Maps, maps and more maps

[Jelf]

A few years ago I posted here in fireside about Gmap4 which was a general purpose web map I developed based on the Google map API (Application Program Interface). But then Google slashed the amount of free usage it allowed for its map API and as a result I shutdown most usage of Gmap4.

What have I been doing since? Building a replacement web map, of course.

GISsurfer is based on the free open-source Leaflet map API. This is a public service project and part of my way to “pay it forward”. It can be used for any non-commercial purpose.

GISsurfer includes the typical web map features of search, geolocation and saving your own custom map link. In addition, a unique feature of GISsurfer is that it provides an *easy* way for anyone to display data that is hosted on any public-facing ArcGIS server.

Why might you care? Government agencies at all levels, from federal to local, are hosting approximately 1.2 bazillion layers of data on GIS servers. A great many of those data layers relate to public land. To display any of that data with GISsurfer you only need to know (1) the layer address on the server and (2) the layer number.

Now in case you are thinking that you are not really savvy about GIS and have no clue how to find server addresses, I have good news for you. Here is a PDF file with a list I curate of 3,500+ addresses for ArcGIS servers. All addresses are scanned by my code once per week and any bad addresses are either fixed or flagged.

Open PDF file:
https://mappingsupport.com/p/surf_gis/list-federal-state-county-city-GIS-servers.pdf

For example, the following link starts GISsurfer and displays a GIS layer showing BLM land. The default styling defined on the server for that data is to show a solid color on the map. I will show you later how GISsurfer can change how the BLM ownership layer is styled on the map.

Open GISsurfer BLM map:
https://mappingsupport.com/p2/gissu...M_Natl_SMA_Cached_BLM_Only/MapServer^layers=2

BTW, if BLM buys/sells/trades land then those changes will likely show up first on the BLM GIS server before they eventually show up in the GIS data you can buy from companies like onX.

Here is a good way to get a feel for the main features of GISsurfer.
1. Open the homepage: https://gissurfer.com
2. Click the big green “Menu” button
3. Go to the “Help” page, scroll down a bit and read the “Overview” section

After you read that “overview” then if you would like to play around with some maps I made, go to the BLM map (see link above) and click Menu ==> GISsurfer special maps. Scroll down a bit and you can take a look at any of those maps. Each map has a link in the upper left corner that includes the legend information.

I will post more in this thread tomorrow including a BLM map that will be more useful.

 

[Khunter]

great stuff!

 

[Jelf]

I promised to post a more useful BLM map and here it is.

The link below will start GISsurfer and display a map with lots of BLM GIS overlay layers that you can turn on/off and restack. If you need help using the map, please click “Map tips” in the upper left corner. You could also go to the GISsurfer homepage and read the “Overview” section as mentioned in my earlier post in this thread.

Open BLM recreation map:
https://mappingsupport.com/p2/gissu...p2/special_maps/recreation/BLM_recreation.txt

The BLM GIS server supports a feature called “dynamic layers” which lets my code tell the server to restyle the data before displaying it on the map. This map uses that feature to display semi-transparent red shading on the BLM land and also show a solid red border. Those 2 things are in different overlay layers. This means you can turn off the red shading but keep the red lines showing the boundary of BLM land.

The map can display a variety of road and trail data. Each different type of road/trail data has two overlay layers you can turn on. Each pair of overlays layers displays the same GIS data but with different styling. The first overlay in each pair displays the data as a yellow line. The second overlay in each pair displays the same data but with the default styling defined on the GIS server.

The purpose for having two overlays with the same data is so the road or trail will be easy to see on any basemap. First turn on the "BLM-Y..." overlay to see the yellow line then turn on the following overlay to see a dark representation of that same data on top of the yellow line.

Remember - Only the *top* layer is clickable to see the attribute data. Don’t know what that means? Please read the “Map tips”.