Map Information

Distribution Maps

Each account includes a map that displays quads with Possible, Probable or Confirmed breeding status. 

Map Info:  The state was divided into 1028, 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles. Each topographic quad was further divided into 6 (2 wide X 3 tall) equal-sized blocks of about 10 miles² each of which about 75% (4,866) were surveyed. These maps plot each species occurrence at the quad level, with each point representing the center of the topographic quad. The points as plotted thus represent the occurrence within the topographic quad. No inference at a finer scale than the topographic quad should be made. The maps display the number of quads for which the species was possible, probable, and confirmed. The web site www.topozone.com may be used to find the name of a quad for locations in Florida.

Please Note: The maps are based on records collected by volunteers from 1986-91.  The intensity of the survey varied from person to person, and from quad to quad, and some species are easier to detect than others. The nesting status of any species may have changed since 1991.  For these reasons, users of these maps are cautioned that the absence of a record for a given county, quad, or block, does not necessarily mean no nesting is now occurring. This service is not an adequate substitute for a specific on-the-ground survey.

Map printing: The maps are best printed on a single page. You may need to reduce your left and right margins to ¼ inch in print setup in your internet browser, so that the image is not split across multiple pages. Although the maps use color, the symbols are designed so that maps will be readable in black and white.

Map scale: The scale for the map in the view is roughly 1:5,000,000 depending upon the resolution of your monitor, and resizing done by your Internet browser. The scale drawn on the map provides the most accurate determination of scale.

Map projection: An Arc/View base map from Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection Land Boundary Information System with county outlines and major bodies of water was used, and the bird occurrence data were converted to shape files in the Arc/View program. The bird occurrence was transformed from NAD 27 to NAD 83 datum and then to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection standard datum.

The datum is described as:

• Projection: Albers Equal-Area Conic
• Spheroid: GRS 80
• Central Meridian: -84
• Reference Latitude: 24
• Parallel 1: 24
• Parallel 2: 31.5
• False Easting: 400000
• False Northing: 0