MISSION

The U.S. Geological Survey, through the National Mapping Division, provides cartographic and geographic products and information for the United States, territories, and U.S. possessions. The products include several series of topographic maps in both graphic and digital form, photoimage maps, land use and land cover maps and associated data, geographic names information, geodetic control data, and remotely sensed data.

The products are generated by four regional mapping centers in Reston, Va., Rolla, Mo., Denver, Colo., and Menlo Park, Calif., and by the Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center in Sioux Falls, S. Dak. The Division's Printing and Distribution Center, headquartered in Reston, Va., prints, stores, and distributes all Geological Survey maps and related texts. The Division also operates Public Inquiries Offices and National Cartographic Information Centers throughout the country; along with the Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center, these outlets provide information about and fill orders for cartographic,

Primary mapping and revision, which include the production and revision of 7.5-minute 1:24,000-scale topographic maps in the conterminous United States and Hawaii and 15-minute 1:63,360-scale topographic maps in Alaska. A few maps. have been prepared at 1:25,000 scale in specific States. During fiscal year 1986, about 925 revised and 1,250 new primary quadrangle maps were published. Published topographic maps are available for about 92 percent of Alaska and for 90 percent of the other 49-State area (fig. 1). Twenty-four States have complete 7.5minute series map coverage.

Figure 1. Status of availability of primary quadrangle

maps. Some maps will initially

be available in manuscript form only.

• Intermediate-scale, small-scale, and special mapping, which includes the preparation of maps and map products from the intermediate-scale (1:50,000 and 1:100,000) series to the small-scale (1:250,000) series and other smaller scale U.S. base maps. Complete topographic coverage of the United States is available at 1:250,000 scale. The Division completed planimetric coverage of the United States at 1:100,000 scale in 1986, 5 years ahead of the original completion date. Topographic coverage of the conterminous United States is more than 50 percent complete in one or more of the following intermediate-scale series: 1:50,000-scale quadrangle maps, 1:50,000- or 1:100,000scale county maps, and 1:100,000-scale quadrangle maps (fig. 2). More than 200 topographic-bathymetric maps have been published for coastal area planning. Land use and land cover maps are complete for 3 million square miles and are available in the 1:250,000-scale or, in selected areas, in the 1:100,000-scale quadrangle format.

• Digital cartography, which includes the production of base categories of cartographic data at standard scales, accuracies, and formats suitable for computer-based analyses (fig. 3). Categories include the Public Land Survey System, boundaries, hydrography, transportation, and elevation data from 7.5-minute quadrangle maps; hydrography and transportation data from 1:100,000-scale quadrangle maps; boundaries, Census tracts, hydrologic units, Federal land ownership,

land use and land cover, and elevation data compiled at 1:250,000 scale; and boundaries, transportation, and hydrography data from 1:2,000,000-scale National Atlas sectional maps.

• Information and data services, which include the acquisition and dissemination of information about U.S. maps, charts, aerial and space photographs and images, geodetic control, cartographic and geographic digital data, and other related information; distribution of earth-science information to the public; and sale of maps and map-related products directly and through commercial map dealers. • Cartographic and geographic research and development, which include efforts to improve the quality of standard products, to provide new products, to reduce costs and increase productivity, to acquire innovative and more useful equipment, and to design and develop techniques and systems to advance the mapping of high-priority areas of the country.

• International activities, which include the coordination of Division participation in international cartographic, geographic, surveying, remote sensing, and other map-related activities.

Funding for the National Mapping Division for fiscal year 1986 totaled approxi

Figure 2. Status of 1:100,000scale topographic mapping program. Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico are not currently included in the 1:100,000-scale quadrangle mapping program.

mately $110 million. Funding sources included direct congressional appropriations, funds transferred from other Federal agencies, joint funding agreements through the Federal-State Cooperative Program, and funds received from the sale of published maps and other cartographic products to non-Federal customers.

The permanent full-time personnel strength of the Division at the end of fiscal year 1986 was 1,710 and included work force skilled in cartography, geography, computer science, engineering, physical science, photographic and remote sensing technology, and information dissemination.

HIGHLIGHTS

The following sections describe highlights of some of the Division's major activities.

Mapping Coordination

The Geological Survey, through the National Mapping Division, annually canvasses more than 30 Federal agencies to coordinate surveying and mapping activities financed in whole or in part by Federal funds. Under Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-16, the Geological Survey is mandated, through the Department of the Interior, to exercise Governmentwide leadership in assuring coordinated planning and execution of its mapping program, the National Atlas, and map information activities. This mandate is

extended to State and local government agencies whose programs and cartographic

requirements are funded by Federal agencies. The Geological Survey also arranges for Federal agencies to exchange information concerning technological developments in cartographic activities.

The annual canvass is initiated in the second quarter of the fiscal year. Participants identify their mapping requirements and give them priority ranking according to their program goals. Upon receipt of the Federal requirements, the Geological Survey plans its upcoming year's production in accordance with capacity and funding levels.

As the use of digital cartographic data began to spread throughout the Federal Government, OMB established the Federal

In March 1986, OMB issued a directive continuing the charter of the committee through 1989. The committee is chaired by the Geological Survey on behalf of the Department of the Interior. In June 1986, the committee distributed to several Federal agencies a draft Federal digital cartographic data exchange format for review and testing. This draft exchange format is a major step in the development of Federal data standards.

The Geological Survey also chairs the Interior Digital Cartography Coordinating Committee, which has been actively coordinating a wide range of issues associated with digital cartographic activities within the Department of the Interior since 1982. The committee has increasingly focused its efforts on coordinating the implementation of geographic information system technology with the natural resource management mission of the Department.

Geological Survey-StateFederal Cooperative Efforts in Digital Cartography

Cooperative efforts play a major role in the Digital Cartography Program. The task of building the National Digital Cartographic Data Base is enormous. Excluding Alaska, there are nearly 54,000 7.5-minute quadrangles. For each of these quadrangles, eight data files must be collected. The Survey cannot digitize this amount of data within a reasonable time without the assistance of Federal and State agencies.

Traditionally, the Geological Survey has cooperated with Federal and State agencies to augment its financial and production

resources and to increase the output of the National Mapping Program. Since the Digital Cartography Program began, the number of cooperative projects has increased significantly.

During fiscal year 1986, the Geological Survey completed work on a project begun the preceding fiscal year to provide Digital Elevation Models (DEM's) to the Defense Mapping Agency for about 1,600 quadrangles. (DEM's are three-dimensional terrain models.) Several smaller DEM projects were completed in cooperation with the Oregon State Office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. A work-share project is underway with the Forest Service to provide DEM's and orthophotoquad coverage for the Boise National Forest in Idaho.

Work continued during fiscal year 1986 on a joint funding project with the State of Connecticut whereby boundaries, hydrography, and transportation Digital Line Graphs (DLG's) will be produced for all 7.5minute quadrangles in the State by the beginning of calendar year 1988. (DLG's represent linear map features.)

A work-share project with the U.S. Bureau of the Census to digitize hydrography and transportation DLG's from the 1:100,000scale quadrangle maps of the conterminous United States is scheduled for completion in June 1987 (fig. 4).

The Geological Survey and the Forest Service signed a landmark agreement in fiscal year 1986 for the exchange of DEM data. Each agency agreed to provide 208

DEM's by the first quarter of fiscal year 1987. The Forest Service will enhance its terrain data files to produce standard DEM files for entry into the National Digital Cartographic Data Base. In return, the Survey will provide an equal number of DEM's for quadrangles located in national forests. The agencies will exchange 713 DEM's each in fiscal year 1987. The exchange agreement will continue at least through fiscal year 1989.

An agreement was also signed in fiscal year 1986 by the Geological Survey and the Idaho Transportation Department to cooperate in producing Public Land Survey System, boundary, hydrography, and transportation DLG's in the State of Idaho. The agreement includes a data exchange, patterned after the DEM agreement with the Forest Service, and a cost sharing arrangement. This agreement will eventually result in the completion of DLG production statewide, assisting not only the State agencies but also the several Federal agencies that administer about 80 percent of the land in Idaho.

The agreements with the Forest Service and the State of Idaho are the beginning of a trend toward multiagency participation in building the National Digital Cartographic Data Base. This trend will make standard Geological Survey digital cartographic data available in greater quantities and at earlier dates. Also, interagency participation in Geological Survey digital cartographic data production will widen the use of those data, increase the number of applications, and promote compatibility among those systems.