What People Are Saying

• The University of Missouri is hosting GeoPartner Forum      September 2004
  GeoParner Forum is a discussion forum created for partners to discuss technical issues pertaining to hosting Web services in support of The National Map. The site currently contains two forums: Announcements and Partner Discussion. The Announcements forum contains read-only announcements about events and general notes. The Partner Discussion forum will allow posts only from registered users who have also joined the Partner usergroup. Currently, all visitors to the site will be allowed to view either forum. The University's Missouri Spatial Data Information Service sponsors and hosts the site.
  
  
• The National Map featured in Point of Beginning Magazine     April 2004
  Point of Beginning Magazine, also known as POB, is dedicated to bringing information about new technologies and evolving applications to the surveying and mapping industries. The National Map was featured prominently in its "The Latest News" section of April 2004 in the article "Building The National Map" (posted 04/01/04). The article describes how USGS will do the following: Build The National Map; Coordinate its Development; Add New Data through Partnerships (with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, and with volunteer efforts, such as The National MapCorps); and continue to Add New Features and Capabilities to its The National Map Viewer.
  
  
• Role of The National Map featured in Geospatial Solutions April 2004 Issue     April 2004
  Geospatial Solutions-A Clear Vision of the NSDI by Mark DeMulder, Ivan DeLoatch, Hank Garie, Barbara J. Ryan, and Karen Siderelis. This feature article describes the complementary roles of three principal geospatial initiatives being supported by the Federal Government. These are the Federal Geographic Data Committee, the Geospatial One-Stop, and The National Map initiatives. The authors are the leaders of these initiatives and speak to the agreements they have struck that leverage the investment of each initiative in developing an implementation of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. In summary, the Federal Geographic Data Committee will focus on national geospatial data policy, standards, and coordination; the Geospatial One-Stop will provide discovery and access to existing geospatial data; and The National Map will provide integrated, trusted base-map content and other USGS data and applications. Together, these three activities underpin the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

New Features

• Go to Viewer link added to home page.      June 2004
  Experienced users can now go directly to the Viewer.
  
  
• Viewer Help link added to home page.      June 2004
  Learn about the Viewer and how to use the various tools. This page is a good introduction for new users to help them become familiar with the Viewer, learn about its capabilities, and enhance their viewing experience. Help is also available in the Viewer in the tool bar section.
  
  
• Find Place tool expanded.      July 2004
  The Find Place tool has been expanded to allow the user more options and the ability to zoom to a specific address, point, named feature, or specific extent or area. The Find Place tool also includes the earlier Zoom Region tool functions of "'Zoom to a State" and "Zoom to a Partner Dataset." Users may zoom to a specific point in a variety of ways—by longitude and latitude, by U.S. National Grid (USNG) coordinates, or by Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates. Check out this new, versatile tool and see the interesting places it can take you, including to your own back yard!
  
  
• Zoom Back tool added.      July 2004
  The Zoom Back tool allows the user to zoom back to the previous extent as many as five times. Data-layer selections or changes, however, are not retained.
  
  
• Pan Arrows modified.      July 2004
  The pan area surrounding the Viewer was widened and diagonal pan capability was added. Users are reminded that they can also use the Re-center tool to move the map view.
  
  
• Overview tool modified.      July 2004
  The Overview tool in the Viewer was modified to show a crosshair location point on the overview map when the map extent gets too small.

Partnerships

• NC OneMap/York County, SC Partnership Featured in HeraldOnline      September 2004
  HeraldOnline, a Rock Hill, South Carolina, Web-based newspaper, announced the partnership of York County, South Carolina, with officials of North Carolina's NC OneMap Program. NC OneMap is North Carolina's widely successful online geographic mapping system that links to and utilizes data from The National Map. York County Manager Al Greene stated that "...This program could help us determine how our land-use plan fits in with other governments and how their plans tie in with ours." The York County/NC OneMap partnership continues to show that the success of The National Map will depend on establishing ongoing partnerships with a wide variety of organizations that work with geospatial data. Full article: N.C. Mapping tool will help direct county planners by Erica Pippins
  
  
• Renewal of USGS and Utah Data Sharing Agreement BenefitsThe National Map      May 2004
  The USGS will renew a significant data sharing agreement between the State of Utah and Federal agencies that has been a key component in the success of The National Map implementation in Utah. Signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for renewal of the Utah Digital Spatial Data Sharing and Integration Project include Olene Walker, Governor of Utah, together with representatives from Federal and State agencies. Signing for the USGS is Alan Mikuni, Western Region Geographer. Since 1997, this MOU has helped coordinate the exchange of geospatial data and facilitate collaboration among the cooperators. The agreement has benefited these organizations by pooling resources to develop and acquire common geospatial datasets, resulting in significant cost savings for all.

New Partnership Data

• Texas Adds Statewide Coverage of Base Maps and DOQS     August 2004
  Texas statewide base-map and digital orthophoto quadrangles (DOQ) layers are now viewable through The National Map Viewer. The Texas Natural Resources Information System, in collaboration with the USGS, now provides statewide color infrared 1-meter DOQs from 1995–1996, current statewide transportation data with street names, newly revised high-resolution hydrography data, and current city and county boundaries. These datasets are part of the Strategic Mapping Initiative, a cooperative Federal, State, and local partnership that provides current base-map layers for public use in Texas. New statewide DOQs will be available in January 2005. This represents a significant contribution to The National Map since Texas represents approximately 8 percent of the conterminous United States.
  
  
• Gallatin County / City of Bozeman, Montana     July 2004
  Gallatin County and the city of Bozeman have joined together to become the latest partner in The National Map. Barbara Ryan, Associate Director for Geography announced the 2,600-square-mile addition on July 23rd as the new dataset was unveiled and demonstrated at Montana State University in Bozeman. Showcased in the new dataset are 0.6-meter-resolution color orthoimagery covering the Gallatin Valley and numerous city and county administrative boundaries. The addition of Gallatin and Bozeman expands our national coverage and provides public access to this local information. These data are available in the The National Map Viewer by using the Find Place tool and selecting "Montana - Bozeman/Gallatin" from the Partner Dataset list.
  
  
• Lubrecht State Forest, Montana     May 2004
  Lubrecht State Forest of the University of Montana, College of Forestry and Conservation has joined The National Map. This dataset provides State forest data layers for more than 46 square miles in western Montana. These data are available in the The National Map Viewer by using the Find Place tool and selecting "Montana - UM College of Forestry and Conservation" from the Partner Dataset list.
  
  
• Shenandoah National Park, Virginia     April 2004
  The USGS and the National Park Service (NPS) are cooperating to compile and serve NPS and USGS data over the Web for the Shenandoah National Park and surrounding areas. The Shenandoah region has been designated as priority site for the Comprehensive Urban Ecosystem Studies (CUES) effort. Data are now viewable through the The National Map Viewer (through the “Zoom Region” tool) and the Shenandoah National Park CUES viewer.
  
  

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