Uncategorized

Dr. Lucinda Johnson
University of Minnesota-Duluth
Natural Resources Research Institute
Senior Research Associate

Dr. Katya Kovalenko
University of Minnesota-Duluth
Natural Resources Research Institute
Research Associate

Dr. Catherine Riseng
Principal Investigator
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
Associate Research Scientist

Dr. Kevin Wehrly
Institute for Fisheries Research
Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources
Fish Division Research Biologist

Dr. Lizhu Wang
International Joint Commission
Research Scientist

Dr. Ed Rutherford
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab
Research Fishery Biologist

Dr. James McKenna, Jr.
US Geological Survey
Ecologist

Dr. Beth Sparks-Jackson
Post-doctoral Researcher
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability

Lacey Mason
Senior GIS Analyst
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
Institute for Fisheries Research

-statewide data download package here

-links to download data for each county here

Welcome to the Great Lakes Habitat Explorer! This website includes a data viewer that allows you to view a variety of spatial information related to aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes at user defined extents. The website also includes a habitat suitability explorer with features that allow you to search for habitat areas which meet your criteria, annotate the habitat map, as well as search, export, and print the data. This information page provides a brief overview of the main features.

The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Explorer allows users to view and query spatial data layers, search for habitat that meet your criteria, zoom to different locations in the Great Lakes, add annotations to your map, and save and print the map that you created.

To learn more about the process of developing the GLAHF Explorer tool, please see our manuscript Goodspeed et al. (2016).

This feature allows the user to define and scale the area for the data viewing. The map area shown below the toolbar has the following features:

• Select a Basemap
• Zoom Buttons
• Home Button
• Zoom to a location provided by your browser (accuracy varies by device)
• Scale Bar (bottom left)
• Insert Inset Map (viewed by clicking the arrow at the bottom right of the map area)

This feature lists the spatial data layers available for viewing. The layers function allows the user to:

• Select the layers of interest by clicking the check box
• View the symbology for a layer by clicking the plus sign next to the layer name
• By clicking on the menu icon, users can:
  • Adjust the order the layers are displayed
  • Zoom to a layer
  • Adjust the transparency of the layer
  • View the layer metadata

This function allows the user to select combinations of spatial data with ecologically defined criteria to identify areas of habitat that meet those criteria. The available criteria are organized by headings and the criteria are listed below the data headings. Information about the criteria and how they were defined are available from the small information icon.

To use the function, select options for the layers you would like to include in your investigation. At the bottom, select whether you are interested in areas which match any or all of the criteria, and click “investigate” to see the results. The clear button removes the results from the map.

The tool will allow you to investigate any criteria, regardless of whether the resulting area is actually suitable habitat for any plant or animal species. Scientifically validated habitat maps can be viewed in the layers tool.

This function allows you to sketch shapes or add annotations to the map. To use the tool, select the desired shape, and click the text checkbox if you would like a label included. Draw the shapes as follows:

• Point – click once on the map. Points can also be moved by clicking on them and dragging.
• Circle – click and hold, and drag to increase the diameter of the circle.
• Polyline (line made up of multiple straight segments) – click once to start the line, and click to add vertices (corners), and double click to end the line.
• Freehand Polyline – click and hold, and drag in the desired shape.
• Polygon (shape with straight sides) – click once to start, click to add vertices (corners), and double click to close.
• Freehand Polygon – click and hold, and drag the cursor in the desired shape.

After you are happy with the object you have added, click stop drawing. At this point you can save your map or print it. The clear button removes all of the objects which have been added.

The search function allows you to select specific features from any layer and navigate the map in several ways. The resulting queries will display a list of the matching features in a table shown at the bottom of the window (except for the address query). Click on different rows to see corresponding features highlighted on the map. Close the results tab when finished.

• Attributes – This function displays the attributes for the selected layer, shows the values, and allows you to build a SQL query of the attributes for the selected layer. Your query can include multiple attribute fields.
• Spatial – This function allows you to draw an object, and select all the features in the target layer that intersect the drawn object. The search can be conducted to include a buffer around the object you add.
• Address – Zoom to the location for a street address, or city and state/province.
• Selection – Displays the features in the target layer which intersect with another layer.