IT TECHNOLOGY FOR THE NATIONAL GEOLOGIC MAP DATABASE

The USGS and the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) are mandated by Congress to provide a National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB) of standardized geoscience information that can be used to address societal issues and improve our base of scientific knowledge. This partnership serves to advance both the goal of building the NGMDB and the need for each geological survey to improve their ability to deliver map information to their users. This collaborative activity also involves the Geological Survey of Canada, universities, and the private sector.

Because of the mandate's broad scope, we use a phased, incremental approach to design the Database. This approach gives us the necessary time to build consensus and expertise among the Database designers in the State geological surveys and the USGS. Furthermore, it helps us to more effectively consider and respond to evolving technology and user needs.

The third and most ambitious phase of the NGMDB focuses on Web access, query, and delivery of vector-based geologic maps created and served by the numerous project partners. Because this system will be distributed across many agencies, the standards developed by the NGMDB will be implemented in different computer hardware and software environments. As a consequence, among these systems there of course will be variations in database design and science terminology. The NGMDB is developing standards and protocols that will help to manage these variations and allow the central portal to provide seamless map data for the user to query. Presently, the technology to accomplish this goal is research-oriented. We are working with the Geological Survey of Canada and the NSF-supported GEON initiative to evaluate the use of wrapper/mediator technology and XML-based data interchange, to address the challenging goal of building the NGMDB. As this work develops, it will be described at http://ncgmp.usgs.gov/ngmdbproject/.