FAQ's about National Atlas

Although the content of most National Atlas web pages is in the public domain, some pages may contain material that is copyrighted by others and used by the National Atlas with permission. You may need to obtain permission from the copyright owner for other uses. Furthermore, some non-National Atlas data, products, and information linked, or referred to, from this site may be protected under U.S. and foreign copyright laws. You may need to obtain permission from the copyright owner to acquire, use, reproduce, or distribute these materials.

• About.com Geography
• Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook
• Houghton Mifflin Company Education Place
• National Geographic Xpeditions
• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, The University of Texas at Austin
• University of Alabama, United States Maps

 

Please see our products page for a complete listing of the products and services included in the National Atlas.

No. The National Atlas of the United States of America® published by the USGS in 1970, is out of print. However, the Library of Congress has added the original National Atlas to its American Memory collection on the World Wide Web. See the American Memory site to browse through the earlier atlas.

Also, many maps from the 1970 edition can be purchased from the USGS. See our page on Maps from the 1970 National Atlas for more information. Used or antique book stores are possible sources for the 1970 National Atlas. Reference copies are available in many libraries.

The National Atlas Map Maker can be used to locate named places within the United States. Go to the Map Maker, click on the Find tab, then follow the onscreen directions.

Please visit the Help for the National Atlas Map Maker page. If you still have questions, please contact us at atlasmail@usgs.gov.

• Expedia
• MapQuest
• Maps on Us
• MSN Maps and Directions
• Yahoo! Maps

 

GNIS data is available from a number of sources and services. See the Geospatial One-Stop, Geographic Names Community for full metadata and instructions concerning these services (Click Geographic Names under Special Interest in left menu, then Gallery or Resources.). Contact GNIS Manager for additional information.

GNIS public Web site: Directly queries the database for official geographic feature names, their locative attributes, variant names, and other data, and allows users to display, print, and download results for datasets up to 2000 records.

The National Map: Displays the names layers from the GNIS Map Service in the right menu of the viewer. Define an area of interest, check the desired layers under the Names category, and refresh the map for display. The Find Place/Feature Lookup utility in the left menu of the viewer directly accesses the database through the GNIS XML service. Query on features of interest, then center and zoom the viewer to them. Click Download in the left menu and select layers including Names to retrieve ZIPed SHAPE files.

GNIS Map Service: Provides direct access to the Names layers of The National Map for GIS tools such as ESRI ARCMap including display and download capabilities.

GNIS XML Service: Provides direct query access to GNIS database by appending query parameters to the URL and returns results in XML format for processing by any user or application. The XML service is utilized by the Find Place/Names Feature Lookup utility in The National Map.

GNIS Download Files: Data extract files for States and territories are available for download. Four topical extracts of the data base also are available: the U.S. Populated Places File lists information about all communities throughout the United States described in the database; the U.S. Concise File lists information about major physical and cultural features throughout the United States; the Historical Features File lists information about features that are no longer in existence; and the Antarctica File contains entries throughout the continent of Antarctica as approved for use on United States Government products. Go to Download GNIS for access to data extract files.

GNIS Customized Files: Will be provided if feasible upon request to GNIS Manager.

Find more information about Geographic Names at the GNIS Fact Sheet.

• Helping Your Child Learn Geography (U.S. Department of Education)
• An Outline of American Geography (by Birdsall & Florin)
• Regions Defined (Library of Congress)

 

First, National Atlas raw data come from many different Federal agencies and these agencies are often the best sources for more detailed information. Links from the National Atlas to Federal Web sites are provided in two ways. The Identify function in the Map Maker returns information with links to additional sites. There are also links provided in our Raw Data Download page. Click on a map layer name in the first column of the table on this page or on the map layer name in the Map Maker.

Second, you may find detailed data by searching the Geospatial One-Stop. For basic map themes, such as streams, roads, and boundaries, we recommend visiting The National Map page.

Third, the National Atlas Map Maker includes links to sites where you can view detailed aerial photographs and large-scale topographic maps.

Finally, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Information Services offices have a diverse collection of natural science information available both in digital and printed formats and at a variety of scales. Call them toll-free at 1-888-ASK-USGS.

Most of our data are collected at a scale of 1:2,000,000 and are intended for use at national or large regional scales. In the Map Maker, a bar scale appears under the map. The scale of each wall map is included on the Wall Maps page. We use a wide variety of scales on National Atlas printable maps.

1. Most map layers are available in the Shapefile format introduced by Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI).
   Here is a link to technical whitepaper for the Shapefile format. This information is in portable document format (PDF). Reading it requires an Acrobat Reader plug-in for your web browser. Here is a link to download Acrobat Reader.
   
2. We also make most of these map layers available in the Topological Vector Profile of the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS).
   
3. A limited number of map layers may be made available in an Arc/Info Export format.
   
4. Some map layers are actually images. These are distributed in GeoTIFF format.
   
5. Sometimes, what appears to be a map layer is not a map layer at all. That's true of the data tables that contain information about the occurrence of moths and butterflies in the United States. These tables are released in the dBase file format. They can be used in any software programs (such as spreadsheets and data base managers) that can read a generic dBase file. However, if you want to map this information (using a desktop mapping program, for instance), you must use these data tables in conjunction with the County Boundaries map layer since the species occurrence information is recorded by county.

Yes and they're free. Nearly all map layers presented within our Map Maker are available for use outside the National Atlas. You can download these map layers at no cost using file transfer protocol (FTP). See our Raw Data Download page for more information about downloading National Atlas map layers.

The following private company sells National Atlas raw data on CD-ROM. Please note that these files may not represent the latest versions of the data and that additional files not included in the National Atlas may be provided as well. The National Atlas presents this link as a service to our users and assumes no responsibility for the content or use of these files. We welcome information on other companies that offer versions of our data on CD-ROM.

• http://www.mapcruzin.com/united-states-map-atlas/

You can also embed the National Atlas in your own application if your code takes advantage of the evolving Web Mapping Services specifications from the Open Geospatial Consortium.

Please send comments, bug reports, suggestions for improvements, questions, and any other communications to us at atlasmail@usgs.govWe appreciate your input and try to respond promptly to all messages.

The GNIS contains named communities, both incorporated and unincorporated, but these communities do not necessarily correspond to ZIP Code areas. ZIP Codes are unofficial entities developed and maintained by the U.S. Postal Service solely for the purpose of delivering mail. It is not within the mission, purpose, or resources of the GNIS to maintain ZIP Code information.

ZIP Code areas are named (unless there is duplication) for the most prominent community in it or which it serves. Numerous ZIP Code areas contain multiple named communities within them, particularly in rural areas, and in urban regions, single large communities encompass multiple ZIP Codes. ZIP Code and community boundaries frequently do not correspond or correspond only roughly. Also, many communities for which the ZIP Code area is named are not incorporated, which means they do not have legal boundaries.

Therefore, the ZIP Code boundary in no way indicates a legal "footprint" of a named community, is not official for purposes other than delivering mail, and changes periodically. For additional information concerning ZIP codes, please contact the Postal Service.

Every flat map misrepresents the surface of the Earth in some way. No map can rival a globe in truly representing the surface of the entire Earth. However, a map or parts of a map can show one or more—but never all—of the following: True directions. True distances. True areas. True shapes.

For example, the basic Mercator projection is unique; it yields the only map on which a straight line drawn anywhere within its bounds shows a particular type of direction, but distances and areas are grossly distorted near the map's polar regions.

On an equidistant map, distances are true only along particular lines such as those radiating from a single point selected as the center of the projection. Shapes are more or less distorted on every equal-area map. Sizes of areas are distorted on conformal maps even though shapes of small areas are shown correctly. The degree and kinds of distortion vary with the projection used in making a map of a particular area. Some projections are suited for mapping large areas that are mainly north-south in extent, others for large areas that are mainly east-west in extent, and still others for large areas that are oblique to the Equator.

The scale of a map on any projection is always important and often crucial to the map's usefulness for a given purpose. For example, the almost grotesque distortion that is obvious at high latitudes on a small-scale Mercator map of the world disappears almost completely on a properly oriented large-scale Transverse Mercator map of a small area in the same high latitudes. A large-scale (1:24,000) 7.5-minute USGS Topographic Map based on the Transverse Mercator projection is nearly correct in every respect.

A basic knowledge of the properties of commonly used projections helps in selecting a map that comes closest to fulfilling a specific need. See http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/MapProjections/projections.html.

To cite the National Atlas, we suggest:

National Atlas of the United States, March 5, 2003, http://nationalatlas.gov

Use the date found on the bottom of the Raw Data Download page. For individual layers, we suggest a slightly different format. Include the author and the map layer title, and use the publication date for the individual map layer, i.e.

Chris Daly, Spatial Climate Analysis Service, September 2000, United States Average Annual Precipitation, 1961-1990, in National Atlas of the United States, http://nationalatlas.gov

For National Atlas articles, we suggest including the article title and date. If authors are credited at the end of an article, cite them and any originating publication as well:

Ecoregions of the United States, in National Atlas of the United States, January, 2005, http://nationalatlas.gov

Consumer-Driven Agriculture, in National Atlas of the United States, January, 2005, adapted from Ballenger, Nicole and Blaylock, James, USDA/ERS, April 2003, Consumer-Driven Agriculture: Amber Waves, Vol. 1, Issue 2.

An up-to-date Web browser installed with the Shockwave plug-in is all the software you need to use nationalatlas.gov™. Please make certain that your browser allows pop-up windows to open. We also suggest that you turn off the display of scripting errors in your browser's Internet options or preferences. Here are the browsers that we support:

Please use the "Digital Map - Beta" Users Guide - Quickstart

See the "Information Sheet (.PDF)" link at http://nationalmap.gov/digital_map