U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), established in 1879, is the principal natural science and information agency in the United States. It is the government's largest water, earth, and biological science agency and serves as the nation's civilian mapping agency. USGS conducts research, monitoring, and assessments to contribute to the understanding of the natural world. The USGS provides reliable, impartial information to citizens of the country and the global community in the form of maps, data, and reports containing analyses and interpretations of water, energy, mineral and biological resources, land surfaces, marine environments, geologic structures, natural hazards, and dynamic processes of the earth. A diversity of scientific expertise enables USGS to carry out large-scale, multidisciplinary investigations and provide impartial scientific information to resource managers, planners, and other customers.

The USGS provides leadership and coordination to develop a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and to meet the nation's needs for current base topographic data and maps. Through its National Geospatial Program Office (NGPO), the USGS helps achieve a national vision that current, accurate, and nationally consistent geospatial data will be readily available on a local, national, and global basis to contribute to economic growth, environmental quality and stability, and social progress. Within the NGPO, the Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science conducts, leads, and influences the research and innovative solutions required by the NSDI. As secretariat to the Federal Geographic Data Committee and managing partner for several government-wide initiatives (e.g., the Geospatial One-Stop e-government initiative and the Geospatial Line of Business), the NGPO coordinates the activities of many organizations in the United States to help realize an NSDI.

The NGPO with its partners in federal, state, local, and tribal government and industry provide the United States with a common set of base topographic information that describes the earth's surface and locates features. This synthesis of topographic information, products, and capabilities, The National Map, is a seamless, continuously maintained set of geographic base information that serves as a foundation for integrating, sharing, and using other data easily and consistently. It consists of digital orthorectified imagery, surface elevation, hydrography, transportation (roads, railways, and waterways), structures, government unit boundaries, and publicly owned lands boundaries. The National Map provides data about the United States and its territories that others can extend, enhance, and reference as they concentrate on maintaining data that are unique to their needs.

One of the primary access points to The National Map is the Geospatial One-Stop Portal, a national intergovernmental tool that enables access and discovery of thousands of geospatial data sets for viewing and integration through the use of open Web map standards. Combining the vast collection of geospatial data holdings found in Geospatial One-Stop with The National Map greatly enhances the ability of the United States to access and use geospatial information for decision-making activities. The information is used for economic and community development, land and natural resource management, and health and safety services and increasingly underpins a large part of the U.S. economy.