## 1 Introduction
### Web-Based Access to Natural Resource Data, Information and Knowledge
* The interactive web GIS service Florida Seminole County Watershed Atlas ([[http://www.seminole.wateratlas.usf.edu/](http://www.seminole.wateratlas.usf.edu/)]([http://www.seminole.wateratlas.usf.edu/](http://www.seminole.wateratlas.usf.edu/))) allows access to data and metadata (including real-time) as well as map generation and viewing associated with water and environment. * The Atlas of Canada ([[http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/index.html](http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/index.html)]([http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/index.html](http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/index.html))), initially launched in 1994, is a collection of interactive maps (web GIS), graphics, images and multi-media resources of environment, history, climate change, and freshwater datasets. * In Australia, the Western Australian NRM Shared Land Information Platform (SLIP) provides access to a range of spatial data and information products from state repositories via an interactive map interface. Maps can be selected based on NRM region and datasets include soil-landscape mapping, invasive species and soil-landscape capability ([[http://spatial.agric.wa.gov.au/slip/](http://spatial.agric.wa.gov.au/slip/)]([http://spatial.agric.wa.gov.au/slip/](http://spatial.agric.wa.gov.au/slip/))). The South Australian e-NRIMS (Natural Resource Information Management System) provides access to geospatial data, including soils, using a map viewer ([[http://e-nrims.dwlbc.sa.gov.au/](http://e-nrims.dwlbc.sa.gov.au/)]([http://e-nrims.dwlbc.sa.gov.au/](http://e-nrims.dwlbc.sa.gov.au/))). The New South Wales Natural Resource Atlas ([[http://www.nratlas.nsw.gov.au/](http://www.nratlas.nsw.gov.au/)]([http://www.nratlas.nsw.gov.au/](http://www.nratlas.nsw.gov.au/))) is a portal to maps and data for environmental management, planning, research and education--providing a catalogue of natural resource databases and geographic information that can be accessed statewide or by NRM region. The VRO website is neither a data warehouse nor an interactive mapping facility. It is instead a long-running spatially-based information and knowledge repository that provides static image-based maps (mainly GIF format), presented as information products at an appropriate scale. Many of the maps also have a \"spatial indexing\" function, being clickable to access relevant information elsewhere on the website. Much of the information provided is not available in a corporate-wide GIS, and is sometimes derived from data that is not suited to being made publicly accessible (e.g., it is in a form that could be misinterpreted by non-specialists or may be subject to privacy restrictions in the case of some data collected on private land). VRO is also a significant grey literature repository, containing around 500 contemporary and legacy reports that have been digitally captured and made available as downloadable documents. [PERSON] and [PERSON] (2011) note that data, information and knowledge needs to be indexed so that it can be found, and describe the VRO website as a \"good example of an in-house indexing and knowledge retrieval system within the Victorian Government\" [19].