The Digital Photo Series (DPS) is a web-based application that provides access to the Natural Fuels Photo Series (NFPS) database and photographs. In addition to the data published in the bound volumes, the DPS includes data that were collected but not printed due to publication limitations. The interface allows you to browse, query and download photo series data and high-quality photographs. Planned functionality includes side-by-side comparisons and customized site generation.
The Digital Photo Series is intended to complement, not replace, the paper and ink versions available now and in the future. Published volumes are more appropriate for use in the field and can be used with a stereoscope for a three-dimensional view of photo series sites.
While much of the 'look and feel' of the published photo series has been retained, the DPS diverges from the published volumes both in (some) content and presentation.
Necessitated by automated data display and facilitated by the vertical flexibility of the computer monitor, the DPS has a more standardized layout.
While the DPS uses English units by default, users can toggle between English and metric units using the 'Measurement System' drop-down.
There are cases where totals calculated in the DPS, specifically in the Woody Materials and Shrub Biomass tables, depart from the published values by a tenth or hundredth of a decimal place due to rounding.
The DPS is organized into tabbed pages as follows:
Click on the site search tab to query the natural fuels photo series database for sites of interest.
You can search for sites based on the following criteria:
TIP: hovering your mouse over an area of interest will trigger a 'tool tip' listing the underlying sites.
DISCLAIMER: absence of a site from a result set could indicate nonavailability of data for given ecological variable, as sampling designs varied between photo series.
Between fields, search criteria are combined with the "AND" operator. Because there are so many potential search variables, it is easy to come up with no matches. If your query does not produce a match, try broadening your search criteria. When starting a new query, click the Reset button to clear the form of all previously entered criteria.
Search results are displayed beneath the search form as thumbnails of sites organized by volume and photo series. Depending on your screen resolution, you may have to scroll down to see the result set. Clicking on a site's thumbnail will transfer focus to the Site browser tab, opened to the selected site.
The site browser tab consists of the site navigation tree in the left column and the site report in the main window. By positioning your mouse along the line dividing these two columns, you can drag the line left or right to allot space between the columns.
The site navigation tree is a PHP/JavaScript tool that works intuitively for those familiar with Windows Explorer or any other tree navigation interface. Click on a plus sign to expand a branch. Click on a minus sign to collapse a branch. Click on a site name (2-4 letters plus two letter site number) to view that site's report in the main frame. The current site will be indicated in the tree by bolded and highlighted text.
Sites are ordered by publication volume number and order of appearance within each binder. The site list begins with the first site of the first volume (MC 01) and cycles through to the last site of the most recently published volume. By hovering your mouse over the "Previous" and "Next" links located at the top and bottom of each site report, the tool tip will display the name of the site to which that link points.
Click the 'Print Site' link at the top of each site report to send a print-friendly version of the site report to your local printer.
Click the site photograph to launch a new window with the higher resolution version.
At the bottom of each site report are links to the three levels of documentation: the photo series as a whole, that site's volume (including species lists by form for all the series therein), and that specific series' "Note to Users" (including bulk densities where available and site ordering rules).
While viewing a site on the Site browser tab, you can download that photo series' data formatted as a Microsoft Excel or comma-delimited values (text) file. The files consist of several tables related by siteID, along with a 'Read me' file documenting table relationships and other information associated with the data as stored in a relational database.
The photo series database was created to house the published data for easier search and display. Raw field measurements are not included in export files.
There are no negative measurements in the Photo Series. Wherever negative numbers occur in exported data tables, they are placeholders for nonnumeric values published for quantitative fields, used to maintain data type integrity of numerical fields. The following table lists these negative number codes and their qualitative counterparts:
Code Number | Published Value |
-2 | na |
-3 | -- |
-4 | tr/trace |
-5 | Qualified values* |
*The value -5 is a placeholder in cases where either more than one value was published for a given measurement (e.g., the Alaska Hardwood Series published canopy closure %'s broken out by hardwoods and conifers) or the measurement was qualified in someway, usually by a footnote in the publication (e.g., the shrub height given in the Western Juniper Series was for Chrysothamnus spp. only). All such nonstandard data are stored in the 'Exceptions' table, using a combination of table name, primary key value, and field name to locate applicable records.
Across all tables, assume the following measurement/unit protocol. Loadings account for the biggest discrepancy between stored and published data as they were often published in tons/acre.
Measurement | English Units | Metric Units |
Biomass/loading | lbs/acre | kg/ha |
Density | #/acre | #/ha |
Diameter (DBH, basal diameter) | inches | centimeters |
Depth | inches | centimeters |
Height | feet | meters |
Crown breadth | feet | meters |
Crown area | square feet | square meters |
See the 'Read me' file bundled with the export files for a diagram illustrating how exported tables are linked.
Some fields (particularly site notes) may include HTML tags for formatting when viewed in a browser. These include the tags for italics (<em>), bolded text (<strong>) and line breaks (<br>).
In the upper right-hand corner of each data table is a button allowing you to add that table to the site currently being created on the Custom site builder tab (if no current site exists, a new custom site will be created with the given table).
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is displayed if the current custom site does not yet have the given data table. |
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is displayed if the current custom site already has the given data table from another site. |
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is displayed if the current custom site already has the given
data table from the given site. This button will not be clickable. |
Clicking to add a custom site table will transfer focus to the Custom site builder tab displaying the current site under construction. For more information on creating custom sites, refer to the help section on the Custom site builder tab.
In the left column, add one or more tables to the current custom site (i.e., the one being displayed in the middle column) by selecting the desired site name from the corresponding drop-down select box(es) in the Custom Site Builder table and clicking the 'Update site' button. You can also add or replace tables by clicking the 'Add' or 'Replace' button for a given site's table in the Site Browser tab.
To begin building a new site, click the 'New site' button, which will clear the select boxes and middle column and enter a new default custom site name into the Site name/code box. The previous custom site can be called back up by clicking its name in the 'Recent custom sites' box in the right column.
Sites will by default be named custom1, custom2, etc. To use your own name, enter it into the Site name/code text box at the top of the form. If the site had already been started under another name, entering a new name is akin to a "Save as" operation – the site will now be listed under both the old and new names. You can also rename sites in the Recent Custom Sites box in the right column.
As you add tables to a custom site, they will be displayed in the middle column, in the same order they appear on the Site Browser tab. The tables on this tab will have a 'Remove from site' button to drop tables directly from the site.
In the right column, the 'Recent custom sites' box maintains a list of recently created or viewed custom sites. Click the linked name to display the site in the middle column of this tab. Note that the 'Build' form on the left now reflects the displayed site's tables. The 'Recent' list is populated by sites newly created or by uploaded sites viewed and/or edited during the current browser session (see below). Use the check boxes and the appropriate submit button to Remove, Rename, or Export selected sites. To export selected sites, enter a file name into the dialog box and click OK. A link will then appear to the newly generated export file for you to download to a location of your choice on your computer. If you named the sites "mySites" on March 8, 2007 at 3:48 pm, it would be named dps.mySites.0703081548.txt. DPS custom site export file names must start with "dps." and end with ".txt" – you are free to change the middle part as you see fit.
Underneath 'Recent custom sites' is the 'Upload custom sites' interface. If you have previously exported custom sites to a dps.*.txt file, you can import these sites by clicking the Browse… button, locating the file on your computer, and clicking 'Upload sites.' If the file is formatted properly, the screen will refresh with a new box at the bottom of the right column containing the names of the imported custom site(s). You can remove groups of imported sites by clicking the Remove link at the upper right of each file group box. As with the Recent custom sites box, just click on the name of a site to display it. Notice that the selected site's name is then added to the Recent custom sites list. This site can be edited and will be saved temporarily in the Recent custom sites list, but to save changes permanently, the updated site(s) must be saved to an export file. Export files (dps.*.txt) can be shared among DPS users.
We acknowledge funding from the Joint Fire Science Program under Project JFSP 04-4-1-02.
For data requests or technical support with the website contact Paige Eagle (pceagle@uw.edu).
Wright, C.S. and P.C. Eagle. No date. Digital photo series. Portland, OR: U.S.Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. https://depts.washington.edu/nwfire/dps. (date of access).