The NSW Natural Resource Atlas lets you find, view and query maps and data about the NSW environment. Click a link below to learn more.
Using the home pageMaking maps |
Searching & browsing topicsTroubleshooting |
| The map on the home page shows the Catchment Management Authority regions of New South Wales. Click on a region to select it, or use the scrolling list. The label of the selected region will turn dark green and a red rectangle will show the actual area selected. This area will be used when you view a map, or search or browse topics. | |
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The topic tree to the right of the map on the home page gives you access to specific maps for the region you have selected. Click on a topic to expand it. |
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Each topic contains one or more "quickmaps". These are ready-made maps displaying a selection of map layers relevant to the topic. Click the name of the map to view it. Please be patient: the mapmaker may take up to a minute to load the first time, depending on your connection. Like all pages in the NRAtlas, once loaded you can return to it quickly.
Alternatively:
button to view a satellite map of your selected region, or
button to view a topographic map. Depending on the size of the selected region this can include roads, railways, contours and built-up areas.The home page only shows a small selection of what's available in each topic. Click the 
button to browse the full topic tree for all maps, data and relevant websites in your selected region.
Or use the 
area in the top right corner to find maps and data in the selected region or across New South Wales.
Links to the best New South Wales websites for specialist natural resource maps and data are featured on the left side of the home page.
You can also register your email address to receive announcements about additions to the NRAtlas site.
At the bottom of the home page are links to useful back-room resources:
The mapmaker is the heart of the Natural Resource Atlas. Use it to view any part of NSW, overlay natural resource related map layers, query features on the map and save maps and selected data to your computer.
Mapping functions are arranged into five areas, available by clicking the tabs at the top right of the page:
The Legend tab is selected when the mapmaker first opens. This displays a key to symbols used on the map.
The toolbar above the map contains the main tools for interacting with the map:
Click a tool above to jump to its description below.
There are several ways of changing the map area being displayed: zooming, panning, finding a place, or using the locator map.
Whichever method you use,
clicking on the Undo button
will undo it and return to the previous map area.
Clicking the NSW button
will return the map to the full view of New South Wales.
To zoom in for a more detailed view of part of the map,
click the Zoom in tool,
then click on the map. The map will refresh, showing a quarter of the previous area (half the width and height), centred on the location you clicked. You can also specify the exact area to zoom in to, by clicking and dragging the mouse to draw a box on the map.
To zoom out and see a larger area,
click the Zoom out tool,
then click on the map. The map will refresh, showing an area four times the previous area (twice the width and height), centred on the location you clicked.
If you click and drag the mouse to draw a box on the map, the previous map area will shrink to fit the box you've drawn.
Some map layers are scale-dependent, meaning they may disappear when you zoom in or out past a certain limit. See troubleshooting for more information.
To pan to an area adjoining the current map display, click the Pan
tool , then click on the map to recentre it on that location. You can also click and drag the mouse to drag the map to a new location.
To go to a specific catchment, town or local government area, click on the Find a place tab, then select from one of the three scrolling lists (Catchment Management Authorities, Towns and Councils). The lists cover the whole of NSW, no matter where your map is focused.
| Click and drag a rectangle around the area you require on the locator map, which appears on both the Legend and Find a place tabs. |
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Some map layers have information attached to each feature (point or polygon) on the map.
To view this data, make the layer "active" by selecting
the Map layer control tab and clicking the
button
next to the layer you want to query. (Layers without this button are not queriable.) The layer is active when this button is depressed:
.
Next, make sure the Feature info
tool
above the map is selected before clicking a feature (point or polygon) on the map.
A pop-up window will appear with details of the feature you have clicked.
Some layers have extensive feature information available including reports and photographs. Water quality data can be selected, graphed and downloaded by clicking a monitoring site.
Click the Add to map tab, browse through the topics (click a topic to see its contents) and click add layer below the desired layer name to add it to the "shopping trolley" list of selected map layers on the right hand side of the page.
Click the 
button to add the selected layers to your map.
Clicking quickmap will take you straight to the mapmaker and replace any map layers in your map with the set of layers in the quickmap.
Click on a map layer name in the Legend tab to view a brief description of the layer in a pop-up window. From there, click the metadata link to see the layer's full description, including quality and contact details.
To print the map, click the Print button above the map. A pop-up window will allow you to enter a map title and notes, then the map will appear in a new window, with its title, scale bar and legend. You can print this window using your web browser's Print command.
Occasionally, the map on the print window will not show all data from the original mapmaker map (because of scale limits on some map layers). If this happens, try returning to the mapmaker and zooming out slightly before printing again.
To save the map to your computer as a single image you can use later, click the
Save button.
Alternatively, to save the map with its title, legend and scale bar, use the Print button , then use your browser to save the print page as a complete web page.
The data behind some map layers can also be saved to your computer. If your map contains downloadable layers, download links will appear in the pop-up window when you click the
Save button. Data can be downloaded in various formats such as comma-separated values (CSV) suitable for loading into a spreadsheet or Geography Markup Language (GML) for use in GIS software.
Show or hide layers by selecting or deselecting the layer's checkbox on the Map layer control tab. Deselecting will hide a layer, but will not remove it from the list.
If one layer is hidden behind another, use the Sort map layers tab to change the order of layers. Click the up 
or down 
arrows or enter a number in the box, then click 
.
moves a layer higher.
moves a layer to the top.
moves a layer lower.
moves a layer to the bottom.
You can either delete layers from your legend, or just hide them if you want to view them again at a later time.
To delete a layer from your legend, click the Sort map layers tab. Select
the checkbox in the Delete column for the layer to be deleted, then click .
Show or hide layers by selecting or deselecting the layer's checkbox on the Map layer control tab. Deselecting will hide a layer, but will not remove it from the list.
There are several ways to browse or search the Natural Resource Atlas, described below.
The results shown while searching and browsing match your current map area. You can set this area using mapmaker's location tools, or by clicking Refine area from the Browse Topics page, or by selecting a region on the home page.
Whether you browse or search, results are presented in a similar way. They are sorted first by resource type, so the most useful results appear near the top of the list, and then by title. Resource types are:
Each resource type has a preview link to pop up a picture and a brief summary. You can also click the metadata link to see a detailed data description, including quality and contact details.
Map layers and quickmaps can be viewed in the Natural Resource Atlas mapmaker. Click add layer to select a map layer to include on your map. Selected map layers will appear in the "shopping trolley" list of selected map layers to the right. Then click the button to add the selected layers to your map. Clicking quickmap will take you straight to the mapmaker and replace any map layers in your map with the set of layers in the quickmap.
If you click a website, document or download data, the result will appear in a new browser window. These resource types cannot be viewed in the mapmaker.
Enter a word or phrase into the text box in the 
area at the top right corner of any page (do not use quotes). This will search for the exact phrase you enter. The search is performed across the titles, abstracts and custodians of all records in the Natural Resource Atlas catalogue and the Natural Resource Data Directory (NRDD metadata).
Results are presented one page at a time. Click the Next and Previous links to move between pages of results.
If you haven't found what you're looking for, use the Advanced Search page to refine your search.
The Browse Topics page allows you to browse all available information: map
layers, "quickmaps", websites, PDFs and other static maps, downloadable data and metadata. Information resources are organised into hierarchical topic folders. Click on a top-level folder 
to open it and browse a topic, or a second level folder to browse a sub-topic for data. You can close folders to keep the topic tree compact.
The Advanced Search page is available from the home page, the Browse Topics page and from the bottom of the Results page after performing a Simple search. It allows you to find specific types of information, such as downloadable data, metadata, or information from a particular custodian agency.
Do not use quotes. The exact phrase you enter will be searched for, across all resources in the Natural Resource Atlas catalogue and the Natural Resources Data Directory (NRDD metadata).
Enter "%" (without the quotes) to see all results. This is useful in combination with other fields, e.g. to find all map layers from a particular custodian.
A Google search form at the bottom of the Advanced Search page allows you to search all New South Wales state and local government websites, or the entire web.
When browsing or searching in the Natural Resource Atlas, the results shown will be limited to those that overlap your current map area. Change the search/browse area either by selecting a region on the home page, using the mapmaker's location tools or by clicking Refine area at the top of the Browse Topics page.
In the Refine Area pop-up window, select from the scrolling lists to specify the area for a catchment management authority, town or council. You can also set the area to all of New South Wales, or reset it to the current map area in the mapmaker.
The Natural Resource Atlas has been tested to run on Firefox (v1.0+) and Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 6.0 on Windows only). Reportedly it works on Safari as well. More information.
Some map layers are scale-dependent, which means they disappear when you zoom in or out past a certain limit. When this occurs, the layer is also removed from the map legend and a
symbol
appears beside the layer name in the Map layer control tab. Click this symbol to pop-up an explanation of how to respond.
A custodian may make a layer scale-dependent because the data is inaccurate (and can be misleading) when zoomed in beyond the scale at which it was captured. Conversely, a data server may not be able to handle data requests over very large areas. Sometimes the exact location of features must be protected for security or other reasons (such as hiding the location of a rare and valuable plant).
When using the mapmaker, you may find sometimes that the map doesn't draw, or the application stops responding. If this happens:
button on the Map layer control tab. symbol
beside its name in the Map layer control tab. Click this symbol to pop-up an explanation.
link (top left) to return to the NRAtlas home page and start again.In in Microsoft Internet Explorer, the progress meter in the browser's status bar at the bottom right of the NRAtlas window may show continuing activity even after the page has completed loading. This seems to be caused by a bug in Internet Explorer and can be ignored.
On the home page, the folder icons in the topic list may flash on and off as you move the mouse over them. If this happens, make sure your browser is using its cache properly. In Internet Explorer, click Tools > Options. Select the General tab and click Settings... in the Temporary files section. "Check for newer versions of files" should be set to "Automatic" (or any other setting), not "Every time I visit the page".
Please let us know about any problem or question not answered here. It may be a bug we can fix. Email us at nratlas@dnr.nsw.gov.au with: