October 21, 1996 INTERIM GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF MAPS TO THE NATIONAL GEOLOGIC MAP DATABASE (proposed by Dave Soller to the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program): The National Geologic Mapping Act of 1992 requires the National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB) to archive geologic map data created under the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) and certain types of earth-science data created by other USGS programs. Further, the Executive Order establishing the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) requires that all digital spatial data provided to the public adhere to certain requirements. These two mandates necessitate development of standards to which digital map data must adhere if they are to be published. Development of these standards is being planned. For the near-term, it is imperative that some interim minimum guidelines be set for map data produced by the NCGMP. Note that the NSDI-required translation of map data to SDTS format is not fully functional. Until various issues with SDTS are resolved, we should release our map data in DLG format as well. ____________________________________________________________ All digital map products submitted to: 1) the regional publications group for publication, and 2) the NGMDB should meet the following requirements: A. all maps must be in ARC/INFO version 7 format (8.3 compliant), with all relevant related attribute files and lookup tables. All map data must be provided in SDTS, DLG-3, and ARC EXPORT (uncompressed option) and must be accompanied by ancillary files as described in D, E, and F, below. To save space, these files may be compressed with UNIX compress or gzip. All files must be contained in a tar file, compressed if appropriate. B. all maps must be in the map projection that is standard for the scale of the map (e.g., UTM for 1:100,000-scale maps). Data in the SDTS format must be unprojected, in decimal degrees of latitude and longitude, as this is a requirement for spatial data made available in the SDTS Topological Vector Profile. C. all maps must be georeferenced to the appropriate standard digital base map (e.g., the 1:100,000 DLGs). The base map need not be supplied with the geologic map files unless the base has been edited significantly. If the map was compiled on a non-standard base or if the base map is not publicly available in digital form, a digital base map in either vector or raster format must be supplied. D. all maps must be documented with FGDC-compliant metadata created using the ARC/INFO version 7.0.4 DOCUMENT.AML program. Eventually, this requirement will be adjusted as the requirements for implementing the NSDI Clearinghouse become better developed. E. a graphics file that represents the finished map product must be provided in EPS format and, optionally, in ARC .gra format. Appropriate lookup tables or remap tables may also be provided to permit users to display the map data interactively to a monitor. F. a README file is required. It should contain adequate explanatory material on directory structure and file names. The map explanation and ancillary text may be placed in the readme file or in a second such file. At a minimum, ASCII files are required. HTML versions may be provided at author's discretion.