Online Mapper

Online Mapper at a Glance

coming soon.

Exploring Data with Online Mapper

While the dataset/species search pages and the dataset/species profile pages provide a way to narrow the OBIS-SEAMAP data down to a specific species or dataset for further exploration, the Online Mapper helps you put together multiple species/datasets as well as your own map elements into a map that serves as a base map and allows you to download the data you want to use for your researches.

All the features available in the search pages and dataset/species profile pages are available in the Online Mapper as well. In addition, the Mapper provides advanced features including:

To map multiple datasets/species on a single map;
To upload your own ESRI shapefile(s) to filter the data by your region(s) of interest (an OBIS-SEAMAP account required);
To olverlay Google Earth KML (an OBIS-SEAMAP account required);
To download the data narrowed by your region of interest;
To overlay supplemental layers such as EEZ and human impacts;
To customize the look of the map (e.g. symbol colors) for a better rendering.

Requirements

The Online Mapper is available for everyone upon the agreement to the OBIS-SEAMAP Terms of Use by you.

In short, you are required to ask the data providers permissions of data use for any publication or product. It is not uncommon that the data you want to use for your research come from a lot of providers (say, 20 providers). Regardless of the number of the data providers, you have to contact each of them. OBIS-SEAMAP can't request permissions on behalf of you.

Browser Requirements

The Online Mapper is best viewed with Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2/3. Both Windows XP and Mac OS are supported. The recommended screen size is 1280 x800 or larger. With a smaller screen, a couple of tool buttons above the map may be hidden. To access these buttons, please collapse [Legend] panel.

Tutorials

Movie Tutorials
Introduction to Online Mapper	Soon
How to define your region of interest	3' 00"
Play with temporally interactive chart	3' 35"
Map environmental layers	10' 00"

Selecting Your Species/Datasets of Interest

The observations of individual species and/or datasets can be easily added to the map. If you already know the species or dataset name, simply enter a part of the name into the text box just below [Filter by Species] or [Filter by Dataset].

If you would like to choose species or datasets based on your criteria, go to [Search Options] that appears when [Filter by Species] or [Filter by Dataset] panel is expanded. These options can be combined with a region of interest to further narrow the data down to your study area.

Once you set up your search options and got the list of species/datasets that match your criteria back, simply pick your species or datasets of interest to add to the map.

Notes:

When you set up search options, the map is automatically updated showing the observations for the species or datasets that match your criteria. However, it is recommended to explicitly select individual species or datasets of your interest (by clicking them in the list). The species/datasets selected are listed inside [Filter by Species] / [Filter by Dataset] panels. The reason of this is that [Save the map state] tool saves the *selected* species/datasets only. It does not save your criteria and resulting lists shown below the map.
Due to the huge amount of data, it is recommended to first specify your species or dataset(s) of interest before drawing your region of interest that will usually take more time to extract the data within the area than filtering them by species or dataset.

Extracting Data within Your Study Area

The Online Mapper gives you the flexibility of defining your study area with which the observation data are extracted.

Drawing a rectangular area on the map;
Drawing any shape of an area on the map;
Entering numeric coordinates of the vertices of an area (coming soon);
Uploading a polygon shapefile (an OBIS-SEAMAP account required).

Please see the movie tutorial How to define your region of interest to learn more. The following section describes how to upload a shapefile.

Uploading Shapefiles and KMLs

An OBIS-SEAMAP account is required to upload your shapefile or KML. You can obtain an account by contacting us. Please inform us your research purpose and intended end products.

There are two uses of your shapefile:

Filter the data by the shapefile;
Overlay the shapefile as a reference.

Uploading shapefile to filter the data A shapefile can be used to extract the observation data within the shape that must be a relatively simple, small polygon(s).

Uploading shapefile as a reference You can also upload a shapefile(s) as a reference element of the map. As opposed to the shapefile to extract data, shapes can be points, lines or polygons.

Notes:

Each file a shapefile consists of (i.g. .shp, .dbf, shx) must be less than 2MB in size.
If you upload a point/line shapefile as a shape to extract data, it is added to the map as a reference element. You can't use point/line shapefiles to extract data.

Features & Functions

Face	Feature	Description
(Default)	Identify	This function is available when no tool button is selected. If another button is selected, deselecting it enables "Identify." Click on the cell or point you want to get the information for. The popup window will come out, showing #observations in the cell or detailed observation information. Be patient as it may take the results several seconds to show.
	Restore the saved map	Restore the map state previously saved. The Map ID is required that was presented when you saved the map state. See "Save the current map state" regarding what are saved and restored.
	Save the current map state	If you would like to use the map you have created later, you can save the map state and restore it. This issues a Map ID, which you need to restore the map. The state to be saved are: Species/datasets selected Regions of interest drawn Time range Map extent Map type (points or distribution) Symbol colors if changed Notes: Species and datasets are not regarded as "selected" until they are listed in the tables in [Filter by Species] and [Filter by Dataset].
	Open copy/print friendly map image	This feature is experimental. Since the tiled satellite images of Google Maps are not a convenient presentation to copy or print, this feature generates a single image of the observations with the satellite image of the globe as a background. A single image presented on the browser can be easily copy and paste onto your document or print. This feature experimentally uses Blue Marble Next Generation as a background image. At this moment, we suggest that you take screen shots of the map for use in your manuscript or any other products. You also need to consult with the Google Maps Terms.
	Full extent	Click the button to zoom to the full extent of the dataset.
	Zoom in	To zoom in, you need to define a rectangle on the map where you want to zoom in. First click on the map to locate one of the two diagonal vertices of the rectangle. Release the mouse button and move the mouse to the other diagonal point. The red guiding line appears. Then click again to fix the rectangle.
	Draw region of interest	A region of interest (ROI) takes a rectangular shape. First click on the map to locate one of the two diagonal vertices of the rectangle. Release the mouse button and move the mouse to the other diagonal point. The red guiding line appears. Then click again to fix the rectangle. The map is updated automatically, extracting observations in the ROI drawn.
	Remove ROI	To remove the region of interest (ROI), click the button and click on the ROI you want to remove. The map is updated automatically.
	Transparency	Slide the bar to left (more opaque) or right (more transparent) to adjust the transparency of the region of interest.
	Show/hide graph area	Click the button (pale yellow background) to show and hide the graph area. The graph area may close automatically depending on your criteria.
	Add environmental layer	Add environmental layer to the map. The button opens a popup window where you can choose one of the environmental layers. See [Environment] tab for layers' availability. To learn more, watch the movie tutorial Map environmental layers.
	Explore with Google Earth	Explore the dataset through Google Earth interface. Install Google Earth before using this feature. Google Earth on Windows and Mac are supported.
	Switch b/w point observations and distribution map	Click the buttons to switch between point observations and distribution map. The distribution map is color-coded by the number of observations in the cell. The points are color-coded by species. See the left-hand-side species list for colors. [Degree] button also tells you the current cell size, which depends on the current zoom level.