Where to get background map shapefiles?

[Michael Brennan]

I'm pretty new to WDSS II, and I'm wondering if there is an easy place to download the map background shapefiles to be used in w2 or wg? Thanks very much!

[Valliappa.Lakshmanan]

We use maps from USGS, but I'm not sure whether we are
allowed to distribute those map files.
However, here is a NWS website that does have shapefiles for download:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/

Follow these steps to get wg to display maps you download.

(1) Assume that you decide to download the lakes shapefile from the
website:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog ... /lakes.htm

(2) cd into your home directory and make two directories:

Code: Select all

mkdir -p w2config/maps/
mkdir -p shapefiles/lakes


This is what you are *adding* to the WDSS-II installation, and it is best
to keep it separate so that you can just slap on a new version at any time.

(3) Download the compressed shapefile into your lakes directory and
unzip the file.

(4) Create a file called maps.xml in the w2config/maps that you just
created (you can add to this file as you keep downloading maps).
In that file, you will have a line like this:

Code: Select all

<maps>
  <shp name='Lakes' location='shapefiles/lakes/lk17de98.shp' color='green' />
</maps>


(5) Change your environment variable to point to the new config location
in addition to your old one:

Code: Select all

setenv W2_CONFIG_LOCATION ${HOME}:old_directory_name


where old_directory_name is where you currently have your w2config.

(6) Make sure to source your .cshrc again, and when you start up wg,
and click Maps, you should have an entry for "Lakes".

Lak

[Michael Brennan]

Thanks Lak, that worked very well!

[Travis.Smith]

County roads/streets:

http://websas.bts.gov/website/downloadA ... ounty.html

Probably not as useful, but there may be some things here:

http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html

There is probably more useful information on the BTS site, but the layout of the site doesn't promote finding anything very easily...

Travis

[Eric Lenning]

I have been able to add county maps, rivers, interstates, NWS County Warning Areas, and states to the display. I tried adding cities and I see the option to display them, but I don't see them showing up when I double-click that entry. Is there something special about adding point shapefiles like that?

[greg stumpf]

I tried adding cities and I see the option to display them, but I don't see them showing up when I double-click that entry. Is there something special about adding point shapefiles like that?

Once you've added the city, a query dialog will show the attributes of the shapefile in the lower right. Just choose "Name" or "Cityname" (I forget which it is).

[Valliappa.Lakshmanan]

When you add cities, the XML tagname is not "shp", but "point:
i.e. something like:

<point name='ms_cities' location='...' color='white' />

It's a poor choice of tag-names, but "shp" refers to polygon shapefiles
while "point" refers to point shapefiles.
You should be able to see point locations of the cities.

Then, follow Greg's instructions to get city-names or city-population
or whatever field you want ...

Lak

[Eric Lenning]

I still am having trouble getting cities to appear in wg. I do not see a dialog for selecting which field I want plotted. Here is the content of my maps.xml file:

<maps>
<shp name='Counties' location='shapefiles/counties/uscounty.shp' color='white' />
<point name='Cities' location='shapefiles/cities/cities.shp' color='white' />
<shp name='Rivers' location='shapefiles/small_lsx_streams/small_lsx_streams.shp' color='cyan' />
<shp name='States' location='shapefiles/states/states.shp' color='white' />
<shp name='CWA' location='shapefiles/usa_cwa/usa_cwa.shp' color='orange' />
<shp name='Interstates' location='shapefiles/us_inter/us_inter.shp' color='pink' />
</maps>

Maybe there is something else I need to be doing, but everything appears to be in place.

Eric

[Valliappa.Lakshmanan]

Do you have the associated dbf and shx files (i..e not just the shp file)?

Lak

[Eric Lenning]

Lak,

I have both the shx and dbf files. Here is the directory listing of the files pertaining to cities:

ll shapefiles/cities/
total 4132
-rwxr--r-- 1 gempak users 3034402 Aug 20 10:03 cities.dbf
-rwxr--r-- 1 gempak users 241812 Aug 20 10:03 cities.sbn
-rwxr--r-- 1 gempak users 3364 Aug 20 10:03 cities.sbx
-rwxr--r-- 1 gempak users 720036 Aug 20 10:03 cities.shp
-rwxr--r-- 1 gempak users 205796 Aug 20 10:03 cities.shx

[Valliappa.Lakshmanan]

Eric,

(1) When you start wg, start it with the verbose option i.e.

wg --verbose

See if there is any complaint pertaining to the map file.

(2) Please make a tar file of the city shapefiles and put it on
a ftp server somewhere. I'll see if it loads up okay out here.

thanks
Lak

[Valliappa.Lakshmanan]

[ Eric emailed me the log, and pointed me to http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lsx/cities.tgz ]

Eric,

I downloaded the file and loaded up into wg without any problem. The cities file is
huge though, and slowed down the display considerably. But, it does work.

This was my maps.xml entry:

Code: Select all

<point name="eric_cities" location="shapefiles/eric_lenning_cities/cities.shp" />


Looking at your log that you emailed me, this part is suspicious:

Creating a map interactor for CWA
(wg_MapManager) Building line map
Shapefile::readShpInfo:
usa_cwa.shp contains 121 primitives
spatial extent:
from (lat=[-14.60409 deg],lon=[-179.13316 deg],h=[0 km])
to (lat=[71.398094 deg],lon=[179.78802 deg],h=[0 km])
MapSelector::MapSelector:
Number of top-level objects is 121.
MapSelector::MapSelector: polygon shapefile
wd_LineMap::wd_LineMap:
Number of top-level objects is 121.
wd_LineMap::wd_LineMap: polygon shapefile
(wxGTK_PIGFARM): Creating GUI
Creating a map interactor for Cities
Creating a map interactor for Counties
(wg_MapManager) Building line map
Shapefile::readShpInfo:
uscounty.shp contains 3237 primitives

Normally, you should get an error message there, or information
about the map that is being read in. Perhaps your version of the
city maps is corrupt? Could you try deleting it and getting a new
copy from the website you pointed me to?

Thanks
Lak