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CSS leads USGS’s mission as the civilian mapping agency for the Nation. We conduct detailed surveys and develop high quality, highly accurate topographic, geologic, hydrographic, and biogeographic maps and data. Our maps allow precise planning for critical mineral assessments; energy development; infrastructure projects; urban planning; flood prediction; emergency response; and hazard mitigation.
National Geospatial Program
The National Geospatial Program is the Federal civilian mapping agency and provides the digital geospatial foundation for the Nation. It engages partners and communities of use to collaboratively produce consistent and accurate topographic map data.
Learn MoreScience Analytics and Synthesis (SAS)
The USGS Science Data Catalog, supported by SAS, provides seamless access to USGS research and monitoring data from across the nation. Users have the ability to search, browse, or use a map-based interface to discover data.
Learn MoreNews
Pecora 22 Calls for Special Session Abstracts
The 22nd William T. Pecora Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium (Pecora 22) will convene in Denver, Colorado, USA from October 23 – 28, 2022, and will focus on all aspects of Earth observation, spanning scientific discoveries to operational applications, and from sensors to decisions.
Landsat 9 Serves as Backbone of Efforts to Reduce Deforestation and Forest Degradation
The Landsat program has long been a powerful partner in the effort to manage and reduce carbon emissions worldwide.
The launch of Landsat 9 and its extension of the program’s nearly 50-year record of Earth surface change will help ensure the stability of those efforts, according to officials working with developing nations to monitor deforestation and forest degradation.
LCMAP Adds Data for 2020 with Release of Collection 1.2
The USGS Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) initiative has released the second update to its Conterminous United States (CONUS) science products, adding the most recent calendar year of data to an unparalleled annual land cover and land surface change time series that stretches back to 1985.
Publications
A global ecological classification of coastal segment units to complement marine biodiversity observation network assessments
A new data layer provides Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) labels for global coastal segments at 1 km or shorter resolution. These characteristics are summarized for six US Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) sites and one MBON Pole to Pole of the Americas site in Argentina. The global coastlines CMECS...
Sayre, Roger; Butler, Kevin; Van Graafeiland, Keith; Breyer, Sean; Wright, Dawn; Frye, Charlie; Karagulle, Deniz; Martin, Madeline T.; Cress, Jill Janene; Allen, Tom; Allee, Rebecca; Parsons, Rost; Nyberg, Bjorn; Costello, Mark; Harris, Peter; Muller-Karger, Frank The evolution of geospatial reasoning, analytics, and modeling
The field of geospatial analytics and modeling has a long history coinciding with the physical and cultural evolution of humans. This history is analyzed relative to the four scientific paradigms: (1) empirical analysis through description, (2) theoretical explorations using models and generalizations, (3) simulating complex phenomena and (4) data...
Arundel, Samantha; Li, Wenwen Earth's coastlines
With approximately half the world’s population living less than 65 miles from the ocean, coastal ecosystems are arguably Earth’s most critical real estate. Yet coastlines are among the more difficult features to accurately map; until now, no comprehensive high-resolution geospatial dataset existed. This chapter presents a new map and ecological...
Sayre, Roger; Martin, Madeline T.; Cress, Jill Janene; Butler, Kevin; Van Graafeiland, Keith; Breyer, Sean; Wright, Dawn; Frye, Charlie; Karagulle, Deniz; Allen, Tom; Allee, Rebecca; Parsons, Rost; Nyberg, Bjorn; Costello, Mark J.; Muller-Karger, Frank; Harris, Peter