Most geologic maps were made to be printed and read. The problems they now help solve — protecting drinking water, mapping faults in three dimensions, designing infrastructure, managing resources, finding rock that can store carbon — need maps that computers can query. The U.S. Geological Survey's U.S. GeoFramework Initiative, run by its National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, aims to deliver a new digital geologic framework of the United States, in two and three dimensions, by 2030.
Why now
Congress directed the USGS in 2019 to implement Phase Three of the National Geologic Map Database. The initiative's answer is to combine mapping by the USGS and the state geological surveys into a distributed database of geologic map information, and to build from it a new national geologic map and 3D model — updated as new data arrive.
Who builds it
| Contributor | Role |
|---|---|
| National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB) | the "national archive" of geoscience information since 1995 — publications and map data, search tools, the U.S. Geologic Names Lexicon (Geolex) and standards. It now adds subsurface and 3D data, develops digital map schemas, trains mappers, and is the starting inventory and repository |
| National Geologic Synthesis (NGS) project | assembles the new national map and 3D model, working with the states to choose the best data for complete coverage by the end of the decade |
| Supporting projects | smaller, shorter USGS projects that fill specific gaps in the 2D and 3D layers |
| State geological surveys, through STATEMAP | federal mapping funds matched dollar for dollar by the states — now expanded to pay for statewide compilations, reconciling rock units across state lines, subsurface mapping and more |
| Universities, through EDMAP | training the next generation of geologic mappers |
How the initiative's cooperators fit together. Credit: USGS.
What it delivers
Queryable databases served to the public, a geologic map with national coverage, and a 3D model of the country's geology — built on shared data standards and common practices, so that data from federal, state and academic mappers fit together. The goal is flexible, data-driven answers to earth science questions, from hazard identification to climate resilience.
Sources
Based on the USGS fact sheet "The National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program's U.S. GeoFramework Initiative — Delivering a digital database of geologic map information for the Nation," a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from pubs.usgs.gov
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