The USGS Protected Areas Database of the U.S. (PAD-US) is the official GIS-based national inventory of protected area boundaries within the U.S. It includes public lands and parks, Wilderness Areas, National Wildlife Refuges, reserves, conservation easements, Marine Protected Areas, and more. This Help System was developed to provide users with an overview of PAD-US, resources to download and use PAD-US in a variety of formats, information on how PAD-US is developed, data completeness estimates, and more.
Introduction
The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the official national GIS inventory of protected areas, as provided by managing agencies and organizations, and is produced by the USGS. PAD-US contains over 436,000 land and marine units, managed by more than 30,000 agencies and nonprofit organizations. This full inventory of land and water includes fee ownerships, overlapping designations, proclamation boundaries, conservation easements, and Marine Protected Areas. PAD-US is made up of many agencies’ datasets and updated periodically. PAD-US is mostly complete for Federal areas and most State lands. Efforts are ongoing to improve completeness for all local and regional parks and open space areas, and for conservation easements.
The vision for PAD-US is that it be a single, regularly updated geospatial database that allows users to find the boundaries and essential attribute information for every public park and other protected area in the United States.
PAD-US is published by USGS in collaboration with Boise State University and through coordination with many Federal, State, and non-governmental organization data stewards.
PAD-US serves as a data coordination, gathering, and integration framework that synthesizes Federal agency data. It also encourages the development of comprehensive, standardized inventories by State data stewards. PAD-US also has collaborative relationships with other governmental and nonprofit gatherers of related data.
PAD-US is unique because it is:
- Comprehensive — It is based on the goal of inventorying all public land and other protected areas, covering everything from small neighborhood parks to huge Wilderness Areas, land trust preserves, easements, and Marine Protected Areas.
- Publicly available — PAD-US is published by the Federal government; it is open and free to use for all public and commercial applications and research purposes.
- Validated — The PAD-US Data Manual has developed over time through rigorous peer and other review and testing by data stewards across jurisdictions.
- Authoritative — PAD-US is the official inventory of America’s protected areas – a National Geospatial Data Asset, aggregated from authoritative data sources.
- Adaptable — PAD-US is designed to support a wide range of uses, not just a specific type of use.
- Expected — Having a single, federally led source of information on public parks and open space lands makes it intuitive to look for these national data.
- Collaboratively developed — PAD-US uses a process based on partnerships with Federal agencies and affiliations with key groups in each State plus national nonprofits and other organizations.
All of this makes PAD-US an outstanding data resource for many different users to apply to research, land management, policy analysis and development, service targeting, and more.
What's New in PAD-US
- PAD-US 4.0 released
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) view added to PAD-US Data Explorer
- Updated PAD-US Factsheet
- PAD-US Data Explorer (published feature/tile layers)
- Communication Tool
- GAP Status Assignment Tool
- PAD-US Statistics Dashboard to filter and download statistics from PAD-US
- USGS PAD-US web services available for your applications
- Improved USGS PAD-US Data Manual
- National and on-demand poster maps
How To Get PAD-US
PAD-US data is available in several formats – special editions (for particular regions, etc.) can also be requested by contacting the PAD-US team.
- Download the data as GIS files in a range of formats
- Use PAD-US from USGS webs services
- Print ready-made PDF national maps or create custom state maps
- Download spatial analysis files and summary statistics reports
- Generate statistics through the PAD-US Data Explorer or the PAD-US Statistics Dashboard
- Learn more here
Status of Data Completeness
Updates to PAD-US include the most up-to-date aggregation of Federal lands and waters, National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) easement data, and State updates from those states with capacity to provide new data.
Current measures of the estimated completeness of all data in PAD-US can be found on the Data Stewards page – this also includes individual estimates for Federal, State, local and easement lands.
PAD-US inventory now includes most federal and state lands; however, many data gaps occur below the state level. Fortunately, several initiatives are underway to substantially increase completeness.
A detailed summary of the state of PAD-US data completeness can be found on the Federal Lands Workgroup page.
Data Structures and Attributes
Detailed information on the geodatabase structure, coordinate system, accuracy, topology, and attributes can be found here.
The PAD-US Data Manual also includes a list of minimum and requested attributes for data submissions, as well as a searchable Data Dictionary with attribute definitions, field properties, domain values, and development crosswalks.
Data Sources and Processes
PAD-US is composed of data from a variety of sources: Federal agencies, State agencies, and non-governmental organizations. More information about data sources and how the data is integrated into PAD-US can be found here.
Additional Information
An expanded help system was developed in collaboration with GreenInfo Network on protectedlands.net. This help system provides more detailed information, including technical how-tos, data structure and attributes, data sources and processes, common PAD-US uses, frequently asked questions, and more.
If you are unable to find an answer to your question, please don’t hesitate to contact the PAD-US Team.
The USGS Protected Areas Database of the U.S. (PAD-US) is the official GIS-based national inventory of protected area boundaries within the U.S. It includes public lands and parks, Wilderness Areas, National Wildlife Refuges, reserves, conservation easements, Marine Protected Areas, and more. This Help System was developed to provide users with an overview of PAD-US, resources to download and use PAD-US in a variety of formats, information on how PAD-US is developed, data completeness estimates, and more.
Introduction
The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the official national GIS inventory of protected areas, as provided by managing agencies and organizations, and is produced by the USGS. PAD-US contains over 436,000 land and marine units, managed by more than 30,000 agencies and nonprofit organizations. This full inventory of land and water includes fee ownerships, overlapping designations, proclamation boundaries, conservation easements, and Marine Protected Areas. PAD-US is made up of many agencies’ datasets and updated periodically. PAD-US is mostly complete for Federal areas and most State lands. Efforts are ongoing to improve completeness for all local and regional parks and open space areas, and for conservation easements.
The vision for PAD-US is that it be a single, regularly updated geospatial database that allows users to find the boundaries and essential attribute information for every public park and other protected area in the United States.
PAD-US is published by USGS in collaboration with Boise State University and through coordination with many Federal, State, and non-governmental organization data stewards.
PAD-US serves as a data coordination, gathering, and integration framework that synthesizes Federal agency data. It also encourages the development of comprehensive, standardized inventories by State data stewards. PAD-US also has collaborative relationships with other governmental and nonprofit gatherers of related data.
PAD-US is unique because it is:
- Comprehensive — It is based on the goal of inventorying all public land and other protected areas, covering everything from small neighborhood parks to huge Wilderness Areas, land trust preserves, easements, and Marine Protected Areas.
- Publicly available — PAD-US is published by the Federal government; it is open and free to use for all public and commercial applications and research purposes.
- Validated — The PAD-US Data Manual has developed over time through rigorous peer and other review and testing by data stewards across jurisdictions.
- Authoritative — PAD-US is the official inventory of America’s protected areas – a National Geospatial Data Asset, aggregated from authoritative data sources.
- Adaptable — PAD-US is designed to support a wide range of uses, not just a specific type of use.
- Expected — Having a single, federally led source of information on public parks and open space lands makes it intuitive to look for these national data.
- Collaboratively developed — PAD-US uses a process based on partnerships with Federal agencies and affiliations with key groups in each State plus national nonprofits and other organizations.
All of this makes PAD-US an outstanding data resource for many different users to apply to research, land management, policy analysis and development, service targeting, and more.
What's New in PAD-US
- PAD-US 4.0 released
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) view added to PAD-US Data Explorer
- Updated PAD-US Factsheet
- PAD-US Data Explorer (published feature/tile layers)
- Communication Tool
- GAP Status Assignment Tool
- PAD-US Statistics Dashboard to filter and download statistics from PAD-US
- USGS PAD-US web services available for your applications
- Improved USGS PAD-US Data Manual
- National and on-demand poster maps
How To Get PAD-US
PAD-US data is available in several formats – special editions (for particular regions, etc.) can also be requested by contacting the PAD-US team.
- Download the data as GIS files in a range of formats
- Use PAD-US from USGS webs services
- Print ready-made PDF national maps or create custom state maps
- Download spatial analysis files and summary statistics reports
- Generate statistics through the PAD-US Data Explorer or the PAD-US Statistics Dashboard
- Learn more here
Status of Data Completeness
Updates to PAD-US include the most up-to-date aggregation of Federal lands and waters, National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) easement data, and State updates from those states with capacity to provide new data.
Current measures of the estimated completeness of all data in PAD-US can be found on the Data Stewards page – this also includes individual estimates for Federal, State, local and easement lands.
PAD-US inventory now includes most federal and state lands; however, many data gaps occur below the state level. Fortunately, several initiatives are underway to substantially increase completeness.
A detailed summary of the state of PAD-US data completeness can be found on the Federal Lands Workgroup page.
Data Structures and Attributes
Detailed information on the geodatabase structure, coordinate system, accuracy, topology, and attributes can be found here.
The PAD-US Data Manual also includes a list of minimum and requested attributes for data submissions, as well as a searchable Data Dictionary with attribute definitions, field properties, domain values, and development crosswalks.
Data Sources and Processes
PAD-US is composed of data from a variety of sources: Federal agencies, State agencies, and non-governmental organizations. More information about data sources and how the data is integrated into PAD-US can be found here.
Additional Information
An expanded help system was developed in collaboration with GreenInfo Network on protectedlands.net. This help system provides more detailed information, including technical how-tos, data structure and attributes, data sources and processes, common PAD-US uses, frequently asked questions, and more.
If you are unable to find an answer to your question, please don’t hesitate to contact the PAD-US Team.