The National Map
The National Mapis acollaborativeeffort of theUnited States Geological Survey(USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and delivertopographicinformation for theUnited States.[1]The purpose of the effort is to provide "...a seamless, continuously maintained set of public domain geographic base information that will serve as a foundation for integrating, sharing, and using other data easily and consistently".[2]
The National Mapis part of the USGSNational Geospatial Program.[3]The geographic information available includesorthoimagery(aerial photographs),elevation,geographic names,hydrography,boundaries, transportation, structures and land cover.The National Mapis accessible via theWeb,as products and services, and as downloadable data. Its uses range from recreation to scientific analysis to emergency response.[1]
The National Mapis a significant contribution to theU.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure(NSDI) from theFederal Geographic Data Committee(FGDC) and currently is being transformed to better serve thegeospatialcommunity by providing high quality, integrated geospatial data and improved products and services including new generation digitaltopographic maps.In addition, the National Map is foundational to implementation of theU.S. Department of the Interior(DOI) Geospatial Modernization Blueprint.[1]
The USGS also utilizes data fromThe National MapCorps,which consists of volunteers who devote some of their time to providecartographicinformation on structures.[4]
The National Mapis the official replacement for theUSGS topographic map program.[5]
The National MapCorps
[edit]The National MapCorpsconsists of volunteers who devote some of their time to providecartographicinformation to theU.S. Geological Survey.The only requirements to participate are having access to theInternetand a current familiarity with the area being mapped.[6]This data is used to updateThe National Map.
The program originally allowed volunteers to collectgeographic coordinates(latitudeandlongitude) viaGPSreceivers. The data was entered inspreadsheetformat or inESRIshapefilesand submitted via e-mail to the USGS National Geospatial Technical Operations Center(s) inDenver, Colorado,andRolla, Missouri.During the registration process, prospective volunteers submitted a list of the 7.5 minutequadranglemaps on which they wished to work. Once accepted into the project, volunteers received their assignment and 1:24,000 scaletopographic mapof their quad. While there was no deadline for completing maps, the project's administrators preferred volunteers to submit coordinates for all structures in the quad no more than one year after beginning work.
In December 2006, a new Internet-based method for submitting information on structures was introduced. Using aweb browser,volunteers are able to navigate maps and aerial photography, placing a point on the map and subsequently entering the name and type of structure.
From August 2008, the program stopped accepting structure data collected via GPS, but continued to use the web-based collection site.[7]
Types of structures mapped
[edit]The following is a list of structures that can be entered on the web site. The focus is significant man-made structures. The "other" category is for man-made structures not on this list and should not include locations such as homes, restaurants or other commercial establishments.[8]
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See also
[edit]- Microsoft Research Maps(formerly TerraServer-USA)
- National Elevation Dataset
References
[edit]- ^abc
This article incorporatespublic domain materialfromThe National Map.United States Geological Survey.
- ^Moore, Larry (December 2000, with January 2003 update),"The U.S. Geological Survey's Revision Program for 7.5-Minute Topographic Maps"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2013-02-13.Retrieved2008-10-22.(712 KB).United States Geological Survey. Also available as anHTML document.
- ^National Geospatial Program,United States Geological Survey.
- ^"The National MapCorp ".United States Geological Survey. Archived fromthe originalon 2019-01-10.Retrieved2007-08-30.
- ^Moore, Larry,Op. cit.
- ^"The National MapCorp ".U.S. Geological Survey.Archived fromthe originalon 2019-01-10.Retrieved2007-08-30.
- ^ "Letter to volunteers describing changes in procedure"(PDF).U.S. Geological Survey.July 1, 2008. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on August 13, 2009.
- ^ "Web-Based Volunteer Activity Lesson Plan (38 kB pdf file)"(PDF).U.S. Geological Survey.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2009-08-13.
External links
[edit]- The National Map(USGS)
- National Geospatial Program(USGS)
- USGS Topographic Map RevisionArchived2013-06-05 at theWayback Machine
- USGS Aerial Products
- Geospatial Modernization Blueprintfrom theU.S. Department of the Interior
- OGC GeoSPARQLwebappfor selected data sets