Publications
Here you will find publications, reports and articles produced by Core Science System scientists. For a comprehensive listing of all USGS publications please click the button below.
Filter Total Items: 299
Synoptic evaluation of scale-dependent metrics for hydrographic line feature geometry Synoptic evaluation of scale-dependent metrics for hydrographic line feature geometry
Methods of acquisition and feature simplification for vector feature data impact cartographic representations and scientific investigations of these data, and are therefore important considerations for geographic information science (Haunert and Sester 2008). After initial collection, linear features may be simplified to reduce excessive detail or to furnish a reduced-scale version of...
Authors
Larry V. Stanislawski, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Paulo Raposo, Madeline Cameron, Jeff T. Falgout
Complex Topographic Feature Ontology Patterns Complex Topographic Feature Ontology Patterns
Semantic ontologies are examined as effective data models for the representation of complex topographic feature types. Complex feature types are viewed as integrated relations between basic features for a basic purpose. In the context of topographic science, such component assemblages are supported by resource systems and found on the local landscape. Ontologies are organized within six...
Authors
Dalia E. Varanka, Thomas J. Jerris
Future land-use scenarios and the loss of wildlife habitats in the southeastern United States Future land-use scenarios and the loss of wildlife habitats in the southeastern United States
Land-use change is a major cause of wildlife habitat loss. Understanding how changes in land-use policies and economic factors can impact future trends in land use and wildlife habitat loss is therefore critical for conservation efforts. Our goal here was to evaluate the consequences of future land-use changes under different conservation policies and crop market conditions on habitat...
Authors
Sebastian Martinuzzi, John C. Withey, Anna M. Pidgeon, Andrew Plantinga, Alexa McKerrow, Steven G. Williams, David P. Helmers, Volker C. Radeloff
Crisis crowdsourcing framework: designing strategic configurations of crowdsourcing for the emergency management domain Crisis crowdsourcing framework: designing strategic configurations of crowdsourcing for the emergency management domain
Crowdsourcing is not a new practice but it is a concept that has gained significant attention during recent disasters. Drawing from previous work in the crisis informatics, disaster sociology, and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) literature, the paper first explains recent conceptualizations of crowdsourcing and how crowdsourcing is a way of leveraging disaster convergence. The...
Authors
Sophia B. Liu
Specification for the U.S. Geological Survey Historical Topographic Map Collection Specification for the U.S. Geological Survey Historical Topographic Map Collection
This document provides the detailed requirements for producing, archiving, and disseminating a comprehensive digital collection of topographic maps for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Historical Topographic Map Collection (HTMC). The HTMC is a digital archive of about 190,000 printed topographic maps published by the USGS from the inception of the topographic mapping program in 1884...
Authors
Gregory J. Allord, Jennifer L. Walter, Kristin A. Fishburn, Gale A. Shea
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium: 20 years of development and integration of USA national land cover data The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium: 20 years of development and integration of USA national land cover data
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium demonstrates the national benefits of USA Federal collaboration. Starting in the mid-1990s as a small group with the straightforward goal of compiling a comprehensive national Landsat dataset that could be used to meet agencies’ needs, MRLC has grown into a group of 10 USA Federal Agencies that coordinate the production of five...
Authors
James D. Wickham, Collin G. Homer, James E. Vogelmann, Alexa McKerrow, Rick Mueller, Nate Herold, John Coluston
The southern megalopolis: using the past to predict the future of urban sprawl in the Southeast U.S. The southern megalopolis: using the past to predict the future of urban sprawl in the Southeast U.S.
The future health of ecosystems is arguably as dependent on urban sprawl as it is on human-caused climatic warming. Urban sprawl strongly impacts the urban ecosystems it creates and the natural and agro-ecosystems that it displaces and fragments. Here, we project urban sprawl changes for the next 50 years for the fast-growing Southeast U.S. Previous studies have focused on modeling...
Authors
Adam Terando, Jennifer Costanza, Curtis Belyea, Robert R. Dunn, Alexa McKerrow, Jaime Collazo
Baseline and projected future carbon storage and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the eastern United States Baseline and projected future carbon storage and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the eastern United States
This assessment was conducted to fulfill the requirements of section 712 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and to conduct a comprehensive national assessment of storage and flux (flow) of carbon and the fluxes of other greenhouse gases in ecosystems of the Eastern United States. These carbon and greenhouse gas variables were examined for major terrestrial ecosystems...
An ontology design pattern for surface water features An ontology design pattern for surface water features
Surface water is a primary concept of human experience but concepts are captured in cultures and languages in many different ways. Still, many commonalities exist due to the physical basis of many of the properties and categories. An abstract ontology of surface water features based only on those physical properties of landscape features has the best potential for serving as a...
Authors
Gaurav Sinha, David Mark, Dave Kolas, Dalia Varanka, Boleslo E. Romero, Chen-Chieh Feng, E. Lynn Usery, Joshua Liebermann, Alexandre Sorokine
Generalisation operators Generalisation operators
This chapter summarises cartographic generalisation operators used to generalise geospatial data. It includes a review of recent approaches that have been tested or implemented to generalise networks, points, or groups. Emphasis is placed on recent advances that permit additional flexibility to tailor generalisation processing in particular geographic contexts, and to permit more...
Authors
Larry V. Stanislawski, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Pia Bereuter, Sandro Savino, Cynthia A. Brewer
A new map of global ecological land units — An ecophysiographic stratification approach A new map of global ecological land units — An ecophysiographic stratification approach
In response to the need and an intergovernmental commission for a high resolution and data-derived global ecosystem map, land surface elements of global ecological pattern were characterized in an ecophysiographic stratification of the planet. The stratification produced 3,923 terrestrial ecological land units (ELUs) at a base resolution of 250 meters. The ELUs were derived from data on...
Authors
Roger Sayre, Jack Dangermond, Charlie Frye, Randy Vaughan, Peter Aniello, Sean P. Breyer, Douglas Cribbs, Dabney Hopkins, Richard Nauman, William Derrenbacher, Dawn J. Wright, Clint Brown, Charles Convis, Jonathan H. Smith, Laurence Benson, D. Paco VanSistine, Harumi Warner, Jill Janene Cress, Jeffrey J. Danielson, Sharon L. Hamann, Thomas Cecere, Ashwan D. Reddy, Devon Burton, Andrea Grosse, Diane TRUE, Marc Metzger, Jens Hartmann, Nils Moosdorf, Hans Durr, Marc Paganini, Pierre Defourny, Olivier Arino, Simone Maynard, Mark Anderson, Patrick Comer
Integrating recent land cover mapping efforts to update the National Gap Analysis Program's species habitat map Integrating recent land cover mapping efforts to update the National Gap Analysis Program's species habitat map
Over the past decade, great progress has been made to develop national extent land cover mapping products to address natural resource issues. One of the core products of the GAP Program is range-wide species distribution models for nearly 2000 terrestrial vertebrate species in the U.S. We rely on deductive modeling of habitat affinities using these products to create models of habitat...
Authors
Alexa McKerrow, A. Davidson, Todd Earnhardt, Abigail L. Benson