Greg Podniesinski, Pennsylvania Science Office of the Nature Conservancy 20041206 vector digital data http://www1.usgs.gov/vip/vafo/vafoaa.zip doi:10.5066/F7FX77FB This shapefile includes the accuracy assessment points used to assess the association-level vegetation map of Valley Forge National Historic Park developed by the Center for Earth Observation, the Pennsylvania Science Office of the The Nature Conservancy (PSO-TNC) and Nature Serve for the National Park Service. Accuracy assessment was performed by staff of PSO-TNC. The shapefile shows point locations for accuracy assesment observation points. Locations were determined using a Garmin III+ Gps unit 200109 ground condition Complete None planned Valley Forge National Historical Park and environs -75.472342 -75.417142 40.121246 40.079016 None Vegetation Map Association level Accuracy assessment None Valley Forge National Historical Park None 2001 none Standardized National Vegetation Classification System vegetation classification alliance community association Kingdom Plantae None None Greg Podniesinski Pennsylvania Science Office of the Nature Conservancy Ecologist mailing address

208 Airport Road

Middletown Pennsylvania 17057 United States 717-948-3842 c-gpodnies@state.pa.us Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.0.0.535 Greg Podniesinski, Pennsylvania Science Office of the Nature Conservancy Stephanie Perles, Pennsylvania Science Office of the Nature Conservancy Lesley Sneddon, NatureServe Bill Millinor, North Carolina State University Center for Earth Observation 200412 report Middletown, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Science Office of the Nature Conservancy ESRI Point Geometry exists. Locations for all 308 accuracy assessment points are included. Mean horizontal accuracy of thematic accuracy assessment points was 2.55 m +/- 1.067m STD Kucera International 200204 aerial photography color ir aerial transparencies 200204 publication date photos Aerial view of Valley Forge NHP Thematic Accuracy Assessment Field Methods (from the cross-referenced final report) Thematic accuracy assessment has several objectives including to assess the data's suitability for a particular application, to inform the map producers to learn more about data errors and improve the mapping process, and to conform to production standards. Accuracy assessment (AA) sampling design followed the guidelines provided in the NBS/NPS Vegetation Mapping Program (The Nature Conservancy 1994) manuals with respect to the number of AA points sampled and their distribution across park polygons. The sampling design called for 308 points across 24 polygon types during the 2001 field season. Natural and anthropogenic polygon types were included in the AA. AA sampling coordinates were selected by generating random points within the minimum and maximum easting and northing UTM coordinates of the park's extent. Points within 30 m of a polygon border were eliminated to avoid sampling within ecotones. If two or more points still remained in a polygon, one point was randomly chosen and the others discarded. In several of the larger polygons up to six AA points were selected. In the case of some smaller polygons, additional random point selection was required before a random point fell into those polygons. Also, in some polygons it was not possible to locate an AA point 30 m from a border, in which case the AA point was manually located equidistant from polygon borders. AA points were located in the field using a Garmin III Plus GPS unit. Data collection included accuracy assessment plot number and GPS location information, vegetation type at the AA point, vegetation type(s) within 50 m of the AA point, dominant species by strata, canopy closure, and rationale for classification. This data is stored in the PLOTS database (MS Aceess). Vegetation associations were identified using the vegetation key developed for the park. AA results were analyzed using a sample misclassification matrix. Overall accuracy, Kappa index and 90 % confidence intervals were calculated as described in the Accuracy Assessment Procedures-USGS/NPS Vegetation Mapping Program manual (The Nature Conservancy 1994). 2001 Greg Podniesinski Pennsylvania Science Office of the Nature Conservancy Ecologist mailing address

208 Airport Road

Middletwon Pennsylvania 17057 United States (717) 948-3842 c-gpodnies@state.pa.us Vector Entity point 308 Universal Transverse Mercator 18 0.999600 -75.000000 0.000000 500000.000000 0.000000 coordinate pair 0.000008 0.000008 meters North American Datum of 1983 Geodetic Reference System 80 6378137.000000 298.257222 vafoaa Shapefile attribute table. Accuracy Assessment sample plot locations for Valley Forge. PSO-TNCNational Historic Site FID Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Shape Feature geometry. ESRI Coordinates defining the features. AREA Area of feature in internal units squared. ESRI. Area is always zero for point coverages. Values are automatically generated. PERIMETER Perimeter of feature in internal units. ESRI. Perimeter is always zero for point coverages. Values are automatically generated. AA_ Internal feature number. ESRI. Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. AA_ID User-defined feature number. ESRI. Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. AA_OBS_ID Unique ID that relates this spatial data layer to the AA Observations table in the PLOTS database. NPS All IDs are prefixed with "VAFO" so an example ID is "VAFO.1" X X coordinate of site location. PSO-TNCNational Historic Site Easting coordinate. Y Y coordinate of site location. PSO-TNCNational Historic Site Northing coordinate. POLYGONID Unknown field created by originator but not documented. PSO-TNCNational Historic Site Numerical. SCALE Unknown field created by originator but not documented. PSO-TNCNational Historic Site Numerical. ANGLE Unknown field created by originator but not documented. PSO-TNCNational Historic Site Numerical. USGS/CSS/Core Science Analytics and Synthesis USGS-NPS Vegetation Characterization Program Coordinator mailing and physical address

Denver Federal Center, Building 810, MS 302

Denver Colorado 80225 (303) 202-4220 303-202-4219 gs-b-npsveg@usgs.gov Downloadable Data The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. These data and related graphics (if available) are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such. The information contained in these data is dynamic and may change over time. The data are not better than the original sources from which they were derived. It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data appropriately and consistent within the limitations of geospatial data in general and these data in particular. Any related graphics (if available) are intended to aid the data user in acquiring relevant data; it is not approriate to use the related graphics as data. The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data. It is strongly recommended that these data are directly acquired from an U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service servers and not indirectly through other sources which may have changed the data in some way. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the utility of the data on another system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This disclaimer applies both to individual use of the data and aggregate use with other data. It is also strongly recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of the metadata file associated with these data. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this metadata report does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey and National Park Service. HTML http://www.usgs.gov/core_science_systems/csas/vip/parks/vafo.html Internet Access None 20050722 20100616 USGS/CSS/Core Science Analytics and Synthesis USGS-NPS Vegetation Characterization Program Coordinator mailing and physical address

Denver Federal Center, Building 810, MS 302

Denver Colorado 80225 (303) 202-4220 303-202-4219 gs-b-npsveg@usgs.gov FGDC Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001.1-1999 http://www.usgs.gov/core_science_systems/csas/metadata/index.html