FGDC-Compliant USGS SDTS 7.5' DEMs available online

March 2002--Advanced Topographic Development and Images (ATDI) (Sterling, Virginia) is the latest commercial vendor to partner with the USGS to distribute free SDTS DEMs on the Internet. ATDI is an online resource for the location and acquisition of a variety of digital map data. ATDI provides the ICS Map Server package that allows import and export of SDTS DEMs, re-projection, tiling, and generic functions for handling DEMs, Images and Land Cover files. ATDI's interface allows users to enter a central coordinate and immediately retrieve the selected quadrangles. They also sell a worldwide catalogue of digital elevation models, reference images, and ground occupancy information.

January 2002--MapMart.com, IntraSearch's (Englewood, Colorado) online initiative is the second commercial vendor to partner with the USGS to distribute free 7.5' SDTS DEMs on the Internet. MapMart is an online resource for the location and acquisition of a variety of digital map data. MapMart also sells numerous digital data products. The ordering of digital data can be done at different map scales, and in various mapping software formats.

August 2001--The GIS Data Depot, our first online partner, provides free 7.5' SDTS DEMs online. The GIS Data Depot houses data in support of the GIS industry. SDTS DEM data and a variety of other digital data are also available for purchase via premium (fast) download and on CD-ROM from the GIS Data Depot.

More about FGDC-Compliant SDTS 7.5' DEMs
You will notice a change in the naming convention regarding the FGDC-compliant dataset and the tar file. For example, the Dixon, Missouri quad's .tar file name is 1626663 (preceded by GeoComm's unique download instance identifier) and the .ddf names are 7364. This change is the result of USGS maintenance requirements and does not affect the data.

If you experience problems ingesting the new FGDC-compliant data (available October 2, 2001), please contact your software vendor to find the latest information about software upgrades or patches. Users who rely on free or public domain software might check the Web discussion lists for the latest solutions. However, if you believe there is an error in the USGS data, please send email to the SDTS mailing list at sdts@usgs.gov.

Partnership Opportunity
The decision to provide SDTS DEMs through commercial vendors is consistent with the USGS goal of making more public domain data available at no charge while enabling the private sector to have a greater role in the distribution of USGS data. SDTS DEMs placed on media in response to customer orders will be sold by commercial vendors at a price less than the USGS currently charges.

Our partners will continue to receive SDTS versions of the DEMs as they are made available by the USGS. Native format DEMs are still available for sale from USGS on various media and via FTP.

Agreements with our partners to serve updated, SDTS DEMs for no charge are not exclusive agreements. If this is your interest, please see the information about the USGS Business Partner Program.

If you have additional questions or comments, please contact us at sdts@usgs.gov. Please monitor the SDTS Home Page for further news and updates on this issue. USGS SDTS web site.

Old Non-Compliant Data
A non-compliant profile identifier was used in the USGS SDTS DEMs that were released to the public at the GeoCommunity GIS Data Depot in July 2001.

The compliant USGS SDTS DEMs are available from the GIS Data Depot (October 2, 2001) and at MapMart.com (January 4, 2002) and ATDI (March 8, 2002).

Non-compliant data have been purged and are no longer being distributed. The issue of non-compliance was with the profile identifier name only and did not affect the integrity of the data.

Please note that the GIS Data Depot is not responsible for the non-compliant identifier name. The USGS is the maintenance authority for SDTS and continues to be the technical contact for the data and is responsible for policy regarding data distribution.

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