Application note A WebGIS and geodatabase for Florida’s wetlands

Florida’s wetlands are impacted by agricultural, urban, and other human activities. This enrichment effect can be seen in many subtropical freshwater wetlands in Florida, most notably in the Everglades. Given the environmental and political interest in these wetlands, there is urgent need for a centralized repository and mechanism to share geospatial data, information and maps of Florida’s wetlands and adjacent agricultural ecosystems. Our objective was to develop an interactive WebGIS and geodatabase for Florida’s wetlands providing map and data services. We used ArcIMS, a commercially available software, which was extended using a MSAccess database, Java, Visual Basic and Active Server Pages to customize our application. Our Web-based tool facilitates to share data globally, provide end-users a cost-saving solution to access up-to-date spatial datasets customized for a specific topic to users with limited GIS knowledge. Staff from state and regional agencies and others are making increased use of our Web-tool to assist in the decision-making process to restore and preserve wetlands in Florida. Our interactive website of Florida’s wetlands is accessible a