When you first enter the Forest Inventory application, a statewide map is displayed. Townships across the state are colored either beige if they contain forest inventory data, or green if they do not. Use the zoom tool to zoom in to an area containing inventory data. When you are zoomed to an area about the size of a single township, forest inventory "polygons" will appear on the map. Using the info tool, click on an inventory polygon to open a window with detailed inventory information for that area.
Map Display Control
The geographic data "layers" to be displayed on the map can be turned on/off using the buttons and checkboxes in the map legend to the left of the map. Note that many layers can only be displayed when zoomed in on the map; the buttons for these layers are disabled any time you are zoomed out too far to display them. After turning layers on or off, click the "redraw map" link or pan/zoom on the map to put your changes into effect.
The layers are grouped into three categories:
- Forest Inventory - these layers provide different "views" (e.g., Age Class or Size Class) of the forest inventory dataset. Only one of these layers may be displayed at a time.
- Foreground - these layers (e.g., lakes and roads) are not specifically related to forest inventory; they are provided for general reference. Any number of these layers may be displayed simultaneously.
- Background - these are generally image layers that can be displayed as a backdrop for the Foreground and Forest Inventory layers. A notable exception is the Forest Inventory Data Index layer, which can be used as a guide to navigate to areas of the map that contain inventory data. Only one of these layers may be displayed at a time.