This is a test of a national service of Ecological maps all based on the US National Vegetation Classification, a partnership of the USGS GAP program, US Forest Service, Ecological Society of America and Natureserve. The USNVC grew out of the US National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Program, a mid-1990's effort led by The Nature Conservancy, Esri and the University of California. The classification standard was led by scientists who later became Natureserve, who still work on significant areas of what is now an international standard, with associated ecological mapping occurring around the world. Shortcomings in the standard led to Natureserve's development of a mid-scale mapping-friendly "Ecological Systems" standard roughly corresponding to the "Group" level of the NVC, which facilitated NVC-based mapping of entire continents. Current scientific work is leading to the incorporation of Ecological Systems into the NVC as group and macrogroup concepts are revised. NVC is a hierarchical taxonomy of 8 levels, from top down: Class, Subclass, Formation, Division, Macrogroup, Group, Alliance, AssociationThis map includes a test segment of Natureserve Ecological Systems in the US Southwest, with the following layers and sublayers:Ecosystem Tiles US: A grid showing the boundaries that define each partition tile of the databaseNserve Label 72to1m SW: A cached layer of Subclass and Macrogroup Labels Subclass Labels - blue: Subclass labels in blue, visible from 18 million to 2 million scale (scale bar value 300m to 30m) Macrogroup label teal: Macrogroup Labels in teal, visible from 1 million to 72k scale (scale bar value 20m to .1m)Nserve 72to1m SW: A cached layer of Subclass and Macrogroup vectors EslfSubOut_SW: Subclass vectors at the outer scales of 18 million to 2 million EslfMacMid_SW: Macrogroup vectors at the middle scales of 1 million to 72kNserveMacro FS 72k only: A test layer of Macrogroup Midscale vectors as a vector feature service. Draws more slowly.Nserve Eco Labels-green: Base scale Ecological System Labels at 36k to 1k scale (scale bar value .6m to 100') (Sublayers will show all 31 different tiles included in the Southwest region)Nserve Ecosys FS 1k-36k: Base scale Ecological System vectors as a vector feature service, 1k to 36k scales (Sublayers will show all 31 different tiles included in the Southwest region)Also included are examples of field-based NVC Alliance and Association mapping that is ongoing in the National Parks and several states.Western Riverside Labels: Alliance Labels for California Fish & Wildlife/Calif Native Plant Society mapping in Riverside County WestRivNVC_WM_DetailMGLabel: Macrogroup Labels at the detail scale 256k to 1k (scale bar value 4m to 100') WestRivNvc_WM_ComNameLabel: Alliance Common Name Labels at the detail scale 256k to 1k WestRivNVC_WM_DetailNVCLabel: Alliance Scientific Name Labels at the detail scale 256k to 1kWestern Riverside CNPS: Alliance Vectors for California Fish & Wildlife/Calif Native Plant Society mapping in Riverside County WestRivNVC_WM_Detail: Alliance Vectors at base scale of 9k to 1k (scale bar value 600' to 100') WestRivNvc_WM_Moderate: Alliance Vectors at mid scale of 144k to 18k (scale bar value 2m to .3m) WestRivNVC_WM_Solid: Macrogroup Solid Polygons at outer scale of 18m to 256k (scale bar value 300m to 4m)

This is a test of a national service of Ecological maps all based on the US National Vegetation Classification, a partnership of the USGS GAP program, US Forest Service, Ecological Society of America and Natureserve. The USNVC grew out of the US National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Program, a mid-1990's effort led by The Nature Conservancy, Esri and the University of California. The classification standard was led by scientists who later became Natureserve, who still work on significant areas of what is now an international standard, with associated ecological mapping occurring around the world. Shortcomings in the standard led to Natureserve's development of a mid-scale mapping-friendly "Ecological Systems" standard roughly corresponding to the "Group" level of the NVC, which facilitated NVC-based mapping of entire continents. Current scientific work is leading to the incorporation of Ecological Systems into the NVC as group and macrogroup concepts are revised. NVC is a hierarchical taxonomy of 8 levels, from top down: Class, Subclass, Formation, Division, Macrogroup, Group, Alliance, AssociationThis map includes a test segment of Natureserve Ecological Systems in the US Southwest, with the following layers and sublayers:Ecosystem Tiles US: A grid showing the boundaries that define each partition tile of the databaseNserve Label 72to1m SW: A cached layer of Subclass and Macrogroup Labels Subclass Labels - blue: Subclass labels in blue, visible from 18 million to 2 million scale (scale bar value 300m to 30m) Macrogroup label teal: Macrogroup Labels in teal, visible from 1 million to 72k scale (scale bar value 20m to .1m)Nserve 72to1m SW: A cached layer of Subclass and Macrogroup vectors EslfSubOut_SW: Subclass vectors at the outer scales of 18 million to 2 million EslfMacMid_SW: Macrogroup vectors at the middle scales of 1 million to 72kNserveMacro FS 72k only: A test layer of Macrogroup Midscale vectors as a vector feature service. Draws more slowly.Nserve Eco Labels-green: Base scale Ecological System Labels at 36k to 1k scale (scale bar value .6m to 100') (Sublayers will show all 31 different tiles included in the Southwest region)Nserve Ecosys FS 1k-36k: Base scale Ecological System vectors as a vector feature service, 1k to 36k scales (Sublayers will show all 31 different tiles included in the Southwest region)Also included are examples of field-based NVC Alliance and Association mapping that is ongoing in the National Parks and several states.Western Riverside Labels: Alliance Labels for California Fish & Wildlife/Calif Native Plant Society mapping in Riverside County WestRivNVC_WM_DetailMGLabel: Macrogroup Labels at the detail scale 256k to 1k (scale bar value 4m to 100') WestRivNvc_WM_ComNameLabel: Alliance Common Name Labels at the detail scale 256k to 1k WestRivNVC_WM_DetailNVCLabel: Alliance Scientific Name Labels at the detail scale 256k to 1kWestern Riverside CNPS: Alliance Vectors for California Fish & Wildlife/Calif Native Plant Society mapping in Riverside County WestRivNVC_WM_Detail: Alliance Vectors at base scale of 9k to 1k (scale bar value 600' to 100') WestRivNvc_WM_Moderate: Alliance Vectors at mid scale of 144k to 18k (scale bar value 2m to .3m) WestRivNVC_WM_Solid: Macrogroup Solid Polygons at outer scale of 18m to 256k (scale bar value 300m to 4m)