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At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1987

DIGITAL CARTOGRAPHY OF THE PLANETS: NEW METHODS, ITS STATUS, AND ITS FUTURE.

A system has been developed that establishes a standardized cartographic database for each of the 19 planets and major satellites that have been explored to date. Compilation of the databases involves both traditional and newly developed digital image processing and mosaicking techniques, including radiometric and geometric corrections of the images. Each database, or digital image model (DIM), is a digital mosaic of spacecraft images that have been radiometrically and geometrically corrected and photometrically modeled. During compilation, ancillary data files such as radiometric calibrations and refined photometric values for all camera lens and filter combinations and refined camera-orientation matrices for all images used in the mapping are produced.

Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing↗
USGS1973

Photomechanical experiments in automated cartography

The U.S. Geological Survey recently undertook the investigation of two seemingly unrelated cartographic tasks: (1) the preparation of map copy for digitizing and (2) the production of experimental slope maps. Both tasks, however, require techniques and equipment for changing or manipulating the line weights of existing map symbols and producing suitable reproduction copy. After a study of existing equipment, a prototype revolving illuminator was designed and fabricated for experiments in line-weight manipulation. Sufficient exposures have been made with the device to indicate that positive control of line-weight increases and decreases up to 0.2 inch is attainable. The device has been used for photomechanical experiments in slope mapping, hill shading, and preparation of map copy for digitizing.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS2001

Planetary geodesy and cartography at the USGS, Flagstaff: Moon, Mars, Venus, and beyond

An important theme of our work is the synergistic use of a variety of geodetic, cartographic, and photogrammetric software packages. The USGS digital cartographic software system ISIS provides most of the processing capability needed for planimetric mapping tasks such as our revision of the global digital image mosaic of Mars (MDIM). The geodetic control network on which this mosaic is based was produced at RAND with planetary bundle-block adjustment software that was developed there and that has recently been transferred to the USGS where we are also using it to compute a revised control network of Io from Voyager and Galileo images. The revised MDIM compiled in 2000 is substantially improved over the version produced from the same ~4500 Viking Orbiter images in 1991, both in geodetic accuracy and in radiometric/cosmetic quality. Maps of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter have also been improved geodetically and cosmetically as we have added Galileo images to the control networks and digital mosaics. Stereotopographic mapping of the Moon, Mars, Venus, and the asteroid Eros requires ISIS for data ingestion and calibration steps, along with the commercial photogrammetric software SOCET SETâ for “photogrammetric” steps such as adjustment of control and topographic model extraction and editing. Novel procedures must frequently be developed to deal with problems of planetary datasets such as the need to use large numbers of small images, nonuniform image coverage, poor image overlap, and lack of true ground control. Some sensors, such as the Magellan Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), also require the development of specialized sensor model software. A second important theme is the complementarity between photogrammetric techniques and the laser altimeter systems coming into increasing use on planetary spacecraft. Stereoanalysis of Clementine images of the Moon has been used to fill in major gaps in the altimeter dataset at high latitudes, but the stereo data must be tied to the altimetry where the datasets overlap. For Mars and Eros, our stereomapping provides spatial sampling of topography finer than that achieved by altimetry, but use of the altimetry data for vertical control is essential to improve the absolute accuracy of photogrammetric topographic models. The dense spatial sampling of the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) dataset makes it useful as a source of horizontal control as well: features in images can easily be recognized in the altimetry and can be assigned coordinates with such small uncertainties that they function effectively as ground control points in the photogrammetric bundle-block adjustment. Such MOLA-derived ground points will be used to further improve the Viking Orbiter based control network and MDIM late in 2001 and will be incorporated into a subsequent network and mosaic based on global stereo imagery from MOC.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2019

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 and other national programs provide public domain, authoritative, accurate, and reliable data for The National Map, and data are served to United States government organizations and the public. Products of The National Map include viewable and downloadable data for all data layers, derivative products including US Topo, and web services of the data. The US Topo product is automatically generated from national map databases and produces topographic maps every three years for all 48 of the contiguous United States, Hawaii, and the United States territories.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2019

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, through digital means. Adoption of geographic information systems (GIS) as the primary production process for topographic maps, including digital database preparation (1975-2000) and product generation operations (2001-present), has led to faster and more standardized production in a semi-automated process. However, the topographic product has remained the same static graphic. Global Navigation Systems (GNS) began in the post 1990s, led to publicly and commercially produced location-based information traditionally provided by surveyors for topographic maps. Advances in GIS technology, computer processing, memory, and storage devices, along with GNS spawned new location systems and led to ubiquitous, consumer-based cartography through commercial entities on the World Wide Web (Web). This global availability of cartography has provided consumer access and the ability to produce topographic types of map products previously supplied only by traditional National Mapping Agencies (NMAs). Information provided by location-based services made available through connected databases has led to completely new business models based on cartography and geospatial data. A new form of topographic map as an interactive, linked knowledge base is now being created. The appearance of the Semantic Web and Linked Open Data allows the map to become an interactive knowledge base. In this current theory and implementation of topographic mapping, the map is a graphics-based interface to a triplestore knowledge base which includes a topographic feature ontology, semantics and relations, and instance data with geometry and topology available. The topographic map graphic becomes an interactive link to the knowledge base and additional linked data through the Linked Open Data cloud.

Cartographic Journal↗
USGS1992

Toward digital geologic map standards: a progress report

Establishing modern scientific and technical standards for geologic maps and their derivative map products is vital to both producers and users of such maps as we move into an age of digital cartography. Application of earth-science data in complex geographic information systems, acceleration of geologic map production, and reduction of population costs require that national standards be developed for digital geologic cartography and computer analysis. Since December 1988, under commission of the Chief Geologic of the U.S. Geological Survey and the mandate of the National Geologic Mapping Program (with added representation from the Association of American State Geologists), a committee has been designing a comprehensive set of scientific map standards. Three primary issues were: (1) selecting scientific symbology and its digital representation; (2) creating an appropriate digital coding system that characterizes geologic features with respect to their physical properties, stratigraphic and structural relations, spatial orientation, and interpreted mode of origin; and (3) developing mechanisms for reporting levels of certainty for descriptive as well as measured properties. Approximately 650 symbols for geoscience maps, including present usage of the U.S Geological Survey, state geological surveys, industry, and academia have been identified and tentatively adopted. A proposed coding system comprises four-character groupings of major and minor codes that can identify all attributes of a geologic feature. Such a coding system allows unique identification of as many as 105 geologic names and values on a given map. The new standard will track closely the latest developments of the Proposed Standard for Digital Cartographic Data soon to be submitted to the National Institute of Standards and Technology by the Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee on Digital Cartography. This standard will adhere generally to the accepted definitions and specifications for spatial data transfer. It will require separate specifications of digital cartographic quality relating to positional accuracy and ranges of measured and interpreted values such as geologic age and rock composition. Provisional digital geologic map standards will be published for trial implementation. After approximately two years, when comments on the proposed standards have been solicited and modifications made, formal adoption of the standards will be recommended. Widespread acceptance of the new standards will depend on their applicability to the broadest range of earth-science map products and their adaptability to changing cartographic technology.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2002

Submarine landslides: advances and challenges

Due to the recent development of well-integrated surveying techniques of the sea floor, significant improvements were achieved in mapping and describing the morphology and architecture of submarine mass movements. Except for the occurrence of turbidity currents, the aquatic environment (marine and fresh water) experiences the same type of mass failure as that found on land. Submarine mass movements, however, can have run-out distances in excess of 100 km, so their impact on any offshore activity needs to be integrated over a wide area. This great mobility of submarine mass movements is still not very well understood, particularly for cases like the far-reaching debris flows mapped on the Mississippi Fan and the large submarine rock avalanches found around many volcanic islands. A major challenge ahead is the integration of mass movement mechanics in an appropriate evaluation of the hazard so that proper risk assessment methodologies can be developed and implemented for various human activities offshore, including the development of natural resources and the establishment of reliable communication corridors. Key words : submarine slides, hazards, risk assessment, morphology, mobility, tsunami. Le dveloppement rcent de techniques de levs hydrograhiques pour les fonds marins nous a permis d'atteindre une qualit ingale dans la cartographie et la description des glissements sous marins. l'exception des courants de turbidit, on retrouve dans le domaine aquatique les mmes types de mouvements de terrain que sur terre. Par contre, les glissements sous-marins peuvent atteindre des distances excdant 100 km de telle sorte que leur impact sur les activits offshore doit tre pris en compte sur de grandes tendues. La grande mobilit des glissements sous-marins n'est pas encore bien comprise, comme pour le cas des coules de dbris cartographies sur le cne du Mississippi ainsi que pour les grandes avalanches rocheuses sous-marines retrouves au pourtour des les volcaniques. Un dfi majeur auquel nous faisons face est celui de dterminer les alas associs aux divers types de mouvements sous-marins ainsi que les risques associs l'activit humaine, telle que l'exploitation des ressources naturelles et l'tablissement de routes de communications fiables. Mots cls : glissements sous-marins, morphologie, ala, risque, mobilit, tsunami.

Canadian Geotechnical Journal↗
USGS1990

Catalog of US GeoData

The development of geographic information systems (GIS) is a rapidly growing industry that supports natural resources, studies, land management, environmental analysis, and urban and transporation planning. The increasing use of computers for storing and analyzing earth science information has greatly expanded the demand for digital cartographic and geographic data. Digital cartography involves the collection, storage, processing, analysis, and display of map data with the aid of computers. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Nation's largest earth science research agency, through its National Mapping Program, has expanded digital cartography operations to include the collection of elevation, planimetric, land use and land cover, and geographic names information in digital form. This digital information is available on 9-track magnetic tapes and, in the case of 1:2,000,000-scale planimetric digital line graph data, in Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) format. Digital information can be used with all types of geographic and land information systems.

General Information Product↗
USGS1985

US GeoData: Digital cartographic and geographic data

The increasing use of computers for storing and analyzing earth science information has sparked a growth in the demand for various types of cartographic data in digital form. The production of map data in computerized form is called digital cartography, and it involves the collection, storage, processing, analysis, and display of map data with the aid of computers. The U.S. Geological Survey, the Nation's largest earth science research agency, has expanded its national mapping program to incorporate operations associated with digital cartography, including the collection of planimetric, elevation, and geographic names information in digital form. This digital information is available for use in meeting the multipurpose needs and applications of the map user community.

General Information Product↗
USGS1975

Status and plans of the Department of the Interior EROS program

The Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Program of the Department of the Interior has been actively participating in the LANDSAT (formerly ERTS) program and other investigations with remotely sensed data. A large number of applications have been demonstrated that can assist in the discovery of nonrenewable resources, monitoring areal extent of renewable resources, monitoring environmental change, and in providing repetitive data for planimetric revision of small-scale maps and maps showing land cover classes. A new and potentially revolutionary approach, that of "automated cartography," has been initiated through the versatile nature of the data available from LANDSAT. "Automated cartography" as used here refers to the ability to automatically extract land cover classes and relate these classes to geographic position.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2020

Coordination of planetary coordinate system recommendations by the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements–2020 status and future

Our goal is to request input from the lunar and planetary community regarding issues of planetary coordinate systems and cartography standards. We begin with an overview of the work of the International Astronomical Union Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements. We briefly describe the operations and membership of the Working Group, some of the various uses of the recommendations it makes, our most recent (2018) published report and the recommendations therein, and the outlook for our next such report. We then consider several issues and questions regarding the future of the Working Group and regarding planetary cartography and planetary data spatial infrastructure in general. This includes possible near-term projects, how we and others might collect and consider community input and includes some ideas regarding possible outcomes or future work that will need to be addressed by the Working Group or other organizations.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2002

Mars Geodesy/Cartography Working Group recommendations on Mars cartographic constants and coordinate systems

NASA's Mars Geodesy/Cartography Working Group (MGCWG), established in 1998 and chaired since 2000 by one of us (TCD), consists of leading researchers in planetary geodesy and cartography at such diverse institutions as JPL, NASA Ames and Goddard Centers, Purdue and Ohio State Universities, Malin Space Science Systems, the German Center for Aerospace Research DLR, and the US Geological Survey, as well as representatives of the current and future Mars mission teams that are the customers for Mars maps. The purpose of the group is the coordinate the activities of the many agencies active in Mars geodesy and cartography in order to minimize redundant effort and ensure that the products needed by mission customers are generated. A specific objectives has been to avoid repeating the experience of the 1970s-80s, when competing researchers produced geodetic control solutions and maps of Mars that were mutually inconsistent. To this end, the MGCWG has recently assembled a set of preferred values for Mars cartographic constants, based on the best available data. These values have been transmitted to the International Astronomical Union and appear in the report of the IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements of the Planets and Satellites as the officially recommended constants for Mars (Seidelmann et al., 2002). The MGCWG has also recommended to NASA that the USGS adopt the IAU-approved coordinate system of planetocentric latitude and east longitude for future maps of Mars, in the place of the (also IAU-approved) planetographic system with west longitude positive. This recommendation has recently been approved by NASA. In this paper we present the preferred values for Mars cartographic constants with discussion of the process by which they were derived, then discuss the rationale and implications of the use of east/planetocentric coordinates in future Mars maps.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1983

Surveyors, cartographers, photogrammetrists; identification friends or foes

Largely because of historical developments, the disciplines of geodesy, surveying, photogrammetry, cartography and remote sensing which make up the profession of cartographic science are organised into numerous societies at both the national and international levels. Partly as a consequence of this separatism, an effective education system for the profession is not well developed. There are hopeful signs, both nationally and internationally, that the various societies may get together to present a united professional front to the world scientific community.

Cartography↗
USGS2001

Improving the quality of mass produced maps

Quality is critical in cartography because key decisions are often made based on the information the map communicates. The mass production of digital cartographic information to support geographic information science has now added a new dimension to the problem of cartographic quality, as problems once limited to small volumes can now proliferate in mass production programs. These problems can also affect the economics of map production by diverting a sizeable portion of production cost to pay for rework on maps with poor quality. Such problems are common to general industry—in response, the quality engineering profession has developed a number of successful methods to overcome these problems. Two important methods are the reduction of error through statistical analysIs and addressing the quality environment in which people work. Once initial and obvious quality problems have been solved, outside influences periodically appear that cause adverse variations in quality and consequently increase production costs. Such errors can be difficult to detect before the customer is affected. However, a number of statistical techniques can be employed to detect variation so that the problem is eliminated before significant damage is caused. Additionally, the environment in which the workforce operates must be conducive to quality. Managers have a powerful responslblhty to create this environment. Two sets of guidelines, known as Deming's Fourteen Points and ISO-9000, provide models for this environment.

Cartography and Geographic Information Science↗
USGS2011

The U.S. Geological Survey cartographic and geographic information science research activities 2006-2010

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) produces geospatial databases and topographic maps for the United States of America. A part of that mission includes conducting research in geographic information science (GIScience) and cartography to support mapping and improve the design, quality, delivery, and use of geospatial data and topographic maps. The Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS) was established by the USGS in January 2006 as a part of the National Geospatial Program Office. CEGIS (http://cegis.usgs.gov) evolved from a team of cartographic researchers at the Mid-Continent Mapping Center. The team became known as the Cartographic Research group and was supported by the Cooperative Topographic Mapping, Geographic Analysis and Monitoring, and Land Remote Sensing programs of the Geography Discipline of the USGS from 1999-2005. In 2006, the Cartographic Research group and its projects (http://carto-research.er.usgs.gov/) became the core of CEGIS staff and research. In 2006, CEGIS research became focused on The National Map (http://nationalmap.gov).

Cartography and Geographic Information Science↗
USGS2020

Semantically enabling map projections knowledge

Map projections are an area of cartography with a firm mathematical foundation for their creation and display providing a basis for a knowledge representation. Using only variations on a single equation set, an infinite number of projections can be created, but less than 100 are in active use. Because each projection preserves specific characteristics, such as area, angles, global look, or a compromise of properties, classifications of map projections have been developed to aid in knowledge representation. These classifications are used for decision-making. They help select the correct projection for the map use. They assist users with determining the correct orientation, standard parallels and meridians. The classifications also inform the user how to adjust the selection based on size, extent, and latitude. Semantics can be used to automate map projections knowledge into a knowledge base that can be accessed by humans and machines. This work details a semantic representation of map projections knowledge and provides a simple example of a use case that exploits the knowledge base.

Cartography and Geoinformation↗
USGS1983

Maps for the nation: The current federal mapping establishment

The U.S. Government annually produces an estimated 53,000 new maps and charts and distributes about 160 million copies. A large number of these maps are produced under the national mapping program, a decentralized Federal/State cooperative approach to mapping the country at standard scales. Circular A-16, issued by the Office of Management and Budget in 1953 and revised in 1967, delegates the mapping responsibilities to various federal agencies. The U.S. Department of the Interior's Geological Survey is the principal federal agency responsible for implementing the national mapping program. Other major federal map producing agencies include the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. To make maps and mapping information more readily available, the National Cartographic Information Center was established in 1974 and an expanded National Map Library Depository Program in 1981. The most recent of many technological advances made under the mapping program are in the areas of digital cartography and video disc and optical disc information storage systems. Future trends and changes in the federal mapping program will involve expanded information and customer service operations, further developments in the production and use of digital cartographic data, and consideration of a Federal Mapping Agency.

Government Publications Review↗