Chapter 4

The GIS Project for the Geologic 

Assessment of Undiscovered 

Hydrocarbon Resources of the Western 

Oregon and Washington Province

By GIS Spatial Data Team

Chapter 4 of 4

Geologic Assessment of Undiscovered Hydrocarbon Resources 

of the Western Oregon and Washington Province 

By U.S. Geological Survey Western Oregon and Washington Province Assessment Team

U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS–69–X

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

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U.S. Department of the Interior

KEN SALAZAR, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

Marcia K. McNutt, Director

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2011

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Suggested citation:

GIS Spatial Data Team, 2011, The GIS project for the geologic assessment of undiscovered hydrocarbon resources 

of the Western Oregon and Washington Province: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS–69–X, chap. 4, 1 p.
iii

Figure

1. Map showing Western Oregon and Washington Province...................................................1
The GIS Project for the Geologic Assessment of 

Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Western 

Oregon and Washington Province

By GIS Spatial Data Team

A geographic information system (GIS) focusing on the 

Western Oregon and Washington Province was developed as 

a visual-analysis tool for the U.S. Geological Survey 2009 

assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 

natural gas resources in the Western Oregon and Washington 

Province. The Central Energy Resources Science Center of 

the U.S. Geological Survey also developed an Internet Map 

Service to deliver the GIS data to the public. This mapping 

tool utilizes information from a database about the oil and 

natural gas endowment of the United States, including physical locations of geologic and geographic data, and converts 

the data into visual layers. Portrayal and analysis of geologic 

features on an interactive map provide an excellent tool for 

understanding domestic oil and gas resources for strategic 

planning, formulating economic and energy policies, evaluating lands under the purview of the Federal Government, and 

developing sound environmental policies. Assessment results 

can be viewed and analyzed or downloaded from the Internet 

Web site. 

Hydrocarbon assessment unit boundaries include the 

assessment results as attributes. Specialized maps referred 

to as “cell maps” illustrate the degree of exploration and the 

type and distribution of production for each assessment unit. 

Other data also available from the interactive map include the 

following:

• Cities

• Roads

• Geologic provinces

• Total petroleum system

• States

• Counties

• Streams and water bodies

• Federal surface ownership

Click on the map below to access the Western Oregon and 

Washington Province Internet Map Service.

Figure 1. Western Oregon and Washington 

Province; boundary is shown in black.

The spatial data that formed the basis of the GIS for 

the Western Oregon and Washington Province are provided 

online at the USGS National Oil and Gas Assessment Web site 

(NOGA Online: http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/oilgas/noga/) and are 

also contained on this CD-ROM in the Spatial folder. The Doc 

folder contains metadata documentation in HTML format that 

is also incorporated in each shapefile in XML format. Most of 

the base cartographic data layers used in the GIS project were 

obtained from the U.S. Department of the Interior National 

Atlas Web site at www.nationalatlas.gov.

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