ERMA: Five years of public access mapping

The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound is founded on a spirit of collaboration and data sharing.   One key Encyclopedia partner is NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (ORR). Their Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA^®) is our go-to site for web-based spatial data and maps.

Just weeks after its first testing exercise, ERMA became a central tool for mobilizing resources in response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Over the last five years, ERMA has been replicated across eight coastal regions, including the Pacific Northwest.  Join us in thanking NOAA for their commitment to public access data.  Pacific Northwest ERMA offers over 1200 publicly accessible data layers. Whether you are responding to a disaster or doing scientific research, ERMA is a valuable tool.

Selected new features in ERMA:

• Click on any feature to get an attribute data popup (without using info tool)
• Geographic search by location or coordinates
• Ability to specify distinct background layer in URL

Related links:

• The EoPS Maps/GIS section includes a live ERMA layer list
• Go directly to Pacific Northwest ERMA mapping application
• Learn more about ERMA from the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration
• NOAA ORR blog: In Mapping the Fallout from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Developing One Tool to Bring Unity to the Response