If you have a smart phone, or GPS navigation in your car, you know how much interactive maps can change your life. Never get lost again. Find stores or restaurants nearby without having to track down a phone book and flip through it.
Washington state has embraced the power of maps.
Just about every major state agency combines data with geographic information to give citizens, experts and lawmakers a better picture of our state.
Data plus mapping plus the internet means everybody has access to critical information about highways, farming and almost any other topic. Not every agency has made the switch yet, or linked every map and piece of data, but state and federal agencies are all working together on this issue with the idea being that there’s no reason not to share public data with citizens whenever possible, and to make it easy for people to visualize and use it.
Here are some examples of what anybody can access using the state’s geo-mapping portal:
- Topography (statewide)
- Land Use /Land Cover (statewide)
- Population Density (statewide)
- Washington State Parks Maps
- Washington Top Crops
- DNR Nature Trail Maps
- State Highway Maps
- Freight and Goods Maps
- Ferries Route Maps