Mapping Pond Life on Google Maps

As you all know, we are fond of ponds and pond life. Today, I ran across something very interesting on Google Maps Mania- Pond Life Mapped!

The Natural History Museum in the UK asked the public to carry out water surveys in their neighbourhood. The idea behind the crowd-sourced survey was to help scientists learn more about how polluted our lakes and ponds actually are.

The Pond Health Score Map shows the location of the healthiest and least healthy ponds. Every survey has been given a health score depending on the invertebrates found. This map shows the pond health scores of the surveys submitted.

The Water Clarity Map shows where the clearest waters been found around the UK.

Checking Water Quality Using Google Maps Mashups

Recently, I ran across a very interesting map mashup (via Google Maps Mania) called Water Atlas, which is from from the Hillsborough County and City of Tampa allows citizens to check water quality, hydrology, rainfall and weather data from the county's water stations.

This is the type of thing I would like to see worked out for South Carolina Water Quality.

Depending on the type of water station selected you can view, daily rainfall, precipitation, water flow, elevation, temperature, velocity and conductance. Each information window also includes a link to view graphs of the stations recorded data for the last 24 hours, week and month.

It might make one reflect on the Water Trifecta, mentioned before on this blog.