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Maps become out of date over time. Maps that are out of date, however, can be useful to historians, attorneys, environmentalists, genealogists, and others interested in researching the background of a particular area. Local historians can compare a series of maps of the same area compiled over a long period of time to learn how the area developed. A succession of such maps can provide a vivid picture of how a place changed over time.
As the Nation?s population grows, quantifying, monitoring, and managing land use becomes increasingly important. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a long heritage of leadership and innovation in land use and land cover (LULC) mapping that has been the model both nationally and internationally for over 20 years. At present, the USGS is producing high-resolution LULC data for several watershed and urban areas within the United States. This high-resolution LULC mapping is part of an ongoing USGS Land Cover Characterization Program (LCCP). The four components of the LCCP are global (1:2,000,000-scale), national (1:100,000-scale), urban (1:24,000-scale), and special projects (various scales and time periods). Within the urban and special project components, the USGS Rocky Mountain Mapping Center (RMMC) is collecting historical as well as contemporary high-resolution LULC data. RMMC?s high-resolution LULC mapping builds on the heritage and success of previous USGS LULC programs and provides LULC information to meet user requirements.
Earthquakes cannot be predicted, but scientists can forecast how strongly the ground is likely to shake as a result of an earthquake. Seismic hazard maps provide one way of conveying such forecasts. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which produces seismic hazard maps for the Nation, is now engaged in developing more detailed maps for vulnerable urban areas. The first set of these maps is now available for Memphis, Tennessee.
Geologic and bathymetric maps help us understand the evolutionary history of the Massachusetts coast and the processes that have shaped it. The maps show the distribution of bottom types (for example, bedrock, gravel, sand, mud) and water depths over large areas of the seafloor. In turn, these two fundamental parameters largely determine the species of flora and fauna that inhabit a particular area. Knowledge of bottom types and water depths provides a framework for mapping benthic habitats and managing marine resources. The need for coastal–zone mapping to inform policy and management is widely recognized as critical for mitigating hazards, creating resource inventories, and tracking environmental changes (National Research Council, 2004; U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, 2004).
Many Federal, State, and local agencies use a common set of framework geographic information databases as a tool for economic and community development, land and natural resource management, and health and safety services. Emergency management and homeland security applications rely on this information. Private industry, nongovernmental organizations, and individual citizens use the same geographic data. Geographic information underpins an increasingly large part of the Nation's economy. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing The National Map to be a seamless, continually maintained, and nationally consistent set of online, public domain, framework geographic information databases. The National Map will serve as a foundation for integrating, sharing, and using data easily and consistently. The data will be the source of revised paper topographic maps. The National Map includes digital orthorectified imagery; elevation data; vector data for hydrography, transportation, boundary, and structure features; geographic names; and land cover information.
Since 1994, citizen volunteers have helped the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) improve its topographic maps. Through the Earth Science Corps program, citizens were able to "adopt a quad" and collect new information and update existing map features. Until its conclusion in 2001, as many as 300 volunteers annotated paper maps which were incorporated into the USGS topographic-map revision process.
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://www.usgs.gov/NationalMap/data . From the homepage, users can now quickly access topographical map products, GIS data, and the full suite of The National Map’s applications and visualization services.
The U.S. Geological Survey produced 1:24,000-scale post-earthquake image base maps incorporating high- and medium-resolution remotely sensed imagery following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake near the capital city of Port au Prince, Haiti, on January 12, 2010. Commercial 2.4-meter multispectral QuickBird imagery was acquired by DigitalGlobe on January 15, 2010, following the initial earthquake. Ten-meter multispectral ALOS AVNIR-2 imagery was collected by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) on January 12, 2010. These data were acquired under the Remote Sensing International Charter, a global team of space and satellite agencies that provide timely imagery in support of emergency response efforts worldwide. The images shown on this map were employed to support earthquake response efforts, specifically for use in determining ground deformation, damage assessment, and emergency management decisions. The raw, unprocessed imagery was geo-corrected, mosaicked, and reproduced onto a cartographic 1:24,000-scale base map. These maps are intended to provide a temporally current representation of post-earthquake ground conditions, which may be of use to decision makers and to the general public.
The U.S. Geological Survey produced 1:24,000-scale post-earthquake image base maps incorporating high- and medium-resolution remotely sensed imagery following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake near the capital city of Port au Prince, Haiti, on January 12, 2010. Commercial 2.4-meter multispectral QuickBird imagery was acquired by DigitalGlobe on January 15, 2010, following the initial earthquake. Ten-meter multispectral ALOS AVNIR-2 imagery was collected by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) on January 12, 2010. These data were acquired under the Remote Sensing International Charter, a global team of space and satellite agencies that provide timely imagery in support of emergency response efforts worldwide. The images shown on this map were employed to support earthquake response efforts, specifically for use in determining ground deformation, damage assessment, and emergency management decisions. The raw, unprocessed imagery was geo-corrected, mosaicked, and reproduced onto a cartographic 1:24,000-scale base map. These maps are intended to provide a temporally current representation of post-earthquake ground conditions, which may be of use to decision makers and to the general public.
The Middletown 1:24,000-scale quadrangle is one of several quadrangles in Frederick County, Virginia mapped or being mapped by geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, VA with funding from the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program. This map was originally published as a paper product in 1999. It has been converted to GIS-based digital form. This work is part of a project being lead by the U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Discipline, Virginia District, to investigate the geologic framework and groundwater resources of Frederick County as well as other areas in the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and West Virginia. For more information about the Project see: http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eespteam/Karst/index.html for Geologic Discipline efforts and http://va.water.usgs.gov/va134/index.htm for Water Resources Discipline efforts.
This map and accompanying table show Hydrologic Units that are basically hydrographic in nature. The Cataloging Units shown will supplant the Cataloging Units previously used by the U.S. Geological Survey in its Catalog of Information on Water Data (1966-72). The previous U.S. Geological Survey Catalog-Indexing System was by map number and letter, such as 49M. The boundaries as shown have been adapted from "The Catalog of Information on Water Data" (1972), "Water Resources Regions and Subregions for the National Assessment of Water and Related Land Resources" by the U.S. Water Resources Council (1970), "River Basins of the United States" by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service (1963, 1970), "River Basin Maps Showing Hydrologic Stations" by the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources, Subcommittee on Hydrology (1961), and State planning maps.
This map and accompanying table show Hydrologic Units that are basically hydrographic in nature. The Cataloging Units shown will supplant the Cataloging Units previously used by the U.S. Geological Survey in its Catalog of Information on Water Data (1966-72). The previous U.S. Geological Survey Catalog-Indexing System was by map number and letter, such as 49 M. The boundaries shown have been adapted from "The Catalog of Information on Water Data" (1972), "Water Resources Regions and Subregions for the National Assessment of Water and Related Land Resources" by the U.S. Water Resources Council (1970), " River Basins of the United States" by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service (1963, 1970), "River Basin Maps Showing Hydrologic Stations" by the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources, Subcommittee on Hydrology (1961), and States planning maps.
This map and accompanying table show Hydrologic Units that are basically hydrographic in nature. The Cataloging Units shown will supplant the Cataloging Units previously used by the U.S. Geological Survey in its Catalog of Informaiton on Water Data (1966-72). The previous U.S. Geological Survey Catalog-Indexing System was by map number and letter, such as 49M. The boundaries as shown have been adapted from "The Catalog of Information on Water Data" (1972), "Water Resources Regions and Subregions for the National Assessment of Water and Related Land Resources" by the U.S. Water Reseources Council (1970), "River Basins of the United States" by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service ((1963, 1970), "River Basin Maps Showing Hydrologic Stations" by the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources, Subcommittee on Hydrology (1961), and State planning maps.
This map and accompanying table show Hydrologic Units that are basically hydrographic in nature. The Cataloging Units shown will supplant the Cataloging Units previously used by the U.S. Geological Survey in its Catalog of Information on Water Data (1966-72). The previous U.S. Geological Survey Catalog-Indexing System was by map number and letter, such as 49M. The boundaries shown have been adapted from "The Catalog of Information on Water Data" (1972), "Water Resources Regions and Subregions for the National Assessment of Water and Related Land Resources" by the U.S. Water Resources Council (1970), " River Basins of the United States" by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service (1963, 1970), "River Basin Maps Showing Hydrologic Stations" by the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources, Subcommittee on Hydrology (1961), and States planning maps.
This map and accompanying table show Hydrologic Units that are basically hydrographic in nature. The Cataloging Units shown will supplant the Cataloging Units previously used by the U.S. Geological Survey in its Catalog of Information on Water Data (1966-72). The previous U.S. Geological Survey Catalog-Indexing System was by map number and letter, such as 49M. the boundaries as shown have been adapted from “the Catalog of Information on Water Data” (1972), “Water Resources Regions and Subregions for the National Assessment of Water and Related Land Resources” by the U.S. Water Resources Council (1970), “River Basins of the United States” by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service (1963, 1970), “River Basin Maps Showing Hydrologic Stations” by the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resourres, Subcommittee on hydrology (1961), and State planning maps.
This is one of a series of maps that describe the geology and related natural resources in the Kaiparowits coal-basin area. This map is based partly on records of water wells, springs, and coal and petroleum exploration holes, partly on unpublished reports of field evaluations of prospective stock-water well sites by personnel of the U.S. Geological Survey, and partly on a 6-day field reconnaissance by the writer in parts of the mapped area. Most of the data used to compile this map were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with State, local, and other Federal agencies. Published sources of data included Phoenix (1963), Iorns, Hembree, and Phoenix (1964), Cooley (1965), Feltis (1966), Goode (1966, 1969), and the final environmental impact statement for the proposed Kaiparowits power project (U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 1976). Few data about the availability or depth of ground water could be obtained for large areas in the Kaiparowits coal basin. In those areas, expected yields of individual wells are inferred from the geology as compiled by Stokes (1964) and Hackman and Wyant (1973), and depths of ground water in wells are inferred largely from the local topography. El Paso Natural Gas Co., Resources Co., Kaiser Engineers, and Southern California Edison Co. provided specific information regarding the availability and depth of ground water in their exploratory holes on the Kaiparowits Plateau. The cooperation of those firms is gratefully acknowledged.
This is one of a series of maps that describe the geology and related natural resources of the Richfield 2° Quadrangle, Utah. The purpose of this map is to show the general chemical quality of ground water by ranges of dissolved-solids concentrations. The water quality varies considerably with depth in some areas; thus, the actual concentrations of dissolved solids of water in some aquifers locally may be somewhat larger or smaller than shown depending on the depth of those aquifers. This map is intended only for general planning purposes. Detailed site-specific information about general chemical quality of ground water in most parts of the map area can be gained only by special on-site investigation.
This is one of a series of maps that describe the geology and related natural resources of the Manti 30 x 60 minute quadrangle. Streamflow records used to compile this map were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, and the Utah Department of Transportation. The principal runoff-producing areas shown on the map were delineated from a work map (scale 1:250,000) compiled to estimate water yields in Utah (Bagley and others, 1964). Sources of information about recorded floods resulting from cloudbursts included Woolley (1946) and Butler and Marsell (1972); sources of information about the chemical quality of streamflow included Hahl and Cabell (1965) and Mundorff and Thompson (1982).