TechStaffUserManual.pdf

Objective-Based Vegetation Management Program Data Management System and Interpretation Tools

OBVM Technical Staff and Administrator’s Tools

Revised June 1, 2015

Prepared for The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission By URS Corporation 1625 Summit Lake Drive, Suite 200 Tallahassee, Florida 32317 c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc i

Table of Contents

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1-1

2. General Information ................................................................................................. 2-1

2.1 Security Roles ................................................................................................... 2-1

2.2 Committing Changes to the Database ............................................................... 2-2

3. Project Scheduling and Management....................................................................... 3-1

3.1 Uploading Management Activity Data ............................................................. 3-1

3.2 Scheduling Projects Using the Community 2012 Methodology ....................... 3-2

3.2.1.1 Outline of Processing Steps to Create Sample Areas Layer for

Community 2012 Sampling ................................................................................. 3-5

3.2.1.2 Determining Sample Areas ................................................................. 3-7

3.2.1.3 Grid Generation .................................................................................. 3-7

3.2.1.4 Sample Point Selection ....................................................................... 3-8

3.3 Reviewing Management Unit Activity and Scheduling Projects ...................... 3-8

3.3.1 Sample Evaluation Functions .................................................................. 3-12

3.3.2 Creating Sampling Projects...................................................................... 3-13

3.3.3 Target Sample Point Generation .............................................................. 3-13

3.3.3.1 Outline of Processing Steps to Create Sample Areas Layer ............. 3-14

3.3.3.2 Determining Sample Areas ............................................................... 3-17

3.3.3.3 Grid Generation ................................................................................ 3-19

3.3.3.4 Sample Point Selection ..................................................................... 3-20

3.3.3.5 Community Level Sample Point Selection ....................................... 3-20

3.4 Edit Project Setup ............................................................................................ 3-21

3.4.1 Editing Batch Stages ................................................................................ 3-21

3.4.2 Assigning Users to Projects ..................................................................... 3-22

3.4.3 Editing Target Stations ............................................................................ 3-22

4. Project Data Management ........................................................................................ 4-1

4.1 Running Validation ........................................................................................... 4-1

4.2 Validation Results ............................................................................................. 4-2

4.3 Exporting Vegetation Monitoring Data............................................................. 4-3

4.3.1 Exporting Vegetation Monitoring Data using the Customizable Export ... 4-4

4.3.1.1 Using the Export OBVM Data Dialog ............................................... 4-5

4.3.2 Exporting Vegetation Monitoring Data using the Quick Export ............... 4-8

4.4 Deleting Uploaded Data .................................................................................... 4-9

5. Data Summarization................................................................................................. 5-1

5.1 Editing Summarization Statements ................................................................... 5-1

5.2 Running Summarizations .................................................................................. 5-3

5.3 Editing Desired Future Conditions .................................................................... 5-4 c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc ii

6. Database Configuration ........................................................................................... 6-1

6.1 Attributes ........................................................................................................... 6-1

6.2 Validation Rules ................................................................................................ 6-2

6.2.1 Validation of Multiple Attributes............................................................... 6-5

6.2.2 Custom Validation Rules ........................................................................... 6-6

6.2.3 Deleting or Disabling Validation Rules ..................................................... 6-7

6.3 Attribute Classes ............................................................................................... 6-7

6.4 Lookup Tables ................................................................................................... 6-8

6.5 Required Attributes Matrix ............................................................................... 6-8

7. User Account Maintenance ...................................................................................... 7-1 c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc iii

Figures

Figure 2-1: Committing Changes.................................................................................... 2-2

Figure 3-1: Uploading Management Activity Data ........................................................ 3-1

Figure 3-2: Manage Projects Tab Overview ................................................................... 3-2

Figure 3-3: Project Scheduling ....................................................................................... 3-3

Figure 3-4: Community Type and Number of Stations .................................................. 3-4

Figure 3-5: Adding a Community Type.......................................................................... 3-4

Figure 3-6: Community Type and Management Unit Selection ..................................... 3-5

Figure 3-7: Sample Areas Input Layers .......................................................................... 3-6

Figure 3-8: Sample Areas--Input Layers Intersected ...................................................... 3-7

Figure 3-9: Manage Projects Tab Overview ................................................................... 3-9

Figure 3-10: Project Scheduling ................................................................................... 3-10

Figure 3-11: Management Unit Sampling Flowchart ................................................... 3-13

Figure 3-12: Sample Areas Input Layers ...................................................................... 3-15

Figure 3-13: Sample Areas--Input Layers Intersected .................................................. 3-16

Figure 3-14: Management Unit Sample Areas ............................................................. 3-17

Figure 3-15: Unsampled Community Type “B” Areas................................................. 3-18

Figure 3-16: Unsampled Community Type "C" polygons ........................................... 3-19

Figure 3-17: Project Setup ............................................................................................ 3-21

Figure 3-18: Assigning Users to Projects ..................................................................... 3-22

Figure 3-19: Editing Target Stations ............................................................................. 3-23

Figure 3-20: Station Errors ........................................................................................... 3-24

Figure 3-21: Warnings in Target Stations ..................................................................... 3-26

Figure 4-1: Run Validation ............................................................................................. 4-1

Figure 4-2: Validation Results ........................................................................................ 4-2

Figure 4-3: Export Monitoring Data ............................................................................... 4-4

Figure 4-4: Export OBVM Data Dialog ......................................................................... 4-5

Figure 4-5: Save Field Set/Order Dialog ........................................................................ 4-7

Figure 4-6: Data Export Progress Dialog........................................................................ 4-8

Figure 4-7: Delete Upload Batches ............................................................................... 4-10

Figure 5-1: Edit Summarizations .................................................................................... 5-1

Figure 5-2: Run Summarizations .................................................................................... 5-3

Figure 5-3: Manage DFCs .............................................................................................. 5-4

Figure 6-1: Edit Attributes .............................................................................................. 6-1

Figure 6-2: Edit Validation Rules ................................................................................... 6-3

Figure 6-3: Range Validation Rule ................................................................................. 6-5

Figure 6-4: Custom Validation Rule ............................................................................... 6-6

Figure 6-5: Edit Attribute Classes................................................................................... 6-7

Figure 6-6: Editing Lookup Tables ................................................................................. 6-8

Figure 6-7: Required Attributes Matrix ........................................................................... 6-9

Figure 7-1: Maintaining User Accounts .......................................................................... 7-1

Figure 7-2: Assigning Users to Projects .......................................................................... 7-2

Section 1: Introduction c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 1-1

1. Introduction

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has contracted with

URS Corporation Southern to design and develop a system to support the management of data associated with an objective-based vegetation management (OBVM) approach to resource management on FWC lands. This data management system contains information on vegetation monitoring data, provides statistical summarization of these data, and compares this information with defined management objectives, in order to provide FWC Area Managers with data to support management decisions, to assess the conditions of plant communities, and to assess the effectiveness of land management activities on the plant community structure.

The OBVM Technical Staff and Administrator’s Tools application provides FWC staff with the ability to maintain the OBVM database, including:

• Maintaining vegetation monitoring attributes and data summarizations

• Scheduling projects and generating random target sampling station points

• User administration

• Maintaining lookup tables

• Importing and exporting data

The application uses ArcObjects code to enable certain GIS-specific functions, such as importing and exporting vegetation monitoring data. It requires that ArcView, ArcGIS

Desktop, or ArcEngine (versions 10.2 or 10.3) be installed on the user’s PC. If one of these is not installed, or a connection to a valid license manager cannot be made, the application will run in a limited fashion, lacking the ability to generate, import and export target stations and export vegetation monitoring data.

Originally envisioned as two separate applications, for simplicity of installation the functions geared for technical staff and administrators were combined into a single application, as many of the targeted users would have both roles. Individual functions of the application are controlled by user roles, so that users with a specific need can be granted the ability to only use that particular function of the application that meets that need.

Section 2: General Information c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 2-1

2. General Information

2.1 Security Roles

The application is presented in a tabbed interface, with functions organized by category.

The use of the application requires that a user log onto the system using a valid username and password, which are stored in the OBVM_USER table. Users are assigned roles that enable certain functions within this application. See Section 7 for more information on user roles and the assignment of those roles to users. Depending on the roles assigned to your account, some of the tabs may not be displayed.

The privileges that apply to this application are:

• Clear warning and error messages recorded during automated data validation: Enables the option to clear errors and warnings on the Validation

Results tab

• Clear warning messages recorded during automated data validation: Enables the option to clear warnings (but not errors)

• Create or edit user accounts and roles: Enables the User Accounts tab

• Edit attributes, validation rules, and data summarization functions: Enables the Database Configuration sub-tabs for editing Attributes and Validation rules, and the Edit Summarizations sub-tab of the Summarization tab

• Create or modify data upload projects: Enables the Projects and Activities tab

• Modify desired future conditions and the required attribute tables: Enables the Manage DFCs tab and Required Attributes Matrix tab

• Run data summarization: Enables the Run Summarization tab

• Run data validation: Enables the Run Validation tab

• Delete batches of vegetation monitoring data: Enables the Delete Data tab, with functions to delete uploaded data batches and/or upload records

In addition, there are two other privileges that may be assigned to users of the OBVM

Website to allow for the upload of vegetation monitoring data and associated audit data.

On many tabs, there is a second tier of tabs (sub-tabs) used to further organize the functions of the application. Select the primary category of functionality from the main

(top) tab, and the secondary category from the sub-tab, if displayed.

Section 2: General Information c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 2-2

2.2 Committing Changes to the Database

Figure 2-1: Committing Changes

With the exception of running data summarization (the actual running of summarizations, not editing summarization statements) and running data validation, you are working with a local copy of the database when making changes to the system configuration using this application. Only when you commit changes (by selecting Commit Changes from the

File menu, as shown on Figure 2-1) are your changes to the database configuration saved to the database. If you do not wish to commit your changes, you can exit the application without committing your changes.

Section 3: Project Scheduling and Management c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-1

3. Project Scheduling and Management

The application provides technical staff with the ability to review management activity stored in the central database (uploaded from transfer files exported from the local management activity geodatabase files associated with the Area

Managers’ Tools application), along with the history of OBVM sampling to automatically schedule vegetation monitoring projects, and generate sample stations.

The Project and Activities tab contains two sub-tabs, the Upload Management

Activity Data tab and the Manage Projects tab. These are described in the following sections.

3.1 Uploading Management Activity Data

NOTE: While this function is still available in the Tech Staff Module, it has been replaced by the LMIS Sync Service, which allows users of the Area Managers

Tools to directly synchronize their local geodatabase with the central database.

Because management activities are a key element in determining when and whether sampling should be conducted, the tools for uploading management activities from transfer files are placed on a sub-tab under the Projects and

Activities tab, as shown on Figure 3-1.

This screen provides a simple interface for uploading management activity data from transfer files (an XML-format file created by the Area Manager Tool) to the central OBVM database.

Figure 3-1: Uploading Management Activity Data c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-2

To upload management activity data, click the Upload button. A file dialog will be displayed. Browse to the folder containing the transfer file (or files, since multiple files can be selected at once) and click “Open.” The screen will display a running report of the upload process and any debugging information related to problems encountered during the upload.

3.2 Scheduling Projects Using the Community 2012 Methodology

To access this functionality, select the Projects and Activities tab, then the

Manage Project sub-tab, as shown on Figure 3-2.

Figure 3-2: Manage Projects Tab Overview

The “Community 2012” project and sample point generation method was introduced in 2012, and formally incorporated into the Tech Staff Module in

2014, and improved in 2015. This method differs from the original method primarily by the way it determines where sample points can be generated. For

Management Unit level sampling under the original method, only the actively managed community type of a management unit was eligible for sample point generation. Other community types within the management unit were not sampled. Under the new method, samples can be generated in any part of a management unit, depending on the options selected when setting up a project.

The Manage Projects sub-tab is organized into a tree-view on the left side of the screen, which displays the vegetation monitoring projects and FWC areas

(Wildlife Management Areas [WMAs] and Wildlife and Environmental Areas c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-3

[WEAs]), organized by region. Below the tree-view is the Project Filter pane, which allows you to filter projects based on project status. Only those projects with one of the statuses checked on this pane will appear in the tree-view. Based on your selection of nodes in the tree-view pane, different information will appear on the right side of the screen. If you select a region, nothing is displayed; if you select an FWC area, tools for editing management unit attributes and scheduling new projects are displayed. If you select a project, details about the project are displayed.

When you select an FWC area node from the options for generating a project is displayed, as shown on Figure 3-3.

Figure 3-3: Project Scheduling

On this screen, you only need to select an FWC Area from the tree-view, select the Community 2012 radio button and click the Generate button. (The remaining options on the screen only pertain to the original method, described in Section

3.3.)

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When you click the Generate button, the Generating Target Stations screen will appear in a new window (Figure 3-4).

Figure 3-4: Community Type and Number of Stations

On this screen, you will indicate which community types will be sampled during the project and the number of stations to generate within each community type.

To add a community type to the list, click the drop-down arrow in the Community

Type column of the bottom-most row of the table, select the target community type from the drop-down list, and enter the number of stations (Figure 3-5).

Figure 3-5: Adding a Community Type

To remove a community type, click the arrow on the row header of the row to be removed, and hit the Delete key on your keyboard.

When you are finished selecting the communities to be sampled, click the Next button to display the next screen of the wizard (Figure 3-6).

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Figure 3-6: Community Type and Management Unit Selection

This screen of the wizard displays a combination of all of the community types and management units found within the FWC area. The checkboxes shown in the

Sample column allow you to remove selected management units, or only certain communities within selected management units, from sampling. For example, if you need to exclude all of Management Unit 4 from sampling, you can highlight a cell containing 4 in the Management Unit column, and click the Uncheck All button. If you want to just exclude the Mesic Hammock community within

Management Unit 4, you can just click the checkbox in the Sample column for

Mesic Hammock / Management Unit 4.

When you have finished making your selection on this screen, click the Next button. A summary confirmation dialog will appear. Click the OK button to continue.

The tool will then create your project and generate stations.

3.2.1.1 Outline of Processing Steps to Create Sample Areas Layer for Community 2012 Sampling

The following outlines the processing steps to create the sample areas layer.

1. Intersect the management unit layer with natural communities layer

2. Optional: create a layer of areas inappropriate for sampling:

a. Union whatever layers are available that can define areas not to be sampled, such as buffer of roads, bare ground, etc.

b. Add an UNSAMPLEABLE Boolean field to layer

c. Calculate UNSAMPLEABLE = true for all records in layer

d. Union layer created in step a with layer created in step b

e. Delete features from union output where UNSAMPLEABLE = true

3. Extraneous fields can be deleted, but at a minimum, the following fields must be maintained:

• MANAGEMENT_UNIT_ID

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• FWC_AREA_ID (to filter community polygons by area)

• FNAI_COMMUNITY_TYPE_ID (from the original community layer, this represents the natural community type for the polygon)

Figure 3-12 provides a simplified example of how this layer is structured. There are four management units depicted (yellow-bordered, numbered rectangles), intersected with differently shaded community types (A-D), and an

“unsampleable” area (red cross-hatched area).

Figure 3-7: Sample Areas Input Layers c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-7

When intersected, the individual management unit and community polygons of the source layers are split, and each carries the information from the source layers, so that each polygon has a record of the management unit and the actual natural community, as shown in Figure 3-13.

Figure 3-8: Sample Areas--Input Layers Intersected

3.2.1.2 Determining Sample Areas

The system uses this information to generate sample points as follows: assuming that sampling is scheduled for management units 1 and 4 and communities B and

C, points will be generated in the polygons labelled 1-B, 1-C, 4-B and 4-C.

3.2.1.3 Grid Generation

The system calculates an origin point for the hexagonal sampling grid from the lower left corner of an envelope (rectangle representing the full extent of the area) of the FWC area. From the lower left (southwest) corner of this envelope, the grid origin point is moved up and right (northeast) a random distance between 0 and 20 meters in each direction.

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For each area in the Sample Areas layer associated with the management unit/community type combination to be sampled (it loops through each management unit/community polygon in the sample areas layer independently), the system traverses along a hexagonal, 20-meter grid to the first point within the envelope that surrounds the polygon. From this point, the next point is placed 20 meters away at a bearing of 30 degrees, then another 20 meters away at 330 degrees from that point. It continues this way, alternating back and forth, zigzagging “up” (north) as long as the latitude of the point remains less than the latitude of the northern boundary of the envelope of the current polygon, and records a column of potential sample points. Once the column is complete, the next column is generated, starting from the origin, moving east along the grid 20 meters from the first grid point recorded for the previous column. The system continues recording columns of points until the eastern boundary of the envelope is reached. The grid now covers the entire envelope of the sample area being processed. From these columns of points, only points that intersect the actual sample area being processed are selected.

This process is repeated for each sample area polygon tagged with the management unit ID and community type being, until a full grid of potential sample points for the management unit are created.

3.2.1.4 Sample Point Selection

From the full list of potential sample points, the target number of points per community type (selected on the first screen of the wizard) are randomly selected, using the S-Draw application from Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc.

(http://www.west-inc.com/computer.php) to randomly select points using the

Generalized Random Tessellation Stratified (GRTS) method. This application is included with the Technical Staff Tools application, and is run automatically.

Refer to Section 3.4 for the next steps in setting up a project. You can skip

Section 3.3 if you are using the new sample point generation method.

3.3 Reviewing Management Unit Activity and Scheduling Projects

Note: this section is applicable to the “Targeted Monitoring” method of sampling used when OBVM first rolled out. In 2012, a new project and sample-point generation routine was introduced, which we refer to here as “Community 2012”.

Refer to Section 3.2 for more information.

To access this functionality, select the Projects and Activities tab, then the

Manage Project sub-tab, as shown on Figure 3-9.

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Figure 3-9: Manage Projects Tab Overview

The Manage Projects sub-tab is organized into a tree-view on the left side of the screen, which displays the vegetation monitoring projects and FWC areas

(Wildlife Management Areas [WMAs] and Wildlife and Environmental Areas

[WEAs]), organized by region. Below the tree-view is the Project Filter pane, which allows you to filter projects based on project status. Only those projects with one of the statuses checked on this pane will appear in the tree-view. Based on your selection of nodes in the tree-view pane, different information will appear on the right side of the screen. If you select a region, nothing is displayed; if you select an FWC area, tools for editing management unit attributes and scheduling new projects are displayed. If you select a project, details about the project are displayed.

When you select an FWC area node from the tree-view pane, the management activities and sampling history are displayed, summarized by management unit, as shown on Figure 3-10.

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Figure 3-10: Project Scheduling

Displayed in the table of management units are:

• MngUnit: shows the locally unique identifier of a management unit, also referred to as the OBVM ID.

• Community: shows and allows you to edit the actively managed community type of the unit. Note: changes made to the actively managed community type will affect any DFCs or target stations associated with the management unit. If you change the community type, any custom

DFCs established for the management unit will be replaced by the template DFCs for the new community type established for the

WMA/WEA, and the target community type for active or upcoming

MngUnit-level sampling will be updated to match the new community type. Data for target stations already downloaded by contractors, and for geodatabases created by this application, will have to be manually updated to reflect the new community type.

• OBVM: tracks whether the management unit is part of the OBVM system.

• Monitored: tracks whether the unit is to be monitored for the need for

OBVM sampling.

• Sample: indicates whether the management unit is to be sampled for projects to be scheduled. This will be set automatically by the system, or may be checked directly. If checked, management-unit-level sample c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-11 points will be created for the management unit represented by the row in the table.

• Should Sample: set by the Evaluation function, described below, this read-only field displays a check for management units the system has determined will be ready for sampling by the target date.

• Last Activity: shows the date of the most recent activity recorded in the database for the management unit (with the sample flag set to “Y” for the activity). You can also edit this value directly, should the management activity database not be complete or up-to-date for a given area or specific management unit.

• Last Activity Type: shows the type of the most recent activity recorded in the database. You can also edit this value directly, should the management activity database not be complete or up-to-date for a given area or specific management unit.

• Last Sample: shows the date of the most recent OBVM management unit-level sample recorded for the management unit. You can also edit this value directly, should the OBVM sample database be incomplete for the given area or specific management unit.

• Next Sample (Projected), shows the projected date for the next sample event for the management unit, set by the evaluation function, described below.

Above the table of management units are controls for entering other information that assist the system in evaluating when sampling should occur:

• Target Date: stores date by which you plan to evaluate when sampling should occur, such as the end of the next year’s sampling season.

Management activity and past sampling dates are compared to this date to determine if the appropriate amount of time has passed for sampling to occur. If the “Next Sample (Projected)” date, calculated by the system, is earlier than the target date, then the system will set the Should Sample flag, alerting you that sampling should be conducted in that management unit.

• OBVM Start Date: stores the date the FWC Area entered the OBVM sampling process, and is used to calculate when community level sampling is to be done.

• Sample Communities checkbox: flags whether or not to sample communities in the next sampling event. This is automatically set by the evaluation function based on the target date and OBVM start date values.

You may edit this value directly to override the automatic evaluation.

• Generate Separately checkbox: allows you to control whether two projects within a single project group should be created (one for management unit sampling and one for community sampling), or a single project containing both management unit and community sampling. This is described in more detail below.

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• Reset Table button: undoes any changes you have made to the data table and re-evaluates the sampling plan based on data already in the database.

• Generate button: generates a project (or projects) for sampling management units and/or communities, creating the project records and random sampling points.

3.3.1 Sample Evaluation Functions

When you first click on and FWC Area in the tree view, the system will automatically evaluate whether sampling should be conducted for each of the management units in the selected FWC area. This evaluation is also done on individual management units whenever you edit the Last Activity, Last Activity

Type or Last Sample columns. The application compares the most recent activity and sample dates (using only activities flagged for sampling by the person entering the activity via the Area Manager Tool, or alternatively the values entered by you directly in the Last Activity and Last Activity Type columns) and the OBVM start date to the target date, and flag management units for sampling.

Management units that meet the evaluation criteria for sampling by the target date will display a check in the Should Sample and Sample flag columns. If it is the first year of OBVM monitoring, or the fifth, tenth, and so on, then the Sample

Communities checkbox will be checked. You can override the evaluation by checking or un-checking these checkboxes as appropriate (the Should Sample checkbox is read-only, but is not used by the system when generating sample points—it is only there as an indication to you if the system has determined that sampling should be conducted within the management unit).

The logic used by the function to determine when management unit sampling is to be conducted is outlined in Figure 3-11. The “sufficient time since last activity” determination is done by comparing the last activity date to the target date, and checking against the INITIAL_SAMPLING_PERIOD value stored in the

SAMPLE_RULE_MANAGEMENT_UNIT table. If the number of months between the last activity date is greater than the value stored in the table, then sufficient time has passed. If no activity has been recorded for the management unit since the last sample, then the REPEAT_SAMPLING_PERIOD value is used, and the target date is compared to the most recent sample date for the management unit.

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Figure 3-11: Management Unit Sampling Flowchart

3.3.2 Creating Sampling Projects

When you are satisfied that the sampling plan is correct, click the Generate button. This will generate one or two projects for the area, depending on whether both management unit-level and community-level sampling are chosen, and whether you have checked the Generate Separately checkbox. If both levels of sampling are to be conducted, and by the same contractor, leave the Generate

Separately checkbox unchecked to generate one project with both community and management unit sample stations. If different contactors or agencies will be conducting the sampling, check the Generate Separately checkbox, and two projects will be generated, both in the same project group. This will allow for the independent upload and validation of the different levels of data by the contractors. If only the community level or management unit level is being sampled, the system will ignore the Generate Separately checkbox setting, as only one project will be created.

3.3.3 Target Sample Point Generation

The system generates management-unit-level sample stations for the management units indicated with a check in the Sample flag column. If community-level samples are to be created, they will be created in the actively managed communities of the FWC area.

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The system determines where to place points by examining spatial layers stored in a personal geodatabase stored in the application installation directory

(SampleAreas.mdb, layers FWC_AREA and SAMPLE_AREAS). The

FWC_AREA layer stores individual polygons that represent FWC WMAs and

WEAs, and is used primarily to generate the grid origin point for the generation of sample points within an FWC area. SAMPLE_AREAS is an intersection of the management unit and natural community layers, and includes the management unit id, actively managed community type, and natural community for each polygon. The application uses this information to determine where and how many points to place in a management unit or community, and to calculate how many (if any) management unit points to convert to community points. The layer can be edited to remove areas inappropriate for sampling (bare ground or buffers around roads, for example). This is a relatively static layer, which needs to be updated only as new information on community extents becomes available (or other changes on the ground necessitating update of the layer). It does not contain information on treatments, which are stored in the OBVM database tables.

3.3.3.1 Outline of Processing Steps to Create Sample Areas Layer

The following outlines the processing steps to create the sample areas layer.

4. Intersect the management unit layer with natural communities layer

5. Optional: create a layer of areas inappropriate for sampling:

a. Union whatever layers are available that can define areas not to be sampled, such as buffer of roads, bare ground, etc.

b. Add an UNSAMPLEABLE Boolean field to layer

c. Calculate UNSAMPLEABLE = true for all records in layer

d. Union layer created in step a with layer created in step b

e. Delete features from union output where UNSAMPLEABLE = true

6. Extraneous fields can be deleted, but at a minimum, the following fields must be maintained:

• MANAGEMENT_UNIT_ID

• MNG_COMMUNITY_TYPE_ID (renamed from

COMMUNITY_TYPE_ID from the original management unit layer, this represents the actively managed community for the management unit)

• FWC_AREA_ID (to filter community polygons by area)

• FNAI_COMMUNITY_TYPE_ID (from the original community layer, this represents the natural community type for the polygon) c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-15

Figure 3-12 provides a simplified example of how this layer is structured. There are four management units depicted (yellow-bordered, numbered rectangles), intersected with differently shaded community types (A-D), and an

“unsampleable” area (red cross-hatched area).

Figure 3-12: Sample Areas Input Layers c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-16

When intersected, the individual management unit and community polygons of the source layers are split, and each carries the information from the source layers, so that each polygon has a record of the management unit and actively managed community type represented (at least partially) by the polygon, along with the actual natural community of the polygon, as shown in Figure 3-13.

Figure 3-13: Sample Areas--Input Layers Intersected c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-17

3.3.3.2 Determining Sample Areas

The system uses this information to generate sample points as follows: assuming that management unit sampling is scheduled for areas 1 and 4, that areas 1 and 2 have an actively managed community type of “B,” and that areas 3 and 4 have actively managed communities of “C,” there are two areas suitable for sampling at the management unit level, areas 1-B and 4-C, shown highlighted in Figure

3-14.

Figure 3-14: Management Unit Sample Areas

At the community level, assuming that only community types “B” and “C” are actively managed communities in our hypothetical FWC Area, the unsampled areas for community type “B” are 2-B, 3-B and 4-B (1-B is already targeted for sampling at the management unit level); and the unsampled areas for “C” are the two “3-C” areas (excluding the “unsampleable” red-crosshatched area), 1-C and

2-C. Area 4-C is not included as it is already targeted at the management unit level. Area 1-C is included, even though it is part of the sampled management unit 1, because it will not be sampled at the management unit level because the c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-18 target community type for management unit 1 is “B.” The areas in which stations will be created for community type “B” sampling are shown highlighted in Figure

3-15.

Figure 3-15: Unsampled Community Type “B” Areas

Assuming that the sum of the area of these features is 1,212 acres, and that the sum of all of the features representing community type “B” is 1,950 acres, and that 60 points are targeted for community-level sampling of community type “B,” then 37 community level points (62.2% of the total) will be randomly selected from a grid of points in the highlighted areas, and the remaining 23 will be re-selected from the management unit points already generated in area 1-B.

c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-19

For community type “C,” assuming that the sum of the area for these areas is 978 acres, and that the sum of all of the areas tagged with community type “C” is

1,492 acres, and that 50 points are targeted for community-level sampling of community type “C,” then 32 community-level points (65.5% of the total) will be randomly selected from a grid of points in the highlighted polygons shown in

Figure 3-16, and the remaining 18 will be re-selected from the management unit points already generated in area 4-C.

Figure 3-16: Unsampled Community Type "C" polygons

3.3.3.3 Grid Generation

The system calculates an origin point for the hexagonal sampling grid from the lower left corner of an envelope (rectangle representing the full extent of the area) of the FWC area. From the lower left (southwest) corner of this envelope, the grid origin point is moved up and right (northeast) a random distance between 0 and 20 meters in each direction.

For each area in the Sample Areas layer associated with the management unit to be sampled (it loops through each management unit/community polygon in the c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-20 sample areas layer independently), the system traverses along a hexagonal, 20-meter grid to the first point within the envelope that surrounds the polygon. From this point, the next point is placed 20 meters away at a bearing of 30 degrees, then another 20 meters away at 330 degrees from that point. It continues this way, alternating back and forth, zigzagging “up” (north) as long as the latitude of the point remains less than the latitude of the northern boundary of the envelope of the current polygon, and records a column of potential sample points. Once the column is complete, the next column is generated, starting from the origin, moving east along the grid 20 meters from the first grid point recorded for the previous column. The system continues recording columns of points until the eastern boundary of the envelope is reached. The grid now covers the entire envelope of the sample area being processed. From these columns of points, only points that intersect the actual sample area being processed are selected.

This process is repeated for each sample area polygon tagged with the management unit ID being processed (further limited by only those where the actively managed community equals the natural community id), until a full grid of potential sample points for the management unit are created.

3.3.3.4 Sample Point Selection

From the full list of potential sample points, 30 points are randomly selected (a configurable amount, stored in the MANAGEMENT_UNIT table), using the S-

Draw application from Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc. (http://www.west-inc.com/computer.php) to randomly select points using the Generalized Random

Tessellation Stratified (GRTS) method. This application is included with the

Technical Staff Tools application, and is run automatically.

3.3.3.5 Community Level Sample Point Selection

If community-level sampling is to be performed, the system loops through each actively managed community type listed for the WMA to generate 30 to 70 points

(a figure that varies by community and WMA, stored in the

ACTIVELY_MANAGED_COMMUNITY table). A percentage of these points are randomly placed in unsampled areas (communities in management units not targeted for management unit sampling, and non-matching communities in

Management units targeted for sampling), and the remaining are randomly chosen from the already generated management unit-level sample points in management units with a matching community type. The percentage is based on the ratio of the area of that community not already targeted for sampling at the management unit level to the total area of that community within the FWC area.

To get the “unsampled” area, those polygons which are already targeted for sampling at the management unit level are removed from the selection set of that layer. The ratio of unsampled area to total area for the community is then multiplied by the target total number of community points, and the resulting number is the number of new points to be generated, randomly selected from the overall grid in “unsampled” areas (using the same process as in randomly selecting points for management unit sampling). The remaining points are c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-21 randomly selected from the already generated management unit points for that community type.

3.4 Edit Project Setup

Once a project has been created by either method, you can finalize or change the project setup by clicking on the project node in the tree-view pane. In the example shown on Figure 3-17, the Triple N Ranch Community-level node was selected. This displays the project details, including the project group (used when summarizing data to merge multiple projects into a single group), the projected start date, a description of the project, the project status (active, upcoming or completed), the sample levels to be included in the project (used if sample points need to be regenerated), the batch stages of the project (used to categorize interim data uploads and ensure the appropriate number of samples are included in the upload), the users associated with the project (controlling who has access to upload data for the project and view validation results for project uploads), and the generated target stations.

Figure 3-17: Project Setup

3.4.1 Editing Batch Stages

A batch stage represents a target for interim uploads of data. When a project is created, a pre-configured set of batch stages are created, but you can edit these as appropriate. For each batch stage, give a description of the stage (such as “initial” c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-22 or “final”), the percentage required (used to calculate the number of stations the upload system is expecting for a batch of data associated with the batch stage), whether the batch will contain audit data collected by FWC staff for QA/QC purposes, and the display order.

3.4.2 Assigning Users to Projects

To associate users with the project, select the Users tab from the project screen, as shown on Figure 3-18. Place a check box next to each user who will be allowed to upload data for the project.

Figure 3-18: Assigning Users to Projects

3.4.3 Editing Target Stations

The automatically generated target stations can be viewed and edited using the

Stations tab on the project screen, as shown on Figure 3-19. Direct editing and deleting of stations is allowed on this form, which also includes functions to export and import target stations from personal geodatabase layers or shapefile.

Note that if the station contains data or validation results, the station cannot be deleted or edited.

c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-23

Figure 3-19: Editing Target Stations

Stations imported from shapefile or personal geodatabase feature classes must represent points within the FWC area, and can be in any defined coordinate system. The coordinates of points in the layer are used. Lat/Long fields, if present, are ignored. The Latitude and Longitude shown in the table are derived from the input points.

If the project contains both management unit and community points (Sample

Level field is set to “Both”), a TGT_SAMPLE_LEVEL or SampLevel field must be present, containing values of MngUnit or Community.

If the layer contains a STATION_ID column, and the value in the column for a given row matches to a station associated with the current project, the station data

(coordinate, sample level) will be overwritten for that project. If there are data or validation results associated with the station, the station parameters cannot be changed, and a new station is created. If the station ID field is missing, null, or is for a point associated with another project, a new station is created with a new ID.

For this reason, care must be taken when importing to ensure that duplicate points are not created.

The management units and community type for each imported station are looked up automatically by intersection with the Sample Areas layer, and are ignored if contained in the import file. When importing MngUnit-level stations, the actively managed community type is used, and an error may be raised if the point c:\users\bill_beers\documents\visual studio projects\techstaffmodule\techstaffmodule\usermanual.doc 3-24 intersects a non-actively managed portion of the management unit. This is determined by checking the value stored for the ACTIVELY_MANAGED

(Sampleable) field in the Sample Areas layer. When importing Community-level stations, the mapped community type is used.

If any problems are…