1. Tour Oregon Explorer: A State-of-the-Art Digital Library
Good morning. My name is Kuuipo Walsh and I am a faculty research assistant with the Institute for Natural Resources (or INR). Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you about Oregon Explorer, a program that I am very proud to be a part of. Oregon Explorer is a collaborative effort between OSU Libraries and INR. Additional partners assist in maintaining individual portals on an ongoing basis.
OSU Libraries In-Service Day
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Kuuipo Walsh
Oregon Explorer

2. What is the Oregon Explorer?
Digital Library
Central access to information about Oregon’s natural resources
Information
Documents, Maps, Images, Tables
Stories: who, what, why
Provides access to this information in ways you cannot find anywhere else
Digital Library: As part of OSU Libraries, Oregon Explorer serves as a long term resource. It will not go away and it will always be maintained.
Since OSU Libraries is a leader in the effort to develop digital collections relating to natural resources, Oregon Explorer is a natural “go to” place if you are interested in a particular natural resources topic. OE along with our partners have brought the information together for you.
Not only provide images, documents, maps: provides stories to promote knowledge and understanding of various complex natural resources issues.
Get access to this information in interactive, place-based, visual ways that is unique to OE.

3. Oregon Explorer portals
Current Portals
New Portals
Over time, a series of geographic, data, and topic-based Web portals have been developed in response to the need for access to integrated and balanced information around important Oregon natural resource issues. Oregon Explorer helps users to quickly find, retrieve, integrate and synthesize well-organized information. The portals provide access to maps, charts, tables, data collections, photos, videos, reports and publications in highly interactive and visually engaging formats
Launched: June 2010

4. Most Popular Oregon Explorer Features Accessed and Usage
GIS Mapping Tools
Multi-media Stories
Visualization & Reporting Tools
Imagery
Archived Documents
Spatial Data
Ave. # Visitor Sessions/day : 677
Total # of sessions since 6/07: 796K
On average we get over 600 visits or hits per day. Almost 800 thousand hits since launching Oregon Explorer about three years ago. Our most popular features include our GIS mapping tools, our visually engaging multi-media stories, our reporting tools.
Note: Basin portal and Oregon Spatial Data Library usage tracked separately

5. Who can use Oregon Explorer?
Librarians
Educators
Students
Scientists
Researchers
Media staff
Citizen volunteers
Landowners
Interested public
Natural resource decision-makers
Public agencies
Watershed council members
Local planners
Extension agents
Soil and water conservation district staff
Our goal is to meet the needs our users regardless of their level of expertise. The site can be used by anyone with access to the Internet. It is a valuable tool for a broad range of users, from policy makers and analysts to reporters, academic researchers, educators, school children and private individuals.

6. How are individuals using Oregon Explorer?
Here is one example. These teachers from Douglas County are learning how to use the Umpqua Basin Explorer to map their watersheds and look up information on animal species expected to live in their watershed.
This was part of a 2008 Alder Creek Children’s Forest “Explore Your Forests Workshop”

7. Oregon Explorer use in the classroom
CSS/GEO 335: Introduction to Water Science and Policy – students use the Wetlands Explorer for their final project
GEO 335: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – students use the Willamette Basin Explorer for their final project
GEO 423: Land Use – incorporates the Explorer portals into lab exercises
GEO 465/565: GIS – Invited guest lecture
FW 435&535: Wildlife in Agricultural Ecosystems
FW 445&545: Ecological Restoration
SOC 475: Rural Sociology
BA 363: Technology and Innovation Management with Ted Khoury
BA 260: Introduction to Entrepreneurship
BA 101: Business Now with Aaron Lewis
Many educators at OSU are using Oregon Explorer in the classroom.
For example students use the Wetlands Explorer and the Willamette Basin explorer for their final project.
Dawn Wright, who teaches GEO 465/565 , the Geographic System and Science course, thinks it is crucial for her students to know as much as possible about the Explorer series, and has invited us to guest lecture every year.
BA 101: is a business administration class which every business student has to take.

8. Oregon Imagery Explorer: accessing .5 m Color Imagery
Now I would like to discuss our most popular features in more detail. Our most popular portal by far for students, researchers, local, state, federal agency staff and NGO’s is the Oregon Imagery Explorer. They stream imagery, download imagery or view imagery.
“I'm delighted that recent aerial photo imagery is so easily available for the state, and in such a high resolution - thank you! The Oregon Imagery Explorer has made my project, and I'm sure that of many others, much easier.”
- Student in the Botany and Plant Pathology Department

9. Students use the imagery for their thesis work.

10. Making Maps
Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map issues across the state (by county, census tract, watershed, etc.) will help you:
Target money and effort on the places that have need
Identify communities with similar issues that could work together or learn from each other
See how different areas of Oregon face different problems and have different assets
Another popular feature is the ability to make maps through a free web based GIS. These maps can help you target money and effort to the places that have the most need, identify communities with similar issues, and see how different areas of Oregon face different problems.

11. Click this menu item to access the Mapping Tool.

12. Click these menu items to access the Mapping Tool.

13. Ask the map for more information about a point
Zoomed in on Bend, OR area

14. Print or download your customized map
The map tells you about the point you clicked on (using the “Identify Visible” tool) with all the layers that are on top of it

15. Example of Oregon Explorer Output Map
OSU researchers have used Oregon Explorer to make maps for publications and bird watchers have used the WBE to plan outtings.
Carolyn Bales of Corvallis is a backpacker and bird watcher. She says she’s used the Willamette Basin Explorer a dozen times to plan outings and to locate access points to water where birds abound. “Oregon Explorer saves me from having to buy maps, and acquaints me with areas I might not have discovered otherwise,” she says.

16. Increase understanding of natural resource issues
Another popular feature is our multi-media stories – which are visual engaging to help users to understand the complexity natural resources issues.
For example the Willamette story gives examples through video of how the Willamette Valley changed between the year 1851 and 1990.

17. You can contribute content to these parts of the website.

18. Search by place, natural resource issues, or topic
In order to access archived research, reports, stories, and other documents go to accessible from the “Reports and Publications” section of the Oregon Explorer
Search by place, natural resource issues, or topic
Browse by Collection

19. Here is a copy of the title page from the archived Long Range Planning Report for Clackamas County. This afternoon I will be giving a presentation at the Oregon Planning Institute conference and will let them know about the Oregon Counties Long-Range Planning Conference Reports in SA.
September 19, 2018
Sample PowerPoint

20. Natural Resource Issues Addressed by Oregon Explorer Portals & Tools
Issue and Portal link
Portal Tool
Land Use
Wildfire Risk
Wildlife Conservation
Watershed Restoration
Wetland Rehabilitation
Hazards
Rural-Urban Divide
Measure 37 & 49 Viewers
Wildfire Risk Tool
Wildlife Viewer
Watershed Restoration Tool
Oregon Rapid Wetland Assessment Protocol Tool
Hazards Reporter
Oregon Communities Reporter
We address many critical natural resource issues.

21. Land Use Change – Measure 37 and 49 Viewers
One of the most newsworthy topics of interest to all Oregonians is Land Use. At the Land Use Explorer site, users can view Measure 37 claims compiled by the Portland State University Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies in 15 Oregon counties. With the Measure 49 Viewer, you can determine if your property is high-value farmland or forestland or in a ground water restricted area.
As a former member of the Corvallis Planning Commission and a courtesy faculty member in the geosciences department at OSU, Denis White has an interest in land use planning issues. He says that when he went to the Land Use Explorer site to check on Measure 37 claims near his home, he made some startling discoveries. “To my knowledge, the Measure 37 viewer on the site is the only place on the Web to get detailed maps and information about individual claims,” he says. “It’s a very useful resource.”

22. Wildfire Risk deschutes county example
“Wildfire Risk In Your Area” tool: Community Name and Rating data layer
Wildfire Risk deschutes county example
As counties create or modify their Community Wildfire Protection Plans, they can use the Wildfire Risk Explorer to aid in their planning.

23. Wildlife Viewer lists of wildlife species for different locations
Another extremely popular portal for a wide audience has been the Oregon Wildlife Explorer. Everyone likes wildlife. With the Wildlife Viewers, you can Learn about what wildlife is in your area of interest.

24. Accessing Species and Habitat Information
Discover more about an individual species by viewing its profile.

25. Watershed Restoration Tool – Umpqua basin project report example
A critical issue affecting Oregon is watershed restoration. To Learn what private landowners and restoration groups are doing to enhance watersheds, you can look at the watershed restoration tool.

26. The Oregon Rural Communities Explorer
A website that provides public access to reliable social, demographic, economic, and environmental information about Oregon’s rural counties and places
For rural leaders, engaged residents, philanthropies, and program managers
What is the Rural Communities Explorer?:
The RCE is a website that provides public access (for all, not just OSU faculty or students)
to reliable social, demographic, economic, and environmental information
About Oregon’s rural counties and places
Who created the Rural Communities Explorer?:
Partnership of:
OSU Extension Service and the OSU Rural Studies Program who provided CONTENT expertise (Lena Etuk, Bruce Weber, and Mindy Crandall)
The Ford Family Foundation, who provided FUNDING
And OSU Valley Library & the OR University System Institute for Natural Resources who created the WEBSITE INFRASTRUCTURE through the parent site they created called the OREGON EXPLORER (Janine Salwasser, Kuuipo Walsh, Marc Rempel, Ruth Vondracek, and Laurie Bridges)

27. Create Profile Reports
Use The Oregon Communities Reporter Tool to get social, demographic, environmental, and economic data for all 723 (urban and rural) places and 36 counties in Oregon.
Data come from many sources including U.S. Census Bureau, other federal agencies, state agencies, and, soon to come, local agencies and research

28. Click these menu items to access the Oregon Communities Reporter Tool, which gives you access to community data.

29. Information & How-To
The front page of the OR Communities Reporter Tool gives you information about the tool itself, as well as the steps you should follow to access community data.
To get started, click on the “Select Communities” tab at the top of the page.

30. Now you’re ready!
Type community
• A woman who runs a non-profit in Benton County that serves families in rural Benton County aggregated all census tracts in Benton County, leaving out Corvallis and Philomath. She was able to pull together all the data she needed for a grant that she was writing for her non-profit organization.
This is the “Select Communities” tab page.
Community = Counties and Places
Places = Census Tracts and Census Designated Places
In Step 1, select a community.
Communities are counties (like Lake, Lane, Multnomah) and places (like Bandon, Salem, or Troy)
Places are incorporated cities (Census Designated Places) and unincorporated towns
Unincorporated towns have been allocated to census tract areas, so you can get data for the portion of the county in which the town is located
Click the bubble next to “Places” if you want to get data for cities or towns, or click the bubble next to “Counties” if you want data for counties
You can select a community by:
Typing it into the box in STEP 1 and clicking “Add” or hitting Enter
Selecting the Query Tool icon, clicking your community on the map of Oregon, and then clicking “Add to selected places”
In Step 2, your selected community or communities will be dropped into your “Report Bin” (STEP 2).
Here you have the option of comparing multiple communities you have selected or combining multiple communities to form your own personalized community “region.”
Please note, however, that you will not be able to combine Census Designated Places (mostly incorporated cities) and unincorporated towns that have been allocated to census tracts.
Once you’ve gotten the communities you want in your “Report Bin” you’re ready for STEP 3.
Simply click “Generate Report” in this step

31. Create a new report in this same window
17 Clusters: click to expand
Print (recommended) or download report
• Faye Stewart, a Lane County commissioner, says he’s impressed by the quality and quantity of demographic information he’s able to access on the Rural Communities Explorer. He’s able to glean valuable socioeconomic data for his district, as well as maps and geographic information. He says he especially appreciates the feature that allows him to hone in on areas of his district using aerial photos and apply overlays of land use designations and natural resources such as wetlands. “This is a powerful tool that will help me track trends in my district,” he says. “It also will be useful as we apply for block grants for facility upgrades.”
Click variable name for definition and source
After hitting “Generate Report” you will be directed to the View Report tab page.
There are 17 clusters of data, organized by topic heading. Click the gray cluster bar to access the data.
For any profile you generate, your community or set of communities will always be compared to Oregon and you will have access to 1990, 2000, and 2005 data where available.
Under the community name you chose, you can see the specific geography that it corresponds to.
For unincorporated places you can see the census tract number as well as a list of the other towns that are contained within that particular census tract
Additional features include: glossary and source information for each statistic, charts for some statistics, print and download functionality, and the ability to create new reports for different communities within the same window by typing in a community name.
Click for charts

32. Oregon Communities Reporter rural & urban; incorporated & unincorporated
Clusters:
Population
Age
Family Structure
Education
Income
Employment & Labor Market
Migration
Race & Ethnicity
Health & Mortality
Crime & Abuse
Housing
Food System
Natural Resources & Amenities
Economic Resources
Environental Health
Community Capacity
Classifications
• The Ford Family Foundation, a granting foundation, uses the Rural Communities Explorer to fact check what is being written in grants.
• Community Action Agencies are federally funded agencies that serve primarily low income clients. After a presentation to the Executive Directors of all the agencies in Oregon, one of the Directors said that the Rural Communities Explorer was the “Coolest thing since sliced bread.”
The Oregon Communities Reporter is a unique resource for community practitioners as it links the 723 places and 36 counties in Oregon to data gathered at the place, census tract, and county levels by various agencies and institutions.

33. Accessing GIS Spatial Data
Anticipate our newly launched Oregon Spatial Data Library as being as popular as our Oregon Imagery Explorer. We provide easy ways to find, access and share geospatial data. We are currently collaborating with the University of Oregon’s Map Librarian to help the provide access to 100 of UO’s geospatial datasets.

34. We gave an invited presentation to the Western Association of Map Libraries Spring Conference last spring which was well received. After the presentation we were invited to contribute to their upcoming information bulletin. The audience is map librarian and they what to know how the Spatial Data Library was put together (technology, process, collaboration) as a model for creating other data portals.

35. Next generation
• In ArcGIS 10 metadata services can be built to comply with one of several recognized standards for cataloging and retrieving data. Supported standards include Z39.50 (from the International Organization for Standardization) and the OAI-PMH standard for metadata harvesting (from the Open Archives Initiative).
metadata services can be built to comply with one of several recognized standards for cataloging and retrieving data. Supported standards include Z39.50 (from the International Organization for Standardization), CSW with support for both the eb-RIM and ISO profiles (from OGC), and the OAI-PMH standard for metadata harvesting (from the Open Archives Initiative).
Library might be able to harvest our metadata

36. Coming soon! New and Improved!
We are transitioning to open source for consistency, ease of maintenance, more streamlined navigation. Here is a sneak peak at our new site. We are slated to do an initial launch of the majority of the OE portals in their newly migrated format during the last week in September.
September 19, 2018
Sample PowerPoint

37. Coming soon! Wetland tools for landowners, consultants and planners
Wetland restoration planning tool: identify the most appropriate sites to implement restoration. Find the ‘nearest’ wetland priority site that meets the restoration targets, based on the current wetland areas impacted
Wetland prescreening tool: identify if wetlands are present on a site.
September 19, 2018
Sample PowerPoint

38. How can we help you? Renee Davis-Born Ruth Vondracek
Institute for Natural Resources
210 Strand Hall
Corvallis, Oregon 97331
Kuuipo Walsh
The Valley Library
(541)
Ruth Vondracek
Oregon State University Libraries
The Valley Library
(541)
Marc Rempel
(541)
Questions? Feel Free to contact us.