PAD-US Web Services Active

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Version 3.0 - Web Services

• Developers can integrate USGS AGOL services into applications.

  • Protection Status by GAP Status Code (feature layer | tile layer)

  • Public Access (feature layer | tile layer)

  • Fee Managers (feature layer | tile layer)

  • Manager Name (feature layer | tile layer)

  • Manager Type (feature layer | tile layer)

  • Federal Fee Managers Authoritative (feature layer | tile layer)

  • Federal Management Agencies (feature layer | tile layer)

  • Protection Mechanism Category (feature layer | tile layer)

  • Proclamation and Other Planning Boundaries (feature layer | tile layer)

  • Fee Topology Overlaps (feature layer)

  • USGS also provides REST services
• Analysts can download the database directly.
• Anyone can explore the data in the USGS PAD-US Data Explorer.

7 Things You Can Do with PAD-US Web Services:

There is a lot available, and it can be confusing. Different technologies and interpretations of the PAD-US data are provided to allow for more applications. A list of 7 Things You Can Do with PAD-US Web Services, including descriptions and access links, are below. Start by clicking on #1, #2, and #3 to determine if ‘Fee only’ services are best suited for your application versus those developed from the ‘Combined’ PAD-US Inventory (fee simple parcels + management designations + easements): 

1. Explore the U.S. protected areas network

2. Access lands owned (or held) in fee

3. Bring it all together with combined inventory

4. View conservation or recreation measures

5. Add planning boundaries for context

6. See where fee boundaries overlap

7. Understand available technology

The expanded multiple feature class structure of PAD-US has increased available options to portray the PAD-US data in web services because of the separation of the "Fee" held areas from the overlapping management "Designations." Several different types of services are now available, both in the technology used, as well as the data that is included.

In addition, our partner Esri created new vector tile, feature services, and webmaps to compliment USGS Web Mapping Services (WMS).  

Each webmap contains a vector tile layer and one or more copies of feature layers or feature layer views. The three layer types allow the user to draw the map across a wide range of scales and reuse data for multiple layers. Here is how these layers work:

• Feature Layers provide full access to the source data. Feature layers act much like a regular GIS layer but instead of storing the data on your computer it lives in the cloud on ArcGIS.com. Feature layers allow for dynamic interaction with the data, changes can be made to the symbology, filters can be applied to the data, as well as some types of analysis. The feature layers have a visible scale range set to the Esri ArcGIS Online scale range from about Counties (1:500,000) to Room (1:100) level.  You must zoom in on the map to view feature layers.

• Feature Layer Views are just a filtered copy of a feature layer saved as a new item within the ArcGIS.com webmaps. The feature layer view points back to the original data but can be saved with different symbology and other properties. The nice part of this is, when updates are made to the original data, changes are automatically propagated to the associated feature layer views.

• Vector Tile Layers provide cartography at scales smaller than 1:1,000,000. Feature layers don’t draw well at smaller scales, so vector tiles are used to draw the map when zoomed out past 1:1,000,000. Vector tiles don’t support an identify pop-up or legend but are very high performance.

• The Webmap brings all the layers together with a basemap. The webmap can save copies of feature layers. This method can be used to create multiple copies of the layer to control the drawing order.

Standard USGS WMS display at scale ranges from 1 to 16 including a legend and identify pop-up.

7 Things You Can Do with PAD-US Web Services:

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1. Explore the U.S. protected areas network

The fully combined PAD-US inventory represents the complexity of the U.S. protected areas network. Explore the Protection Mechanism Category layer to gain a better understanding about the components of the PAD-US database  (Fee lands, designations, easements, marine areas, proclamation, or other planning boundaries) to choose the best service for your application.

Protection Mechanism Category: Shows categories of land tenure for all protected areas, and also includes marine ares, proclamation, and other planning boundaries from the combined PAD-US inventory.

The Protection Mechanism Category illustrates the PAD-US “Category” field, representing lands held in the public interest by fee simple ownership (the most common way lands are owned); Executive, legislative, and administrative (i.e. found in management plans) designations that often overlap fee or private lands; easement interests on public or private land, leases and agreements between public agencies; and marine protected areas or those managed for mineral or energy development. Proclamation and other planning boundaries (e.g. Military Lands) are included for context and shown as gray outline as internal interests are not depicted.

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2. Access lands owned (or held) in fee

PAD-US Fee only layers - No designations, easements, marine areas, or proclamation boundaries.

PAD-US allows users to choose services that display the fully combined PAD-US inventory or only the ‘footprint’ of lands held in fee simple for open space public interests from the PAD-US Fee feature class. Two options are available for users primarily interested in management jurisdiction (for example, base map providers or the recreation and emergency management communities), the "Federal Fee Managers" includes federal lands only, while "All Fee Managers" also includes state, local government, nonprofit, and other fee owned lands (data gaps exist below the state level). The services do not include easements, marine areas, proclamation or other planning boundaries, management designations (e.g. Wilderness) that often overlap federal, state, or private inholdings. 

Fee Managers: Fine level manager or administrative agency name standardized for the Nation (USFS, BLM, State Fish and Wildlife, State Parks and Rec, City, NGO, etc) from the “Manager Name” field. Includes fee simple parcels (where available) from the PAD-US Fee feature Class only. Tribal Areas included for context.

This service does not include designations that often overlap state, private or other inholdings (see Manager Name service for combined layer - Fee+Designation+Easement).

Federal Fee Managers (Authoritative Data): Describes federal administrative agencies from the “Manager Name” field. Includes fee simple parcels (where available) from authoritative data sources from PAD-US Fee feature class only.  

This service does not include designations that often overlap state, private, or other inholdings (see Federal Management Areas for combined layer - Fee+Designation+Easement).  DOD Military Lands (from Proclamation feature class) lands shown as an outline since internal land ownership is not represented (but implied Federal). Tribal Areas included for context.

PAD-US is the official National Geospatial Data Asset for aggregated U.S. protected areas data, developed by USGS in collaboration with the FGDC Federal Lands Working Group (FLWG). PAD-US is the best available U.S. aggregation of federal land ownership, easement interest, and management designations, as well as state, local and nonprofit data on protected areas. PAD-US is an appropriate data source for questions related to more than one agency; agencies are always the official source of their land data and some update more frequently than PAD-US. See the “State of PAD-US Data” (periodic updates available on the FLWG website) for update frequency and Steward Reports (click on federal agency or state map) for direct links to agency data and contacts.

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3. Bring it all together with combined inventory

PAD-US Combined layers - Fee + Designation + Easement + Marine + DOD Military Lands (from Proclamation feature class).

The web services below illustrate the full PAD-US inventory with fee simple parcels (where available), easement interests, marine areas, DOD Military Lands (from Proclamation feature class), and overlapping management designations. Note - Designations often overlap federal, state, or private inholdings.

The new PAD-US Viewer includes a split screen option for users to compare layers. For example, place the “Federal Fee Managers - Authoritative Data” service layer in the left panel and combined “Federal Management Agencies” service that includes designations and easements on the right. 

Manager Type: Broad categorization of manager levels, for general depictions of who manages what areas from the combined PAD-US inventory.  

Includes coarse level land manager description from "Agency Type" Domain, "Manager Type" Field (for example, Federal, State, Local Gov, Private) from the combined inventory (includes Fee+Designations+Easements). DOD Military Lands shown with an outline as internal interests are not defined (but assumed Federal).

Manager Name: Categorization by name, with detailed federal managers and generic state/local/other managers from the combined PAD-US inventory.

For example, names include USFS, BLM, State Fish and Wildlife, State Parks and Rec, City, NGO, etc. from the combined inventory (includes Fee+Designations+Easements) with descriptions from the "Agency Name" Domain, "Manager Name" Field. DOD Military Lands shown with an outline as internal interests not defined (but assumed Federal).

Federal Management Agencies: Use to depict federal agency land managers or administrators (no state, local, or nonprofit lands) by name from the combined PAD-US inventory

This service includes Fee+Designations+Easements (Designations often overlap private or other inholdings). DOD Military Lands are shown with an outline as internal interests are not defined (but assumed Federal).

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4. View conservation or recreation measures 

PAD-US Combined layers - Fee + Designation + Easement + Marine + DOD Military Lands (from Proclamation feature class).

Users interested in conservation assessments are encouraged to use the Protection Status (by GAP Status Code) or Public Access services below, as management restrictions associated with designations are key and the Combined layer is required.  

These layers include overlaps - click on an area to view attributes associated fee lands and designations in the PAD-US Viewer. A ‘flat’ vector analysis file used to prioritize overlaps (by GAP Status Code, Public Access, and geodatabase load order) for summary statistics is available to download from the PAD-US Statistics and Reports web page.

Protection Status by GAP Status Code: A measure of management intent to permanently protect biodiversity for all lands and marine areas in the combined PAD-US Inventory. 

GAP Status 1 & 2 areas are primarily managed for biodiversity, GAP Status 3 areas are managed for multiple uses including conservation but where extraction may be permitted (for example, logging, or mining), and GAP Status 4 areas have no known mandate for biodiversity protection (such as private land, protected areas with unknown management objectives, etc.).

Protected Areas by Manager: All protected areas classified by GAP Status Code protection level and manager type.

Public Access: General level of public access permitted in the area - Open, Restricted (permit, seasonal), Closed, or Unknown from the combined PAD-US Inventory (local parks data gaps exist).  

This measure is largely assigned categorically by PAD-US “Designation Type” and not all areas have been locally reviewed. In addition, many local park data gaps exist in some states. See inventory completeness by State at: http://www.protectedlands.net/data-stewards/.

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5. Add planning boundaries for context

Proclamation and Other Planning Boundaries: Includes boundaries that provide additional context by administrative agency name (for example, DOD, FWS, NPS, USFS) shown with an outline as internal ownership is not represented.  

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6. See where fee boundaries overlap

Fee Topology (Must not Overlap):  Use to identify overlaps between agency boundaries in the PAD-US Fee simple parcel ownership layer. The assessment identifies all boundary overlaps, those between Federal agencies only (large and small), and those between Federal and State agency boundaries (large and small).  

A long-term goal is to share this assessment with data-stewards to reduce boundary overlaps between source data in the PAD-US fee feature class.

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7. Understand available technology

Can my application access feature or tile service layers?

If so, Esri offers Tile and feature web service options.

If not, USGS WMS are an alternative for integration in applications.  

Can I access PAD-US services online?

Users can access PAD-US services on ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro (web maps include tile and feature services to be viewed at all scales).

How to Cite Data:

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gap Analysis Project (GAP), 2022, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) 3.0: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9Q9LQ4B

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gap Analysis Project (GAP), 2020, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) 2.1: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P92QM3NT