Notice: this is not the latest Heat Island Anomalies image service.This layer contains the relative degrees Fahrenheit difference between any given pixel and the mean heat value for the city in which it is located, for every city in the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. This 30-meter raster was derived from Landsat 8 imagery band 10 (ground-level thermal sensor) from the summer of 2022, with patching from summer of 2021 where necessary.Federal statistics over a 30-year period show extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. Extreme heat exacerbated by urban heat islands can lead to increased respiratory difficulties, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. These heat impacts significantly affect the most vulnerable—children, the elderly, and those with preexisting conditions.The purpose of this layer is to show where certain areas of cities are hotter or cooler than the average temperature for that same city as a whole. This dataset represents a snapshot in time. It will be updated yearly, but is static between updates. It does not take into account changes in heat during a single day, for example, from building shadows moving. The thermal readings detected by the Landsat 8 sensor are surface-level, whether that surface is the ground or the top of a building. Although there is strong correlation between surface temperature and air temperature, they are not the same. We believe that this is useful at the national level, and for cities that don’t have the ability to conduct their own hyper local temperature survey. Where local data is available, it may be more accurate than this dataset. Dataset SummaryThis dataset was developed using proprietary Python code developed at The Trust for Public Land, running on the Descartes Labs platform through the Descartes Labs API for Python. The Descartes Labs platform allows for extremely fast retrieval and processing of imagery, which makes it possible to produce heat island data for all cities in the United States in a relatively short amount of time.In order to click on the image service and see the raw pixel values in a map viewer, you must be signed in to ArcGIS Online, then Enable Pop-Ups and Configure Pop-Ups.Using the Urban Heat Island (UHI) Image ServicesThe data is made available as an image service. There is a processing template applied that supplies the yellow-to-red or blue-to-red color ramp, but once this processing template is removed (you can do this in ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Desktop, or in QGIS), the actual data values come through the service and can be used directly in a geoprocessing tool (for example, to extract an area of interest). Following are instructions for doing this in Pro.In ArcGIS Pro, in a Map view, in the Catalog window, click on Portal. In the Portal window, click on the far-right icon representing Living Atlas. Search on the acronyms “tpl” and “uhi”. The results returned will be the UHI image services. Right click on a result and select “Add to current map” from the context menu. When the image service is added to the map, right-click on it in the map view, and select Properties. In the Properties window, select Processing Templates. On the drop-down menu at the top of the window, the default Processing Template is either a yellow-to-red ramp or a blue-to-red ramp. Click the drop-down, and select “None”, then “OK”. Now you will have the actual pixel values displayed in the map, and available to any geoprocessing tool that takes a raster as input. Below is a screenshot of ArcGIS Pro with a UHI image service loaded, color ramp removed, and symbology changed back to a yellow-to-red ramp (a classified renderer can also be used): A typical operation at this point is to clip out your area of interest. To do this, add your polygon shapefile or feature class to the map view, and use the Clip Raster tool to export your area of interest as a geoTIFF raster (file extension ".tif"). In the environments tab for the Clip Raster tool, click the dropdown for "Extent" and select "Same as Layer:", and select the name of your polygon. If you then need to convert the output raster to a polygon shapefile or feature class, run the Raster to Polygon tool, and select "Value" as the field.Other Sources of Heat Island InformationPlease see these websites for valuable information on heat islands and to learn about exciting new heat island research being led by scientists across the country:EPA’s Heat Island Resource CenterDr. Ladd Keith, University of ArizonaDr. Ben McMahan, University of Arizona Dr. Jeremy Hoffman, Science Museum of Virginia Dr. Hunter Jones, NOAA Daphne Lundi, Senior Policy Advisor, NYC Mayor's Office of Recovery and ResiliencyDisclaimer/FeedbackWith nearly 14,000 cities represented, checking each city's heat island raster for quality assurance would be prohibitively time-consuming, so The Trust for Public Land checked a statistically significant sample size for data quality. The sample passed all quality checks, with about 98.5% of the output cities error-free, but there could be instances where the user finds errors in the data. These errors will most likely take the form of a line of discontinuity where there is no city boundary; this type of error is caused by large temperature differences in two adjacent Landsat scenes, so the discontinuity occurs along scene boundaries (see figure below). The Trust for Public Land would appreciate feedback on these errors so that version 2 of the national UHI dataset can be improved. Contact Dale.Watt@tpl.org with feedback.

Notice: this is not the latest Heat Island Severity image service.This layer contains the relative heat severity for every pixel for every city in the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. This 30-meter raster was derived from Landsat 8 imagery band 10 (ground-level thermal sensor) from the summer of 2022, patched with data from 2021 where necessary.Federal statistics over a 30-year period show extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. Extreme heat exacerbated by urban heat islands can lead to increased respiratory difficulties, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. These heat impacts significantly affect the most vulnerable—children, the elderly, and those with preexisting conditions.The purpose of this layer is to show where certain areas of cities are hotter than the average temperature for that same city as a whole. Severity is measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being a relatively mild heat area (slightly above the mean for the city), and 5 being a severe heat area (significantly above the mean for the city). The absolute heat above mean values are classified into these 5 classes using the Jenks Natural Breaks classification method, which seeks to reduce the variance within classes and maximize the variance between classes. Knowing where areas of high heat are located can help a city government plan for mitigation strategies.This dataset represents a snapshot in time. It will be updated yearly, but is static between updates. It does not take into account changes in heat during a single day, for example, from building shadows moving. The thermal readings detected by the Landsat 8 sensor are surface-level, whether that surface is the ground or the top of a building. Although there is strong correlation between surface temperature and air temperature, they are not the same. We believe that this is useful at the national level, and for cities that don’t have the ability to conduct their own hyper local temperature survey. Where local data is available, it may be more accurate than this dataset. Dataset SummaryThis dataset was developed using proprietary Python code developed at The Trust for Public Land, running on the Descartes Labs platform through the Descartes Labs API for Python. The Descartes Labs platform allows for extremely fast retrieval and processing of imagery, which makes it possible to produce heat island data for all cities in the United States in a relatively short amount of time.What can you do with this layer?This layer has query, identify, and export image services available. Since it is served as an image service, it is not necessary to download the data; the service itself is data that can be used directly in any Esri geoprocessing tool that accepts raster data as input.In order to click on the image service and see the raw pixel values in a map viewer, you must be signed in to ArcGIS Online, then Enable Pop-Ups and Configure Pop-Ups.Using the Urban Heat Island (UHI) Image ServicesThe data is made available as an image service. There is a processing template applied that supplies the yellow-to-red or blue-to-red color ramp, but once this processing template is removed (you can do this in ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Desktop, or in QGIS), the actual data values come through the service and can be used directly in a geoprocessing tool (for example, to extract an area of interest). Following are instructions for doing this in Pro.In ArcGIS Pro, in a Map view, in the Catalog window, click on Portal. In the Portal window, click on the far-right icon representing Living Atlas. Search on the acronyms “tpl” and “uhi”. The results returned will be the UHI image services. Right click on a result and select “Add to current map” from the context menu. When the image service is added to the map, right-click on it in the map view, and select Properties. In the Properties window, select Processing Templates. On the drop-down menu at the top of the window, the default Processing Template is either a yellow-to-red ramp or a blue-to-red ramp. Click the drop-down, and select “None”, then “OK”. Now you will have the actual pixel values displayed in the map, and available to any geoprocessing tool that takes a raster as input. Below is a screenshot of ArcGIS Pro with a UHI image service loaded, color ramp removed, and symbology changed back to a yellow-to-red ramp (a classified renderer can also be used): A typical operation at this point is to clip out your area of interest. To do this, add your polygon shapefile or feature class to the map view, and use the Clip Raster tool to export your area of interest as a geoTIFF raster (file extension ".tif"). In the environments tab for the Clip Raster tool, click the dropdown for "Extent" and select "Same as Layer:", and select the name of your polygon. If you then need to convert the output raster to a polygon shapefile or feature class, run the Raster to Polygon tool, and select "Value" as the field.Other Sources of Heat Island InformationPlease see these websites for valuable information on heat islands and to learn about exciting new heat island research being led by scientists across the country:EPA’s Heat Island Resource CenterDr. Ladd Keith, University of ArizonaDr. Ben McMahan, University of Arizona Dr. Jeremy Hoffman, Science Museum of Virginia Dr. Hunter Jones, NOAA Daphne Lundi, Senior Policy Advisor, NYC Mayor's Office of Recovery and ResiliencyDisclaimer/FeedbackWith nearly 14,000 cities represented, checking each city's heat island raster for quality assurance would be prohibitively time-consuming, so The Trust for Public Land checked a statistically significant sample size for data quality. The sample passed all quality checks, with about 98.5% of the output cities error-free, but there could be instances where the user finds errors in the data. These errors will most likely take the form of a line of discontinuity where there is no city boundary; this type of error is caused by large temperature differences in two adjacent Landsat scenes, so the discontinuity occurs along scene boundaries (see figure below). The Trust for Public Land would appreciate feedback on these errors so that version 2 of the national UHI dataset can be improved. Contact Dale.Watt@tpl.org with feedback.

ArcGIS Pro/QGIS to modify layers R for scripts

Notice: this is not the latest Heat Island Severity image service.This layer contains the relative heat severity for every pixel for every city in the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Heat Severity is a reclassified version of Heat Anomalies raster which is also published on this site. This data is generated from 30-meter Landsat 8 imagery band 10 (ground-level thermal sensor) from the summer of 2023.To explore previous versions of the data, visit the links below:Heat Severity - USA 2022Heat Severity - USA 2021Heat Severity - USA 2020Heat Severity - USA 2019Federal statistics over a 30-year period show extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. Extreme heat exacerbated by urban heat islands can lead to increased respiratory difficulties, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. These heat impacts significantly affect the most vulnerable—children, the elderly, and those with preexisting conditions.The purpose of this layer is to show where certain areas of cities are hotter than the average temperature for that same city as a whole. Severity is measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being a relatively mild heat area (slightly above the mean for the city), and 5 being a severe heat area (significantly above the mean for the city). The absolute heat above mean values are classified into these 5 classes using the Jenks Natural Breaks classification method, which seeks to reduce the variance within classes and maximize the variance between classes. Knowing where areas of high heat are located can help a city government plan for mitigation strategies.This dataset represents a snapshot in time. It will be updated yearly, but is static between updates. It does not take into account changes in heat during a single day, for example, from building shadows moving. The thermal readings detected by the Landsat 8 sensor are surface-level, whether that surface is the ground or the top of a building. Although there is strong correlation between surface temperature and air temperature, they are not the same. We believe that this is useful at the national level, and for cities that don’t have the ability to conduct their own hyper local temperature survey. Where local data is available, it may be more accurate than this dataset. Dataset SummaryThis dataset was developed using proprietary Python code developed at Trust for Public Land, running on the Descartes Labs platform through the Descartes Labs API for Python. The Descartes Labs platform allows for extremely fast retrieval and processing of imagery, which makes it possible to produce heat island data for all cities in the United States in a relatively short amount of time.What can you do with this layer?This layer has query, identify, and export image services available. Since it is served as an image service, it is not necessary to download the data; the service itself is data that can be used directly in any Esri geoprocessing tool that accepts raster data as input.In order to click on the image service and see the raw pixel values in a map viewer, you must be signed in to ArcGIS Online, then Enable Pop-Ups and Configure Pop-Ups.Using the Urban Heat Island (UHI) Image ServicesThe data is made available as an image service. There is a processing template applied that supplies the yellow-to-red or blue-to-red color ramp, but once this processing template is removed (you can do this in ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Desktop, or in QGIS), the actual data values come through the service and can be used directly in a geoprocessing tool (for example, to extract an area of interest). Following are instructions for doing this in Pro.In ArcGIS Pro, in a Map view, in the Catalog window, click on Portal. In the Portal window, click on the far-right icon representing Living Atlas. Search on the acronyms “tpl” and “uhi”. The results returned will be the UHI image services. Right click on a result and select “Add to current map” from the context menu. When the image service is added to the map, right-click on it in the map view, and select Properties. In the Properties window, select Processing Templates. On the drop-down menu at the top of the window, the default Processing Template is either a yellow-to-red ramp or a blue-to-red ramp. Click the drop-down, and select “None”, then “OK”. Now you will have the actual pixel values displayed in the map, and available to any geoprocessing tool that takes a raster as input. Below is a screenshot of ArcGIS Pro with a UHI image service loaded, color ramp removed, and symbology changed back to a yellow-to-red ramp (a classified renderer can also be used): A typical operation at this point is to clip out your area of interest. To do this, add your polygon shapefile or feature class to the map view, and use the Clip Raster tool to export your area of interest as a geoTIFF raster (file extension ".tif"). In the environments tab for the Clip Raster tool, click the dropdown for "Extent" and select "Same as Layer:", and select the name of your polygon. If you then need to convert the output raster to a polygon shapefile or feature class, run the Raster to Polygon tool, and select "Value" as the field.Other Sources of Heat Island InformationPlease see these websites for valuable information on heat islands and to learn about exciting new heat island research being led by scientists across the country:EPA’s Heat Island Resource CenterDr. Ladd Keith, University of ArizonaDr. Ben McMahan, University of Arizona Dr. Jeremy Hoffman, Science Museum of Virginia Dr. Hunter Jones, NOAA Daphne Lundi, Senior Policy Advisor, NYC Mayor's Office of Recovery and ResiliencyDisclaimer/FeedbackWith nearly 14,000 cities represented, checking each city's heat island raster for quality assurance would be prohibitively time-consuming, so Trust for Public Land checked a statistically significant sample size for data quality. The sample passed all quality checks, with about 98.5% of the output cities error-free, but there could be instances where the user finds errors in the data. These errors will most likely take the form of a line of discontinuity where there is no city boundary; this type of error is caused by large temperature differences in two adjacent Landsat scenes, so the discontinuity occurs along scene boundaries (see figure below). Trust for Public Land would appreciate feedback on these errors so that version 2 of the national UHI dataset can be improved. Contact Dale.Watt@tpl.org with feedback.

RdNBR is a remotely sensed index of the pre- to post-fire change in vegetation greenness, in this case the growing seasons in the year prior to and the year after the year in which the fire occurred. The mean composite scene selection method utilizes all valid pixels in all Landsat scenes over a specified date range to calculate the fire severity index. The CBI is a standardized field measure of vegetation burn severity (Key and Benson 2006), which here is predicted from a remotely sensed fire severity index using regression equations developed between CBI field plot data and the remote index, RBR (Parks et al 2019). The dataset featured provides an estimation of fire severity of past fires, with fire severity defined here as fire-induced change to vegetation. The dataset is limited to fires included in CAL FIRE’s Historic Wildland Fire Perimeters database and therefore is subject to the same limitations in terms of missing or erroneous data. This web app was developed to satisfy the requirements of Senate Bill No. 1101: An act to amend Sections 10295 and 10340 of the Public Contract Code, and to add Section 4114.4 to the Public Resources Code, relating to fire prevention.Methods:To develop these datasets, a feature service for fire perimeters was created from the CAL FIRE Fire and Resource Assessment Program’s Historic Wildland Fire Perimeters database (firep23_1) for fires or fires that were a part of complexes >= 1,000 acres from 2015 to 2023. This feature service is viewable on the California Vegetation Burn Severity Viewer and used to discover the RdNBR and CBI vegetation burn severity datasets. The feature service is titled Burn Severity Fire Perimeters (firep23_1_2015_2023_Fires_Complex_1000ac). After this feature service was uploaded to Google Earth Engine (GEE) as an asset, the Parks et al. 2018 script was used to generate RdNBR values with offset (rdnbr_w_offset) data for each individual fire and the Parks et al. 2019 script was used to generate bias corrected Composite Burn Index values (cbi_bc) data for each individual fire using 30m resolution Landsat Collection 2 data. To specify the date range of Landsat satellite images to be queried to create the one-year pre-fire and one-year post-fire mean composite image scenes in both scripts, the variable 'startday' was set to 152 (June 1st) and the variable 'endday' was set to 258 (September 15th) for all fires, as specified in Parks et al. (2019). These variables were used to define the ranges of Landsat scenes that were queried to create the one-year-pre-fire and one-year-post-fire mean composite Landsat scenes. These values were used, as they were detailed as the leaf-on period for the State of California in Parks et al. 2019. Once the RdNBR raster data for each fire had been produced using Parks et al. 2018's GEE script and the CBI raster data for each fire had been produced using Parks et al. 2019's GEE script, a Python script (run in a Jupyter Notebook embedded in the ArcGIS Pro software) was used to clip each fire-specific, continuous feature class to the extent of its fire perimeter. Each CBI feature class was additionally clipped to the extent of Conifer Forest and Hardwood Forest classes (defined in FVEG15's WHR13 Lifeform class for fires from 2015 to 2021 and defined in FVEG22's WHR13 Lifeform class for fires from 2022 to 2023).Once each continuous feature class had been clipped, values were reclassified to create a discrete RdNBR and CBI feature classes. Classes for RdNBR were arbitrarily chosen and do not correspond to meaningful categories of burn severity. Higher RdNBR values do indicate greater loss of vegetation greenness and negative values indicate an increase in greenness, but there is not necessarily a direct or linear correlation between RdNBR values and impacts to vegetation or ecological effects. Remotely sensed fire severity indices are translated into CBI using regression equations developed between CBI field plot data and the remote indices. Very few CBI plots exist in California or elsewhere in the U.S. for vegetation types other than forest. We therefore chose to include only forest vegetation in our CBI dataset. Classes for RdNBR were as follows: Code | Lower Limit (RdNBR) | Upper Limit (RdNBR) 1 < -1,000 -1,000 2 -1,000 -800 3 -800 -600 4 -600 -400 5 -400 -200 6 -200 0 7 0 200 8 200 400 9 400 600 10 600 800 11 800 1,000 12 1,000 1,200 13 1,200 1,400 14 1,400 1,600 15 1,600 > 1,600 Classes for CBI were as follows: Code | Lower Limit (CBI) | Upper Limit (CBI) | Burn Severity 1 0.00 0.10 Unburned 2 0.10 1.25 Low Vegetation Burn Severity 3 1.25 2.25 Moderate Vegetation Burn Severity 4 2.25 3.00 High Vegetation Burn Severity The discrete raster feature classes were then converted to vector feature classes. Finally, all individual discrete vector feature classes for individual fires were merged into two vector datasets, RdNBR Burn Severity Data (BurnSeverityRdNBR1523_1) and CBI Burn Severity Data (BurnSeverityCBIForest1523_1). These feature services are viewable on this web app, the California Vegetation Burn Severity Viewer.

This map features Africa Land Cover at 30m resolution from MDAUS BaseVue 2013, referencing the World Land Cover 30m BaseVue 2013 layer.Land cover data represent a descriptive thematic surface for characteristics of the land's surface such as densities or types of developed areas, agricultural lands, and natural vegetation regimes. Land cover data are the result of a model, so a good way to think of the values in each cell are as the predominating value rather than the only characteristic in that cell.Land use and land cover data are critical and fundamental for environmental monitoring, planning, and assessment.Dataset SummaryBaseVue 2013 is a commercial global, land use / land cover (LULC) product developed by MDA. BaseVue covers the Earth’s entire land area, excluding Antarctica. BaseVue is independently derived from roughly 9,200 Landsat 8 images and is the highest spatial resolution (30m), most current LULC product available. The capture dates for the Landsat 8 imagery range from April 11, 2013 to June 29, 2014. The following 16 classes of land use / land cover are listed by their cell value in this layer: Deciduous Forest: Trees > 3 meters in height, canopy closure >35% (<25% inter-mixture with evergreen species) that seasonally lose their leaves, except Larch.Evergreen Forest: Trees >3 meters in height, canopy closure >35% (<25% inter-mixture with deciduous species), of species that do not lose leaves. (will include coniferous Larch regardless of deciduous nature).Shrub/Scrub: Woody vegetation <3 meters in height, > 10% ground cover. Only collect >30% ground cover.Grassland: Herbaceous grasses, > 10% cover, including pasture lands. Only collect >30% cover.Barren or Minimal Vegetation: Land with minimal vegetation (<10%) including rock, sand, clay, beaches, quarries, strip mines, and gravel pits. Salt flats, playas, and non-tidal mud flats are also included when not inundated with water.Not Used (in other MDA products 6 represents urban areas or built up areas, which have been split here in into values 20 and 21).Agriculture, General: Cultivated crop landsAgriculture, Paddy: Crop lands characterized by inundation for a substantial portion of the growing seasonWetland: Areas where the water table is at or near the surface for a substantial portion of the growing season, including herbaceous and woody species (except mangrove species)Mangrove: Coastal (tropical wetlands) dominated by Mangrove speciesWater: All water bodies greater than 0.08 hectares (1 LS pixel) including oceans, lakes, ponds, rivers, and streamsIce / Snow: Land areas covered permanently or nearly permanent with ice or snowClouds: Areas where no land cover interpretation is possible due to obstruction from clouds, cloud shadows, smoke, haze, or satellite malfunctionWoody Wetlands: Areas where forest or shrubland vegetation accounts for greater than 20% of vegetative cover and the soil or substrate periodically is saturated with, or covered by water. Only used within the continental U.S.Mixed Forest: Areas dominated by trees generally greater than 5 meters tall, and greater than 20% of total vegetation cover. Neither deciduous nor evergreen species are greater than 75% of total tree cover. Only used within the continental U.S.Not UsedNot UsedNot UsedNot UsedHigh Density Urban: Areas with over 70% of constructed materials that are a minimum of 60 meters wide (asphalt, concrete, buildings, etc.). Includes residential areas with a mixture of constructed materials and vegetation where constructed materials account for >60%. Commercial, industrial, and transportation i.e., Train stations, airports, etc.Medium-Low Density Urban: Areas with 30%-70% of constructed materials that are a minimum of 60 meters wide (asphalt, concrete, buildings, etc.). Includes residential areas with a mixture of constructed materials and vegetation, where constructed materials account for greater than 40%. Commercial, industrial, and transportation i.e., Train stations, airports, etc.MDA updated the underlying data in late 2016 and this service was updated in February 2017. An improved selection of cloud-free images was used to produce the update, resulting in improvement of classification quality to 80% of the tiles for this service.What can you do with this layer?This layer can be used to create maps and to visualize the underlying data across the ArcGIS platform. It can also be used as an analytic input in ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro.This layer has query, identify, and export image services available. The layer is restricted to an 16,000 x 16,000 pixel limit, which represents an area of nearly 300 miles on a side. This layer is part of a larger collection of landscape layers that you can use to perform a wide variety of mapping and analysis tasks.

The National Commodity Crop Productivity Index (NCCPI) ranks the inherent capability of soils to produce agricultural crops without irrigation. For more information on how the NCCPI is calculated see User Guide for the National Commodity Crop Productivity Index.Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: National Commodity Crop Productivity Index version 3.0Units: Thousandths of nccpi3all index value, served as integers (this layer's value of 889 equals 0.889 in the nccpi3all)Cell Size: 30 metersSource Type: DiscretePixel Type: Unsigned integerData Coordinate System: USA Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic USGS version (contiguous US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands), WGS 1984 Albers (Alaska), Hawaii Albers Equal Area Conic (Hawaii), Western Pacific Albers Equal Area Conic (Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Marianas Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and American Samoa)Mosaic Projection: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereExtent: Contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, Marshall Islands, Northern Marianas Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and American SamoaSource: Natural Resources Conservation ServicePublication Date: December 2021, except Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands which are July 2020.ArcGIS Server URL: https://landscape11.arcgis.com/arcgis/Data from the gNATSGO database was used to create the layer for the contiguous United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The remaining areas were created with the gSSURGO database (Hawaii, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Marianas Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and American Samoa).This layer is derived from the 30m (contiguous U.S.) and 10m rasters (all other regions) produced by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The value for the National Commodity Crop Productivity Index is derived from the gSSURGO valu1 table field nccpi3all.Note: This layer serves the National Commodity Crop Productivity Index value from the 2021 version for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. In 2022 the gNATSGO source was missing its Valu1 table for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.What can you do with this Layer? This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis across the ArcGIS system. This layer can be combined with your data and other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to create powerful web maps that can be used alone or in a story map or other application.Because this layer is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World it is easy to add to your map:In ArcGIS Online, you can add this layer to a map by selecting Add then Browse Living Atlas Layers. A window will open. Type "soil crop production" in the search box and browse to the layer. Select the layer then click Add to Map.In ArcGIS Pro, open a map and select Add Data from the Map Tab. Select Data at the top of the drop down menu. The Add Data dialog box will open on the left side of the box, expand Portal if necessary, then select Living Atlas. Type "soil crop production" in the search box, browse to the layer then click OK.In ArcGIS Pro you can use the built-in raster functions or create your own to create custom extracts of the data. Imagery layers provide fast, powerful inputs to geoprocessing tools, models, or Python scripts in Pro.Online you can filter the layer to show subsets of the data using the filter button and the layer's built-in raster functions.The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics like this one.

Soil loss tolerance factor is the maximum rate of soil loss that will permit crop productivity to be sustained economically and indefinitely on a given soil. Soil loss tolerance is rated as 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 tons per acre per year. The primary use for soil loss tolerance factor is evaluating the effectiveness of erosion control measures on farmland. Soil loss tolerance factor serves as a quantitative standard to compare to erosion rate estimates from models such as the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation. Farmlands where soil loss tolerance factor is less than modeled erosion rates are considered unsustainable. Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: Soil loss toleranceUnits: tons/acre/yearCell Size: 30 metersSource Type: DiscretePixel Type: Unsigned integerData Coordinate System: WKID 5070 USA Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic USGS version (contiguous US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands), WKID 3338 WGS 1984 Albers (Alaska), WKID 4326 WGS 1984 Decimal Degrees (Guam, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, American Samoa, and Hawaii).Projection: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereSource: Natural Resources Conservation ServiceUpdate Frequency: AnnualPublication Date: December 2024 Data from the gNATSGO database was used to create the layer. This layer is derived from the 30m rasters produced by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The value for soil loss tolerance is derived from the gSSURGO component table field T (tfact). The value in this layer is the average value for all components of each map unit weighted by component percent (comppct_r). What can you do with this layer?This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis acrossthe ArcGIS system. This layer can be combined with your data and other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to create powerful web maps that can be used alone or in a story map or other application. Because this layer is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World it is easy to add to your map:In ArcGIS Online, you can add this layer to a map by selecting AddthenBrowse Living Atlas Layers. A window will open. Type "loss tolerance" in the search box and browse to the layer. Select the layer then click Add to Map.In ArcGIS Pro, open a map and selectAdd Datafrom the Map Tab. SelectDataat the top of the drop down menu. The Add Data dialog box will open on the left side of the box, expandPortalif necessary, then selectLiving Atlas. Type "loss tolerance" in the search box, browse to the layer then click OK. In ArcGIS Pro you can use the built-in raster functions or create your own to create custom extracts of the data. Imagery layers provide fast, powerful inputs to geoprocessing tools, models, or Python scripts in Pro. Online you can filter the layer to show subsets of the data using the filter button and the layer"s built-in raster functions. The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics like this one. Questions?Please leave a comment below if you have a question about this layer, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Reason for Selection Protected natural areas in urban environments provide urban residents a nearby place to connect with nature and offer refugia for some species. They help foster a conservation ethic by providing opportunities for people to connect with nature, and also support ecosystem services like offsetting heat island effects (Greene and Millward 2017, Simpson 1998), water filtration, stormwater retention, and more (Hoover and Hopton 2019). In addition, parks, greenspace, and greenways can help improve physical and psychological health in communities (Gies 2006). Urban park size complements the equitable access to potential parks indicator by capturing the value of existing parks.Input DataSoutheast Blueprint 2024 extentFWS National Realty Tracts, accessed 12-13-2023Protected Areas Database of the United States(PAD-US):PAD-US 3.0 national geodatabase -Combined Proclamation Marine Fee Designation Easement, accessed 12-6-20232020 Census Urban Areas from the Census Bureau’s urban-rural classification; download the data, read more about how urban areas were redefined following the 2020 censusOpenStreetMap data “multipolygons” layer, accessed 12-5-2023A polygon from this dataset is considered a beach if the value in the “natural” tag attribute is “beach”. Data for coastal states (VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX) were downloaded in .pbf format and translated to an ESRI shapefile using R code. OpenStreetMap® is open data, licensed under theOpen Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) by theOpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF). Additional credit to OSM contributors. Read more onthe OSM copyright page.2021 National Land Cover Database (NLCD): Percentdevelopedimperviousness2023NOAA coastal relief model: volumes 2 (Southeast Atlantic), 3 (Florida and East Gulf of America), 4 (Central Gulf of America), and 5 (Western Gulf of America), accessed 3-27-2024Mapping StepsCreate a seamless vector layer to constrain the extent of the urban park size indicator to inland and nearshore marine areas <10 m in depth. The deep offshore areas of marine parks do not meet the intent of this indicator to capture nearby opportunities for urban residents to connect with nature. Shallow areas are more accessible for recreational activities like snorkeling, which typically has a maximum recommended depth of 12-15 meters. This step mirrors the approach taken in the Caribbean version of this indicator.Merge all coastal relief model rasters (.nc format) together using QGIS “create virtual raster”.Save merged raster to .tif and import into ArcPro.Reclassify the NOAA coastal relief model data to assign areas with an elevation of land to -10 m a value of 1. Assign all other areas (deep marine) a value of 0.Convert the raster produced above to vector using the “RasterToPolygon” tool.Clip to 2024 subregions using “Pairwise Clip” tool.Break apart multipart polygons using “Multipart to single parts” tool.Hand-edit to remove deep marine polygon.Dissolve the resulting data layer.This produces a seamless polygon defining land and shallow marine areas.Clip the Census urban area layer to the bounding box of NoData surrounding the extent of Southeast Blueprint 2024.Clip PAD-US 3.0 to the bounding box of NoData surrounding the extent of Southeast Blueprint 2024.Remove the following areas from PAD-US 3.0, which are outside the scope of this indicator to represent parks:All School Trust Lands in Oklahoma and Mississippi (Loc Des = “School Lands” or “School Trust Lands”). These extensive lands are leased out and are not open to the public.All tribal and military lands (“Des_Tp” = "TRIBL" or “Des_Tp” = "MIL"). Generally, these lands are not intended for public recreational use.All BOEM marine lease blocks (“Own_Name” = "BOEM"). These Outer Continental Shelf lease blocks do not represent actively protected marine parks, but serve as the “legal definition for BOEM offshore boundary coordinates...for leasing and administrative purposes” (BOEM).All lands designated as “proclamation” (“Des_Tp” = "PROC"). These typically represent the approved boundary of public lands, within which land protection is authorized to occur, but not all lands within the proclamation boundary are necessarily currently in a conserved status.Retain only selected attribute fields from PAD-US to get rid of irrelevant attributes.Merged the filtered PAD-US layer produced above with the OSM beaches and FWS National Realty Tracts to produce a combined protected areas dataset.The resulting merged data layer contains overlapping polygons. To remove overlapping polygons, use the Dissolve function.Clip the resulting data layer to the inland and nearshore extent.Process all multipart polygons (e.g., separate parcels within a National Wildlife Refuge) to single parts (referred to in Arc software as an “explode”).Select all polygons that intersect the Census urban extent within 0.5 miles. We chose 0.5 miles to represent a reasonable walking distance based on input and feedback from park access experts. Assuming a moderate intensity walking pace of 3 miles per hour, as defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s physical activity guidelines, the 0.5 mi distance also corresponds to the 10-minute walk threshold used in the equitable access to potential parks indicator.Dissolve all the park polygons that were selected in the previous step.Process all multipart polygons to single parts (“explode”) again.Add a unique ID to the selected parks. This value will be used in a later step to join the parks to their buffers.Create a 0.5 mi (805 m) buffer ring around each park using the multiring plugin in QGIS. Ensure that “dissolve buffers” is disabled so that a single 0.5 mi buffer is created for each park.Assess the amount of overlap between the buffered park and the Census urban area using “overlap analysis”. This step is necessary to identify parks that do not intersect the urban area, but which lie within an urban matrix (e.g., Umstead Park in Raleigh, NC and Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve in Atlanta, GA). This step creates a table that is joined back to the park polygons using the UniqueID.Remove parks that had ≤10% overlap with the urban areas when buffered. This excludes mostly non-urban parks that do not meet the intent of this indicator to capture parks that provide nearby access for urban residents. Note: The 10% threshold is a judgement call based on testing which known urban parks and urban National Wildlife Refuges are captured at different overlap cutoffs and is intended to be as inclusive as possible.Calculate the GIS acres of each remaining park unit using the Add Geometry Attributes function.Buffer the selected parks by 15 m. Buffering prevents very small and narrow parks from being left out of the indicator when the polygons are converted to raster.Reclassify the parks based on their area into the 7 classes seen in the final indicator values below. These thresholds were informed by park classification guidelines from the National Recreation and Park Association, which classify neighborhood parks as 5-10 acres, community parks as 30-50 acres, and large urban parks as optimally 75+ acres (Mertes and Hall 1995).Assess the impervious surface composition of each park using the NLCD 2021 impervious layer and the Zonal Statistics “MEAN” function. Retain only the mean percent impervious value for each park.Extract only parks with a mean impervious pixel value <80%. This step excludes parks that do not meet the intent of the indicator to capture opportunities to connect with nature and offer refugia for species (e.g., the Superdome in New Orleans, LA, the Astrodome in Houston, TX, and City Plaza in Raleigh, NC).Extract again to the inland and nearshore extent.Export the final vector file to a shapefile and import to ArcGIS Pro.Convert the resulting polygons to raster using the ArcPy Feature to Raster function and the area class field.Assign a value of 0 to all other pixels in the Southeast Blueprint 2024 extent not already identified as an urban park in the mapping steps above. Zero values are intended to help users better understand the extent of this indicator and make it perform better in online tools.Use the land and shallow marine layer and “extract by mask” tool to save the final version of this indicator.Add color and legend to raster attribute table.As a final step, clip to the spatial extent of Southeast Blueprint 2024.Note: For more details on the mapping steps, code used to create this layer is available in theSoutheast Blueprint Data Downloadunder > 6_Code. Final indicator valuesIndicator values are assigned as follows:6= 75+ acre urban park5= 50 to <75 acre urban park4= 30 to <50 acre urban park3= 10 to <30 acre urban park2=5 to <10acreurbanpark1 = <5 acre urban park0 = Not identified as an urban parkKnown IssuesThis indicator does not include park amenities that influence how well the park serves people and should not be the only tool used for parks and recreation planning. Park standards should be determined at a local level to account for various community issues, values, needs, and available resources.This indicator includes some protected areas that are not open to the public and not typically thought of as “parks”, like mitigation lands, private easements, and private golf courses. While we experimented with excluding them using the public access attribute in PAD, due to numerous inaccuracies, this inadvertently removed protected lands that are known to be publicly accessible. As a result, we erred on the side of including the non-publicly accessible lands.The NLCD percent impervious layer contains classification inaccuracies. As a result, this indicator may exclude parks that are mostly natural because they are misclassified as mostly impervious. Conversely, this indicator may include parks that are mostly impervious because they are misclassified as mostly

Soil loss tolerance factor is the maximum rate of soil loss that will permit crop productivity to be sustained economically and indefinitely on a given soil. Soil loss tolerance is expressed as tons/acre/year. The primary use for soil loss tolerance factor is evaluating the effectiveness of erosion control measures on farmland. Soil loss tolerance factor serves as a quantitative standard to compare to erosion rate estimates from models such as the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation. Farmlands where soil loss tolerance factor is less than modeled erosion rates are considered unsustainable.Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: Soil loss toleranceUnits: tons/acre/yearCell Size: 30 metersSource Type: DiscretePixel Type: Unsigned integerData Coordinate System: USA Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic USGS version (contiguous US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands), WGS 1984 Albers (Alaska), Hawaii Albers Equal Area Conic (Hawaii), Western Pacific Albers Equal Area Conic (Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Marianas Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and American Samoa)Mosaic Projection: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereExtent: Contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, Marshall Islands, Northern Marianas Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and American SamoaSource: Natural Resources Conservation ServicePublication Date: December 2021ArcGIS Server URL: https://landscape11.arcgis.com/arcgis/Data from the gNATSGO database was used to create the layer for the contiguous United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The remaining areas were created with the gSSURGO database (Hawaii, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Marianas Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and American Samoa).This layer is derived from the 30m (contiguous U.S.) and 10m rasters (all other regions) produced by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The value for soil loss tolerance is derived from the gSSURGO component table field T (tfact). The value in this layer is the average value for all components of each map unit weighted by component percent (comppct_r). What can you do with this Layer? This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis across the ArcGIS system. This layer can be combined with your data and other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to create powerful web maps that can be used alone or in a story map or other application.Because this layer is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World it is easy to add to your map:In ArcGIS Online, you can add this layer to a map by selecting Add then Browse Living Atlas Layers. A window will open. Type "loss tolerance" in the search box and browse to the layer. Select the layer then click Add to Map.In ArcGIS Pro, open a map and select Add Data from the Map Tab. Select Data at the top of the drop down menu. The Add Data dialog box will open on the left side of the box, expand Portal if necessary, then select Living Atlas. Type "loss tolerance" in the search box, browse to the layer then click OK.In ArcGIS Pro you can use the built-in raster functions or create your own to create custom extracts of the data. Imagery layers provide fast, powerful inputs to geoprocessing tools, models, or Python scripts in Pro.Online you can filter the layer to show subsets of the data using the filter button and the layer's built-in raster functions.The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics like this one.

USA Cropland is a time-enabled imagery layer of the USDA Cropland Data Layer dataset from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). The time series shows the crop grown during every growing season in the conterminous US since 2008. Use the time slider to select only one year to view or analyze. Press play to see each growing season displayed sequentially in an animated map. The USDA is now serving the Cropland Data Layer in their own application called CroplandCros which allows selection and display of a single product or growing season. This application will eventually replace their popular CropScape application. Dataset SummaryVariable mapped: Crop grown in each pixel since 2008.Data Projection: AlbersMosaic Projection: AlbersExtent: Conterminous USACell Size: 30m in 2008-2023, 10m in 2024Source Type: ThematicVisible Scale: All scales are visibleSource: USDA NASSPublication Date: 2/26/2025 Why USA Cropland living atlas layer masks out NLCD land cover in its default templateUSDA Cropland Data Layer, by default as downloaded from USDA, fills in the non-cultivated areas of the conterminous USA with land cover classes from the MRLC National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD). The default behavior for Esri"s USA Cropland layer is a little bit different. By default the Esri USA Cropland layer uses the analytic renderer, which masks out this NLCD data. Why did we choose to mask out the NLCD land cover classes by default? While crops are updated every year from USDA NASS, the NLCD data changes every several years, and it can be quite a bit older than the crop data beside it. If analysis is conducted to quantify landscape change, the NLCD-derived pixels will skew the results of the analysis because NLCD land cover in a yearly time series may appear to remain the same class for several years in a row. This can be problematic because conclusions drawn from this dataset may underrepresent the amount of change happening to the landscape. To display the most current land cover available from both sources, add both the USA NLCD Land Cover service and USA Cropland time series to your map. Use the analytical template with the USA Cropland service, and draw it on top of the USA NLCD Land Cover service. When a time slider is used with these datasets together, the map user will see the most current land cover from both services in any given year. This layer and the data making up the layer are in the Albers map projection. Albers is an equal area projection, and this allows users of this layer to accurately calculate acreage without additional data preparation steps. This also means it takes a tiny bit longer to project on the fly into web Mercator, if that is the destination projection of the layer. Processing templates available with this layerTo help filter out and display just the crops and land use categories you are interested in showing, choose one of the thirteen processing templates that will help you tailor the symbols in the time series to suit your map application. The following are the processing templates that are available with this layer: Analytic RendererUSDA Analytic RendererThe analytic renderer is the default template. NLCD codes are masked when using analytic renderer processing templates. There is a default esri analytic renderer, but also an analytic renderer that uses the original USDA color scheme that was developed for the CropScape layers. This is useful if you have already built maps with the USDA color scheme or otherwise prefer the USDA color scheme. Cartographic RendererUSDA Cartographic RendererThese templates fill in with NLCD land cover types where crops are not cultivated, thereby filling the map with color from coast to coast. There is also a template using the USDA color scheme, which is identical to the datasets as downloaded from USDA NASS. In addition to different ways to display the whole dataset, some processing templates are included which help display the top agricultural products in the United States. If these templates seem to include too many crops in their category (for example, tomatoes are included in both the fruit and vegetables templates), this is because it"s easier for a map user to remove a symbol from a template than it is to add one. Corn - Corn, sweet corn, popcorn or ornamental corn, plus double crops with corn and another crop.Cotton - Cotton and double crops, includes double crops with cotton and another crop.Fruit - Symbolized fruit crops include not only things like melons, apricots, and strawberries, but also olives, avocados, and tomatoes.Nuts - Peanuts, tree nuts, sunflower, etc.Oil Crops - Oil crops include rapeseed and canola, soybeans, avocado, peanut, corn, safflower, sunflower, also cotton and grapes.Permanent Crops - Crops that do not need to be replanted after harvest. Includes fruit and nut trees, caneberries, and grapes.Rice - Rice crops.Sugar - Crops grown to make sugars. Sugar beets and cane are displayed of course, but so are corn and grapes.Soybeans - Soybean crops. Includes double crops where soybeans are grown at some time during the growing season.Vegetables - Vegetable crops, and yes this includes tomatoes.Wheat - Winter and spring wheat, durum wheat, triticale, spelt, and wheat double crops. In many places, two crops were grown in one growing season. Keep in mind that a double crop of corn and soybeans will display in both the corn and soybeans processing templates. What can you do with this layer?This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis acrossthe ArcGIS system. This layer can be combined with your data and other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to create powerful web maps that can be used alone or in a story map or other application. Because this layer is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World it is easy to add to your map:In ArcGIS Online, you can add this layer to a map by selecting Add then Browse Living Atlas Layers. A window will open. Type "USA Cropland" in the search box and browse to the layer. Select the layer then click Add to Map. In ArcGIS Pro, open a map and select Add Data from the Map Tab. Select Data at the top of the drop down menu. The Add Data dialog box will open on the left side of the box, expand Portal if necessary, then select Living Atlas. Type "USA Cropland" in the search box, browse to the layer then click OK. In ArcGIS Pro you can use the built-in raster functions or create your own to create custom extracts of the data. Imagery layers provide fast, powerful inputs to geoprocessing tools, models, or Python scripts in Pro. Online you can filter the layer to show subsets of the data using the filter button and the layer"s built-in raster functions. The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics like this one. Index to raster values in USA Cropland:Value,Crop0,Background (not a cultivated crop or no data)1,Corn2,Cotton3,Rice4,Sorghum5,Soybeans6,Sunflower10,Peanuts11,Tobacco12,Sweet Corn13,Popcorn or Ornamental Corn14,Mint21,Barley22,Durum Wheat23,Spring Wheat24,Winter Wheat25,Other Small Grains26,Double Crop Winter Wheat/Soybeans27,Rye28,Oats29,Millet30,Speltz31,Canola32,Flaxseed33,Safflower34,Rape Seed35,Mustard36,Alfalfa37,Other Hay/Non Alfalfa38,Camelina39,Buckwheat41,Sugarbeets42,Dry Beans43,Potatoes44,Other Crops45,Sugarcane46,Sweet Potatoes47,Miscellaneous Vegetables and Fruits48,Watermelons49,Onions50,Cucumbers51,Chick Peas52,Lentils53,Peas54,Tomatoes55,Caneberries56,Hops57,Herbs58,Clover/Wildflowers59,Sod/Grass Seed60,Switchgrass61,Fallow/Idle Cropland62,Pasture/Grass63,Forest64,Shrubland65,Barren66,Cherries67,Peaches68,Apples69,Grapes70,Christmas Trees71,Other Tree Crops72,Citrus74,Pecans75,Almonds76,Walnuts77,Pears81,Clouds/No Data82,Developed83,Water87,Wetlands88,Nonagricultural/Undefined92,Aquaculture111,Open Water112,Perennial Ice/Snow121,Developed/Open Space122,Developed/Low Intensity123,Developed/Med Intensity124,Developed/High Intensity131,Barren141,Deciduous Forest142,Evergreen Forest143,Mixed Forest152,Shrubland176,Grassland/Pasture190,Woody Wetlands195,Herbaceous Wetlands204,Pistachios205,Triticale206,Carrots207,Asparagus208,Garlic209,Cantaloupes210,Prunes211,Olives212,Oranges213,Honeydew Melons214,Broccoli215,Avocados216,Peppers217,Pomegranates218,Nectarines219,Greens220,Plums221,Strawberries222,Squash223,Apricots224,Vetch225,Double Crop Winter Wheat/Corn226,Double Crop Oats/Corn227,Lettuce228,Double Crop Triticale/Corn229,Pumpkins230,Double Crop Lettuce/Durum Wheat231,Double Crop Lettuce/Cantaloupe232,Double Crop Lettuce/Cotton233,Double Crop Lettuce/Barley234,Double Crop Durum Wheat/Sorghum235,Double Crop Barley/Sorghum236,Double Crop Winter Wheat/Sorghum237,Double Crop Barley/Corn238,Double Crop Winter Wheat/Cotton239,Double Crop Soybeans/Cotton240,Double Crop Soybeans/Oats241,Double Crop Corn/Soybeans242,Blueberries243,Cabbage244,Cauliflower245,Celery246,Radishes247,Turnips248,Eggplants249,Gourds250,Cranberries254,Double Crop Barley/Soybeans Questions?Please leave a comment below if you have a question about this layer, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Reason for SelectionProtected natural areas in urban environments provide urban residents a nearby place to connect with nature and offer refugia for some species. Because beaches in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are open to the public, beaches also provide important outdoor recreation opportunities for urban residents, so we include beaches as parks in this indicator.Input DataSoutheast Blueprint 2023 subregions: CaribbeanSoutheast Blueprint 2023 extentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Coastal Relief Model, accessed 11-22-2022Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) 3.0: VI, PR, and Marine Combined Fee EasementPuerto Rico Protected Natural Areas 2018 (December 2018 update): Terrestrial and marine protected areas (PACAT2018_areas_protegidasPR_TERRESTRES_07052019.shp, PACAT2018_areas_protegidasPR_MARINAS_07052019.shp) 2020 Census Urban Areas from the Census Bureau’s urban-rural classification; download the data, read more about how urban areas were redefined following the 2020 censusOpenStreetMap data “multipolygons” layer, accessed 3-14-2023A polygon from this dataset is considered a park if the “leisure” tag attribute is either “park” or “nature_reserve”, and considered a beach if the value in the “natural” tag attribute is “beach”. OpenStreetMap describes leisure areas as “places people go in their spare time” and natural areas as “a wide variety of physical geography, geological and landcover features”. Data were downloaded in .pbf format and translated ton an ESRI shapefile using R code. OpenStreetMap® is open data, licensed under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) by the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF). Additional credit to OSM contributors. Read more on the OSM copyright page. TNC Lands - Public Layer, accessed 3-8-2023U.S. Virgin Islands beaches layer (separate vector layers for St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John) provided by Joe Dwyer with Lynker/the NOAA Caribbean Climate Adaptation Program on 3-3-2023 (contact jdwyer@lynker.com for more information)Mapping StepsMost mapping steps were completed using QGIS (v 3.22) Graphical Modeler.Fix geometry errors in the PAD-US PR data using Fix Geometry. This must be done before any analysis is possible.Merge the terrestrial PR and VI PAD-US layers.Use the NOAA coastal relief model to restrict marine parks (marine polygons from PAD-US and Puerto Rico Protected Natural Areas) to areas shallower than 10 m in depth. The deep offshore areas of marine parks do not meet the intent of this indicator to capture nearby opportunities for urban residents to connect with nature.Merge into one layer the resulting shallow marine parks from marine PAD-US and the Puerto Rico Protected Natural Areas along with the combined terrestrial PAD-US parks, OpenStreetMap, TNC Lands, and USVI beaches. Omit from the Puerto Rico Protected Areas layer the “Zona de Conservación del Carso”, which has some policy protections and conservation incentives but is not formally protected.Fix geometry errors in the resulting merged layer using Fix Geometry.Intersect the resulting fixed file with the Caribbean Blueprint subregion.Process all multipart polygons to single parts (referred to in Arc software as an “explode”). This helps the indicator capture, as much as possible, the discrete units of a protected area that serve urban residents.Clip the Census urban area to the Caribbean Blueprint subregion.Select all polygons that intersect the Census urban extent within 1.2 miles (1,931 m). The 1.2 mi threshold is consistent with the average walking trip on a summer day (U.S. DOT 2002) used to define the walking distance threshold used in the greenways and trails indicator. Note: this is further than the 0.5 mi distance used in the continental version of the indicator. We extended it to capture East Bay and Point Udall based on feedback from the local conservation community about the importance of the park for outdoor recreation.Dissolve all the park polygons that were selected in the previous step.Process all multipart polygons to single parts (“explode”) again.Add a unique ID to the selected parks. This value will be used to join the parks to their buffers.Create a 1.2 mi (1,931 m) buffer ring around each park using the multiring buffer plugin in QGIS. Ensure that “dissolve buffers” is disabled so that a single 1.2 mi buffer is created for each park.Assess the amount of overlap between the buffered park and the Census urban area using overlap analysis. This step is necessary to identify parks that do not intersect the urban area, but which lie within an urban matrix. This step creates a table that is joined back to the park polygons using the UniqueID.Remove parks that had ≤2% overlap with the urban areas when buffered. This excludes mostly non-urban parks that do not meet the intent of this indicator to capture parks that provide nearby access for urban residents. Note: In the continental version of this indicator, we used a threshold of 10%. In the Caribbean version, we lowered this to 2% in order to capture small parks that dropped out of the indicator when we extended the buffer distance to 1.2 miles.Calculate the GIS acres of each remaining park unit using the Add Geometry Attributes function.Join the buffer attribute table to the previously selected parks, retaining only the parks that exceeded the 2% urban area overlap threshold while buffered. Buffer the selected parks by 15 m. Buffering prevents very small parks and narrow beaches from being left out of the indicator when the polygons are converted to raster.Reclassify the polygons into 7 classes, seen in the final indicator values below. These thresholds were informed by park classification guidelines from the National Recreation and Park Association, which classify neighborhood parks as 5-10 acres, community parks as 30-50 acres, and large urban parks as optimally 75+ acres (Mertes and Hall 1995).Export the final vector file to a shapefile and import to ArcGIS Pro.Convert the resulting polygons to raster using the ArcPy Polygon to Raster function. Assign values to the pixels in the resulting raster based on the polygon class sizes of the contiguous park areas.Clip to the Caribbean Blueprint 2023 subregion.As a final step, clip to the spatial extent of Southeast Blueprint 2023. Note: For more details on the mapping steps, code used to create this layer is available in the Southeast Blueprint Data Download under > 6_Code. Final indicator valuesIndicator values are assigned as follows:6 = 75+ acre urban park5 = >50 to <75 acre urban park4 = 30 to <50 acre urban park3 = 10 to <30 acre urban park2 = 5 to <10 acre urban park1 = <5 acre urban park0 = Not identified as an urban parkKnown IssuesThis indicator does not include park amenities that influence how well the park serves people and should not be the only tool used for parks and recreation planning. Park standards should be determined at a local level to account for various community issues, values, needs, and available resources. This indicator includes some protected areas that are not open to the public and not typically thought of as “parks”, like mitigation lands, private easements, and private golf courses. While we experimented with excluding them using the public access attribute in PAD, due to numerous inaccuracies, this inadvertently removed protected lands that are known to be publicly accessible. As a result, we erred on the side of including the non-publicly accessible lands.This indicator includes parks and beaches from OpenStreetMap, which is a crowdsourced dataset. While members of the OpenStreetMap community often verify map features to check for accuracy and completeness, there is the potential for spatial errors (e.g., misrepresenting the boundary of a park) or incorrect tags (e.g., labelling an area as a park that is not actually a park). However, using a crowdsourced dataset gives on-the-ground experts, Blueprint users, and community members the power to fix errors and add new parks to improve the accuracy and coverage of this indicator in the future.Other Things to Keep in MindThis indicator calculates the area of each park using the park polygons from the source data. However, simply converting those park polygons to raster results in some small parks and narrow beaches being left out of the indicator. To capture those areas, we buffered parks and beaches by 15 m and applied the original area calculation to the larger buffered polygon, so as not to inflate the area by including the buffer. As a result, when the buffered polygons are rasterized, the final indicator has some areas of adjacent pixels that receive different scores. While these pixels may appear to be part of one contiguous park or suite of parks, they are scored differently because the park polygons themselves are not actually contiguous. The Caribbean version of this indicator uses a slightly different methodology than the continental Southeast version. It includes parks within a 1.2 mi distance from the Census urban area, compared to 0.5 mi in the continental Southeast. We extended it to capture East Bay and Point Udall based on feedback from the local conservation community about the importance of the park for outdoor recreation. Similarly, this indicator uses a 2% threshold of overlap between buffered parks and the Census urban areas, compared to a 10% threshold in the continental Southeast. This helped capture small parks that dropped out of the indicator when we extended the buffer distance to 1.2 miles. Finally, the Caribbean version does not use the impervious surface cutoff applied in the continental Southeast because the landcover data available in the Caribbean does not assess percent impervious in a comparable way.Disclaimer: Comparing with Older Indicator VersionsThere are numerous problems with using Southeast Blueprint