File Name: National Waterway Network File Description: The National Waterway Network (NWN) is a geographic database of navigable waterways in and around the United States, for analytical studies of waterway performance, for compiling commodity flow statistics, and for mapping purposes. The National Waterway Network is comprised of a link database and a node database. Links are line strings, which consist of beginning and end points (nodes) with intermediate vertices (shape points). Links represent either actual shipping lanes (i.e., channels, Intracoastal Waterways, sealanes, rivers) or serve as representative paths in open water (where no defined shipping paths exist). Nodes may represent physical entities such as river confluence's, ports/facilities, and intermodal terminals, USACE nodes, or may be inserted for analytical purposes (i.e., to facilitate routing). The NWN databases were developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Vanderbilt University, with input from the National Waterway GIS Design Committee (NWGISDC). The NWGISDC contains members from several agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), USDOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (VNTSC), Maritime Administration (MARAD), Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Bureau of Census, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Several data sources were used to create the network. Therefore, network links vary in scale. The majority of the inland links are at 1:100,000 scale(derived from 1:100,000 scale Digital Line Graph files). Off-shore links were derived from variable scale NOAA Navigational Charts. Therefore, the off-shore links vary in scale, with larger scale NOAA charts used in harbor/bay/port areas, and smaller scale NOAA charts used in open waters. All links in the USACE (non geo-coded) Waterway Link Network are represented in the NWN. The USACE network was used as a base for the NWN; "USACE links" form a contiguous subset within the NWN, and can be extracted through queries on the "link number" (linknum) field in the link database (where linknum<1000000). Additional (non- USACE) links and nodes were added to the USACE network to more realistically represent shipping patterns. Approximately 200 USACE ports are geo-coded in the node database, including the top 150 ports. ORNL initially developed databases for the inland waterways; Vanderbilt constructed databases for the off-shore waterways. ORNL then merged the inland and off-shore databases to form a continuous national network. Vanderbilt revised the inland waterway network through use of USGS Digital Line Graph (DLG) files. Vanderbilt, ORNL, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC) are continuously enhancing and performing validation tasks to improve the accuracy of the NWN. File Format: The eight files that make up the NWN dataset are in a format prescribed by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). The metadata documentation file, waterway.met, is an ASCII text file that describes source, responsible agency, file formats and additional discussion regarding the use of the dataset. Additional files in the dataset include: watertl1.dbf -- dBase format file containing link attributes watertn1.dbf -- dBase format file containing node attributes waterway.geo -- ASCII file containing geo-spatial information for the network waterway.lnk -- ASCII file containing network link information waterway.nod -- ASCII file containing network node information waterway.tl1 -- ASCII file containing link attributes waterway.tn1 -- ASCII file containing node attributes Viewing and Importing the National Waterway Network The Bureau of Transporation Statistics (BTS) has developed a data viewer and extraction software for use with our NWN dataset and other National Transportation Atlas Databases (NTAD). The software requires Windows NT/95 and consists of two parts: a pre-processor and a viewer. The pre-processor reads the NTAD data format and converts it for use in the viewer. It also provides the option of converting the data into several common GIS formats: ArcView, ARC/INFO generate, Caliper (TransCAD/Maptitude), and Mapinfo. The preprocessor reads and converts only the base files. The attribute files must be linked separately from the GIS. The metadata documentation file describes the key fields which link the attributes. The viewer portion of the software allows users to view the NWN geographically. It is intended for use by those who do not have a GIS. It displays the data in map format and has elementary mapping functions such as panning and zooming. Information from the base NWN files can be queried and displayed. The attribute files are NOT loaded into this version of the viewer. Maps can also be printed/plotted from the viewer. The Data Viewer is available from the BTS Internet site (www.bts.gov/gis/ntatlas/viewer.html) or through the Product Distribution Center by calling (202) 554-3564 or email to orders@bts.gov. After receipt of the Data Viewer, simply execute the program to install the software. Additional Translation Software BTS developed a routine using the Arc Macro Language to convert the NTAD into UNIX based ARC/INFO systems. An ArcView customer developed an Avenue script, along with text instructions, to covert NTAD to shape files. A GRASS customer developed a UNIX bourne shell script, along with text instructions, to covert NTAD to GRASS format. Caliper Corporation includes a NTAD translator in their latest release of GIS software. All of these translators are available from the BTS Internet site (www.bts.gov/gis/ntatlas.translation.html). If you have questions about these translators or encounter any problems using them, please contact the Bureau of Transportation Statistics at (202) 366-DATA. The BTS encourages its customers, as well as GIS vendors, to contact them at (ntad@bts.gov) if they have written translation routines for the NTAD. If you have general questions concerning using the National Waterway Network in a GIS environment, please contact, Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC) at (504) 862-1404.