About the WEC GIS
Glossary Terms
The Wai‘anae Ecological Characterization (WEC) geographic information system (GIS) has been designed, formatted, and organized specifically to help the Wai‘anae community and their partners in their land and natural resource management efforts. Data for the WEC GIS were collected from local, state, and federal agencies, as well as from a number of non-profit organizations. Whenever appropriate, data layers were cut from island-wide or statewide datasets to show information for just the Wai‘anae community.
To provide data access to as many users as possible with different GIS desktop software applications, the data in the WEC GIS are presented in four formats: feature classes in personal geodatabases, shapefiles, raster datasets, and layer files. To see a listing of the individual data layers in the WEC GIS and information on how to access them, go to the Data Inventory.
Feature Classes in Personal Geodatabases
A personal geodatabase is a compact data storage framework that stores the location, shape, and attributes of geographic features in a relational database, in this case a Microsoft® Access database (files with the extension .mdb). Geodatabases can contain several individual layers, known as feature classes, which may or may not be arranged into feature datasets. Well-developed geodatabases provide an efficient structure for organizing, viewing, and manipulating many data layers. In order to import and view data from geodatabases, however, you must use ArcGIS™, the latest GIS software offered by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI®). There are six personal geodatabases in the WEC GIS that together contain over 100 feature classes. Note: ESRI ArcView™ software will not recognize this new data storage format.
Shapefiles
Shapefiles are vector data that store the location, shape, and attributes of geographic features in a set of files (files with the extensions .shp, .shx, and .dbf). Shapefiles can be utilized with either ArcGIS or ArcView software. There are over 100 shapefiles contained on the WEC GIS that represent the same spatial datasets found in the personal geodatabases. Note: if you have access to ArcGIS, it is best to utilize the geodatabase feature classes instead of the shapefiles due to their increased functionality, relationships to other datasets, and their editing utility.
Raster Datasets
Included in the WEC GIS are several datasets in raster format. These data are composed of individual cells arranged in rows and columns, with each cell assigned a certain value, and are used to display such things as elevation and imagery. Raster data are provided for both ArcGIS and ArcView users in separate directories within the WEC GIS, as raster datasets cannot be incorporated into personal geodatabases.
Layer Files
Layer files reference geographic data stored in another data source and define how to display it in ArcGIS software (note: layer files are not compatible with ArcView software). The map legend symbology for datasets are often saved as layer files (with the extension .lyr) so that they will be available for future use. Because layer files are just references to map symbology, they are always associated with a shapefile or with a feature class in a geodatabase. Layer files have been made for several of the WEC GIS datasets and can be found in their own directory within the WEC GIS.
Metadata
Metadata is provided for each of the personal geodatabase and shapefile data layers in the WEC GIS. Metadata for the geodatabase files and shapefiles in the WEC GIS can be previewed in HTML format from the Data Inventory page.
