Project Description: In 2020, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Appalachian Laboratory (UMCES-AL) as host institution of the Chesapeake Watershed Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CW CESU) developed a new Projects Database to track and administer all projects routed through the CW CESU (view active projects from database). In subsequent years, UMCES-AL and the CW CESU Research Coordinator were able to improve the accuracy of the database by referencing historical files and adding projects missing from the database or by updating projects with digital copies of the agreements or adding previously unrecorded modifications. This Projects Database could be of further benefit to managers and other stakeholders if the information from the database could be viewed spatially across the landscape on a map, allowing land managers across the National Park Service (NPS), as well as from other Federal agencies, to view and track activities in various locations within their own management units or within the region. We plan to leverage the information already available from the Projects Database to develop an interactive map that displays project locations. Users would be able to view additional information about each project by clicking on a project’s icon on the map. The project information displayed on the map would be filterable with conditions like year, discipline (natural, cultural, or social), NPS region/park, partner institution, principal investigator,
etc.
UMCES-AL will develop an interactive online map hosted on the CW CESU website
that queries the Projects Database and displays NPS project information dynamically across the landscape. It will also incorporate the ability to filter and color code the information by facets described above. Because geographic coordinates have not been recorded for CESU projects, the first phase will require review of NPS projects funded since January 2020 and any new projects initiated during the project term to derive geographic
coordinates for each project location and incorporate that information into the database along with any other filterable information not already recorded in the database (National Park, state). Following augmentation of the data, UMCES-AL will use R-Shiny and Leaflet to develop an embeddable map with dashboard. After this stage, UMCES-AL will solicit feedback from NPS stakeholders to improve the map. When it is ready to be deployed, it
will be embedded on the CW CESU website, which would be the final deliverable for the agreement.
Lead Principal Investigator: Katie Kline, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Partner Institution: University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Federal Agency Technical Contact: Danny Filer
Start Year: 2024
End Year: 2026
Initial Funding Amount: $20,108.00
Federal Grant Number: P24AC00740
Products Associated with this Project:
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