INTERACTIVE COAL BED MAPPING ON THE INTERNET

The West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey (WVGES) hosts an Interactive Coal Bed Mapping Website featuring products of an ambitious ongoing GIS project to inventory coal resources in the state of WV. This fully interactive mapping application features a series of coal resource maps, imagery, and associated data for 39 coalbeds in West Virginia. The availability of the coal maps over the Internet using ArcIMS interactive mapping technology brings the WVGES into the new era of high-tech public service, and gives the public unprecedented access to this geological information. The website includes data about the geologic features, structure, thickness, and mining status of the coalbeds, and georeferenced topographic map image mosaics for locational reference. Common map tools for navigation and query are available to the user, along with comprehensive help guides for the GIS coverages and map interface. To explore the exciting possibilities that interactive internet-based mapping has to offer to the public, visit the Interactive Coal Bed Maps webpage via the WVGES home page at http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/