USGS Geography: The National Map Partnerships

The National Map is the product of a consortium of Federal, State, and local partners

Partnerships - Working Together to Build The National Map

Our Philosophy

The success of The National Map will depend on the partnerships we establish with the wide variety of organizations that work with geospatial data. We recognize that the most current, highest resolution, and continuously maintained geospatial datasets reside with State and local governments, private entities, and other Federal agencies. The role of the USGS as manager of The National Map is to establish partnerships with these organizations to coordinate and negotiate access to their data, develop protocols for data integration, develop data maintenance processes, and define data requirements.

To accomplish this, the USGS requires a new business model. Different approaches to the development of long-term partnerships will be critical. The philosophical approach to partnering, the incentives, and the expectations of the parties will require innovative program offerings and partnering solutions.

New partnership efforts will focus on the following:

Assessing partner needs and integrating them into the design and development of The National Map.
Inventorying key geospatial datasets for priority urban areas.
Expanding relationships with Federal, State, local, and tribal governments, non-government organizations, and private industry to gain support for The National Map.
Aligning The National Map partnering efforts with the needs and objectives of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), and the Geospatial One-Stop Initiative.
Aligning USGS resources to increase support for partnership activities.
Increasing emphasis on partnerships with the private sector to foster the advancement of technical solutions, adoption of guidelines and standards, and development of applications tools that support The National Map.
Distributing USGS staff across the Nation to pursue partnerships.
Incorporating new flexibilities into the partnering effort in terms of partner needs, incentives, data licensing, roles and responsibilities, research, and product dissemination.

Areas of Partnership

The USGS seeks to develop partnerships in support of The National Map within, but not limited to, the following areas:

Data and database development
Data and database maintenance
Data dissemination and distribution
Exchange of geospatial and remotely sensed information, data, and products
Feature serving and generalization
Outreach and education
Research and applications
Sharing of technical information and expertise
Standards development
Web mapping services and applications
Workshops, training, and technology transfer

Contact Us

If you are interested in helping to build The National Map in any of the areas listed above, we are interested in talking with you. Please contact the USGS Liaison in your State for more information. Together we can make The National Map happen!

U.S. Department of the Interior || U.S. Geological Survey
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20192, USA
URL: http://nationalmap.gov/partnerships.html
Maintainer: TNM Webmaster
Last modified: Monday, 14-Nov-2005 14:25:37 EST