Data and Mapping
Data Link: The Status and Trends Database
Mapping Link: The Galveston Bay Wetlands Interactive Mapping
System
Introduction
For more than 40 years federal, state and local agencies and organizations have monitored the health of Galveston Bay. Databases describing the bay's water and sediment quality, living resources, fisheries landings and seafood safety are just a few of the many that exist. The Galveston Bay Estuary Program (GBEP) has sought to incorporate these distinct agency databases into one, with the intention to apply these data sets to the management issues raised in the GBEP's Galveston Bay Plan regarding the health and integrity of the bay. The Data Information Management System is the outcome of this decision and is seen as vital in GBEP's efforts to make informed decisions, build partnerships, and inform the public.
Description of the Data Information Management System
The Data Information Management System is built in several parts. These parts are the Status and Trends Database, the Galveston Bay Wetlands Interactive Mapping System (IMS), and the Galveston Bay Information System.
The Status and Trends Database (S&T), which is being carried out through a contract with the Houston Advanced Research Center's Geotechnology Research Institute,
utilizes historical and recent data collected for Galveston Bay by a number of federal, state and local agencies and organizations. The S&T acquires, manages and analyzes this data. The S&T makes this data available to the public via the Internet.
Data Sets
The Galveston Bay Wetlands Interactive Mapping System (IMS) was developed by the United States Geologic Survey's National Wetlands Research Center, with funding from the EPA's Gulf of Mexico Program and support from the Galveston Bay Estuary Program, as a component of the Habitat Database for the Galveston Bay Wetland Inventory Project. The IMS is a Web-based geographic information system (GIS) that provides access to spatial data layers. GIS on the Internet provides a much more dynamic tool than a system that displays only a static map or image. The IMS allows users to view, query, and analyze data without the need for GIS software or the necessary expertise to run it.
The Galveston Bay Information Center is funded in part by the Galveston Bay Estuary Program, to be a clearinghouse of historic data, documents and reports for the Galveston Bay Estuary Program and the Galveston Bay Watershed, a one-stop shopping center for what has taken place in the region.
It is believed that these parts, working together, provide the lay person or dedicated researcher a special opportunity to gather quick and insightful information, hopefully useful for purposes larger than the needs of the Galveston Bay Estuary Program, and a picture on the health, functions and unique ecosystem that is the Galveston Bay Ecosystem.
On-Line Reports:
Status and Trends 2003
The State of the Bay: A Characterization of the Galveston Bay Ecosystem, 2nd Edition
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