The new National Atlas Streamer: tool for watershed-based reporting, or personal cartographer?

With help from the brand-new National Atlas Streamer Map and Pixlr, I've been having fun with watershed maps all morning. I've been delighted by what I could learn and create. Like this information on the Gasconade River, my home watershed*:

Trace Details

Trace Direction: Upstream
Trace Origin Stream Name: Gasconade River
Trace Origin (latitude, longitude): 38.676, -91.556
Trace Origin Elevation (feet): 614

Water Features

Total Length of Traced Streams (miles): 800
Outlet Waterbody: Gulf of Mexico
USGS Stream Gages (count): 12
Stream Names (count): 18

Political Features

U.S. States (count): 1
U.S. Counties (count): 12
Total County Population (2010): 320,595
Cities (count): 31

For people without a fancy geography system, this is a phenomenal way to report statistics and details at the watershed level. I have hoped for some easy way to make this kind of calculation for the kinds of articles I want to write. So journalists, take heed! There's more to a border than a line on the map. (Actually, there are many, many lines.) 

And that's just the summary report. In detail, you can see the USGS stream gauge locations, the stream names of all the creeks that feed into your selected river, and the counties and cities inside that watershed. Oh, what the heck, here's the rest of the information:

Detailed information on the Gasconade River from its confluence with the Missouri River

USGS Stream Gages

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06927800 Osage Fork Gasconade River At Drynob, Mo.	06928750 West Piney Creek At Bado, MO
06928000 Gasconade River Near Hazelgreen, MO	06930000 Big Piney River Near Big Piney, MO
06928300 Roubidoux Creek Above Ft. Leonard Wood, MO	06930060 Big Piney Below Ft. Leonard Wood, MO
06928420 Roubidoux Creek At Polla Rd Bl Ft. Leonard Wood	06932000 Little Piney Creek At Newburg, MO
06928430 Roubidoux Creek Below Ft. Leonard Wood, MO	06933500 Gasconade River At Jerome, MO
06928500 Gasconade River Near Waynesville, MissourI	06934000 Gasconade River Near Rich Fountain, MO

Stream Names

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Arthur Creek	Gasconade River	Potter Creek	Steins Creek
Baker Creek	Hyde Creek	Roubidoux Creek	Third Creek
Beaver Creek	Little Piney Creek	Second Creek	Whetstone Creek
Big Piney River	Little Piney River	Sherrill Creek
Cantrell Creek	Osage Fork Gasconade River	Spring Creek

US States

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Missouri

Counties

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Dent County, MO	Laclede County, MO	Osage County, MO	Texas County, MO
Gasconade County, MO	Maries County, MO	Phelps County, MO	Webster County, MO
Howell County, MO	Montgomery County, MO	Pulaski County, MO	Wright County, MO

Cities

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Bendavis, MO	Edgar Springs, MO	Manes, MO	Plato, MO
Bucyrus, MO	Evergreen, MO	Morgan, MO	Richland, MO
Cabool, MO	Falcon, MO	Mount Sterling, MO	Saint Robert, MO
Competition, MO	Gasconade, MO	Mountain Grove, MO	Simmons, MO
Dawson, MO	Grovespring, MO	Newburg, MO	Twin Bridges, MO
Doolittle, MO	Hartville, MO	Niangua, MO	Vienna, MO
Drake, MO	Houston, MO	Northwye, MO	Waynesville, MO
Drynob, MO	Licking, MO	Owensville, MO

*Nope, Dixon and Lebanon aren't listed here. But I lived closer to Vienna growing up, and definitely within the Gasconade watershed. It's my spirit river.