Week 3 Progress

So far this week I have e-mailed Dr. K regarding changes from the .gif files to the new Bing map. I also included in the e-mail inquiry as to whether or not I should plan on changing my current points. The biggest battle for me this week is to figure out how to get the particular layers I need for this map. I have searched the NYS GIS Clearinghouse to see if I could find the layers such as wetlands, roadways and forested areas and so far I have found several data sets that might help me. However,
I am still looking to find others. As I find these data sets I am also e-mailing Dr. Meierdiercks in hopes to get the password to unlock the New York State Historic Sites and Park Boundary. On ArcGIS online I was able to search for USA federal lands, which outlined the boundaries of the Saratoga Battlefield, which was one of the layers I was looking for, but I will use the NYS boundary data to confirm that this is the correct boundary. Below is a map of the current map as of now:

 

Below are the sites from the GIS Clearinghouse that I hope to find the data layers I need from within the next week or two. One question I need to get the answer of is how to use the zip files once I obtain them.

 

http://gis.ny.gov/gisdata/inventories/details.cfm?DSID=978 (Historical Land Use and Land Cover)
http://gis.ny.gov/gisdata/inventories/details.cfm?DSID=815 (National Land Cover Data)
http://gis.ny.gov/gisdata/inventories/details.cfm?DSID=1167 (DEC Roads and Trails)
http://gis.ny.gov/gisdata/inventories/details.cfm?DSID=928 (NYS Hydrography)
http://gis.ny.gov/gisdata/inventories/details.cfm?DSID=932 (NYS streets)