The USGS Storm Event Dashboard allows users to interact with and visualize high
watermark and storm sensor data points and estimate flood extents from the January
and March 2018 nor'easter storm events. Users can also view the USGS 100
years still water analysis and compare these flood extents to the current
FEMA national flood hazard layers.
The dashboard is comprised of five elements.
This presentation will describe these elements and demonstrate the
different features and functionality's of the dashboard.
First, the leftmost window that runs
the height of the dashboard is the
filter window and contains filtering options.
To the right of this window,
the remaining four elements divide
the dashboard into four quadrants.
Starting with the upper left and
moving clockwise,
they are the map view window.
The right content window.
The coastal profile elevation graph.
And the mean water surface elevation graph.
The demonstration of the dashboards
elements will begin with the map
view window located to the upper
right of the filtering window.
The map navigation bar in the upper
right of the map view window contains
customizable map options from right to left.
The navigation bar contains
a Search, Home, Legend, Layer,
and Basemap Gallery button.
The legend button shows the map
feature layer symbols and colors.
The colors are consistent throughout the dashboard
for data points, inundation maps, and graphs.
The layer button allows users to turn
on and off layers in the map view.
And the Basemap Gallery button shows all
the basemap options available to the user.
With the mouse scroll wheel,
the user is able to zoom in and
out of the map extent. Additionally,
the plus and minus button in the
lower right of the map view window
can also be used to zoom in and out.
The user can pan around the map extent
by clicking and dragging the map.
The Home button will return the
map to its original view extent.
The search function in the navigation
bar allows for fast map navigation to key places or addresses.
Clicking on the search button expands the tool,
allowing you to type in your location of interest.
Let's search Long Wharf in Boston.
As the map view changes the displayed
graphs and map elements update to show
available data within the frame of view.
Pop up information can be
accessed by clicking on the map
layers in the map view window.
The pop up window will appear in the
upper left corner of the map view window
under the selection cursor button.
The pop up window shows the water surface
elevation in feet, the data type.
And photographs of the storm sensors
or high water marks, if available.
The selection cursor allows users
to select all visible map layers.
The drop down menu shows the different
selection options available to the user.
The selection options are selected by point,
rectangle, lasso, circle, or line.
Once the user makes a selection,
if multiple data layers were included,
a pop up window will appear under
the selection cursor button listing
all selected layers.
You have the option to choose
one of the layers selected.
Your graphs and map content will
filter based on the selection.
An additional button showing the number
of map features selected and an 'x' to
clear the selection will appear to the
right of the selection cursor button.
To clear any map layer selections,
click the 'x' button.
The content window to the right of
the map view window is dynamically
updated to show the viewable
data point count and information
within the current map extent.
The data point information displayed
in this window is the same as the
pop up window and updates to reflect
selections made in the map view window.
Users are able to cycle through the
available information using the
left and right arrow buttons located
above the data point information.
You can see the information changes as we
scroll through a few of the data points.
The coastal profile elevation graph
in the lower right of the dashboard
is a dynamically updated graph
showing the elevation of each data
point along the coastal profile line.
The X axis is in miles along
the coastal profile line,
oriented from north to South,
and runs from Portland,
Maine to Eastham, Massachusetts.
The Y axis is the water surface elevation
in feet above the North American
vertical Datum of 1988 or NAVD88.
Individual or multiple data
points can be selected from this graph to
quickly filter the map and dashboard content.
To remove any selections,
deselect the points individually
or click anywhere within the graph
area to remove all selections.
The mean water surface elevation graph
in the lower left of the dashboard
shows the average elevation in feet
above NAVD88 for all data points
within the current map extent.
The data viewed in the graph updates
as the map extent has changed.
Note the data displayed in this graph
does not update based on selections
made within the map view window.
Individual or multiple storm events
can be selected from the bar graph
to quickly filter data points and all
dynamically updated content in the dashboard.
To clear any selections,
deselect the individual storm
events or click anywhere inside
the graph to remove all selections.
The filtering window to the left of
the map view has additional content
filtering options for the dashboard.
The filtering options in this
window are Select by storm event,
Select by data type,
Select by town or city,
and Filter data by elevation range.
Note, these data filters only filtered
data points and associated content.
They do not filter inundacion maps.
The inundation maps can be turned on
or off using the layer option in the
upper right of the map view window.
When you expand select by storm event,
you were able to search for a specific
storm event or you can select from
the list under the search bar.
There are also the options to
select all and reset below the
list of available storm events.
When you expand the select by data
type and select by town or city.
You will see they are set up similar
to the select by storm event option.
Each listing the available data types
and towns and cities respectively.
The filter data by elevation range is
a sliding bar with the option to adjust
from the right and left side of the bar,
and it has a minimum and maximum
elevation range of 6 to 11 feet.
The dashboard also hosts additional
resources in the tabs along the
bottom of the map view window.
When navigating to each you will see
the Related Publications tab provides
the link to U.S. Geological Survey
publications related to the January
and March 2018 nor'easter storm
events and data collection efforts.
The USGS High Watermark Guidance tab
provides helpful documentation on how
the USGS collects high watermarks
and storm data information.
The additional Resources tab provides
links to the USGS Short Term Network
Viewer which contains complete high
watermark in storm sensor data
for these storm events.