Publications

Imagine waking up at 2 o'clock in the morning by a violent rumbling that causes ceilings to fall, furniture to topple over, and windows to break. Your home is crumbling, it is dark, and by the time you realize what is going on the shaking stops. You quickly determine that your family members are okay, but you also realize your power is out, all the windows are broken, and there is...

Extreme emergency events of national significance that include manmade and natural disasters seem to have become more frequent during the past two decades. The Nation is becoming more resilient to these emergencies through better preparedness, reduced duplication, and establishing better communications so every response and recovery effort saves lives and mitigates the long-term social...

From a very early period of the world's existence, man has endeavored to represent the earth's surface in a graphic form for the information of his fellow men, realizing that no oral or written description is capable of setting forth topographic facts so vividly and so clearly as a map. Mapping of the areas of the United States began with the charting of portions of its coast line by...

Orthorectified digital aerial photographs and satellite images of 1-meter (m) pixel resolution or finer make up the orthoimagery component of The National Map. The process of orthorectification removes feature displacements and scale variations caused by terrain relief and sensor geometry. The result is a combination of the image characteristics of an aerial photograph or satellite image...

The National Elevation Dataset (NED) is the primary elevation data product produced and distributed by the USGS. The NED provides seamless raster elevation data of the conterminous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and the island territories. The NED is derived from diverse source data sets that are processed to a specification with a consistent resolution, coordinate system, elevation...

The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is the surface-water component of The National Map. The NHD is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that represents the surface water of the United States using common features such as lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, canals, streamgages, and dams. Polygons are used to represent area features such as lakes, ponds, and rivers; lines are used to...

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC) provides geospatial technical expertise in support of the National Geospatial Program in its development of The National Map, National Atlas of the United States, and implementation of key components of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).

Federal, State, and local response and management personnel must have current, reliable, and easily accessible geographic information and maps to prepare for, respond to, or recover from emergency situations. In life-threatening events, such as earthquakes, floods, or wildland fires, geographic information is essential for locating critical infrastructure and carrying out evacuation and...

The Digital Mapping Techniques '08 (DMT'08) workshop was attended by more than 100 technical experts from 40 agencies, universities, and private companies, including representatives from 24 State geological surveys. This year's meeting, the twelfth in the annual series, was hosted by the Idaho Geological Survey, from May 18-21, 2008, on the University of Idaho campus in Moscow, Idaho...

No abstract available.

On May 21st and 22nd 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) hosted the Second National Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) Initiative Strategy Meeting at USGS Headquarters in Reston, Virginia. The USGS is taking the lead in cooperation with many partners to design and...

The Digital Mapping Techniques '07 (DMT'07) workshop was attended by 85 technical experts from 49 agencies, universities, and private companies, including representatives from 27 state geological surveys. This year's meeting, the tenth in the annual series, was hosted by the South Carolina Geological Survey, from May 20-23, 2007, on the University of South Carolina campus in Columbia...