Related Geospatial Features

Related Geospatial Features, CUAHSI and the Internet of Water

The Related Geospatial Features metadata option in HydroShare has been developed by CUAHSI in partnership with the Internet of Water and the Geoconnex Project. Historically there have been challenges associated with linking geospatially related data. This feature will increase machine readable linkages between related resources, ease data discovery, and increase the robustness of metadata for resources with geographic coverage.

The Related Geospatial Features section of the resource landing page allows users to create relationships within their resources between their datasets and other hydrologically related features. These features will appear in a convenient map view on the resource landing page, and selecting any of the related features will redirect users to the geoconnex reference page in a new tab. Feature information is also added into the resource metadata and relationships are accessible to search engine web-crawlers.

The feature operates using the user defined spatial coverage of the resource, and allows users to search for related features within the following libraries of features:

2 Digit Hydrologic Regions
4 Digit Hydrologic Subregions
6 Digit Hydrologic Basins
8 Digit Hydrologic Subbasins
10 Digit Hydrologic Watersheds
National Aquifers of the United States from USGS National Water Information System National Aquifer Code List
Principal Aquifers of the United States from 2003 USGS data release (principal_aq)
Secondary Hydrogeologic Regions of the Coterminous United States from 2018 USGS data Release
US Reference Stream Gage Monitoring Locations
US reference Mainstream Rivers (Mainstreams)
US States
Native American Lands
US Metropolitan and Micropolitan Areas (cbsa)
Urbanized Areas and Urban Clusters (2010 Census) (ua10)
US legally incorporated and census designated places (places)
US reference Dams (dams)

How to Add Related Features:

Step 1: Select a collection to search.

Once the collection to be searched has been selected, the map on the right will populate with all of the features that intersect your geographic coverage. We recommend adding spatial coverage to your resource before attempting to find related geospatial features. If your resource does not have spatial coverage, the Related Geospatial Features search will attempt to display ALL features in the collection. Because this query can map up to 5,000 features, this can be a slow process

A connection can also be added by providing a link that resolves in a feature not yet in the geoconnex database. This link will automatically hyperlink once added.

Step 2: Select related features to add to resource metadata

The features that populated in the map on the right will also populate in list form in the box labeled “Select related features to add to resource metadata”. Users can select any number of items from this list, search for features by typing, or select features directly on the map.

Once selected, users can exit editing mode on the resource, and scroll down to the Related Geospatial Features section to view the selected features on the map and in list form.

Map Controls:

On the map there are four selectable icons. In the top right corner the icon with three superimposed squares allows users to select the street, satellite, and terrain layers. Below the layers users can also toggle off and on the following:

An icon of four stacked squares meant to indicate layers.

Selected Features

Search (all features)

Resource Spatial Extent

The icon with two concentric circles allows users to recenter the map on their defined spatial extent.

An empty square composed of four corner brackets The icon that contains a bracketed square allows users to view the map in full screen mode.

The joined plus and minus icons allow users to zoom in and out of the map view.

The map can be hidden with the Hide Map button. Once collapsed, the map can be viewed again by selecting the “select with Map” button.

A map view containing an outlined watershed area in Orange over the greater Denver area, and a map pin dropped in the top right corner of the map within the outlined area. BElow the map are two buttons, hide map and "search using visible map bounds". The second button is outlined by a red box

“Search using visible map bounds” will return all of the collection items that overlap with your current view in the map pane.

A zoomed in view of the previous map view image, now with a pop-up point that contains the words "Find features containing this point" with a magnifying glass.

Clicking an area of the map that contains no active layers/searches will allow you to “find features containing” the point that you clicked.

In View mode, selecting any of the related features will redirect users to the geoconnex reference page in a new tab.