Publications

Introduction High-resolution elevation data are critical to applications of landscape modeling and planning, both of which have a significant effect on Rhode Island’s economy. In these and other enterprises, program managers, while aiming to strike a balance between accuracy and cost, strive to obtain the best available elevation data to help them address a range of issues. Programs...

Introduction High-quality elevation data for Utah inform decision making to improve the State’s economy. Light detection and ranging (lidar) data are used to support infrastructure planning and management, assess natural resources, and improve resiliency to hazards. The expanding availability of current and more accurate lidar data helps to better support natural resource conservation...

Introduction The topography of New Hampshire ranges from the Coastal Lowlands to the Eastern New England Upland to the White Mountains region. High-quality statewide elevation data are useful in managing this very diverse landscape. For example, the short coastline, including the Great Bay estuary and the Hampton-Seabrook marshes, is of disproportionately high value to New Hampshire’s...

Introduction High-resolution elevation data for Kansas inform decision making to improve the State’s economy. Existing elevation data coverage is used to support State water planning initiatives, facilitate infrastructure management, and improve resilience to natural disasters. The expanding availability of current and more accurate elevation data helps better support natural resources...

Introduction High-resolution elevation data for Texas inform decision making to improve the State’s economy. Existing elevation data coverage is used to improve resiliency to natural disasters, manage energy infrastructure, and assess natural resources. The expanding availability of current and more accurate elevation data helps better support natural resources conservation, agriculture...

TopoBuilder is a public web application from the National Geospatial Program that enables anyone to create customized digital U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) topographic maps, called OnDemand Topos, with the best available, most up-to-date data from The National Map (nationalmap.gov). OnDemand Topos can be made at different scales or quadrangles and can cover anywhere within the United...

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI; also known as the Marshall Islands) is a nation of more than 30 low-lying atolls and islands, most of which are inhabited, dispersed across an Exclusive Economic Zone over 770,000 square miles in the tropical central north Pacific Ocean. The study objectives and methods were originally presented in U.S. Geological Survey Data Report 1181 and are...

OnDemand Topo map users now have more map scale options available to them with debut of the 100K Topo or 1:100,000-scale mapping capability within the free topoBuilder application.

High-quality elevation data are proving to be a resource of value in addressing many important economic issues in Michigan. The expanding statewide availability of current and accurate high-resolution elevation data can help support agriculture and precision farming, natural resource conservation, flood risk management, and geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation. Water supply...

IntroductionMississippi has a dispersed population of nearly three million residents in an area of approximately 48,400 square miles and has a favorable climate for agriculture, with abundant precipitation and minimal extreme temperatures. The topography consists mostly of low hills and lowland plains, with the highest elevation about 800 feet above sea level. An exception is the nearly...

The U.S. Geological Survey is initiating the 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP), the first systematic remapping of the Nation’s surface waters since the original 1:24,000-scale topographic mapping program was active from 1947 to 1992. Building on decades of experience maintaining the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD), and the NHDPlus High Resolution...

IntroductionHigh-quality elevation data are proving to be a resource of great economic value in dealing with many important issues in Ohio. Current and accurate high-resolution elevation data support flood risk management, water quantity and quality assessment, precision farming, conservation planning, impervious-surface modeling, forest and other natural resources management, abandoned...