The National Map: Quad Sheet Factory

Mark DeMulder of USGS briefed NSGIC on The National Map this week. He started with why the program exists, citing three basic reasons:

- serves info to decision makers
- supports our science mission of USGS too
- cross-jurisdictional maps are useful in emergencies

He then moved on to what The National Map got from the Stimulus Bill. Right now, it looks like the program will receive $15 million to add to its typical $60 million budget.

He went on to focus on basically one use of The National Map that’ll start showing itself in the coming months: electronic topo quads.

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Old Poll, New Poll

Last month we asked: Which is your biggest challenge in doing your geo-related job?

There were 98 responses:

People 49%
Data 26%
Software/API/Language 16%
Hardware 7%
Something else 5%

Let’s follow up on the “people” challenges with this weeks poll: What’s your biggest “people” challenge in doing your geo-related job? Vote on the lower right hand site of the blog homepage.