Christopher P Garrity
Christopher Garrity is a Supervisory Cartographer with the USGS Geology, Energy & Minerals (GEM) Science Center in Reston, VA. He is responsible for developing scalable, resilient, enterprise-level geospatial web applications and product/data delivery systems for a variety of groups at the USGS.
Biography
Chris has an extensive background in geospatial related technologies, specializing in the planning, architecture, development, maintenance, and support of complex geospatial driven applications for USGS stakeholders. Since joining the USGS, he has led numerous high-visibility projects in the Energy/Minerals and Core Science Systems Mission areas. He is an active leader in the USGS geospatial community, especially those interested in open-source geospatial technologies, and serves on numerous USGS and industry steering committees/communities of practice. He currently leads a geospatial team in the Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center.
Education
- B.S. Earth Systems Science, GISciences, George Mason University, 2001
Expertise
- Lead developer of a variety of highly visible geospatial related applications in multiple languages/protocols (JavaScript, Python, NodeJS, PHP, JSON/XML, HTML5, CSS, etc.)
- Extensive experience utilizing geospatial technologies including ESRI ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS APls, ArcGIS Online, open-source geospatial technologies (PostGIS, GeoServer, OpenLayers, and MapBox)
- Extensive knowledge of relational database managements systems such as PostgreSOL and SOL Server
- Experience developing middleware and RESTful web services with respect for end user authentication
- Experience leveraging contemporary technologies like Cloud, Al/ML, and 3D modeling in geospatial workflows
- Experience with distributed computing frameworks for big data (Kubernetes, Dask)
- Extensive knowledge of design tools (Adobe Creative Suite, Blender, Figma, Sketch, lnvision)
- Experience in computer vision and machine learning toolkits/technologies (OpenCV, TensorFlow, Keras)
- Experience in cloud architecture (AWS) and related technologies (RDS, SageMaker, Rekognition, Textract)
- Highly proficient in testing, supporting, and developing tools/scripts, and preparing technical documentation
- Extensive knowledge in data governance/management related workflows, including geospatial catalog development and curation, semantics/ontologies, data curation, metadata (ISO, FGDC, Dublin Core) management and API technologies
Science and Products
Using Jupyter Notebooks to tell data stories and create reproducible workflows
Increasingly, USGS scientists seek to share and collaborate while working on data and code. Furthermore, these scientists often require advanced computing resources. Jupyter Notebooks are one such tool for creating these workflows. The files are interactive, code “notebooks” which allow users to combine code and text in one document, enabling scientists to share the stories held within their...
Wind Energy
The United States Wind Turbine Database (USWTDB) provides the locations of land-based and offshore wind turbines in the United States, corresponding wind project information, and turbine technical specifications. The creation of this database was jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office...
Data Information Management and Technology - Eastern Minerals
The Data Information Management and Technology project provides geographic information systems (GIS) management and technical support to projects of the Geology, Energy & Minerals (GEM) Science Center. The project facilitates geospatial data development, compiling, documentation, visualization, analyses, modeling, and product requirements using the GIS framework. The project provides...
The National Geologic Map Database - NGMDB
The National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB) is a distributed archive of geoscience information for the Nation. It was mandated by the Geologic Mapping Act of 1992 and is cooperatively built and maintained by the USGS and State Geological Surveys. We welcome you to explore the archive, view the maps, and help us to...
United States Wind Turbine Database
This dataset provides locations and technical specifications of wind turbines in the United States, almost all of which are utility-scale. Utility-scale turbines are ones which generate power and feed it into the grid, supplying a utility with energy. They are usually much larger than turbines that would feed a homeowner or business.
Earth MRI Acquisitions Map
Earth MRI began in 2019 and is a partnership between the USGS and State Geological Surveys to acquire new geologic maps, geophysical surveys, and LiDAR data to better understand the fundamental geologic framework of areas across the Nation with potential for hosting critical mineral resources.
U.S. Wind Turbine Database
The USWTDB Viewer, created by the USGS Energy Resources Program, lets you visualize, inspect, interact, and download the most current USWTDB through a dynamic web application. The USWTDB provides onshore & offshore wind turbine locations in the United States, corresponding facility...
Assessment of undiscovered gas resources in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska, 2021
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1,407 billion (1.4 trillion) cubic feet of gas in conventional accumulations in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska.
Houseknecht, David W.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Moore, Thomas E.; Rouse, William A.; Dumoulin, Julie A.; Craddock, William H.; Lease, Richard O.; Botterell, Palma J.; Sanders, Margaret M.; Smith, Rebecca A.; Connors, Christopher D.; Garrity, Christopher P.; Whidden, Katherine J.; Gooley, Jared T.; Counts, John W.; Long, Joshua H.; DeVera, Christina A.
Environmental data associated with sites infected with white-nose syndrome (WNS) before October 2011 in North America
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging infectious disease of hibernating bats caused by a fungus previously known as Geomyces destructans and reclassified as Pseudogymnoascus destructans. The disease was first documented in 2006 in New York, has since spread across much of eastern North America, and as of January 2012, had caused the death of at...
Swezey, Christopher S.; Garrity, Christopher P.
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Central North Slope of Alaska, 2020
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 3.6 billion barrels of oil and 8.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (associated and nonassociated) in conventional accumulations in Mississippian through Paleogene strata in the central North Slope...
Houseknecht, David W.; Whidden, Katherine J.; Connors, Christopher D.; Lease, Richard O.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Rouse, William A.; Botterell, Palma J.; Smith, Rebecca A.; Sanders, Margaret M.; Craddock, William H.; DeVera, Christina A.; Garrity, Christopher P.; Buursink, Marc L.; Karacan, C. Özgen; Heller, Samuel J.; Moore, Thomas E.; Dumoulin, Julie A.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.; French, Katherine L.; Woodall, Cheryl A.; Drake, Ronald M.; Marra, Kristen R.; Finn, Thomas M.; Kinney, Scott A.; Shorten, Chilisa M.
A continuously updated, geospatially rectified database of utility-scale wind turbines in the United States
Nearly 60,000 utility-scale wind turbines are installed in the United States as of July, 2019, representing over 97 gigawatts of electric power capacity; US wind turbine installations continue to grow at a rapid pace. Yet, until April 2018, no publicly-available, regularly updated data source existed to describe those turbines and their locations...
Rand, Joesph; Kramer, Louisa A.; Garrity, Christopher P.; Hoen, Ben; Diffendorfer, James E.; Hunt, Hannah; Spears, Michael
Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Amerasia Basin Province, 2008
The Amerasia Basin Province encompasses the Canada Basin and the sediment prisms along the Alaska and Canada margins, outboard from basinward margins (hingelines) of the rift shoulders that formed during extensional opening of the Canada Basin. The province includes the Mackenzie River delta and slope, the outer shelves and marine slopes along the...
Moore, Thomas E.; Gautier, Donald L.; Houseknecht, David W.; Bird, Kenneth J.; Garrity, Christopher P.
Geology of the Hardeeville NW Quadrangle and parts of the Brighton and Pineland Quadrangles, Jasper County, South Carolina
IntroductionThis publication portrays the geology of the Hardeeville NW quadrangle and parts of the Brighton and Pineland quadrangles that are within Jasper County, South Carolina. The study area is located in the Atlantic Coastal Plain province, approximately 50 to 70 kilometers (km) inland from the coast. The data are compiled from geological...
Swezey, Christopher S.; Schultz, Arthur P.; Doar, William R.; Garrity, Christopher P.; Bernhardt, Christopher E.; Crider, Ernest Allen; Edwards, Lucy E.; McGeehin, John P.
Quaternary sediment thickness and bedrock topography of the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains
Beginning roughly 2.6 million years ago, global climate entered a cooling phase known as the Pleistocene Epoch. As snow in northern latitudes compacted into ice several kilometers thick, it flowed as glaciers southward across the North American continent. These glaciers extended across the northern United States, dramatically altering the...
Soller, David; Garrity, Christopher P.
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Cretaceous Nanushuk and Torok Formations, Alaska North Slope, and summary of resource potential of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, 2017
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 8.7 billion barrels of oil and 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (associated and nonassociated) in conventional accumulations in the Cretaceous Nanushuk and Torok Formations in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, adjacent State and Native lands,...
Houseknecht, David W.; Lease, Richard O.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Rouse, William A.; Botterell, Palma J.; Whidden, Katherine J.; Garrity, Christopher P.; Lewis, Kristen A.; Heller, Samuel J.; Craddock, William H.; Klett, Timothy R.; Le, Phuong A.; Smith, Rebecca A.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.; Gaswirth, Stephanie B.; Woodall, Cheryl A.; Brownfield, Michael E.; Leathers-Miller, Heidi M.; Finn, Thomas M. The Carolina Sandhills: Quaternary eolian sand sheets and dunes along the updip margin of the Atlantic Coastal Plain province, southeastern United States
The Carolina Sandhills is a physiographic region of the Atlantic Coastal Plain province in the southeastern United States. In Chesterfield County (South Carolina), the surficial sand of this region is the Pinehurst Formation, which is interpreted as eolian sand derived from the underlying Cretaceous Middendorf Formation. This sand has yielded...
Swezey, Christopher S.; Fitzwater, Bradley A.; Whittecar, G. Richard; Mahan, Shannon A.; Garrity, Christopher P.; Alemán‑González, Wilma B.; Dobbs, Kerby M. Onshore industrial wind turbine locations for the United States up to March 2014
Wind energy is a rapidly growing form of renewable energy in the United States. While summary information on the total amounts of installed capacity are available by state, a free, centralized, national, turbine-level, geospatial dataset useful for scientific research, land and resource management, and other uses did not exist. Available in...
Diffendorfer, James E.; Kramer, Louisa; Ancona, Zachary H.; Garrity, Christopher P. The geology of Burnsville Cove, Bath and Highland Counties, Virginia
Burnsville Cove is a karst region in Bath and Highland Counties of Virginia. A new geologic map of the area reveals various units of limestone, sandstone, and siliciclastic mudstone (shale) of Silurian through Devonian age, as well as structural features such as northeast-trending anticlines and synclines, minor thrust faults, and prominent joints...
Swezey, Christopher S.; Haynes, John T.; Lambert, Richard A.; White, William B.; Lucas, Philip C.; Garrity, Christopher P.
Assessment of undiscovered petroleum resources of the Amerasia Basin Petroleum Province
The Amerasia Basin Petroleum Province encompasses the Canada Basin and the sediment prisms along the Alaska and Canada margins, outboard from basinward margins (hingelines) of the rift shoulders that formed during extensional opening of the Canada Basin. The province includes the Mackenzie delta and slope, the outer shelves and marine slopes along...
Houseknecht, David W.; Bird, Kenneth J.; Garrity, Christopher P.
TopoView - A look at version 2.1
A tutorial by USGS scientist and topoView developer Chris Garrity demonstrating how to use topoView version 2.1. TopoView let's you access and download maps free of charge from the USGS's Historical Topographic Map Collection, published between 1884 and 2006.
Resources:
An Introduction to TopoView (version 1.0)
Accessing USGS Historical Maps through TopoView
Lesson 9b: Accessing USGS Historical Maps through TopoView - This video demonstrates the basic function of TopoView, a USGS product allowing access to USGS historical topographic maps for no charge.
An Introduction to TopoView
A tutorial by USGS scientist and topoView developer Chris Garrity demonstrating how to use topoView to access maps from the USGS historical topographic map collection.
Windfarm Mapper Tutorial
A tutorial by USGS scientist Chris Garrity demonstrating how to use the WindFarm Mapping tool.
Mapping the Nation's Wind Turbines
There are more than 57,000 wind turbines across the United States, and a new tool allows you to get up close and personal with each one!
U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Energy Release Online Public Dataset and Viewer of U.S. Wind Turbine Locations and Characteristics
Today, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in partnership with DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the American Wind Energy Association, released the United States Wind Turbine Database (USWTDB) and the USWTDB Viewer to access this new public dataset.
Historical Maps at Your Fingertips
Earlier this month, the USGS launched “TopoView 2.1”, an enhancement to the current popular TopoView mapping service that lets users discover, interact, and download historical USGS topographic maps scans.
A New Way to Find Old Maps
How did your neighborhood look in the 1900s? Now there’s an easier way to find out.