Development of an interactive web map to visualize a complex dataset

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is steward to 2.6 million acres of state-owned aquatic lands. As part of its management responsibilities, DNR’s Submerged Vegetation Monitoring Program (SVMP) documents occurrences of seagrass throughout greater Puget Sound. Seagrasses are recognized globally as a sensitive indicator of water quality while providing productive, critical habitat utilized by many fish, bird and invertebrate species. The SVMP has been conducting seagrass surveys in Puget Sound, using underwater video, since 2000. Video is reviewed, classified for presence/absence, and ultimately used to characterize abundance, distribution and change in seagrass at local, regional, and sound-wide scales. Our dataset has grown in complexity and size and now houses nearly 2 decades of annual surveys consisting of more than 10 million spatial features. At a local level, these data are used to inform land-management activities, while regionally, these data are the basis of an ecosystem indicator for policy makers. The spatial and temporal scope of the dataset make it relevant to many research and planning activities. However, to be useful, it needs to be widely accessible to a diverse set of users with a broad range of technical expertise and tools. To meet this need, we developed an interactive web-based map which provides easy access to results and site-level trend analysis. More advanced users can download the complete dataset for modeling and advanced analysis. This has been effective in expanding data availability and connecting the monitoring program to users interested in both data and higher-level analysis