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UT Topo Mapset almost done - help me pick next state...


IndyJpr

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Hello All,

 

I've been working on a Utah Topo mapset and should have it completed next week.

 

After that I'll be doing a major revision on the Colorado mapset and then a clean-up revision of the Wyoming mapset. Here's a link for the information on the CO & WY mapsets:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...11&t=183357

 

What's next?

In parallel with the above revisions I could start another state. I've had a lot of posts, emails, etc. suggesting which state I should do next. I don't really have a preference - my goals were CO & UT - so I thought I would let others pick the next state and help me out at the same time.

 

Here's the proposal, the first person (group?) to send me a DVD with the NED & NHD data for their state will have that state done next. No special skills or software required - just a little time and patience (a fast Internet connection and DVD burner will also help).

 

Currently I am only interested in the western US (MT, ID, NM, AZ, CA, NV, WA or OR). If anyone is interested let me know and I'll give you the specifics of what I need. If I receive multiple states I'll do them all (in the order received). If nobody is interested I'll probably take a break and work on some other projects...

 

Thanks for all of your feedback and your help,

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Hey, IndyJpr, when you're developing these, are you keeping the different "layers" in different .mp files? (i.e., contours in one file, hydrology in another, roads & trails in another) If you did, that would be super-helpful, because I'm working on getting routable maps from OpenStreetMap data. Then I might want just the contours or contours + hydrology to combine with the routable roads & trails from OSM.

 

It's easy enough to create that--just have one "master" file for the mapset which links to the individual layer files. It's a little more work to set up but makes it much easier to separate later.

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Hello All,

 

Here's the proposal, the first person (group?) to send me a DVD with the NED & NHD data for their state will have that state done next. No special skills or software required - just a little time and patience (a fast Internet connection and DVD burner will also help).

 

 

If I had any clue how to download the NED and NHD info I'd do it and send CA data to you. I went to the USGS site and saw info about NED and NHD, but am still clueless!

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Arizona would be my pick....

I have random parts of Arizona done but I'm having a hard time dealing with trails and things like that. Also, the water data. If someone gets the NHD I'll be able to do more than the Grand Canyon, a few parks outside Phoenix and all of Mt. Lemmon area outside Tucson.

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:) You guys (except superduty1) are missing "the catch":

 

Here's the proposal, the first person (group?) to send me a DVD with the NED & NHD data for their state will have that state done next. No special skills or software required - just a little time and patience (a fast Internet connection and DVD burner will also help).

The elevation data is on National Map Seamless Server, the hydrography data is on the NHD Viewer - it's there, anyone can get it. I've done it for 3 states but I'm hoping to not do it again anytime soon....

 

The issue is that both use an interactive based UI that IS NOT geared towards large data extraction (probably on purpose). So it takes an evening or so grabbing the data, chunk by chunk, to get an entire state.

 

I can give instructions on what steps to do - just somebody else needs to do it... :unsure:

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I can give instructions on what steps to do - just somebody else needs to do it... :)

How bout instructions on how you make the large mapsets with GlobalMapper, I can't figure out how to tell it what roads are what type. I have roads data from each county in Arizona but can't really figure out GlobalMapper.

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:) You guys (except superduty1) are missing "the catch":

 

Here's the proposal, the first person (group?) to send me a DVD with the NED & NHD data for their state will have that state done next. No special skills or software required - just a little time and patience (a fast Internet connection and DVD burner will also help).

The elevation data is on National Map Seamless Server, the hydrography data is on the NHD Viewer - it's there, anyone can get it. I've done it for 3 states but I'm hoping to not do it again anytime soon....

 

The issue is that both use an interactive based UI that IS NOT geared towards large data extraction (probably on purpose). So it takes an evening or so grabbing the data, chunk by chunk, to get an entire state.

 

I can give instructions on what steps to do - just somebody else needs to do it... :unsure:

I have a fast connection, send me the details on how to do it. :lol:

 

--Marky

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IndyJpr,

 

I would like to have WA... I can probably help in data and processing if you would like.

 

I retired a couple of years ago from the EPA Region 10 (AK,ID,OR,WA) where I was a lead GIS and internet mapping specialist for the last 15 years. I am still doing some part-time work in the same fieild working on wildfire and prescribed burn weather/smoke predictions for the USFS.

 

I was just going to get into the map making process for my Garmin 400t to make some WA maps for the Okanogan County area where I am living now. I had a Garmin GPSMap 76 and just upgraded to a Colorado 400t. Currently use GPS for hiking and mtn biking and soon for geocahing. Looks like you probably have a good efficient system working knowledge to make maps for the Garmin. Anyway, I love the technology and have time and skills and would love to help out in getting more high res maps out for the Garmin.... Maybe even more states than WA... :-) ...I also have Canada contacts/data...

 

Are you using toolsets like gpsmapper, gpsmapedit, and ...?? I was just starting into looking at those... What NED dataset are you using? The 1 arc sec or 1/3 arc sec (30m/10m)? Anyway, I have high speed internet for downloading and a lot of sources and contacts for data. I also have processing capability including ArcInfo at home....

 

Anyway, If you prefer, you can contact me directly thru my home email at pasayten@yahoo.com

 

HappyTrails... :-)

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Downloading NED (Elevation) Data

 

NED data can be downloaded from the National Map Seamless Server:

 

http://seamless.usgs.gov/website/seamless/viewer.htm

 

The viewer seems to work the best using IE, once the viewer starts up look at the right hand side:

 

download.png

 

Click on the Download tab and make sure that 1/3" (10m) NED is the only item selected.

 

Now look on the left hand side at the Downloads section:

 

tools.png

 

Click on the second icon, "Define Download Area By Coordinates" and the following dialog will open:

 

coords.png

 

The dialog will initially open with fields for Degrees, Minutes, Seconds - click on the bottom link to swith to Decimal Degrees (as shown in the figure).

 

Here you enter the coordinates for an area (remember that east and west values have to be negative) and click on the "Add Area" button. The system will break the area into chunks and present Download buttons. Once you hit a Download button the system will work on extracting the data and eventually present you with an actual download link - click that and download the data.

 

Some Notes

- The system will let you select area via the UI but it won't let you select the whole state (there is a MB limit), therefore using the coordinate entry dialog is the best way to get complete coverage (with no gaps or overlaps).

- I've found - for a typical size state - that using 100k quad areas is a good balance between area covered and number of tiles to download per area defined. But any size works as long as you can keep track of it all...

- The server can be really slow during prime time, performance is much better late at night or early in the morning.

- Some states, for example Utah, have agencies that have this data available via FTP which is MUCH, MUCH easier. So before you start on a state do some Googling....

 

If anyone knows an easier way to obtain this data (while still being free) please share!

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How bout instructions on how you make the large mapsets with GlobalMapper, I can't figure out how to tell it what roads are what type. I have roads data from each county in Arizona but can't really figure out GlobalMapper.

Hi -Oz-,

 

Hopefully your road data has some type of attribute that indicates road type or classification. I don't know what datasets you are using but for example, the Tiger datasets use Census Feature Class Codes (CFCCs) to indicate types of data.

 

So in GlobalMapper (GM) I would used the Search->Search by Attributes... function to find all roads of a certain type, for example where the CFCC matchs A1* (which are Interstates). Once the search is complete you have a couple of options:

- set the type to a GM type (which will get mapped to a MP type upon export to MP)

- add a MP_TYPE attribute and set it to the MP type you want (this over-rides GMs mapping mentioned above)

 

If your dataset does not have any attribute indicating road type then your only choice is to visually select roads and manually assign types - this method would only be practicle on very small areas...

 

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any questions.

 

PS: A nice tutorial on using GM for making Garmin maps can be obtained here:

 

http://www.globalmapper.com/helpv9/cGPSMapper.pdf

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Hi pasayten_pete,

 

I would like to have WA... I can probably help in data and processing if you would like.

 

I retired a couple of years ago from the EPA Region 10 (AK,ID,OR,WA) where I was a lead GIS and internet mapping specialist for the last 15 years. I am still doing some part-time work in the same fieild working on wildfire and prescribed burn weather/smoke predictions for the USFS.

Just to warn you I have no formal training in GIS or cartography - please take it easy on me :rolleyes:

 

I was just going to get into the map making process for my Garmin 400t to make some WA maps for the Okanogan County area where I am living now. I had a Garmin GPSMap 76 and just upgraded to a Colorado 400t. Currently use GPS for hiking and mtn biking and soon for geocahing. Looks like you probably have a good efficient system working knowledge to make maps for the Garmin. Anyway, I love the technology and have time and skills and would love to help out in getting more high res maps out for the Garmin.... Maybe even more states than WA... :-) ...I also have Canada contacts/data...

How do you like the 400t? I played with one for a week and saw a lot of potential...I'll probably end up getting a 300 at some point. If you'd like to help with the data collection and processing for WA (and possibly more) that woud be great...

 

Are you using toolsets like gpsmapper, gpsmapedit, and ...?? I was just starting into looking at those... What NED dataset are you using? The 1 arc sec or 1/3 arc sec (30m/10m)? Anyway, I have high speed internet for downloading and a lot of sources and contacts for data. I also have processing capability including ArcInfo at home....

I use GlobalMapper for generating contours, most processing and generating the final MP (polish) files. I use Manifold for some complex processing (when needed) and cGpsMapper for the compilation into Garmin img files. As far as data I usually try to use the best available...

 

I'll send you an email in the next few days....

 

Thanks,

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Here's a spreadsheet with the coords for each 100K quad in CA:

 

http://www.miscjunk.org/forum/ned/ca_quads.xls

 

I've only done 4 so far, so this is going to take me a while. Maybe if there are others interested in the California, we could split it up and get it done faster. I'll take the first 40 on the above list for now, so if anybody else is interested, post here which rows you are going to tackle.

 

--Marky

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Here's a spreadsheet with the coords for each 100K quad in CA:

 

http://www.miscjunk.org/forum/ned/ca_quads.xls

 

I've only done 4 so far, so this is going to take me a while. Maybe if there are others interested in the California, we could split it up and get it done faster. I'll take the first 40 on the above list for now, so if anybody else is interested, post here which rows you are going to tackle.

 

--Marky

Marky,

 

I would like to participate in getting CA data.

 

I have IndyJpr's spreadsheet, and have followed his instruction until:

 

Here you enter the coordinates for an area (remember that east and west values have to be negative) and click on the "Add Area" button.

 

I'm not sure what info needs to be put into the National Map Seamless Server.

 

So, for example, item 41 of the CA quads is Ivanpah. Where on the National Map Seamless Server should I put the data from B through G of the CA quads?

Edited by Barrikady
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I'm not sure what info needs to be put into the National Map Seamless Server.

 

So, for example, item 41 of the CA quads is Ivanpah. Where on the National Map Seamless Server should I put the data from B through G of the CA quads?

Hi Barrikady,

 

The data in columns B and C are not used - I should probably have hidden those columns. The data in columns D, E, F, and G are entered into the Lat/Lon boxes of the dialog:

 

Column D goes into the top box.

Column E (keep the negative sign) goes into the left box.

Column F (keep the negative sign) goes into the right box.

Column G goes into the bottom box.

 

Hope that helps,

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I'm not sure what info needs to be put into the National Map Seamless Server.

 

So, for example, item 41 of the CA quads is Ivanpah. Where on the National Map Seamless Server should I put the data from B through G of the CA quads?

Hi Barrikady,

 

The data in columns B and C are not used - I should probably have hidden those columns. The data in columns D, E, F, and G are entered into the Lat/Lon boxes of the dialog:

 

Column D goes into the top box.

Column E (keep the negative sign) goes into the left box.

Column F (keep the negative sign) goes into the right box.

Column G goes into the bottom box.

 

Hope that helps,

Yes, thank you, your instructions were helpful.

 

I am downloading my first quad. I would like to send you my first download so you can see if I have downloaded the data correctly. The first quad is about 45 mbs. I can put the file on my server and I can give you the URL to download the data, if that works for you.

 

.

Edited by Barrikady
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I would like to send you my first download so you can see if I have downloaded the data correctly. The first quad is about 45 mbs. I can put the file on my server and I can give you the URL to download the data, if that works for you.

Looks good. Here is a gradient representation of the raw data:

 

samp1.jpg

 

And here are 40ft contours generated from a portion of that data:

 

samp2.jpg

Edited by IndyJpr
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I would like to send you my first download so you can see if I have downloaded the data correctly. The first quad is about 45 mbs. I can put the file on my server and I can give you the URL to download the data, if that works for you.

Looks good. Here is a gradient representation of the raw data:

 

samp1.jpg

 

And here are 40ft contours generated from a portion of that data:

 

samp2.jpg

Nice!

 

I have done quads 41-44: IVANPAH, LAGUNA HARBOR, LAKE ALMANOR and LAKEPORT.

 

How do you suggest I send the quad data to you? My preference would be to burn the data to a CD or a DVD and mail the disk to you.

 

Attention California GPS'rs. There are 115 quads covering the state of California. It appears that each quad consists of 4 separate downloadable sections. If there were 5 or more people each downloading 20 quads we can quickly provide the data to IndyJpr who has graciously offered to convert the data to a 40' contour California topo map that can be used in a Garmin GPS. I can do 40 quads, but I would prefer to do 20. So I'm in for 41-61.

 

Anyone else ready to step up?

 

 

.

Edited by Barrikady
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I am trying but keep getting an error. I have tried using the coordinates from the spreadsheet posted earlier. I tried doing 50, Los Angeles.

 

Do we need to change anything on the options page? These are the options that can be changed. The default is the first selection in each of the below.

 

ArcGrid, geotiff, Bil or Gridfloat?

Zip or TGZ?

HTML, XML, or TXT?

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I am trying but keep getting an error. I have tried using the coordinates from the spreadsheet posted earlier. I tried doing 50, Los Angeles.

 

Do we need to change anything on the options page? These are the options that can be changed. The default is the first selection in each of the below.

Hi Superduty1,

 

No options need to be changed. At what point in the process do you get the error? What internet browser are you using?

 

Thanks,

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Using IE 7. I think I am getting the error b/c of Xp SP2. I think it has to go straight into the download rather than me "approving" it on the bar that pops up b/c of IE and SP2 security settings. I am trying to turn that off and see if it makes a difference?

Put the seamless base url into the server so it is allowed to do popups and everything else.

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Downloading NED (Elevation) Data

 

NED data can be downloaded from the National Map Seamless Server:

 

http://seamless.usgs.gov/website/seamless/viewer.htm

 

The viewer seems to work the best using IE, once the viewer starts up look at the right hand side:

 

*******

 

I cannot get IE to work on the site. I had to install FireFox to be able to download the data. What version of IE do you use?

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IndyJpr,

 

Montana!!!!! I can get you 20ft, 40ft, 80ft. Any contour interval sets you need for the ENTIRE state in nice and neat shapefile formats. Will ship on a DVD with POI's such as summits, valleys, basins, etc. I can also send NHD High Res streams and waterbodies. Anything else you need I can get in shapefile format. Just need to know where to send the data?

 

Also, for anyone in South Western Montana interested. I have public land owner maps for Flathead Lake south and from Idaho to Yellowstone. The maps are color coded by public land owner (state=pink, USFS=green, BLM=orange, Tribal=purple, Plumb Creek=Grey, Park Service/USFWS=dark green). The data is highly detailed and taken from the state cadastral layer. If you're a hunter and hunt in the southern or western portion of the state you'll be able to see every little inholding or strip of public land. The maps include roads, 100K topo information, NHD high res streams and waterbodies (including hi-res wetlands).

 

The Montana Landowner mapsets are a total of 24MB so far (I'm working my way North and East in the state). I don't know of any way to distribute the maps so if anyone has any ideas on how I can upload them to some sort of site where people could download it would be appreciated.

I don't know how to upload screenshots to this forum yet. Here are links to some examples

 

Missoula: http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/Missou...-full;init:.bmp

http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/Missou...-full;init:.bmp

 

Helena: http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/Helena...-full;init:.bmp

http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/Helena...-full;init:.bmp

 

Swan Valley: http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/NorthS...-full;init:.bmp

http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/Missio...-full;init:.bmp

 

Dillon Area: http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/ClarkC...-full;init:.bmp

http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/HorseP...-full;init:.bmp

http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/15toDi...-full;init:.bmp

 

Flathead Valley: http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/Flathe...-full;init:.bmp

http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/Ninepi...-full;init:.bmp

 

Coverage so far: http://lampropeltis.googlepages.com/ShowsC...-full;init:.bmp

Edited by yogazoo
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Well, I'm bummed, I thought everything was going fine, but my computer crashed, and when I went to look at the data I've downloaded so far, it looks like some of the downloads worked and others didn't. I don't have IE, since I'm on a Mac. FF seemed to be working, but I guess it really wasn't. Because the names seem to be random, I don't know which ones to do over, so my data is pretty much useless as far as I can tell. :lol:

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Well, I'm bummed, I thought everything was going fine, but my computer crashed, and when I went to look at the data I've downloaded so far, it looks like some of the downloads worked and others didn't. I don't have IE, since I'm on a Mac. FF seemed to be working, but I guess it really wasn't. Because the names seem to be random, I don't know which ones to do over, so my data is pretty much useless as far as I can tell. :lol:

Sorry to hear about your problems....but all is not lost! :lol:

 

If you open the zip file and look at the file "Metadata.xml" there is bounding information specified.

 

The file should be located in the following location:

 

\00821674\00821674\Metadata.xml (for a zip file named 00821674.zip)

 

If you look in the file and search for "bounding" you will see that it has the coordinates of that chunk of data.

 

Let me know if any of that doesn't make any sense...

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Montana!!!!! I can get you 20ft, 40ft, 80ft. Any contour interval sets you need for the ENTIRE state in nice and neat shapefile formats. Will ship on a DVD with POI's such as summits, valleys, basins, etc. I can also send NHD High Res streams and waterbodies. Anything else you need I can get in shapefile format. Just need to know where to send the data?

Cool! I'll take everything you want to send... I'll send you my mail address.

 

Thanks,

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....but all is not lost! :lol:

 

If you open the zip file and look at the file "Metadata.xml" there is bounding information specified.

 

The file should be located in the following location:

 

\00821674\00821674\Metadata.xml (for a zip file named 00821674.zip)

 

If you look in the file and search for "bounding" you will see that it has the coordinates of that chunk of data.

 

Let me know if any of that doesn't make any sense...

I'll see what I can do. I had done around 11 quads.

 

--Marky

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I cannot get IE to work on the site. I had to install FireFox to be able to download the data. What version of IE do you use?

It works for me on both of the following:

 

IE 6 on XP (w/ SP2)

IE 7 on Vista

 

It doesn't work for me in Opera...

 

I use IE 7 on XP. My understanding was IE 6 worked by not 7. I have not tried it for a while. What it would do is when you would go to the site, the CPU would go full speed and never stop. You had to turn off the power.

 

Are you aware of this site:

 

http://www.expertgps.com/data.asp

 

I am not sure if unregestered users can access it. It has a file that has all the POIs for the state. It is much easier than trying to get all the POI data from the USGS server-unless there is now some easy way to get it.

 

If you need help getting the files or how to use them, let me know.

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OK Here we go,

 

IndyJpr, I have processed the 1/3rd Arc Second DEM for the entire state of Montana and extracted the topo lines into three shapefiles. I have 40ft, 200ft, and 400ft intervals all parsed out and ready to ship to you on a DVD. I will gather the rest of the data today and burn the DVD tonight and get it in the mail by Monday. Again, I would like to thank you for even considering doing Montana and hope you can get to it soon.

 

Notes:

1) I am sending the NHD_waterbodies. As far as streams, it gets to be a bit too much info IMHO.

 

2) I am compiling the green "USFS" boundary polygons to include BLM, NPS, and State land. If you wanted to include a TYP file we could color code them but all the polygons could just show as green as far as I'm concerned. As long as they show public land who cares who owns it right? The data is hi-res taken from the states cadastral land ownership layer.

 

3) I am sending a POI file that includes everything the Mapsource products include as far as summits, ridges, towns, basins, etc.

 

PS: I hope this goes a long way in helping you cut down on total processing time. Hoping that this bumps Montana up on the short list of states to compile. :)

 

[Edited for typo's]

Edited by yogazoo
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Hi yogazoo,

 

Thank you for your help. I should be able to start on MT relatively soon, no promises on a completion date. It will be done in parallel with the CO update but I will need a week or so to get everything setup and moving on the CO work.

 

I am sending the NHD_waterbodies. As far as streams, it gets to be a bit too much info IMHO.

Do you have the flowline (streams) and area (rivers) datafiles? I know what you mean about the streams but I can adjust zoom levels to keep them from coming on too early. And the high res stream data seems to a highly desired item on these maps. If you wouldn't mind sending that data I'll see what I can do with the zoom levels...

 

Thanks again,

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Do you have the flowline (streams) and area (rivers) datafiles?

 

Sure thing! I will send the streams in a single shapefile for the entire state. I will also seperate wetlands from the waterbody shapefiles. This way we can add streams, waterbodies, and wetlands. We'll have some really nice hydro data show up on the GPS! Looks like I have some work to do this weekend. :)

 

Edited to add:

 

I do notice ALOT of Minnesota plates in the summer and during hunting season. I think your fellow Minnesotans will appreaciate having these maps for Montana available.

 

Also, how would you like the land ownership layer? Would you like it seperated into BLM, USFS, STATE, etc shapefiles or would it me better to merge all of the public land owners together?

 

Also what projection/datum would you like these files in?

Edited by yogazoo
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Also, how would you like the land ownership layer? Would you like it seperated into BLM, USFS, STATE, etc shapefiles or would it me better to merge all of the public land owners together?
No need to split apart and/or merge them as long as there is some attribute that indicates the "owner".

 

Also what projection/datum would you like these files in?
The work is done in Geo Lat/Lon (WGS84) but whatever the native projection/datum is for the data is fine, GM will convert as necessary when loading in the layers.

 

Thanks,

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