U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2008–3065

Revised October 2008 Printed on recycled paper

The National Map Product and Services Directory

The National Map

As one of the cornerstones of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Geospatial Program (NGP), The 

National Map is a collaborative effort among the USGS and other Federal, state, and local partners to improve 

and deliver topographic information for the Nation. It has many uses ranging from recreation to scientific analysis to emergency response. The National Map is easily accessible for display on the Web, as products, and as 

downloadable data. The geographic information available from The National Map includes orthoimagery (aerial 

photographs), elevation, geographic names, hydrography, boundaries, transportation, structures, and land cover. 

Other types of geographic information can be added to create specific types of maps. Of major importance, The 

National Map currently is being transformed to better serve the geospatial community.

The USGS National Geospatial Program Office (NGPO) was established to provide leadership for placing geographic knowledge at the fingertips of the Nation. The office supports The National Map, Geospatial One-Stop 

(GOS), National Atlas of the United States®, and the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). This inte- grated portfolio of geospatial information and data supports the essential components of delivering the National 

Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and capitalizing on the power of place.

Published Maps

Published Topographic Maps The USGS was entrusted with the responsibility for mapping the country in 

1879 and has been the primary civilian mapping agency of the United States ever since. The best known USGS 

maps are the 1:24,000-scale topographic maps, also known as 7.5-minute quadrangles. More than 55,000 

7.5-minute maps were made to cover the 48 conterminous states. This is the only uniform map series that covers 

the entire area of the United States in considerable detail. The 

7.5-minute map series was officially completed in 1991; only 

minor revisions have been made to the printed product in recent 

years as the program has moved to a digital format. The hard 

copy maps are still available for sale through the online USGS 

Store, http://store.usgs.gov/, and business partner retailers.

Scanned 7.5-Minute Topographic Maps This product line con- tains images produced by scanning previously published (printed) 

versions of USGS primary base series topographic maps. The 

resulting image files are converted to high resolution, georefer- enced GeoPDF’s. These maps are downloadable from the new 

“Map Locator and Downloader” portal of the USGS Store found 

at: http://store.usgs.gov/.

Next Generation of Topographic Maps

Electronic Topographic Quadrangle Map As presently envisioned, the 1:24,000-scale topographic map produced from The 

National Map data will portray contours, hydrography, transportation, boundaries, structures, geographic names, and land cover 

in the customary 7.5-minute by 7.5-minute quadrangle format. 

The quality of the map products depends on the accuracy and currentness of the data used to make them. The 

file format will be georereferenced GeoPDF, GeoTIFF, and ESRI shape. The USGS plans on releasing the first 

of these maps in a developmental web site in the spring of 2009. Distribution will be in a digital form.
Image Maps The Image Map will be a 7.5-minute by 

7.5-minute product based on the best available orthoimage and 

features content at a 1:24,000-scale. The image will be either 

natural color or false color infrared. Planned layers include the 

U.S. National Grid (USNG), roads, selected structures and/or 

names, and selected hydrographic data. Every quad is based 

on North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) and shows the 

three coordinate systems traditionally shown on USGS quadrangle maps: geographic corner coordinates and 2.5-minute 

tics, Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) 1,000-meter grid 

conforming to the USNG standard, and State Plane Coordinate 

System (SPCS) ticks. The file format will be standard PDF, 

georereferenced GeoPDF, GeoTIFF and ESRI shape. The first 

of these products should be available for sale and download in 

2009 through the online USGS Store at: http://store.usgs.gov/. 

Research also is underway to create a “custom map” service 

that would allow users to re-center, resize, and add layers to 

the map. User-created maps will adhere to the same basic product standards and be available in the same formats as the standard products. Current plans forecast a prototype custom map service available in early 2010.

Services

The National Map Seamless Server The National Map

Seamless Server enables a user to view and download many 

geospatial data layers, such as the National Elevation Dataset, 

the National Land Cover Dataset, high resolution orthoimagery, and other seamless data for the Nation. The Seamless 

Server can be found at: http://seamless.usgs.gov/.

The National Map Viewer The National Map Viewer is the face 

of The National Map and allows the user to interactively view The 

National Map data as a map, customize the view, and print maps. 

It provides public access to high-quality geospatial data and information from the eight National Data sets. Map tools allow the user 

to move around the map, zoom in and out, identify features, and 

perform other functions. The Viewer currently is undergoing major 

revisions at: http://nationalmap.gov/

Products

Orthoimagery Orthoimagery data typically are high resolution aerial images that combine the visual attributes of an 

aerial photograph with the spatial accuracy and reliability of 

a planimetric map. USGS digital orthoimage resolution may 

vary from 6 inches to 1 meter. The National Map offers free 

downloads of public domain, 1-meter orthoimagery for the 

conterminous United States with many urban areas and other 

locations at 2-foot or finer resolution. Further information 

and data download are available at: http://gisdata.usgs.net/

website/Orthoimagery/. 
Elevation The National Elevation Dataset (NED) is a 

seamless raster product primarily derived from USGS 

10- and 30-meter Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), and, 

increasingly, from higher resolution data sources such as 

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), Interferometric 

Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR), and high-resolution 

imagery. NED data are available as 1 arc-second (approximately 30 meters) for the conterminous United States, and 

at 1/3 and 1/9 arc-seconds (approximately 10 and 3 meters, 

respectively) for parts of the United States. NED resolution 

for Alaska primarily is 2 arc-seconds (approximately 60 

meters). Further information and data download are available at: http://ned.usgs.gov/.

Geographic Names In cooperation with the United States 

Board on Geographic Names, the USGS maintains the 

authoritative source of official geographic names, known 

as the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). 

USGS topographic maps display selected place and feature 

names. These may include physical and cultural features 

such as mountains, valleys, bays, populated places, hospi- tals, schools, churches, and cemeteries. The GNIS does not 

contain the names of streets or roads, and currently does not 

define the extent of features; however, it does contain attri- butes to help determine their relative extent. Further infor- mation and data download are available at: http://geonames.

usgs.gov/.

Hydrography Data on America’s surface waters are available from the USGS in the National Hydrography Dataset 

(NHD). The NHD includes data sets covering all streams 

and lakes at scales of 1:24,000 and 1:100,000. In some 

areas, the NHD is being supplemented with data larger 

than 1:24,000-scale. The NHD provides a true network that 

supports the analysis of any type of movement (navigation, sediment transport, effluent dispersion, for example) 

by surface waters. Further information and data download 

available at: http://nhd.usgs.gov/.

Boundaries Boundaries data or governmental units represent major civil areas including states, counties, Federal, 

and Native American lands, and incorporated places such 

as cities and towns. These data are useful for understanding the extent of jurisdictional or administrative areas for a 

wide range of applications, including managing resources, 

responding to natural disasters, or recreational activities 

such as hiking and backpacking. Governmental unit data 

downloads can be accessed at: http://bpgeo.cr.usgs.gov/.
Transportation The transportation data theme consists of 

roads, airports, railroads, and other features associated with 

the transport of people or commerce. The data includes the 

location, classification, name or route designator, and for 

most roads, address ranges. Transportation data support 

mapping and also geographic analysis for applications such 

as routing, traffic safety, congestion mitigation, and disaster 

planning and response. Transportation data downloads can 

be accessed at: http://bpgeo.cr.usgs.gov/.

Structures USGS data portray selected structures data, including the location and characteristics of manmade facilities. Characteristics 

consist of a structure’s physical form (footprint), 

function, name, location, and other detailed 

information about the structure. The types of 

structures collected are largely determined by 

the needs of the disaster planning and response 

and homeland security organizations. Structure 

data can be accessed at: http://bpgeo.cr.usgs.

gov/.

Land Cover The USGS collects and maintains data that 

show both natural and manmade land cover of the United 

States. These data are collected from orbiting satellites 

and have been produced for 2 years, 1992 and 2001. The 

1992 data set encompasses the conterminous United States, 

whereas the 2001 data set encompasses all 50 states and 

Puerto Rico. In addition, a land-cover change product 

between 1992 and 2001 also is available. These data sets 

use a 21-class land-cover classification scheme that includes 

urban, agricultural, rangeland, forest, surface waters, wet- lands, barren lands, tundra, and perennial ice and snow 

classes. The spatial resolution of the data is 30 meters. 

Further information and data download available at: http://

landcover.usgs.gov/.

The National Map is evolving and growing everyday. For the latest information: 

www.usgs.gov/ngpo/ (click on "Reading Room")