Forest Service data

[Perry]

Forest Service data

The FSGeodata Clearinghouse is a pretty good source for Forest Service data.  Individual National Forests may also have GIS data available from their web sites.

JAN 2016 EDIT: New FS clearinghouse link: http://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/

http://svinetfc4.fs.fed.us/clearinghouse/index.html

Select Vector Data Gateway

Here is the procedure I use:
From tabs at top of screen select Zoom to Location > select Forest (NF) > select the NF of interest > press Submit.  It will load an over view map of that NF.
The indented instructions are probably not needed, can likely go directly to download tab.
   Click on the Layers/Legend tab on the right > click the Layers tab.
   Click on the right arrow next to the Base Map Data to see layers available.
   Clicking on a layer listing will turn it on or off.
   Click refresh.
   May need to zoom in to see some data layers.
Click the Download tab at the top > click Extract Layers.
Click the Extract Location tab.  Select the Download radio button.
Click I have read the disclaimer...important detail.
Click on the right arrow next to the Base Map Data to see layers available.  Turn on desired layers by clicking on them.
Click the left Select Item drop box to select a NF, then select the forest from the right drop box.
Click Submit.
It will display: Extracting Layers and Display a File Download dialog to download the zipped file. 
The Extracting layers can take a few minutes.

When the file is unzipped this will create a .shp, .shx, and .dbf for each layer

Perry

[-Oz-]

Well, it worked but it didn't appear to have any trails for the forest I tried (Tonto).

[-Oz-]

I used this in my Mississippi map.

I wrote some queries for postgis that got rid of a lot of the points and kept ones I could find garmin types for:

Code Select Expand

ALTER TABLE fs_pts ADD COLUMN mp_type character varying(50);
ALTER TABLE fs_pts ALTER COLUMN mp_type SET STORAGE EXTENDED;
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x2B03' WHERE cff='36' or cff='37' or cff='38';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x5200' WHERE cff='46' or cff='47';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x5904' WHERE cff='61' or cff='62';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x4800' WHERE cff='63' or cff='64'or cff='924' or cff='925';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x6410' WHERE cff='166' or cff='167';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x6404' WHERE cff='168' or cff='169';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x640C' WHERE cff='183' or cff='184' or cff='185' or cff='186';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x6414' WHERE cff='194' or cff='426';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x6403' WHERE cff='213';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x4A00' WHERE cff='256' or cff='530';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x4900' WHERE cff='257';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x6509' WHERE cff='461';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x6412' WHERE cff='921';
UPDATE fs_pts SET mp_type = '0x2c06' WHERE cff='926';
DELETE FROM fs_pts WHERE mp_type IS NULL;

[NeuroDoc]

So I tried this, downloading the borders, trails, and roads from this site. But when I go to load the data into global mapper, I get the following error:

"Shape files do not contain projection information. Please select the projection/datum for this file..."

Should I just select NAD83 or something else?

[-Oz-]

Actually, the forest service data is NAD27 I believe.

[NeuroDoc]

You are correct. I finally found this on the website:

               Projection     GEOGRAPHIC
               Units              DD
               DATUM         NAD27

Do you know what DD stands for in units?

[-Oz-]

decimal degrees.

if it were utm it would be m for meters. Just leaving it as arc degrees should be fine.