NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
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Support for the Mapping Science Committee was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey.
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MAPPING SCIENCE COMMITTEE
THOMAS C.FINNIE, Consultant,
Gilbertsville, Kentucky,
Chairman
JOHN C.ANTENUCCI,
PlanGraphics, Inc.
JOHN D.BOSSLER,
Ohio State University
DAVID J.COWEN,
University of South Carolina
JOHN E.ESTES,
University of California, Santa Barbara
ROBERT D.JOHNSON,
Petroleum Information, Inc.
HENRY PEREZ*,
The H.M.Gousha Company, Inc.
BARBARA B.PETCHENIK,
R.R.Donnelley & Sons Company
HUGO F.THOMAS,
Connecticut Natural Resources Center
C.DANA TOMLIN,
Harvard University and Ohio State University
THOMAS J.WILBANKS,
Oak Ridge National Laboratories
Staff
THOMAS M.USSELMAN
U.S. Geological Survey Liaison Representatives
JOEL L.MORRISON
LOWELL E.STARR
BOARD ON EARTH SCIENCES AND RESOURCES
WILLIAM L.FISHER,
University of Texas,
Co-Chairman
BRIAN J.SKINNER,
Yale University,
Co-Chairman
SAMUEL S.ADAMS,
Colorado School of Mines
KEIITI AKI,
University of Southern California
ALBERT W.BALLY,
Rice University
JAMES R.BAROFFIO,
Chevron Corporation
SANDRA L.BLACKSTONE,
University of Denver
DONALD J.DEPAOLO,
University of California, Berkeley
GORDON P.EATON,
Iowa State University
W.GARY ERNST,
Stanford University
PRISCILLA C.GREW,
Minnesota Geological Survey
ROBERT N.GINSBURG,
University of Miami
ALEXANDER F.H.GOETZ,
University of Colorado
HARRISON C.JAMISON, Consultant,
Sunriver, Oregon
THOMAS H.JORDAN,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CAREL OTTE, JR.,
Unocal Corporation
FRANK M.RICHTER,
University of Chicago
J.J.SIMMONS, III,
Interstate Commerce Commission
STEVEN M.STANLEY,
Johns Hopkins University
IRVIN L.WHITE,
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
Staff
ROBERT S.LONG, Staff Director
BETTY C.GUYOT, Staff Associate
COMMISSION ON PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MATHEMATICS, AND RESOURCES
NORMAN HACKERMAN,
Robert A.Welch Foundation,
Chairman
ROBERT C.BEARDSLEY,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
B.CLARK BURCHFIEL,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
GEORGE F.CARRIER,
Harvard University
RALPH J.CICERONE,
University of California, Irvine
HERBERT D.DOAN,
The Dow Chemical Company (retired)
PETER S.EAGLESON,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
DEAN E.EASTMAN,
IBM, T.J.Watson Research Center
MARYE ANN FOX,
University of Texas
GERHART FRIEDLANDER,
Brookhaven National Laboratory
LAWRENCE W.FUNKHOUSER,
Chevron Corporation (retired)
PHILLIP A.GRIFFITHS,
Duke University
NEAL F.LANE,
Rice University
CHRISTOPHER F.McKEE,
University of California, Berkeley
RICHARD S.NICHOLSON,
American Association for the Advancement of Science
JACK E.OLIVER,
Cornell University
JEREMIAH P.OSTRIKER,
Princeton University Observatory
PHILIP A.PALMER,
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.
FRANK L.PARKER,
Vanderbilt University
DENIS J.PRAGER,
MacArthur Foundation
DAVID M.RAUP,
University of Chicago
ROY F.SCHWITTERS,
Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
LARRY L.SMARR,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
KARL K.TUREKIAN,
Yale University
MYRON F.UMAN, Acting Executive Director
PREFACE
Upon request of the director of the U.S. Geological Survey, a committee (the Mapping Science Committee) was established in 1987 to provide guidance to the USGS on mapping and geography issues. In the request, the suggested initial charges to the committee were the following:
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Examine the needs for the geographic and cartographic data provided by the USGS. Do the Survey’s current mapping activities and products adequately address these needs?
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Examine and advise on USGS programs of research and development of hardware and software for original data acquisition, processing, storing, marketing, and distribution of digital cartographic data and synthesized information products to the user community.
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Examine the scope and content of the USGS’s activities in geographic information systems (GIS) and recommend their role in assembling and maintaining digital data bases from within the USGS and from other sources.
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Respond to specific requests for guidance on mapping and geography.
This report was prepared to address the first and third of these charges in a specific fashion, and to provide general guidance on the second. Future committee efforts will be directed toward the second, and, as requested, the fourth charge. This selection was made because of time constraints on the committee and because the committee felt that it was necessary to address user requirements and GIS involvement before research programs could be adequately addressed.
At three separate meetings between July 1987 and May 1988, the committee received briefings from the USGS on its programs and policies, and from other agencies on their use of USGS's products and data and onany collaborative efforts. The committee recognized significant overlap among the first three charges. It approached the task by forming two subgroups on slightly different ends of the spectrum represented by the tasks. One subgroup examined these charges as they affect the user community, the other looked at the specific component of geographic information systems and digital cartography. Both subgroups met during the fall of 1988 for further investigation and the initial drafting of their respective sections of the report. The subgroup draft sections were considered at a meeting in February 1989, where the two sections were combined into this report. The committee also met in April 1989 to further consider the contents of the report, and an editorial subgroup met on August 1989 to consolidate the committee's comments into this report. (Detailed agendas for these meetings are given in Appendix A.)
The committee wishes to thank all of those who contributed information for its deliberations, both the USGS staff and officials from other federal agencies.