The StreamCat Web API, Web Tool, and R Package

StreamCat is an extensive dataset of landscape metrics for ~2.65 million streams within the conterminous USA. StreamCat contains over 600 metrics that include local catchment and watershed metrics. StreamCat metrics represent both natural (e.g., soils and geology) and anthropogenic (e.g, urban areas and agriculture) landscape information. The StreamCat dataset provides an important tool for stream researchers and managers to understand and characterize the Nation’s rivers and streams. While StreamCat greatly reduces the specialized geospatial expertise needed to acquire landscape information at specific streams for both researchers and managers, there is still room to improve access to these data based on different users’ needs. In response, we have developed three different web tools to access StreamCat data: a map utility for accessing information on individual catchments and watersheds; a menu utility for getting information by regions, states, and counties; and an R programming interface for accessing StreamCat data using the R programming language. In this presentation, we provide an introduction to the StreamCat dataset and some of its applications, and then provide a series of live demonstrations on how to access and use the three different web tools.

Impact/Purpose

StreamCat is an extensive dataset of landscape metrics for ~2.65 million streams within the conterminous US (CONUS); it contains over 600 metrics that include local catchment and watershed metrics. StreamCat metrics represent both natural (e.g., soils and geology) and anthropogenic (e.g, urban areas and agriculture) landscape information. StreamCat was originally developed under the Safe and Sustainable Water Resources (SSWR) National Research Program to provide landscape data to use in empirical models to interpolate data from EPA’s National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA) to over 1.1 million stream segments across the CONUS. Since its original development, StreamCat data have been used by ORD for a number of applications, including modeling and interpolating stream condition (based on macroinvertebrate multimetric index from NRSA data) and distribution of antibiotic genes. Within the Office of Water, StreamCat data are used to determine stream reference condition. Applications of StreamCat data outside of EPA have included: random forest predictions of stream channel type; prioritization of monitoring; and modeling of thermal regimes. Under SSWR.1.2.2 (Interpolation and stressor-response analyses that extend the use of NARS data to support regulatory program needs), one of the milestones is: Updated/maintained StreamCat/LakeCat databases converted into an Oracle database and web service to improve usability. To that end, StreamCat has now been converted to an Oracle database, and an Application Programming Interface (API) has been developed that wraps queries to provide secure access (i.e., web services) to the database. Based on this, we have developed three different web tools to access the StreamCat data: a map utility for accessing information on individual catchments and watersheds; a menu utility for getting information by regions, states, and counties; and an R programming interface for accessing StreamCat data using the R programming language. In this presentation, we provide an introduction to the StreamCat dataset and some of its applications, and then provide a series of live demonstrations on how to access and use the three different web tools.

Citation

Rebhuhn, D., H. Sellentin, A. Brookes, M. Weber, S. Leibowitz, AND Ryan A Hill. The StreamCat Web API, Web Tool, and R Package. SSWR Special 1st Monday Research Update -- The StreamCat Web Tools: Making Watershed Data More Accessible, NA, OR, April 05, 2021.