Scanning and georeferencing historical USGS quadrangles

Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Geospatial Program is scanning published USGS 1:250,000-scale and larger topographic maps printed between 1884, the inception of the topographic mapping program, and 2006. The goal of this scanning, which started in 2011, is to provide a digital repository of USGS topographic maps, available to the public at no cost. For more than 125 years, the USGS topographic maps have accurately portrayed the complex geography of the Nation. The USGS is the Nation’s largest producer of printed topographic maps, and, prior to 2006, USGS topographic maps were created using traditional cartographic methods and printed using a lithographic process. As the USGS continues release of a new generation of topographic maps (US Topo) in electronic form, the topographic map remains an indispensable tool for government, science, industry, land management planning, and leisure. When physical and cultural features change over time, maps are updated, revised, and new editions printed. Although they are technically out of date, these historic maps are often useful to scientists, historians, environmentalists, genealogists, and others researching a particular geographic location or area. A series of maps of the same area published over a period of time can show how some areas looked as early as 1884, before current development, and provide a detailed view of changes over time. Because historical maps are stored in a limited number of collections and are not readily available, the USGS National Geospatial Program is converting these historical printed topographic quadrangles to an electronic format (GeoTIFF and GeoPDF). This serves the dual purpose of creating a master catalog and digital archive copies of the irreplaceable collection of topographic maps in the USGS Reston Map Library, as well as making the maps available for viewing and downloading from the USGS Store and The National Map Viewer.