Abstract:
The Antarctic Atlas is an open-source, OGC-compliant viewer that has been
designed to promote greater geographic awareness of the continent and the
digital geospatial data that describe it. It provides a common base for
displaying research results and data collected, as well as descriptions of
ongoing and past projects, when they become available for display. The Atlas is
... intended to serve the interests and needs of a diverse community as a
reference, an information framework, an education tool, and a research aid. Its
primary focus is as a tool for Antarctic researchers, but others are invited to
use it. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides ongoing development and
maintenance of the Atlas through its Antarctic Program. The National Science
Foundation provides funding, logistical support and program oversight to this
project.
The polar stereographic projection was selected for display of data. To be
added to the main map display window of the Atlas, all layers must be converted
to that projection. Source materials for the base data in the Atlas range from
scales of 1:30,000,000 to 1:10,000 (Seymour Island) and come from several
sources. As the user zooms in, the Atlas automatically replaces low-resolution
layers with those of higher resolution and removes layers when the scale of
display exceeds the resolution of the data.
Index Map layers have been added for the USGS-produced maps available from our
Earth Science Information Centers. The Research Stations (winter-over) layer
provides access to existing Web sites for both research stations and national
Antarctic Programs.
The Raster Graphic layer is available as a seamless display in the viewer. To
view the individual DRGs (digital raster graphics), go to the download page and
each DRG can be viewed and/or downloaded in original or seamless display form.
Seymour Island can now be viewed by turning on the desired layers and using the
zoom to layer function and selecting Seymour Island. 
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