MY DATA LAYERS

Inventorying Your GIS Data

For most fields you select a response from a drop-down list (select the answer that most closely represents your data). Inventory-level GIS data records are described by 8 basic metadata-derived fields:
1. Title (automatically-generated)
2. Progress
3. Source
4. Scale
5. Content Date
6. Update Frequency
7. Geography (auto-populated from Geography profile but can be altered)
8. Layer Description

Users are also encouraged to provide information in 3 additional areas where applicable:
9. Metadata URL (complete URL to more comprehensive FGDC metadata record)
10. Web service URL (complete URL to access a web service view or features (e.g. OGC WMS) of this dataset)
11. Archive information

Certain data layers have additional attribute information that is automatically inserted into the metadata and System Reports to make them more useful to a wide range of users. Those layers include imagery, parcels, road centerlines, addresses, land use and land cover, digital elevation models and hydrography.

BEST PRACTICE: We strongly encourage you to add a detailed description to help others better understand important details about your data.

Users estimate that it takes between one and three minutes to inventory each individual data layer.

Step 1) Select an ISO Data Category and the individual layers associated with that Category will appear below. For a complete listing of data layers in the GIS Inventory, you can click on "Can't find your data layer?" and enter a keyword. Simply select the appropriate layer that appears.
Step 2) Click on the "Document Data Layer" button next to the data layer that you want to inventory. A window with the data entry form will pop-up.
Step 3) Complete the information in the pop-up window and click on "Save" button at the top or bottom of the window. Your information will now appear on the Data Layers Page.
Step 4) If you have more than one data set for the layer listed, you can simply click the "Document Data Layer" button again to open another entry form for the same data layer.

BEST PRACTICE: You should only inventory data that you or your organization has created or substantially modified, either directly or through contractual services. You should not document data produced by other entities that you use in your operation.

Custom Geography

In the My Geography section, you defined a default geographic extent that is automatically assigned to GIS data that you inventory. If you have a different geographic extent for a specific data layer, you can create a new geography in the "My Geography" section of your account.

Changing Geography

You can create multiple geographies and apply them to multiple data layers.
1. If you have already created a new geography, you can re-use it by selecting its alias name from the drop-down list.
2. You can edit a saved geography by selecting its alias name from the drop-down list and clicking edit geography.
3. You can delete a saved geography by selecting its alias name from the drop-down list and clicking delete geography. If you delete a custom geography, the system will automatically assign your default geography to all data layers that were associated with it.