The USGS National Geospatial Program Office is offering a grant through the Chesapeake Watershed CESU for US Topo Cartographic Design Research.

Background:

Building on the success of 125 years of USGS topographic mapping, the US Topo is a new kind of georeferenced map, representing an evolution of USGS paper topographic maps and a graphic synthesis of The National Map data files. US Topo maps are quite different from other available imagery or maps. They are easily accessible with reasonable file sizes and a common format with embedded analytical tools and theme-based layers. US Topos presently include an aerial image base, roads, geographic names, contours and hydrographic features in the customary USGS 7.5-minute by 7.5-minute quadrangle format. Digital US Topo maps are designed to resemble the traditional paper topographic maps for which the USGS is so well known.

Ultimately, the US Topo maps will include layers for expanded transportation, boundaries, structure features, and vegetative surface cover or land cover. This is the only uniform map series that covers the entire area of the United States in considerable detail.

This agreement will provide the opportunity to research, evaluate and document the cartographic and geographic information science needed to validate or make recommendations for changes to the current cartographic design of the US Topo as it pertains to making recommendations for changes to the current cartographic design of the 1:24,000-scale US Topo, especially providing these recommendations in written and/or map form.

Specific objectives of the research
This agreement seeks research into the cartographic design of increasingly larger-scale, electronic topographic maps. This research will assist by:
• Design and research on how best to make the symbol viewable on top of
 Color imagery; such as green forest, yellow desert and other natural backgrounds
 Black and White imagery
• Reviewing and making recommendations for changes to the current cartographic design of the US Topo to show the relief of the land using clear and concise symbol sets so that it is understandable by the lay map reader, especially providing these recommendations in written and/or map form concerning US Topo cartographic design principles and feature symbology at 1:24,000 for
 Transportation
 Hydrography
 Hypsography, including contours and shaded relief
 Geographic names
 Political boundaries
 Vegetation
 Universal Transverse Mercator and/or the national grid.
• Assuring maps will be viewable on computer screens, hand-held devices or on paper using ink-jet or lithographic printing press.
• Research to better understand the need or use of multiple symbol schemes for different applications or combinations of layers being viewed.
• Symbol specifications to help cartographic production using current industry-standard software, such as Arc/Info GIS.