Current Status

EnviroAtlas has been publicly available since May 2014 (News Release, May 7, 2014). Periodic posting of updates to the web have occurred since its release. The EnviroAtlas Update Bulletin highlights many of these updates.  

Development plans for EnviroAtlas extend out to 2019, with regular updates taking place as they become available. There are many improvements in the form of additional data, analysis tools, and increased functionality both planned and underway. View the EnviroAtlas Dynamic Data Matrix to search and sort through a list of currently available EnviroAtlas data.  

Latest Updates to EnviroAtlas 

• Newest communities: Austin, TX; Memphis, TN; New York, NY. 
• New Data: Walkable roads metrics for EnviroAtlas communities 
  • ​Percent tree cover along walkable roads
  • Percent green space along walkable roads
  • Estimated intersection density of walkable roads 
• ​New Data: New and updated wetlands maps for the contiguous U.S. 
  • ​Potentially restorable wetlands on agricultural land - Updated version of the Potentially Restorable Wetlands layer and uses 2014 soils data and 2011 land cover data
  • Potential wetland areas
• ​New Data: Ten data layers on commute modes and commute times available at the census block group level for the contiguous U.S. 
• New Data: Ecosystem markets data for the nation show where markets for watershed services, forest carbon, wetlands, and imperiled species/habitats occur on the U.S. landscape and provide information about the markets and their enabling conditions. Learn more about ecosystem markets data in EnviroAtlas. 
• New Tool: Navigate HUC-12 Catchments - Users can select any 12-digit HUC (subwatershed unit) and navigate up- or down-stream from that HUC, highlighting the stream network (2016).

Planned Updates

A selection of planned improvements, with the projected completion dates in parentheses, is below.

Content

• New communities, including Cleveland, OH; Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN & New Haven, CT. (2016). Additional communities will be added yearly, with the goal of over 50 communities by 2019.
• Additional data for the national component, including fishing, hunting, and wildlife-watching recreation demand, wind power potential, and climate-vulnerable bird species (Ongoing). 
• Additional data for the community component (Ongoing). 
• Maps of future scenarios based on land use/land cover projection data and future climate scenario projections (2017).
• Additional Use Cases that provide descriptive examples of how to use EnviroAtlas data (Ongoing). 

Analysis Tools

• The ability to graph or analyze the relationship between selected map layers for selected 12-digit HUCs or census block groups (2017).
• In a statistically robust manner, combine multiple data attributes into single index values that can be used in various analyses, visualization, and graphing tools. Allows user control over variable weighting (2017).
• A tool to allow the user to calculate metrics for any spatial unit of interest (2018).
• An interactive tool to allow the user to evaluate alternative future scenarios (2018).

Functionality

• Simultaneously view two maps that can be spatially synchronized (2017).
• Create a user profile that will allow you to upload your own data, save map sessions, and create bookmarks for specific areas (2017).
• Search for specific map layers (2017).
• The ability to select an area by drawing a box or by clicking on a spatial unit (e.g., county, state, watershed, census block group) and analyze or download user-selected data (2017).
• The ability to select spatial units by attribute (e.g., selecting all census block groups with high population over 65) and analyze or download user-selected data (2017).

As the project progresses, this webpage will be updated with the latest news on EnviroAtlas.