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projects > south florida information access
Project Personnel: Tim Boozer, Joann Dixon, Tracy Enright, Aaron Higer, Cortney Mills, Kathy Pegram, Tarla Toomer, Arturo Torres and Sandy Womble
The south Florida ecosystem, encompassing the Kissimmee River Valley, Florida Bay, urban areas, developed agricultural areas, rangelands, and wetlands, has been altered greatly over the last 100 years. Resource managers, Federal, State, and local agencies, and other groups are seeking to reverse environmentally damaging actions taken during that period. The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a research program in support of the restoration of the Everglades and South Florida ecosystem in 1995. USGS personnel have been conducting research projects designed to provide sound scientific information on which resource managers can base their decisions. The USGS recognized the need for a central site to provide all interested parties with information from this research and access to these data. As a result, the South Florida Information Access (SOFIA) Website was created as a 'one-stop-shopping' access point for research on South Florida. There are many components to SOFIA: - The SOFIA website provides project descriptions, proposals, publication references, data, presentations, and contact information, as well as general interest items, such as photographs and posters.
- The SOFIA database is the cornerstone of information management for the South Florida place-based science program. The data are available to Federal, State, and local agencies through a web interface and can be retrieved from the SOFIA database.
- Numerous data sets have been created as a result of USGS research conducted in support of the South Florida restoration effort. Metadata provide information for discovering, assessing, and accessing the data sets. Searchable metadata provide a valuable tool for scientists, managers, and the public.
- A geospatial interface to the SOFIA web sites is needed to provide an easily maintained and user-friendly interface. Several usable products will be produced as a result of this project. An ArcIMS interface to the SOFIA database and SOFIA web site will be developed. This geospatial interface will provide a means of accessing the data stored on these two systems with spatial queries. Geospatial datasets will be available for PBS and other USGS products related to the South Florida restoration. - To enable all stakeholders of the south Florida community to use sound science as a basis for informed planning decisions and resolution/prevention of resource-management problems (USGS Place-Based Studies Program, "Program Priorities", 1999), efforts to synthesize, manage and disseminate high-quality scientific information about the greater Everglades ecosystem have gained increasing support and urgency. In combination, the collections and services of this bio/geo-digital library provide a comprehensive and coherent information system that facilitates the exchange, analysis and use of high-quality information resources across the diverse agencies, disciplines, and communities concerned with Everglades research, restoration and resource management.
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| U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Coastal Geology This page is: http://sofia.usgs.gov /projects/sofia/index.html Comments and suggestions? Contact: Heather Henkel - Webmaster Last updated: 18 August, 2004 @ 05:02 PM (KP) |
