New Feature - Explore USGS Water Data
Feature used to search and sift through data by locations and data types is coming soon.
Locating and filtering data by specific parameters is coming soon! Explore USGS Water Data provides users with a dynamic tool to customize and throttle targeted information to meet the needs of users.
Explore USGS Water Data coming soon to WDFN. Example of filtered results available at Explore USGS Water Data. This example provides data from the area surrounding Lake Tahoe. Information has been limited to Surface Water and Groundwater for the past 5 years. In addition, data related to Temperature and pH has been requested. Specific locations and related information are available in the scrolling list to the right of the map.
The Explore USGS Water Data page is designed with user friendly drop-down menus, so you can pick and choose the information you would like to see.
Examples of the drop down menus available to customize requested data.
While the USGS National Water Dashboard serves as the homepage for all current water information, the Explore USGS Water Data page provides the ability to interact with both current and historical water data. Learn more about how this page, as well as other new features, fit into the WDFN ecosystem.
Key Features
The WDFN team talked to legacy users and evaluated website analytics to determine the initial features to include in Explore USGS Water Data. The new Explore USGS Water Data is intended to provide a way for users to throttle data down to just what is needed. Highlighted features include:
- View locations and location types (Surface Water, Groundwater, Spring, Atmospheric, and Other) using the map. Users can zoom in and out to focus on different areas of interest and select location types from the dropdown list. The location types are designated with different icons on the map, so users can visually distinguish between location types.
- Filter data by a specific location or area of interest through a zipcode, state, town, or geographic feature search.
- Include up to five specific location types including surface water, groundwater, spring, atmospheric, or other.
- Select the age range of the data to restrict locations to those that have data within the last 1, 5, 10, 20, or 50 years.
- Limit included results by selecting up to five specific key words. Some examples of keywords include: temperature, pH, acidity, and turbidity.
- View the list of locations with valid results next to the map.
- Select individual locations within the list to view results and see all information related to that location.
Exploratory Options
The National Water Dashboard is part of the modernization effort. The National Water Dashboard combined with Explore USGS Water Data provides users with flexible options to locate and use available water data. The following table describes the best use cases for the National Water Dashboard or Explore USGS Water Data.
| National Water Dashboard | Explore USGS Water Data (Coming Soon!) |
|---|---|
| Users focus the map on a specific area of interest to view real-time water information. | Users focus on an area of interest by entering search criteria including zipcode, state, town, or geographic feature. |
| Users view some general information about specific sites within an area of interest. | Users select up to five location types (surface water, ground water spring, atmospheric, or other ) to focus results. |
| Users see the latest weather and hazard data. | Users select specific date ranges to target current and historical data. |
| Users view at-a-glance colors indicating how the latest values compare to historic medians. | Users enter up to five keywords (example: temperature, pH, turbidity,) to view targeted information. |
What’s next?
An announcement will go out when Explore USGS Water Data is generally available. Our team uses user-centered design processes to determine what to prioritize next. Let us know if you have any comments about this new tool by emailing wdfn@usgs.gov.
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