In 1995, a revision to this standard was issued, as a USGS Open-file report. That document was extensively reviewed in 1996 and, based on the review's summary document, this Subcommittee proposed development of a Federal geologic map symbolization standard. A preliminary version of this proposed standard and an implementation in Postscript format was developed in 1997. Following an internal review of that document, the draft standard was prepared for Subcommittee review in Fall, 1999. No comments represented a significant flaw in the document and they were, in general, confined to editorial and typographical suggestions.
Revisions are limited to issues of clarity and proper usage of symbols.
Potential thematic overlap with standards under development by other Subcommittees will be addressed as needed during the FGDC public review process. It is expected that the USGS can complete the revisions within two months. It will be proposed that the standards committee consider changes to the standard at least once every year, and perhaps more often in the first year or so once the standard is approved. This standards-maintenance mechanism will be tested by forming the committee before completion of the FGDC public review, so that it might help this Subcommittee evaluate the comments and prepare the revised document for final FGDC approval. The initial authoritative version of the standard will be the printed version that is approved following the FGDC public review.