storage and processing, and to define a format for data exchange between GIS's. • Data capture-To improve data collection

and editing capabilities, to evaluate and implement automatic line-following systems for collecting certain kinds of data, and to improve procedures for collecting and tagging attribute and textual data.

• Data query and analysis-To provide storage for large volumes of data, to maintain topology between spatial, textual, and attribute data, and to facilitate query and retrieval of data for analysis.

• Data output-To provide a flexible and diverse ability to produce usercustomized products.

The National Mapping Division also conducted numerous projects with other Survey divisions, Department bureaus and offices, and Federal and State agencies. These projects demonstrated the applications of Survey data bases and GIS technology to ongoing programs and provided feedback for design of the National Digital

Cartographic Data Base. Conterminous United States Mineral Assessment Program and Alaska Mineral Resource Assessment Program activities with the Geologic Division required predictive model development and application to multiple spatial categories. The Federal Land Information System (fig. 8) required coordination with the Geologic Division, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Bureau of Mines, and others to investigate a nationwide data base using data categories derived by other agencies, together with data from the Survey's National Digital Cartographic Data Base. The John Day River Basin Project with the Water Resources Division and the State of Oregon required the merging of numerous data categories into a GIS for analysis and application to land and water resources policy planning.

Projects with other Federal agencies, such as the Soil Conservation Service, will define how products can be better used and implemented through digital spatial analysis techniques for specific agency responsibilities.

Figure 8. Federal Land Information System data showing areas favorable for zinc on Federal and non-Federal land in Alaska. Land ownership data are from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Alaska Automated Land and Mineral Record System. Data resolution is one township. Mineral favorability data are from the Geological Survey's Regional Alaska Mineral Resource Assessment Program (data for southeastern Alaska were not available). Data were digitized from 1:1,000,000scale maps. Blue lines are Geological Survey 1:250,000scale quadrangle boundaries.

MISSION

Under the Organic Act, as revised, and the Foreign Assistance Act and related legislation, the U.S. Geological Survey is authorized to conduct investigations in foreign countries when such studies are deemed by the Departments of the Interior and State to be in the interests of the U.S. Government. These international activities, a part of the Survey's program for more than 40 years, are undertaken on the basis of these principal objectives:

To expand the scope of and help achieve domestic research objectives through the comparative study of scientific phenomena abroad and in the United States.

To obtain information about existing and potential foreign resources of interest to the United States.

• To develop and maintain relations with counterpart institutions and programs that will facilitate scientific cooperation and exchange.

• To provide support for the international programs of other Federal agencies, including those of the U.S. Department of State, that contribute to foreign policy objectives.

MAJOR PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES

Two general types of activities comprise the Survey's major international programs. Technical assistance to foreign countries or international organizations is funded by other Federal agencies, international organizations, or foreign governments as

authorized under the Foreign Assistance Act. Some programs involve transferring technology to foreign nationals through advice, training, and demonstration; some require Survey personnel to accomplish all project tasks alone. Bilateral or multilateral cooperative ventures with foreign counterpart organizations under Governmentapproved cooperative agreements to achieve common research objectives use both funds appropriated for Survey research and funds or other financial resources made available by the cooperating countries or organizations. Participants in such cooperative research activities pay their own expenses. Activities in this category range from informal scientist-to-scientist discussions and correspondence, through formal, jointly staffed research projects, to multinational projects focusing on particular problems or topics and coordinated internationally. Related activities include institutional development, exchange of scientists, training of foreign nationals, and representation of the Survey or the U.S. Government in international organizations, commissions, or associations.

Sixty-eight foreign nationals from 45 countries participated in training programs at the Geological Survey during fiscal year 1986. Twenty-nine attended Surveyscheduled training courses, and 39 received on-the-job training at various Survey facilities in the United States. The Survey also provided cooperative research opportunities to 45 exchange foreign scientists.

Countries where the Geological Survey carried on international activities in fiscal year 1986 are shown in figure 1, and types of activities are listed in table 1. The following summaries more fully describe various aspects of the programs.