New Feature - Data Collection Categories

We’ve made changes to the Monitoring Location Page (MLP) to make all kinds of water data accessible from the same place in WDFN.

USGS water data is collected at monitoring locations either by automated sensors or manual data collection. Prior to 2024, Water Data for the Nation (WDFN) primarily focused on delivering the data collected via automated sensors as our most popular data access category. In the past year, WDFN has added discrete sample data and has been working on including manual data collection. To help organize the different data, we are introducing the concept of data collection categories to describe all the ways the water data is collected. A new Data Collection Category description includes now five data collection categories which can be found on WDFN:

• Location information: Location information is basic information about the monitoring location including the name, identifier, agency responsible for data collection, and the date the location was established.
• Continuous data: Continuous data are collected via automated sensors installed at a monitoring location. They are collected at a high frequency and specific time interval, often every 15 minutes.
• Daily data: Daily data provide one data value to represent water conditions for the day. Throughout much of the history of the USGS, the primary water data available were daily data. These data were originally collected manually at the monitoring location once each day, then transitioned to being recorded at the location. Daily data published today are generally a summary statistic or single metric of the continuous data collected each day.
• Field measurements: Field measurements are physically measured values collected during a visit to the monitoring location. Field measurements consist of measurements of gage height and discharge, and readings of groundwater levels, and are primarily used as calibration readings for the automated sensors collecting continuous data.
• Discrete sample data: Discrete sample data are derived from manual field collection and laboratory analysis of physically collected samples collected during a visit to the monitoring location. These samples can be of water quality, sediment, biological tissue, air, and soil.

Historically in NWISWeb, these data collection categories were generally accessed from different pages within the system. One goal of modernization with WDFN is to make data collected at a monitoring location more accessible from a single webpage. As a result, the Monitoring Location Pages will now serve as the hub of all water data collected, regardless of category of data collection.

How to find all the data collected at a monitoring location

The Monitoring Location Page for many years has had the capability to graph Continuous data and for groundwater wells, pair groundwater water level Field measurements with the Continuous data, and provide any Location information in the Location metadata accordion. Starting in February 2025, the Monitoring Location Page will be updated to highlight the different data collection categories available at each location. Key changes are impacting several data collection types, detailed in the sections below.

Available data expanded to include all data collection categories

The Available data section is being standardized to always show the four data collection categories including helpful information like how many data types are available and what the period of record is for each data collection category. Often, the available period of record for Daily data is much longer than for Continuous data!

Monitoring locations do not all collect the same water data, so to help understand when data is not available at a location, each data collection category will always be reported in the Available data section. For example, a groundwater location may not have Continuous or Daily data so it will report 0 data types available and remove the options to interact with those data collection categories.

Each data collection category uses a unique color which is a useful reminder about what data is currently graphed, as many data types can have similar or even identical names. Frames have been added around the graph to draw attention to which category is currently being graphed.

Change the data types using the “Graph it” buttons available for each data type in Continuous data, Daily data, and Field measurements categories. Discrete sample data cannot be graphed at this time.

Daily data is being added

Daily data is now integrated into the page similarly to Continuous data. Key features for Daily data:

• Add and remove specific Daily data types with the checkboxes (for example, some daily data types have multiple statistics available such as minimum, maximum, and mean)
• Graph the full period of record with a click of the radio buttons above the hydrograph
• See the values and qualifiers in a table under the graph or in the “View data records” button
• Access the same services used to render the graphs under the “Download data” button

Groundwater levels moving on the page

Groundwater levels, a type of Field measurement, had previously been intermixed into the Continuous data to support graphing that key data type early in the Monitoring Location Page development. Groundwater levels are now separated out into the Field measurement data collection category. The graphing behavior is not changing:

• Selecting a data type in the Field measurement category will graph each measurement as a circle. Continuous data is not included on the graph.
• Same as before these changes, selecting a Continuous data type will include circles for any Field measurement data that exists within the time frame of the graph.

Discrete samples moving on the page

Discrete sample data functionality has moved from an accordion lower on the MLP and into the Available data section. You can review available Discrete sample data and filter the table by characteristic group or by observed property just as you could before. Use the link in each row to download discrete sample data for each observed property collected at the monitoring location.

What’s Next

The Monitoring Location Page will continue to act as our hub for different data types and work is ongoing to integrate this concept throughout WDFN. Key improvements expected this year include:

• Adding in other key Field measurements of discharge and gage height allowing for Continuous data to be paired with Field measurements on the graph.
• Adding in location-specific statistical graphs where the latest measurements are compared to historical percentiles. WDFN statistical calculations use Daily data as a primary input, which is now summarized on the Monitoring Location Page. User favorite graphs like the Duration Hydrograph from WaterWatch are expected to be added into WDFN.
• These data collection categories will also be integrated on other WDFN pages, starting with My Favorites.

We will be conducting user testing on the changes to the Monitoring Location Pages, please email wdfn_usabilitytesting@usgs.gov if you are interested in participating. Our team uses user-centered design processes to determine what to prioritize next. Let us know how the page is working for you by emailing wdfn@usgs.gov .