Our maps will help you visualize the Lake St. Clair area, as though you were in a high-flying plane or were viewing this area from a satellite. We want you to be able to quickly observe those surface water and nearby land features that interest you.
These maps represent actual geographic and hydrologic features, including watersheds – which are land areas drained by a river, stream or local drains – and locations where water or sediment samples were collected during 2004 and 2005. By viewing our three tiers of maps – Project area, county and sampling location areas – you can easily view the vicinities of each of our 95 locations where samples were collected.
You can also use the website Interactive Map to learn project-specific information and to access water and sediment quality data. In addition, you may wish to interactively access local geographic data about hydrologic features, political jurisdiction boundaries, etc. Instructions are provided for navigating this Project-specific Geographic Information System (GIS), known in this website as the Internet Map Server (IMS).
As you view this website page, there will be hyperlinks (click here) to connect you to selected maps or to the IMS. You will observe two types of maps:
· Static maps that do not react to your actions, including our Overview and Sampling Location maps, and
· Maps which respond to actions you initiate, including any of the Regional maps, any of three County maps, the Project Interactive Maps and Internet Map Server (IMS) maps.
To view a helpful summary of information available from the various maps on the chart “Key to Website Maps” click here.
Overview Map and Regional Map
These static maps orient the user to our Project area by providing broad scale geographic and hydrologic information. They display Lake St. Clair and watersheds of the four rivers from which the Project collected thousands of samples and water quality monitoring data. To access the Overview Map click here or to access the Regional Map click here. On the Regional Map, clicking anywhere within the boundaries of Macomb County, Oakland County or St. Clair County will provide the map of that county.
County Maps
The three county maps are similar to the Regional Map, except that clicking a sampling location in your county of interest will yield the more detailed Sampling Location Map and descriptions of features at that location: click here for the Oakland County map, click here for the Macomb County map or click here for the St. Clair County map.
Sampling Location Maps
To see specific places where samples were collected, try one or more of these maps. They are similar to road maps in that they show you information about an area of interest; here they show basic land and surface water features in the vicinity of the sampling locations.
Once you select a location, you will observe the river, tributary or lake location where samples have been collected, roads, symbols for the actual sampling location and some descriptive information. You can access these maps by (1) clicking on the Site ID in the Site ID column in the Results Form or (2) from the Site Information tab available on many pages.
Project Interactive Map
What is the Project Interactive Map?
The Interactive Map provides Project specific information, such as boundaries of the watersheds of the Belle, Black, Clinton and Pine rivers, and portions of the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair Watersheds and descriptions of sampling locations.
You can interactively select sampling locations and pan to adjacent map areas. You can display an aerial photo of these locations by zooming in several times. Informational tables for each location contain the name and ID of the sampling location, its longitude and latitude, types of sampling and monitoring conducted, gauge datum and some include watershed drainage areas and reference datum. And, from the tables, you can query water quality, sediment quality, streamflow, rainfall and other data.
How do I access the Project Interactive Map?
You may:
· Click here.
· You can click on the Interactive Map in the Content column of the Regional Map or any of the three County maps.
How do I use the Interactive Map?
Click the Interactive Map tab. Below the map that appears, there is a brief description of how to use its features. This displays useful information about the Project region; and you will be able to query the Project data from the site information table adjacent to this map.
What is the Internet Map Server (IMS)?
The Internet Map Server (IMS) is a website that allows users to interact with geographic data through a standard web browser. An IMS provides access to spatial data to a wide range of users who may be located across the state, country or world without the need for each user to have expensive desktop software. The Project IMS displays geographic information about the Project region; but does not contain water quality or other Project data.
Most people are familiar with some IMS in one way or another, whether they know it or not. MapQuest, Yahoo! Maps and MSN Maps & Directions are examples of popular consumer based IMS functionality. The Project IMS is different in that users have more functionality and flexibility at their disposal. Users can turn layers on and off, zoom, pan, select, query, etc within the IMS, which allows users at any level to extract information of interest.
How can I access the Project IMS?
This IMS provides a user-friendly interface that allows users to interact with maps via a standard web browser, offering the capability to navigate (i.e. pan, zoom, etc.), query, measure and select data dynamically. To access the Project IMS, click on the Project IMS folder in the Content column at the top of the screen.
Tell Me More About GIS
Geographic Information System (GIS) data is geographically referenced information (i.e. data identified according to their locations) in a database. Often, the end product of a GIS is a map or similar visual representation, but the true power of a GIS lies in the ability to manipulate, analyze and model the spatial information that comprises that map. GIS also refers to a complete system that includes not only computer hardware and software, but also people who have been trained to manipulate and analyze geographic data (i.e. elevation/terrain, streams, roads, address, etc.) for a given location
Maps are perhaps the most well known product of a GIS, but the true power of GIS lies in the ability to simultaneously analyze several to many data layers to better understand the environment. This ability often reveals relationships and information that would not have otherwise been visible.
The field of hydrology, in particular, has benefited greatly from the analytical functionality of GIS. Complimenting the deep expertise and hydrologists and watershed managers alike, GIS has added a degree of precision and efficiency not previously attainable, leading to a better understanding of the environment and water quality and to better decisions.
The following two links: Michigan and the Great Lakes, will help guide you to find general data sources relevant to the lake St. Clair Regional Monitoring Project area, but these are not online GIS views.
Michigan – Several Michigan GIS resources;
Great Lakes – Links to the Great Lakes Regional GIS
Data used in the IMS for the project can be found at the Michigan Geographic Data Library (MiGDL) (http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/mgdl), which is an online GIS data library, which can be searched by geographic extent, theme, or metadata. Additionally, water quality data used in the IMS was provided by the Macomb County Health Department. If you have any questions regarding the water quality data click click here.
If you need more information on use of the Project IMS click here.
MAP FEATURES & RELATED INFORMATION
Regional
County
Sampling Location
Interactive Map
Internet Map Server (IMS/GIS)
Southeast Michigan
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Watersheds Sampled
Sampling Locations
Rivers
Watershed Only
Lake St. Clair
Nearshore & Offshore
Aerial Photo of Sampling Locations
Ö
Municipal and County Boundaries
Geographic/Hydrologic Features
Interactively Access Local Geologic/ Hydrologic Features
Information About Sampling
Locations
Access Data
Water and Sediment
Rainfall
Streamflow
Sampling Location Drainage Area
Link
Longitude & Latitude of Sampling Locations
