using spreadsheet functions like sort, autofill, etc.
If the dataset includes latitude and longitude as the location data, make sure that it is all entered in the same format, that the format can be mapped, and that it is complete before you add it to your Google My Maps. You can only use one format for locations, so you will need to make sure all of your data is either in lat/long or street addresses. You can use street addresses that have more than one column, for example address, city and state columns can all be mapped.
Google My Maps
Google My Maps is a very easy way to start a GIS analysis that can be used to create PDF files for your report, can be embedded in a website and shared with the public, or shared through a link with colleagues for collaborative work. You can also export the map file in KML or KMZ format to import it into ArcGIS, which allows you to do more sophisticated analytical work.
To begin you must have a Google Account and be able to use Google Drive. If you cannot do this for today's activity because you are on a work computer that doesn't give you permission to access Google tools you can use the map below to explore the map mashup by going to this link for the map.
Google My Maps: Landing page for Google My Maps
My Maps Mobile in the Play Store (Android)
Google My Maps Help: Documentation and support articles about My Maps.
Google Drive: You can create My Maps directly from Google Drive.
Collaborative Mapping With Google My Maps: Workshop held at Geo for Good Summit 2019.
Federal Agency Data Sources
There are a number of online platforms that you can use for your analysis. Some of the most useful are presented below.
NEPAssist
NEPAssist is an online GIS mapping tool which provides data layers needed for impact assessments. It allows you to visualize many geospatial data layers on an ESRI ArcGIS online map, draw polygons, and export maps in PDF or image file format for reports.
It does not provide a user friendly way to export data in CSV, SHP or KML/KMZ formats for use in your own GIS or mapping platform - data are saved as a JSON file which may give you problems on platforms other than NEPAssist.
The data files that go into the layers, however, can be accessed from other databases and downloaded for your use on other platforms.
We can access data from EPA EnviroFacts/EnviroMapper and EPA Cleanups in My Community, and link the EJ Screen to provide demographic data.
Envirofacts - Enviromapper
The EPA EnviroMapper draws from many of the same databases used to create NEPAssist. These maps are built on a GIS platform that pulls data from sources such as EPA ACRES, and all of the EPA mapping tools will pull data from the same sources (all of the Brownfields sites will be mapped from ACRES data, for example). This means that if there is a data layer you want to use, find the platform that most easily allows you to download the data in a user friendly format. The best format for mapping your data using My Maps is a CSV file. A CSV file format is a universal spreadsheet format type that you can also open in Excel or Google Sheets. It has the advantage that when you open it as a spreadsheet you can edit and add to it using all of the tools available in Excel or Google Sheets (things like autofill and sort to help with quality control). Once you edit it you can import it into Google My Maps. You can also find mapping file formats such as SHP (used for ESRI ArcGIS and Google Earth Pro) and KML/KMZ (used for Google My Maps, Google Earth Pro and ESRI ArcGIS). The advantage of downloading a file in these formats is that you can use polygons and lines (shapes) as well as points. The disadvantage is that you can't open it as a spreadsheet and edit it without coding.
Cleanups in My Community
EPA Cleanups in My Community website
The Cleanups in My Community platform will let you download data, but you must do it from the Lists or Tables page, not from the mapping tool. The best format to use for mapping is CSV format (you can download in Excel format, but CSV is a more universal file type and will work in My Maps as well as Excel).
EJ Screen
The EJ Screen mapping tool does not allow you to export data. You can print it as a PDF, but you can't download the map files.