The Caribbean Water Science Center of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been developing a spatial GIS database for Puerto Rico since 1988. The establishment of this GIS has been facilitated by cooperation with many Puerto Rico government agencies. The first phase of this major task began in 1988 and was completed in 1990. It encompassed the conversion of all USGS topographic quadrangles (1:20,000) of Puerto Rico to a digital line graph format (DLG).  Layers of topography, hydrography, transportation, and political boundaries have been digitized during this phase and are now in use.

These digital spatial data layers satisfy the USGS national mapping standards for accuracy. The GIS was enhanced with the digitization of soils maps produced by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS, formerly Soil Conservation Service) and compiled by quadrangle by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural & Environmental Resources (PRDNER), and land use maps produced by PRDNER from 1977 aerial photography. Other layers have been added to the system such as the Ground Water Site Inventory (GWSI), surface water stations, horizontal and vertical control points, and flood areas documented by USGS studies.

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