The public data behind this site
Environmento doesn’t collect or host any original data(NOTE: This may change if updates are added to the website, as of now, there is no additional data required). Everything here traces back to three public sources. If you want a property-level answer rather than a countywide overview, these are the tools built for that.
Howard County Climate Forward
The county’s official climate action dashboard, built around its goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2030. It breaks emissions down by sector (transportation is the largest at roughly 52%, energy use roughly 39%) and includes the county’s heat vulnerability index and flood risk summaries, the same figures cited throughout this site.
Use it for: understanding countywide emissions targets and progress, and for the heat vulnerability rankings behind sites like Wilde Lake Village Center.
Visit climateforward.howardcountymd.gov →Howard County Open Data / GIS Portal
The county’s open-data and mapping hub, including the Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM) viewer, regulated floodplain layers, and the green infrastructure network showing forests, wetlands, and stream buffers the county is working to preserve.
Use it for: looking up whether your specific address sits in a mapped 100- or 500-year floodplain, and for browsing raw GIS layers the county maintains directly.
Visit data.howardcountymd.gov → Visit opendata.howardcountymd.gov →Maryland iMAP + FEMA Flood Maps
Maryland iMAP is the state’s GIS data catalog, covering floodplain and environmental layers statewide, useful for seeing how Howard County’s watersheds connect to the broader Patapsco and Chesapeake Bay systems. FEMA’s flood maps, mirrored for Maryland at mdfloodmaps.net, are the authoritative federal source behind flood insurance requirements.
Use it for: statewide context on floodplains and environmental layers, and for the federal flood map your mortgage lender or insurer will actually reference.
Visit data.imap.maryland.gov → Visit mdfloodmaps.net →Overview, not diagnosis
Every statistic and hotspot on this site traces back to one of the three sources above, cited at the bottom of each page. When the county publishes a specific figure, a percentage, a ranking, a named location, we use it as-is instead of estimating our own version. When we’re describing a general pattern instead, like pavement holding onto heat, we say so plainly rather than dressing it up as a precise measurement it isn’t. If a number here looks off, the source link is the place to check first.
Sources
- Howard County Office of Community Sustainability, Climate Forward dashboard. climateforward.howardcountymd.gov
- Howard County GIS / Open Data portal. data.howardcountymd.gov · opendata.howardcountymd.gov
- Maryland iMAP GIS Data Catalog and FEMA flood maps. data.imap.maryland.gov · mdfloodmaps.net