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    • Western US Ruggedness Reclassified into 6 Classes

    Metadata Updated: January 20, 2026

    "Vector Ruggedness Measure (VRM) measures terrain ruggedness as the variation in three-dimensional orientation of grid cells within a neighborhood. Vector analysis is used to calculate the dispersion of vectors normal (orthogonal) to grid cells within the specified neighborhood. This method effectively captures variability in slope and aspect into a single measure. Ruggedness values in the output raster can range from 0 (no terrain variation) to 1 (complete terrain variation). Typical values for natural terrains range between 0 and about 0.4. VRM was adapted from a method first proposed by Hobson (1972). VRM appears to decouple terrain ruggedness from slope better than current ruggedness indices, such as TRI or LSRI. See Sappington et al. 2007, for further details" (Sappington 2012). After calculating raw VRM values we, binned the values into 6 classes using Jenks Natural Breaks for use in the Land Treatment Exploration Tool Similarity Index. Classes range from very low to very high.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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    Dates

    Metadata Created Date January 12, 2026
    Metadata Updated Date January 20, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date January 12, 2026
    Metadata Updated Date January 20, 2026
    Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
    Maintainer
    Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_5a8482b7e4b00f54eb34d6a3
    Data Last Modified 2020-08-19T00:00:00Z
    Category geospatial
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 010:12
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Datagov Dedupe Retained 20260120012310
    Harvest Object Id 22219eb3-6b15-4406-8270-68cbedb5f42e
    Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
    Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -133.770087776, 27.3622478263, -133.770087776, 52.008905857, -101.448805076, 52.008905857, -101.448805076, 27.3622478263, -133.770087776, 27.3622478263}
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash cd0cb105b3af11cfa99622e5a31c6ff017c4f7a702358cd5ae936e49594ba73e
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -133.770087776, 27.3622478263, -133.770087776, 52.008905857, -101.448805076, 52.008905857, -101.448805076, 27.3622478263, -133.770087776, 27.3622478263}

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