Geospatial data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of Thomas Stone National Historic Site

The files linked to this reference are the geospatial data created as part of the completion of the baseline vegetation inventory project for the NPS park unit. Current format is ArcGIS file geodatabase but older formats may exist as shapefiles.

Following the vegetation data analysis, the formation-level vegetation map was further edited and refined to develop an association-level vegetation map. All classified plot and observation point locations for Thomas Stone National Historic Site were transferred to a project base map, where they facilitated interpretation of orthophoto mosaic images and/or aerial photographs during the mapping phase of this project. Observation points were retrospectively assigned by subjective assignment to the USNVC associations identified during data analysis, or to the additional two small-patch USNVC associations newly classified in this study. For the most part, polygon boundaries were unchanged, but where distinctions noted in the field were not evident on either set of aerial photography, revisions to existing polygons were made based on GPS readings of the observation points. Each polygon containing a plot or observation point was attributed with the name of an association based on classification results. The remaining polygons were assigned to associations based on the previously assigned formation (land use polygons were not altered), as well as the soil map, topographic map, and finer signature distinctions detected on the aerial photography, such as crown shape.