README for “Water Body Polygons 1995” dataset. U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA); U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) [distributor] 2025-06-10 ---------------------------------------------------------------- LINKS TO DATASET ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. Dataset archive link: https://doi.org/10.21949/1404311 ---------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY OF DATASET ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Water Body Polygons 1995 dataset is from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics’s (BTS's) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). 1:100,000 Major water bodies within the United States and selected territories. Hydrographical features represented in the database include major rivers, lakes, islands, bays, sounds, and a 3-mi offshore limit for coastal states. Navigable channels in rivers and lakes are identified, as well as the Gulf and Atlantic Intracoastal Waterways. ---------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. General Information B. Sharing/Access & Policies Information C. Data and Related File Overview D. Methodological Information E. Data-Specific Information for: Water Body Polygons 1995 [datasets] F. Update Log ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. GENERAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Title of Dataset: Water Body Polygons 1995 [dataset] 1. Description of Dataset: The Water Body Polygons 1995 dataset is from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS's) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). 1:100,000 Major water bodies within the United States and selected territories. Hydrographical features represented in the database include major rivers, lakes, islands, bays, sounds, and a 3-mi offshore limit for coastal states. Navigable channels in rivers and lakes are identified, as well as the Gulf and Atlantic Intracoastal Waterways. 2. Dataset archive link: https://doi.org/10.21949/1404311 3. Authorship Information: Principal Data Creator or Data Manager Contact Information Institution: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave SE, Washington D.C. 20590 Contact: ntad@dot.gov Data Distributor Contact Information Name: National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD) Institution: U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Office of Spatial Analysis and Visualization (OSAV) Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington D.C. 20590 Email: ntad@dot.gov 4. Date of data collection and update interval: This dataset is not receiving updates. 5. Geographic location of data collection: United States of America 6. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) ---------------------------------------------------------------- B. SHARING/ACCESS & POLICIES INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Recommended citation for the data: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) [distributor]. Water Body Polygons 1995 [datasets]. 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: These data are in the Public Domain. 2. Was data derived from another source?: Yes. Data was sourced from Census TIGER/Line. 3. This document was created to meet the requirements enumerated in the U.S. Department of Transportation's 'Plan to Increase Public Access to the Results of Federally-Funded Scientific Research' Version 1.1 << https://doi.org/10.21949/1520559 >> and guidelines suggested by the DOT Public Access website << https://doi.org/10.21949/1503647 >>, in effect and current as of December 03, 2020. ---------------------------------------------------------------- C. DATA & RELATED FILE OVERVIEW ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. File List for the Water Body Polygons 1995 dataset A. Filename: bts_NTAD_Water_Body_DMP_20250610.pdf Short description: A PDF file containing the Data Management Plan that was created for current and future management of the data and associated files. B. Filename: bts_NTAD_Water_Body_README_20250610.txt Short description: The README.txt file that includes human-readable information about the data, variable definitions, contact information, and other contextual information. The file you are reading now. C. File List for the NTAD1995_SHP_Final_Water_Body_Polygons.zip collection. Ca. Filename: SXXHYDRO.shp and SXXHYDRO_BOUNDARYLINE.shp Short description: A shapefile containing the geospatial data for Water Body Polygons 1995 dataset. This includes associated files with extensions .prj, .dbf, .sbn, .sbx, .shx. Shapefile (SHP) folders are classified by NTAD publication year and data vintage date respectively. Data are classified by data vintage date. Shapefiles are classified by FIPS code. Cb. Filename: WTRPOLY.TXT Short description: Text files containing key metadata and documentation information such as methodology, procedures, data dictionary, etc. Files are classified by data vintage date. ---------------------------------------------------------------- D. METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: N/A 2. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: The shapefile data can be opened with Esri ArcGIS and any GIS software package. File geodatabase data can only be opened with Esri ArcGIS. The documentation files can be opened with any basic text editor. ---------------------------------------------------------------- E. DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Water Body Polygons data table Due to the size of the data, it is not described in detail here. Review the data dictionary present in the data folders for information on the data table. A. Number of variables (columns): The data dictionary found in WTRPOLY.TXT provides definitions for the variables B. Data Dictionary/Variable List: Because of the large number of variables, please refer to the Data Dictionary found within the file WTRPOLY.TXT for names, definitions, and formats of variables. C. Missing data codes: None ---------------------------------------------------------------- F. UPDATE LOG ---------------------------------------------------------------- This bts_Water_Body_20250610_README.txt file was originally created on 2025-05-15 by Dominic Menegus, Geographer, dominic.menegus@dot.gov [Note changes or update to the readme.txt file, e.g.:] 2025-06-10: Original file created 2025-12-30: DOI added