Data Products » LANDFIRE Data Access Tool

The LANDFIRE Data Access Tool is an ArcGIS toolbar developed by the Rocky Mountain Research Station and distributed by the National Interagency Fuels Technology Team. The tool allows users to interact with the LANDFIRE data distribution site (the USGS’ National Map LANDFIRE) and download LANDFIRE data directly from within ArcMap.

Users should be familiar with the operation of the National Map LANDFIRE prior to using these tools. In summary, the National Map LANDFIRE provides a web browser interface through which users can select LANDFIRE data layers for download, drag a box on a map to define an extent rectangle, and download the selected layers as zipped files in either ESRI ArcGRID or GeoTiff format. The downloaded files are given an 8-digit random number that needs to be changed to the LANDFIRE layer name. Also, depending on the size of the extent rectangle, the downloaded raster layers may be divided into multiple pieces that will need to be merged back together by the user after download.

The LANDFIRE Data Access Tool allows an ArcGIS user to drag a box in an ArcMap session to define a download area, select the desired LANDFIRE layers, and then download data from the National Map LANDFIRE for the specified extent rectangle. All of the randomly named zip files should be downloaded to a single folder. The downloaded zip files can be from any number of LANDFIRE layers, can include single-piece or multiple-piece downloads, and can include layers from any number of different spatial extent rectangles. Once all the data of interest have been downloaded as zip files to a single folder, the LANDFIRE Data Tools Smart Assembler will batch unzip the files, automatically rename the layers to the correct LANDFIRE names, merge multiple-piece layers back into a single output layer if necessary, and re-attach attribute fields to the output raster attribute tables. Output raster layers can be generated in ESRI ArcGRID, Erdas Imagine, or GeoTiff formats.