What branch of government is USGS?
the U.S. Department of the Interior The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is a bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior.
What is the meaning of USGS?
United States Geological Survey The USGS (United States Geological Survey) is a science bureau within the United States Department of the Interior.
What is the mission of the USGS?
The USGS serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life.
What is the USGS What is their job?
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a Federal science agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that provides impartial information on the health of our ecosystems and environment, the natural hazards that threaten us, the natural resources we rely on, the impacts of climate and land-use change, and the …
Who controls the USGS?
the United States Department of the Interior The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. Reston, Virginia, U.S. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior; it is that department's sole scientific agency. The USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
Do USGS maps only apply to the United States?
USGS-authored or produced data and information are considered to be in the U.S. public domain and can be freely used without permission. All we ask is that you acknowledge the USGS as the source.
Is USGS Gov reliable?
About Us | U.S. Geological Survey. A . gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .
Is USGS credible?
The USGS serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life.
Is the USGS reliable source?
USGS serves the country by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth. USGS's scientific work helps minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters, and aids in the measuring and research of water, biological, energy and mineral resources.
How accurate is USGS?
The production of these images is well controlled; they have an accuracy of 6 meters (~20 feet) or better. The match between US Topo vector layers and the orthoimage layer is generally very good, evidence that the maps meet traditional accuracy standards for most feature classes in most areas.
What is the most accurate elevation map?
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been the primary civilian mapping agency of the United States since 1879. USGS topographic maps have been published at many scales, but 1:24,000 (also referred to as a 7.5-minute quadrangle) has been the standard topographic map scale since 1947.
How do you know if a map is accurate?
The accuracy of any map may be tested by comparing the positions of points whose locations or elevations are shown upon it with corresponding positions as determined by surveys of a higher accuracy.
Are USGS maps free?
Both US Topo and HTMC maps can be downloaded free of charge through several USGS interfaces. In addition to topographic quadrangles, the USGS publishes many other kinds of geospatial data and imagery.
Is the map of the world upside down?
The simple answer to the question was this: It isn't upside-down at all. In a flip of convention, my giant, framed world map displays the southern hemisphere — Australia included — at the top. It's a twist, but not strictly speaking a distortion.
Which world map is most accurate?
The AuthaGraph View the world in correct proportions with this map.
What does a 7.5 minute map mean?
Areas featured. For example, a 7.5-minute map shows an area that spans 7.5 minutes of latitude and 7.5 minutes of longitude, and it is usually named after the most prominent feature in the quadrangle. Others show a whole area—a county, State, national park, or place of special interest.
Why north is called north?
Etymology. The word north is related to the Old High German nord, both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit *ner-, meaning "left; below" as north is to left when facing the rising sun. Similarly, the other cardinal directions are also related to the sun's position.
Why is north always up?
It is guessed that because the Europeans were doing most of the exploration at the time in the northern hemisphere, choosing the north to keep on top was probably intuitive. Because of its usability, Mercators' map soon became a world standard, and hence the idea of the north at the top stuck.
Why is Africa so small on the map?
The world map you are probably familiar with is called the Mercator projection (below), which was developed all the way back in 1569 and greatly distorts the relative areas of land masses. It makes Africa look tiny, and Greenland and Russia appear huge.
Why is Greenland so big on a map?
Mercator maps distort the shape and relative size of continents, particularly near the poles. This is why Greenland appears to be similar in size to all of South America on Mercator maps, when in fact South America is more than eight times larger than Greenland.
Why are topo maps called quadrangles?
Quadrangle maps or quads are a type of topographic map produced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) that divides the United States into areas or quadrangles bounded by lines of latitude and longitude.
What is gn on a topo map?
Grid north (GN) is the direction of a plane grid system, usually the grid associated with the map projection.
Why is the map not upside down?
An explanation on my own map reads: "Traditional maps are drawn from the perspective of the first European explorers and cartographers — with the northern hemisphere at the top. We think it's time to break with tradition and show the world from the perspective of all those people living in the southern hemisphere.
Why is the North Pole not on maps?
A commonly cited reason is that the Arctic ice cap is floating on open ocean; there's no land underneath that reaches sea level. Antarctica, on the other hand, does conceal land above sea level. Thus, the reasoning goes, the Arctic does not qualify as land, and is rendered as ocean based on depth data.
Why does Russia look bigger than Africa?
The Mercator projection, the most popular world map, distorts the size of the shape of landmasses near the pole. This results in Russia looking bigger than Africa. Actually Africa can nearly fit two Russias. In fact, Africa has an area of 11.73 million square miles while Russian one is only 6.6 million square miles.
Which is bigger Russia or Africa?
mi (17 million km2), Russia is the world's largest country. But Mercator makes it look larger than it is. Drag and drop it near the equator, and you see how truly huge Africa is: at 11.73 million sq. mi (30.37 million km2), it is almost twice the size of Russia.
Is Russia bigger than the US?
Russia is the largest country by far, with a total area of about 17 million square kilometers….The 30 largest countries in the world by total area (in square kilometers)
| Characteristic | Area in square kilometers |
|---|---|
| Russia | 17,098,242 |
| Canada | 9,984,670 |
| USA | 9,833,517 |
Why is a 7.5 minute map not square?
These quadrangles are not squares because 7.5' of longitude is a smaller distance in miles at 36° N (36th parallel) than 7.5 minutes of latitude. Nor are these quadrangles rectangles because the vertical sides, representing longitude lines (meridians), are not parallel.
What does fifteen minute mean in a map title?
15-minute maps The standard map series covering Alaska is the 15-minute, 1:63,360-scale (1 inch = 1 mile) quadrangle series, usually having dimensions of 15 minutes in latitude and from 20 to 36 minutes of longitude. The area portrayed on each sheet ranges from 207 to 280 square miles, depending on the latitude.
Why is magnetic north not true north?
What's up with Magnetic North vs True North? “True north” is the northern axis of rotation of the Earth. It is the point where the lines of longitude converge on maps. “Magnetic north” is the point on the Earth's surface where its magnetic field points directly downwards.