Resources

Much of the base layer data used in the GIS comes from two sources. The New York State GIS Clearinghouse and the USGS. Primary data sources, are listed here.

GIS.NY.GOV: The New York State GIS Clearinghouse

• 1950 Adirondack Blowdown Areas

• Adirondack Park 1916 Fire Protection Areas

• Adirondack Park Boundary

• Adirondack Park Land Classification

• Breeding Bird Atlas

• Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program

• Critical Environmental Areas

• Dams

• DEC Roads and Trails

• Ecological Zones

• Forest Health Aerial Survey

• Lake Contour Maps

• Matrix Forest Blocks and Linkages

• Mined land Permits

• National Hydrography Dataset Plus

• Natural Heritage Community Occurrences

• NYS Hydrography - 1:100000

• NYS Hydrography - 1:24000

• Soil Survey Database

• State Funded Snowmobile Trails

• Statewide Digital Orthoimagery

• Wetland Cover Types (index page, multiple datasets)

• NYS Orthoimagery Download Site

Notes: 

The NYGIS Clearinghouse web site provides access to a wide range of useful data layers. In some cases data layers obtained from the NYGIS Clearinghouse come with restrictions on how the data can be used. Typically you can't publish maps for commercial use without approval. Details are provided on the download page for each layer.

Mappable data layers come in varied file formats. Geographic data must be referenced to earth coordinates and data providers use different coordinate systems and geographic projections. Downloading the format most appropriate for your use will save a lot of time and effort later on.

USGS National Geospatial Program

• The National Map

• Historical Land Use and Land Cover

• National Land Cover Database

TopoView: the USGS Historical Topographic Map Repository

Topoview provides access to geo-referenced raster images for over 175,000 USGS topographic maps. For the Adirondack region, maps are available going back to 1890 and at various scales. For the Adirondacks, maps in the 1:62500 series span the time frame from roughly 1900 (through the 1970s. After 1970, 1:24000 scale maps were produced by the USGS. A video on the Topoview site introduces user interface and search capabilities of that site. With a bit of exploration and practice it's easy to drill down to find the specific maps you need. Maps can be downloaded in various formats and the GeoTiff format files can be added directly to a GIS managed using QGIS.