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Core Science Systems Mission Area

USGS CSS serves as the primary national civilian mapping agency, including topographic and geologic mapping for Federal and State requirements, national geospatial coordination, satellite operations and remote sensing. Our products and data are necessary to understand, monitor, and detect changes that affect the Nation’s natural and agricultural resources, the economy, public safety, and security.

News

USGS Partners with AI/ML Experts to Improve Landsat Flight Operations

USGS Partners with AI/ML Experts to Improve Landsat Flight Operations

ASTER Data Archive: Now Processed, Ready and Waiting for You

ASTER Data Archive: Now Processed, Ready and Waiting for You

USGS topoBuilder Surpasses One Million Custom Topo Maps

USGS topoBuilder Surpasses One Million Custom Topo Maps

Publications

Multi-temporal surface water mapping with high-resolution elevation and image data through weakly supervised deep learning Multi-temporal surface water mapping with high-resolution elevation and image data through weakly supervised deep learning

Monitoring the extent of surface water features (hydrography), accurately storing them in databases, and representing them on topographic maps are essential for various applications such as navigation and policy-making for legislative boundaries and permitting. In this context, hydrographic data includes features that generally have water present or image data showing signs that water is...
Authors
Larry Stanislawski, Rongjun Qin, Jung-Kuan Liu, Ethan J. Shavers, Shaowen Wang, Nattapon Jaroenchai, Philip T. Thiem

GIScience in the era of Artificial Intelligence: A research agenda towards Autonomous GIS GIScience in the era of Artificial Intelligence: A research agenda towards Autonomous GIS

The advent of generative AI exemplified by large language models (LLMs) opens new ways to represent and compute geographic information and transcends the process of geographic knowledge production, driving geographic information systems (GIS) towards autonomous GIS. Leveraging LLMs as the decision core, autonomous GIS can independently generate and execute geoprocessing workflows to...
Authors
Zhenlong Li, Huan Ning, Song Gao, Krzysztof Janowicz, Wenwen Li, Samantha Arundel, Chaowei Yang, Budhendra Bhaduri, Shaoweng Wang, A-Xing Zhu, Mark Gahegan, Shashi Shekhar, Xinyue Ye, Grant McKenzie, Guido Cervone, Michael Hodgson

Grammar to graph—An approach for semantic transformation of annotations to triples Grammar to graph—An approach for semantic transformation of annotations to triples

Data annotation is the process of labeling data to show the outcome that a related data model should predict. In this study, annotation data were transformed into semantic graph triples, mainly for use with the Resource Description Framework (RDF), a type of entity-relationship-attribute data model for graph databases. The transformation of annotation data to semantic graph triples...
Authors
Dalia E. Varanka, Emily Abbott

Science

National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP)

The National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) is a collaborative effort working towards a common mission to protect, restore, and enhance the nation's fish and aquatic communities through partnerships that foster fish habitat conservation and improve the quality of life for the American people.
National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP)

National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP)

The National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) is a collaborative effort working towards a common mission to protect, restore, and enhance the nation's fish and aquatic communities through partnerships that foster fish habitat conservation and improve the quality of life for the American people.
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Where land meets sea: USGS science for resilient coastal habitats

USGS coastal science plays a critical role in supporting the effective, science-based management of coastal ecosystems, where the biodiversity of land and sea meet. It provides managers with the information they need to make sound decisions. Through cutting-edge research, predictive modeling, and decision-support tools, USGS empowers resource managers to make informed, science-based choices. From...
Where land meets sea: USGS science for resilient coastal habitats

Where land meets sea: USGS science for resilient coastal habitats

USGS coastal science plays a critical role in supporting the effective, science-based management of coastal ecosystems, where the biodiversity of land and sea meet. It provides managers with the information they need to make sound decisions. Through cutting-edge research, predictive modeling, and decision-support tools, USGS empowers resource managers to make informed, science-based choices. From...
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Eyes on Earth Episode 137 – Landsat Takes Yellowstone’s Temperature

Eyes on Earth Episode 137 – Landsat Takes Yellowstone’s Temperature

How do you keep track of thousands of hot spots in an area the size of Yellowstone National Park? Check out thermal satellite data like Landsat’s!
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