FARM MAP PROJECT
The geo-spatial data behind these maps was created in a geographical information science (GIS) software program, Arc/INFO (v.7.2.1), developed by ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute). The Arc/INFO data was imported into "sister" software, ArcView, (v.3.2) (ESRI), for map presentation.
Aerial photos were digitized by The Saratoga Associates in 1995, to create the original spatial database. The farm boundaries, research plots, streams, roads, trees, riser points, buildings, etc., were all digitized as separate coverages or layers in the database. Each layer or coverage in the database (plots for example), have attributes: georeferenced X,Y coordinates, area, perimeter, plot codes, crop codes, project leader codes, etc. which are in held in tabular databases. These attributes are linked to the geospatial data: the lines of the roads coverage, the polygons of the plots coverage, and the points of the risers coverage, for instance. As the plots change names and spatial configuration from year to year, edits and updates are performed (i.e., the lines, polygons, and points, and their related attributes in their respective tabular database(s), are edited and updated). A database archive is maintained and preserved for each year.
The yearly plot changes are output as maps. The maps created with this GIS are geographical representations of the data (georeferenced lines, polygons, and points) held in tables in the database.
Metadata (data about the data) for these maps is available in excel format or as text.
Metadata is also available for in text format for Stanley and Phelps.
*NYSAES Farm Maps:
The original 1995 farm database, digitized from enlarged aerial photos at a scale of approximately 1" = 200’, by The Saratoga Associates, was created with the following projection parameters:
Projection:UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator), Units: Meters, Zone: 18, Datum: NAD27 (North American Datum of 1927), Spheroid: Clarke1866
The NAD27 datum was later converted to NAD83 (North American Datum of 1983) using the NADCON conversion routine in Arc/INFO.
The farm database as of 1999, has the following projection parameters:
Projection:UTM, Units: Meters, Zone: 18, Datum: NAD83, Spheroid: GRS1980
*See COVDATA.XLS (excel 4.0 or higher) for greater detail of all feature coverages of the farms.
Soil Boundaries:
The soil coverage was digitized by Peter Landre, Water Quality Educator, Yates Co. Cooperative Extension, for the Seneca Lake Watershed Project: 1999, with the following projection parameters:
Projection: State Plane, Units: Feet, Zone: 4851, Datum: NAD27
The soils datum, NAD27, was later converted to NAD83 using the NADCON conversion routine, units were converted to meters, and the State Plane Projection was transformed to UTM using an affine transformation in Arc/INFO. The soil projection parameters used in these maps are:
Projection: UTM, Units: Meters, Zone: 18, Datum: NAD83, Spheroid: GRS1980
10 Foot Contour Lines:
The ten-foot-contours were derived from USGS 7.5 minute by 7.5 minute quads at a resolution of 10 meters by 10 meters. Four 7.5 meter quads: Geneva North, Geneva South, Phelps, and Stanley, were downloaded from CUGIR (Cornell University’s Geospatial Information Repository at: http://cugir.mannlib.cornell.edu/). The quads were joined and the ten-foot contours were generated using the CONTOUR command in Arc/INFO.
The USGS QUAD projection parameters were:
Projection: UTM, Zone: 18, Units: Meters, Datum: NAD27, Spheroid: Clarke1866.
In order to overlay this contour data on the NYSAES farm database coverages, the NAD27 datum was converted to NAD83, using the NADCON conversion routine in Arc/INFO. The projection parameters used for the ten-foot contour data in these maps are:
Projection: UTM, Units: Feet, Zone: 18, Datum: NAD83, Spheroid: GRS1980.