Earth Sciences

Comprehensive and authoritative baseline geospatial data content is crucial to the nation and to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS founded its Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS) in 2006 to develop and...

Land remote sensing: the use of space-based satellite technologies to obtain information on environmental variables such as land-use and land-covering combination with other types of data can provide information on changes in the Earth’s surface and...

Floodplain maps serve as the basis for determining whether homes or buildings require flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Approximately $650 billion in insured assets are...

Land parcel data (also known as cadastral data) provide geographically referenced information about the rights, interests, and ownership of land and are an important part of the financial, legal, and real estate systems of society. The data are used...

In the past few years the United States has experienced a series of disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which have severely taxed and in many cases overwhelmed responding agencies. In all aspects of emergency management, geospatial data and...

Geographic information systems (GIS), the Global Positioning System (GPS), remote sensing, and other information technologies have all changed the nature of work in the mapping sciences and in the professions, industries, and institutions that depend...

Human-induced climate change is an important environmental issue worldwide, as scientific studies increasingly demonstrate that human activities are changing the Earth’s climate. Even if dramatic reductions in emissions were made today, some human...

Weaving a National Map draws on contributions to a September 2002 workshop and the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) "vision" document for The National Map, envisioned by the USGS as a database providing "public domain core geographic...

In 1992, world leaders adopted Agenda 21, the work program of the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development. This landmark event provided a political foundation and action items to facilitate the global transition toward sustainable...

Research Opportunities in Geography at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides perspective and guidance to the geography discipline about its future research and strategic directions. The report makes specific recommendations about...