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: 185
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Puerto Rico
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, scientific research, national security, recreation, and many others. For the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, elevation data are critical for flood risk management, landslide mitigation, natural resources conservation, sea level rise and subsidence, coastal zone manage
Authors
William J. Carswell
A multidimensional representation model of geographic features
A multidimensional model of geographic features has been developed and implemented with data from The National Map of the U.S. Geological Survey. The model, programmed in C++ and implemented as a feature library, was tested with data from the National Hydrography Dataset demonstrating the capability to handle changes in feature attributes, such as increases in chlorine concentration in a stream, a
Authors
E. Lynn Usery, George Timson, Mark Coletti
USGS lidar science strategy—Mapping the technology to the science
Summary
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) utilizes light detection and ranging (lidar) and enabling technologies to support many science research activities. Lidar-derived metrics and products have become a fundamental input to complex hydrologic and hydraulic models, flood inundation models, fault detection and geologic mapping, topographic and land-surface mapping, landslide and volcano hazards
Authors
Jason M. Stoker, John Brock, Christopher E. Soulard, Kernell G. Ries, Larry J. Sugarbaker, Wesley E. Newton, Patricia K. Haggerty, Kathy Lee, John A. Young
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Hawaii
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Hawaii, elevation data are critical for infrastructure and construction management, flood risk management, geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation, natural resources conservation, coastal z
Authors
William J. Carswell
Adapting the U.S. National Hydrography Dataset to linked open data
A controlled vocabulary for the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) of the United States was developed as Linked Open Data (LOD). The vocabulary has two main parts: a glossary and a set of triples reflecting the NHD data model as it is organized in geographic information systems (GIS). The glossary consists of a feature type label and a comment consisting of a definition that is linked to a hydrogr
Authors
Dalia E. Varanka, E. Lynn Usery, David M. Mattli
What is in a contour map? A region-based logical formalization of contour semantics
Contours maps (such as topographic maps) compress the information of a function over a two-dimensional area into a discrete set of closed lines that connect points of equal value (isolines), striking a fine balance between expressiveness and cognitive simplicity. They allow humans to perform many common sense reasoning tasks about the underlying function (e.g. elevation).
This paper analyses and f
Authors
E. Lynn Usery, Torsten Hahmann
The Open Water Data Initiative: Water information for a thirsty nation
Initial efforts of the Open Water Data Initiative have focused on three use cases covering flooding, drought, and contaminant spill response, with a goal of identifying critical water data resources and making them more accessible. Significant progress has been made in the past year, although much remains to be done.
Authors
Alan Rea, Edward Clark, Angela Adams, William B. Samuels
1-Meter Digital Elevation Model specification
In January 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Technical Operations Center began producing the 1-Meter Digital Elevation Model data product. This new product was developed to provide high resolution bare-earth digital elevation models from light detection and ranging (lidar) elevation data and other elevation data collected over the conterminous United States (lower 48 States), Ha
Authors
Samantha T. Arundel, Christy-Ann M. Archuleta, Lori A. Phillips, Brittany L. Roche, Eric W. Constance
Status report for the 3D Elevation Program, 2013-2014
The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) goal is to acquire, manage, and distribute enhanced three-dimensional elevation data for the Nation and U.S. territories by 2023. This status report covers implementation activities during 2013–2014 to include meeting funding objectives, developing a management structure, modernizing systems, and collecting and producing initial 3DEP data and products. The Nation wi
Authors
Vicki Lukas, Diane F. Eldridge, Allyson L. Jason, David L. Saghy, Pamela R. Steigerwald, Jason M. Stoker, Larry J. Sugarbaker, Diana R. Thunen
Automated extraction of natural drainage density patterns for the conterminous United States through high performance computing
Hydrographic networks form an important data foundation for cartographic base mapping and for hydrologic analysis. Drainage density patterns for these networks can be derived to characterize local landscape, bedrock and climate conditions, and further inform hydrologic and geomorphological analysis by indicating areas where too few headwater channels have been extracted. But natural drainage densi
Authors
Larry V. Stanislawski, Jeff T. Falgout, Barbara P. Buttenfield
A rapid approach for automated comparison of independently derived stream networks
This paper presents an improved coefficient of line correspondence (CLC) metric for automatically assessing the similarity of two different sets of linear features. Elevation-derived channels at 1:24,000 scale (24K) are generated from a weighted flow-accumulation model and compared to 24K National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) flowlines. The CLC process conflates two vector datasets through a raster l
Authors
Larry V. Stanislawski, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Ariel T. Doumbouya
Mapping benefits from updated ifsar data in Alaska: improved source data enables better maps
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and partners in other Federal and State agencies are working collaboratively toward Statewide coverage of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (ifsar) elevation data in Alaska. These data will provide many benefits to a wide range of stakeholders and users. Some applications include development of more accurate and highly detailed topographic maps; improvement
Authors
Kari J. Craun