Publications
Here you will find publications, reports and articles produced by the National Geospatial Program (NGP) scientists. For a comprehensive listing of all USGS publications please click the button below.
Filter Total Items: 182
Elevation-derived hydrography—Representation, extraction, attribution, and delineation rules
With the increasing availability of 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) quality high resolution elevation data across the United States and the pressing need for better integrated elevation and hydrography data, the U.S. Geological Survey is developing guidance to improve the horizontal and vertical alignment of these datasets. The U.S. Geological Survey is providing the Elevation-Derived Hydrography—Acqu
Authors
Christy-Ann Archuleta, Silvia Terziotti
NHDPlus High Resolution (NHDPlus HR)---A hydrography framework for the Nation
Reliable and accurate high-resolution mapping of the Nation’s waters are critical inputs to models and decision support systems used to predict risk and enable response to impacts on water resources. It is necessary to know where the water is and how it relates to features beyond the stream network like forests, cities, and infrastructure. An up-to-date, high-resolution national hydrography framew
Authors
Susan G. Buto, Rebecca D. Anderson
Defining technology operational readiness for the 3D Elevation Program—A plan for investment, incubation, and adoption
The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is an acquisition strategy that uses data from commercial remote sensing technologies to create three-dimensional maps of the United States and U.S. territories. Currently, light detection and ranging and interferometric synthetic aperture radar are the two commercial technologies being used to provide three-dimensional information to meet the program’s operational
Authors
Jason M. Stoker
The 3D Elevation Program and energy for the Nation
High-resolution light detection and ranging (lidar) data are used in energy infrastructure siting, design, permitting, construction, and monitoring to promote public safety through the reduction of risks. For example, lidar data are used to identify safe locations for energy infrastructure by analyzing terrain parameters and identifying and evaluating geologic hazards (for example, landslide and f
Authors
Cindy A. Thatcher, Vicki Lukas, Jason M. Stoker
Improving geospatial query performance of an interoperable geographic situation-awareness system (IGSAS) for disaster response
Disaster response operations require fast and coordinated actions based on the real-time disaster situation information. Although Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) or crowdsourced geospatial data applications have demonstrated to be valuable tools for gathering real-time disaster situation information, they only provide limited utility for disaster response coordination because of the lack
Authors
Chuanrong Zhang, Tian Zhao, E. Lynn Usery, Dalia E. Varanka, Weidong Li
User's guide for the national hydrography dataset plus (NHDPlus) high resolution
The National Hydrography Dataset Plus High Resolution (NHDPlus HR) is a scalable geospatial hydrography framework built from the High Resolution (1:24,000-scale or better) National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), nationally complete Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD), and ⅓-arc-second (10-meter ground spacing) 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) digital elevation model (DEM) data. The NHDPlus HR brings modeling
Authors
Richard B. Moore, Lucinda D. McKay, Alan H. Rea, Timothy R. Bondelid, Curtis V. Price, Thomas G. Dewald, Craig M. Johnston
U.S. Geological Survey accomplishments in cartography 2015-2019
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the United States' official national topographic mapping organization, is building and maintaining geographic databases for fundamental base geographic layers of land cover, structures, boundaries, hydrography, geographic names, transportation, elevation, and orthoimagery as The National Map. Data from the 3D Elevation Program, the National Hydrography Dataset an
Authors
E. Lynn Usery
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
The National Map—New data delivery homepage, advanced viewer, lidar visualization
As one of the cornerstones of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Geospatial Program, The National Map is a collaborative effort among the USGS and other Federal, State, and local partners to improve and deliver topographic information for the Nation. The National Map is featuring direct links to new and improved GIS data access utilities on a refreshed data delivery homepage at https://w
Authors
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
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