National Geospatial Program Standards
National Geospatial Program Standards
Standards set the criteria and specifications to ensure that all products prepared by the USGS under the National Geospatial Program (formerly the National Mapping Program) are accurate and consistent in style and content. Most of these standards are historical and apply to products no longer produced by the USGS. Geospatial data is now provided through the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Geospatial One-Stop website. Standards applicable to the Geospatial One-Stop data, and USGS products developed from these data can be found through the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC).
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- Help -- Instructions
- This page explains procedures for viewing and downloading the standards documents to your system, or ordering printed copies. Documents on this site are available in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF).
Digital Data Standards | Printed Map Standards | Additional Standards
Important Non-NGP Standards Information
Overview of NGP Standards
NGP standards documents, and subsequent updates or changes, available from this site are current and have been approved and authorized by the National Mapping Division Standards Review Board. Also offered are standards documents that are in the draft stages of the approval process. These documents will be labeled, "DRAFT," or if the document has approval for use by USGS contractors and for USGS internal production, it will be labeled, "DRAFT FOR IMPLEMENTATION." All draft documents are subject to change without notice! Standards documents may be periodically updated to reflect changes in policy or to define new or improved data and map specifications. The standards are current as of the version date indicated, please check this site often for the most current document.
Digital Data Standards
- Digital Elevation Model Standards -- Standards that define a digital file consisting of terrain elevations for ground positions at regularly spaced intervals. A digital elevation model is often referred to as a DEM.
- Digital Line Graph Standards -- Standards that define digital vector files containing line data, such as roads or streams, digitized from quadrangle maps. A digital line graph is often referred to as a DLG. The standards cover both DLG-3 and DLG-F series.
- Digital Orthophoto Standards -- Standards that define a digital image of an aerial photograph in which displacements caused by the camera and the terrain have been removed. A digital orthophoto quadrangle is often referred to as a DOQ. A DOQ combines the image characteristics of a photograph with the geometric qualities of a map.
- Digital Raster Graphic Standards -- Standards that define a digital image which is scanned from a USGS quadrangle map. A digital raster graphic is often referred to as a DRG. A DRG is georeferenced to the surface of the Earth, inside the map neatline.
- National Hydrography Dataset Standards -- The USGS and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are jointly preparing standards for the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and the National Hydrography Dataset - High Resolution (NHD - HR). Both the NHD and NHD - HR are digital vector files of cataloging units that uniquely identify and interconnect the stream segments or "reaches" that comprise the country's surface water drainage system.
- Raster Feature Separate Standards -- Standards that define an archive format for a raster feature separate image file of a USGS topographic or planimetric map.
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Printed Map Standards
- Other Map Series Standards -- Various map standards may be found here. Some examples include 1:100,000-scale quadrangle maps, 1:50,000- and 1:100,000-scale county maps, and State maps.
- Primary Series Quadrangle Map Standards -- Standards that define primary series topographic maps which include 1:24,000- or 1:25,000-scale quadrangles of the conterminous United States and Hawaii, 1:63,360-scale quadrangles of Alaska, and 1:20,000-scale quadrangles of Puerto Rico. These quadrangle maps show the positions of features and represent their vertical position in a measurable form.
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Additional Standards
- Metadata Standards -- Standards that define content for digital geospatial metadata for USGS NGP digital products.
- Miscellaneous Instructions -- These documents provide detailed instructions or guidelines to support products or processes not covered by other standards or documents.
- National Map Accuracy Standards -- Standards that define the accuracy for published maps.
- Preparation of Technical Instruction Standards -- Standards that define required content and formatting for all USGS NGP technical instructions.
- Supplemental Technical Instructions -- These technical instructions are supplements to the USGS NGP technical instructions. They provide clarifications for both graphic and digital mapping specifications on the basis of changing requirements and interpretations.
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If you have comments and (or) questions about any USGS NGP standards documents, please e-mail NGP Standards.
For comments or questions about other USGS products and (or) services, please contact Ask USGS -- Science Information and Library Services (SILS) or call 1-888-ASK-USGS (1-888-275-8747) or e-mail ask@usgs.gov.
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