Creating BioFinder

BioFinder was created by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources with help of its partners to provide citizens with a tool to explore the distribution and richness of Vermont’s biodiversity and help secure our natural heritage for future generations.

Twenty-one components that contribute to biological diversity are at the core of the BioFinder tool. These components represent, at various scales and aspects, terrestrial and aquatic biological, ecological, and natural heritage features. Out of a co-occurrence analysis that identified the locations with thegreatest overlap or concentration, 6 tiers were ranked, ranging from the highest to the lowest concentration. The BioFinder Development Report describes the methods used to create BioFinder.

BioFinder committees were staffed by members of the Geographic Information Systems Division of the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) and scientists and planners from ANR’s three departments: Environmental Conservation; Fish & Wildlife; and Forests, Parks & Recreation. Additional scientific expertise came from the following agencies and organizations:

Arrowwood Environmental
Audubon Vermont
Lake Champlain Committee
The Nature Conservancy
University of Vermont
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
Vermont Center for Geographic Information
Vermont Land Trust
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
U.S. Forest Service
The Wildlands Network

BioFinder Mapping Module
The BioFinder mapping module consists of a Latitude Geographics Geocortex Essentials Silverlight mapping front-end, consuming ArcGIS Server 10.1 GIS mapping services published by the Agency of Natural Resources. The Tiered Contribution data set and the 21 component data sets were published as separate ArcGIS Server mapping services. Due to the complexity and sheer volume of data in the Tiered Contribution data set, this layer was cached for display performance. Base map services from ESRI, Microsoft BING, and the Vermont Center for Geographic Information provide cached aerial imagery, topographic maps, and a basic boundary map. These services are consumed into the Essentials mapping module. Tools, including the Point Identify, Area Identify, Tier Report, and Component Report tools, were developed to create user workflows that guide users through the steps needed to retrieve desired results.

Funding for BioFinder development comes in part from the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Sportfish & Wildlife Restoration Program, and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.