How to Use the Virtual Atlas of the Pacific Northwest
The Framework for the Atlas
The Virtual Atlas of the Pacific Northwest is an effort designed to bring the modern technology into the classroom to provide the most recent, up-to-date information in an interactive format. As such this site can be used as a traditional atlas or to expand your search in an interactive capacity. The following explanation should help you to more fully utilize this sites full capacity.
This atlas is organized much the same way as a traditional textbook would be, starting from the most general categories and narrowing down to more specific. From the main page you can chose to search by subregion, the state, or by specific theme. These pages contain text and graphical information about the subject chosen. Where this project differs from a traditional atlas is that your research is not limited by the information we have included. Each topical page contains links to other sites on the Internet that may be of interest. We have chosen links which are credible and contain sound information. There is a great amount of information available on the Internet and we hope this atlas can be used as a starting to guide your search.
How to Find Information
Because the Internet allows for the interconnectedness of information to be expressed it is necessary to approach any search in a logical fashion. For example, if you were searching for information on the Columbia River ecosystem, you might start by choosing the Columbia Basin from the Subregions page. From there you can chose an included link or go to the Related Links choose for more specific information on topics such as the hydroelectric projects, the ecosystem management page. You can further expand your search through going to the Washington State Page and going to the Official State Home Page to find the pages of cities within that subregion. You then can go to the thematic pages to find out about many subjects such as the Indian groups, the vegetation or soils types, history and many others. For an even more in-depth search you can go to the Map Links page and chose an option such as the Enviromapper to zoom in on the specific region of interest and find information on the superfund sites, drainage basins, air and water discharge sites. This is only a small sample of what can possibly be researched through the Virtual Atlas. The important point to illustrate here is that there is a great depth and variety of information available through this site. All that is required is a little bit of searching, and what is not available directly in the atlas can be linked to on the Internet.
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