THE NATIONAL MAP: OPEN STANDARDS FOUNDATION FOR THE NATION’S 21ST CENTURY TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) topographic quadrangle maps are a coast-to-coast and border-to-border inventory of the Nation’s geography. Unfortunately, this inventory is becoming increasingly dated. The USGS, in its 125th year, is aggressively pursuing advances in standards, methods and technology, together with new business relationships, to improve the currency and utility of these base data. The tradition of the USGS topographic map and its national perspective on base geographic information is being recast and reinvigorated to ensure the availability of current, nationally consistent information in the 21st century. At the heart of The National Map are partnerships between government, private industry, non-governmental organizations, and the public. These partnerships focus on data sharing, access, maintenance, archive, and dissemination, to leverage community resources, minimize redundancy, and achieve a common geospatial foundation upon which specialized mapping missions and applications can be built. Technology and open standards are being developed in the geospatial community to build an infrastructure which will enable The National Map partnerships to flourish in a nation-wide dynamic heterogeneous distributed computing environment. Nationally integrated data and services from diverse sources, linked to state and local partner data and services, will create new and innovative public sector and commercial business opportunities that maximize data access and use.