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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: 247

Problems of Large Spatial Databases

Large spatial databases often labeled as geospatial big data exceed the capacity of commonly used computing systems as a result of data volume, variety, velocity, and veracity. Additional problems also labeled with V’s are cited, but the four primary ones are the most problematic and focus of this chapter (Li et al., 2016, Panimalar et al., 2017).  Sources include satellites, aircraft and drone pl
Authors
E. Lynn Usery

User needs for future Landsat missions

Landsat satellites have been operating since 1972, providing the longest continuous observation record of the Earth’s land surface. Over the past half century, the Landsat user community has grown exponentially, encompassing more diverse and evolving scientific research and operational uses. Understanding current and future user needs is crucial to informing the design of Landsat missions beyond L
Authors
Zhuoting Wu, Gregory Snyder, Carolyn M. Vadnais, Rohit Arora, Michael Babcock, Gregory L. Stensaas, Peter Doucette, Timothy Newman

The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting California's Economy

IntroductionCalifornia faces unprecedented challenges presented by shifting weather patterns that are defining a “new normal.” The result has been extreme weather events, prolonged drought, flooding, and debris flows. These conditions drive severe tree mortality, increase wildfire occurrence and intensity, reduce water availability, and hasten subsidence in groundwater basins. Collectively, these
Authors
Carol L. Ostergren, Drew Decker, William J. Carswell,

Analysis for agreement of the Northern Gulf of Mexico topobathymetric digital elevation model with 3-Dimensional Elevation Program 1/3 arc-second digital elevation models

Topographical differencing and edge-matching analyses were used to evaluate agreement of the Coastal National Elevation Database Applications Project’s Northern Gulf of Mexico topobathymetric digital elevation model (TBDEM) with The National Map 3-Dimensional Elevation Program (3DEP) 1/3 arc-second digital elevation models (DEMs). In addition to topographic map products provided through the Nation
Authors
Cynthia Miller-Corbett

Scale‐dependent effects of isolation on seasonal patch colonisation by two Neotropical freshwater fishes

The metapopulation paradigm has been central to improve the conservation and management of natural populations. However, despite the large number of studies on metapopulation dynamics, the overall support for the relationships on which the paradigm is based has not been strong. Here, we studied the occupancy dynamics of two Neotropical fishes (i.e., Pimelodella gracilis and Leporinus friderici) to
Authors
Jerry Penha, Karlo Y. P. Hakamada, James E. Hines, James D. Nichols

Topographic mapping evolution: From field and photogrammetric data collection to GIS production and Linked Open Data

Whither the topographic map? Topographic mapping historically has been approached as a map factory operation through the period 1879-1990. During this time, data were field and photogrammetrically collected; cartographically verified and annotated creating a compilation manuscript; further edited, generalized, symbolized, and produced as a graphic output product using lithography, or more recently
Authors
E. Lynn Usery, Dalia E. Varanka, Larry Davis

A multidisciplinary framework to derive global river reach classifications at high spatial resolution

Projected climate and environmental change are expected to increase the pressure on global freshwater resources. To prepare for and cope with the related risks, stakeholders need to devise plans for sustainable management of river systems, which in turn requires the identification of management-appropriate operational units, such as groups of rivers that share similar environmental and biological
Authors
Camille Ouellet Dallaire, Bernhard Lehner, Roger Sayre, Michele Thieme

A new 30 meter resolution global shoreline vector and associated global islands database for the development of standardized ecological coastal units

A new 30-m spatial resolution global shoreline vector (GSV) was developed from annual composites of 2014 Landsat satellite imagery. The semi-automated classification of the imagery was accomplished by manual selection of training points representing water and non-water classes along the entire global coastline. Polygon topology was applied to the GSV, resulting in a new characterisation of the num
Authors
Roger Sayre, Suzanne Noble, Sharon L. Hamann, Rebecca A. Smith, Dawn J. Wright, Sean P. Breyer, Kevin Butler, Keith Van Graafeiland, Charlie Frye, Deniz Karagulle, Dabney Hopkins, Drew Stephens, Kevin Kelly, Zeenatul Basher, Devon Burton, Jill Janene Cress, Karina Atkins, D. Paco Van Sistine, Beverly Friesen, Rebecca Allee, Tom Allen, Peter Aniello, Irawan Asaad, Mark John Costello, Kathy Goodin, Peter Harrison, Maria T. Kavanaugh, Helen Lillis, Eleonora Manca, Frank E. Muller-Karger, Bjorn Nyberg, Rost Parsons, Justin Saarinen, Jac Steiner, Adam Reed

US Topo Product Standard

This document defines a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) digital topographic map. This map product series, named “US Topo,” is modeled on the now historical USGS 7.5-minute (1:24,000 scale) topographic map series produced and printed by the USGS from 1947 to 2006. US Topo maps have the same extent, scale, and general layout as the historical topographic maps. US Topo maps incorporate an orthorectifie
Authors
Larry R. Davis, Kristin A. Fishburn, Helmut Lestinsky, Laurence R. Moore, Jennifer L. Walter

Generalization in practice within national mapping agencies

National Mapping Agencies (NMAs) are still among the main end users of research into automated generalisation, which is transferred into their produc- tion lines via various means. This chapter includes contributions from seven NMAs, illustrating how automated generalisation is used in practice within their partly or fully automated databases and maps production lines, what results are currently b
Authors
Cécile Duchêne, Blanca Baella, Cynthia A. Brewer, Dirk Burghardt, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Julien Gaffuri, Dominik Käuferle, Francois Lecordix, Emmanuel Maugeais, Ron Nijhuis, Maria Pla, Marc Post, Nicolas Regnauld, Larry Stanislawski, Jantien Stoter, Katalin Tóth, Sabine Urbanke, Vincent van Altena, Antje Wiedemann

Deep convolutional neural networks for map-type classification

Maps are an important medium that enable people to comprehensively understand the configuration of cultural activities and natural elements over different times and places. Although a massive number of maps are available in the digital era, how to effectively and accurately locate and access the desired map on the Internet remains a challenge today. Previous works partially related to map-type cla
Authors
Xiran Zhou, Wenwen Li, Samantha Arundel, Jun Liu

Streams do work: Measuring the work of low-order streams on the landscape using point clouds

The mutable nature of low-order streams makes regular updating of surface water maps necessary for accurate representation. Low-order streams make up roughly half the streams in the conterminous United States by length, and small inaccuracies in stream head location can result in significant error in stream reach, order, and density. Reliable maps of stream features are vital for hydrologic modeli
Authors
Ethan J. Shavers, Larry V. Stanislawski