What are the Terms of Use/Licensing for map services and data from The National Map?

The USGS only offers vector downloads from The National Map in bulk by special request. For assistance, send an e-mail to tnm_help@usgs.gov and include your contact information, requested product, requested area, and download format.

A tiled service contains cached tiles that render the map in small tile images. This allows the map to perform much faster when panning and zooming, compared to a dynamic service. Dynamic is considered an "older" way of displaying web maps, where each feature is called from the source data and drawn separately for every pan and zoom. Tiled base maps are cached from global scale to a scale of 1:9...

See the online National Map Viewer Quick Start Guide. For brief instructions, click on the "How to" link at the top of The National Map Downloader. Training videos are also available.

Data from The National Map is free and in the public domain. There are no restrictions on downloaded data; however, we request that the following statement be used when citing, copying, or reprinting data: "Data available from U.S. Geological Survey, National Geospatial Program." Learn more: USGS Copyrights and Credits Statement

The USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is in the process of collecting high-quality lidar and  IfSAR (for Alaska) coverage for all of the United States and its territories. As this new data becomes available, legacy Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are being systematically replaced with high-resolution DEMs produced almost entirely from the lidar and ifsar data.  Legacy DEMs were produced from...

Submit questions about The National Map products or report issues to The National Map service desk at: tnm_help@usgs.gov