Map Guide & Catalog

1. Menu Bar: The Atlas employs themes used in the National Ocean Service 1985 Gulf Atlas: Physical, Biotic, Living Marine Resources, Socioeconomic Conditions, Environmental Quality, and Jurisdictions. Select a theme along the top to access the datasets. Clicking on any dataset will refresh the map with the selected data, and details displayed in the right window. To reset the map to its original settings, click the reset button under Basemap.

2. Zoom: controls the zoom level of the map. Click + to zoom in. Click - to zoom out.

3. Base Layer and Overlays: Base Layer allows you to choose your base map. Overlays lets you select additional overlay maps.

4. Description: written by the data provider, or the subject matter expert (i.e., the data plate in context to its significance in the Gulf, the inter-relationship with other observations included in the atlas, and the plate's value in describing the characteristics of the Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem and infrastructure.) Descriptions have been peer reviewed by the Atlas Executive Steering Committee and selected scientists. A citation to reference the text and/or plate is provided.

5. Legend: an explanatory list of the symbols used on the atlas plates.

6. More Information: provides metadata for the selected plates (metadata is information about one or more aspects of the plate); it also provides access to the Web Mapping Service (WMS) to import the mapping layer (plate) into a mapping application; lastly, it provides the access to the data.

7. Set Opacity: Use the - and + buttons to set the opacity (as a percentage) for the layer.

Access Map Layer by Theme