THE NATIONAL GEOLOGIC MAP DATABASE -- A RESOURCE FOR GEOLOGIC MAPPING

The USGS and the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) are mandated by Congress to provide a National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB, http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/) of standardized, spatial geoscience information. In this partnership, collaboration occurs with the private sector, universities, and geological survey agencies in other countries. From the public website, we serve one of our principal user communities – the professional geologists and non-geologists who need to find geologic maps and geoscience reports, and get answers to their questions. Throughout the NGMDB project’s 19 years of operation, service to government agencies, the private sector, and the general public has been a principal responsibility.

To support geologic mappers, online resources provided by, or linked from, the NGMDB include:

1) the U.S. Geologic Names Lexicon (Geolex), a standard reference for the Nation's stratigraphic nomenclature;

2) the Geoscience Map Catalog (containing citations and links to ~98,000 publications, many containing GIS data and map images; and

3) technical reports from the nineteen annual Digital Mapping Techniques workshops, and cartographic, database design, science terminology, and data-exchange standards (for example, the new standard database design “NCGMP09”, and the FGDC geologic map symbol standard and its implementation in ESRI software).