Tuesday, June 2. 2009

Podcast: A Geospatial Look at Data.gov

Last week the federal government launched data.gov, a data portal to enhance transparency. What's in it for geospatial practitioners and how will the new offering evolve? Our editors share their thoughts on the current offering and some possible paths forward.


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Wednesday, April 15. 2009

USGS Selects Vivisimo as Search Engine for NBII

USGS picked the Vivisimo Velocity Search Platform to replace the National Biological Information Infrastructure's (NBII) current search solution. "NBII is a broad, collaborative program to provide increased access to data and information on the nation's biological resources."

What's the current search solution? So far as I can tell "Custom Google Search."

The Velocity implementation will initially search at least 30 diverse data sources - and here's the interesting geo part - "Velocity will also enable geospatial display of search results - allowing users to search for certain plants or animals in a specific region or location." I wonder if USGS will use the tool on its other websites?

- press release

Thursday, March 5. 2009

Podcast: Landsat 5 Retrospective...an Interview with Dr. Tom Loveland, USGS EROS Data Center

On March 3rd, the U. S. Geological Survey marked the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Landsat 5. The earth imaging satellite in a sun synchronous orbit with the Thematic Mapper (TM) payload offered both better spectral and spatial resolution than previous Landsat missions with the Multispectral Scanner (MSS). Editor in chief Joe Francica speaks with Dr. Tom Loveland, a USGS scientist at the EROS Data Center with over 30 years of experience with the Landsat mission.

Dr. Loveland was among the first to create continental and global-scale land cover data sets derived from remotely-sensed imagery. He currently leads a USGS research team that is developing a contemporary land cover history of the United States. In addition, Dr. Loveland is leading the Landsat Data Continuity Mission Science Team and is a member of the NASA National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project science team. He is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Land Use Sciences and has served in leadership roles in a number of national and international science organizations including the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Climate Change Science Program, and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Dr. Loveland has published almost 90 scientific papers and has received career achievement awards from the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and the Association of American Geographers. Dr. Loveland has B.S. and M.S. degrees in geography from South Dakota State University and a Ph.D. in geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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Wednesday, February 25. 2009

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.

Monday, February 23. 2009

More Details on USGS Funding from Stimulus Package

The Washington Post today is reporting that the USGS will get $140 Million from the recently passed stimulus package for supporting contract work for capturing LiDAR data. The intent is to facilitate topographic map production. According to the Post, the money "will go toward paying private firms to use new airplane-based laser technology to produce a more accurate topographical map of the country.The information is useful for such things as tracking sea-level rise and flooding."

Last week, we reported that the USGS was to get $140 Million from the package for "Repairing facilities and equipment for U.S. Geological Survey seismic, volcano, monitoring and stream gages." Today's news seems to indicate more specifics but the same dollar amount.

Tuesday, February 10. 2009

USGS Print Map Prices go Up March 2

You might want to plan ahead if you need anything from USGS, map prices are going up for the first time since 2002, some will rise 40%!

Here are the details from the Feb 3 USGS Document in the Federal Register:

(1) 7.5 minute 1:20,000-scale, 1:24,000-scale, 1:25,000-scale,1:63,360-scale, and 7.5 minute x 15 minute 1:25,000-scale, 1:63,360-scale, 1:100,000-scale and 1:250,000-scale primary series quadrangles from $6.00 to $8.00 per quadrangle.

(2) Thematic maps and small scale National Park maps from $7 per sheet to $9 per sheet.

(3) National Earthquake Information Center maps bearing private sector copyright from $10 per sheet to $12 per sheet.

(4) Large format and poster maps from $7 per sheet to $10 per sheet.