Dynamic Maps For Bald Eagle Count Site

NBII – in collaboration with Oregon State University, Northwest Alliance for Computational Science and Engineering (NACSE) – hosts the Mid-Winter Bald Eagle Count Database, a long-term national data set on bald eagle observations. Previously, the site used basic image map tools to help users perform map-based queries by route. Although effective, this approach lacked the more immersive experience of a dynamic Web-based mapping interface, in which the user can zoom in or out and load in different base layers while viewing the overlaid data. Also, multiple adjacent routes were hard to discern from one another on a national scale. NACSE designed a custom mapping interface based on Google Maps that allows users to dynamically display and query route information from the Bald Eagle database as well as take advantage of the standard Google Maps features and controls, such as full satellite map coverage at multiple scales for the entire country. The ability to zoom and pan enables users to locate site and route information even when the locations are densely clustered. See the main site at Midwinter Bald Eagle Count Web Site and the “Query by Route” page that has the new mapping tool.