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Domain: nationalmap.gov

Stories and comments across the archive that link to nationalmap.gov.

Comments · 14

  1. Re:Fool and his money are soon parted by Hylandr · · Score: 1 · on Climate Change Contrarians Lose Big Betting Against Global Warming (theguardian.com)

    Conspiracy much?

    This old topic-dodge is old and way over used. Not acceptable.

    Why should anyone assume that land in Arizona (of all places) would become a seaside resort location? Ever taken a look at a topography map?

    Yes, I have, and you obviously haven't. Here:
    http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/...

    Most of Arizona is over 2000 feet above sea level.

    It has yet to be proven that 'rising oceans' isn't just erosion taking it's toll. Also, whether it's erosion, rising water, or sublimation the Netherlands have an interesting solution. Personally, I would keep dumping dirt and rock to bring all of the land up not just build dikes.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    Whether it's man made or "naturally" occurring, how does that affect the net result? I mean seriously, whether I die because someone runs me over with his car or whether a piece of rock collapses above me and caves my head in, do I care? I'm effin' dead either way, why the fuck would I give a fuck about whether someone is responsible for it afterwards?

    This is bait but I will bite anyways. To leave something useful for our children, future generations, or future sentient species. We aren't going to be that future sentient race if the current generation of millennials are any indication. My point is that it's not man made, and our efforts could actually be making things worse. We do not understand the full nature of our planet by any stretch of the imagination. If we did, the weather man could predict the weather with 100% accuracy for the next 100 years.

    About carbon credits, it's basically a subsidy to companies that have less polluting production in place. And the great thing about it is that the subsidy comes out of the polluter's pocket and not the taxpayer's pocket. What's your point?

    If we truly want to cool this planet then we need to start planting trees. LOTS of them. Pay land owners a stipend for every tree over four they have on their property. This can come back to them at Tax time and the feds sell the earned carbon credits to the polluters. The timber industry would love this for all the forest land they own. It would encourage them to re-plant faster, and be more efficient in getting their tree's bigger, faster.

  2. Re:Free?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative · on Google Earth Pro Now Available Free

    LOL, http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/... must be getting hammered right now. It done got /. to death.

  3. Re:Oh...they have access to better imagery... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on US Government OKs Sale of Sharper Satellite Images

    The USGS has aerial photogrametry (that is, geodetically oriented and with a known maximum error) that is fairly accurate in a lot of places, unfortunately only in the us, anybody know of something similiar outside?
    For instance, the chicago area has 0.3m resolution images over the entire region. Quite impressive to me.
    http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/...

  4. Re:Pictometry? by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1 · on Chuck Schumer Tells Apple and Google To "Curb Your Spy Planes"

    The imagery is beneficial but the .shp files are of much more use and various localities give them away for free. For the twin cities area in Minnesota there is Metro GIS and for the whole state there is the DNR Data Deli and the MN DOT GIS sites. Not to mention the various stuff available from the fed the like TIGER or any of the stuff from the USGS, not to mention the National Atlas, National Map, or any number of other sources of info available.

  5. Re:Behold, unbridled capitalism! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on US ISPs, Big Content Reaching Antipiracy Agreement

    It doesn't take $2M to start a WISP. I would definitely look for the nearest wholesale bandwidth provider or datacenter and set up wireless backhauls to make damn sure you don't need T1s.

    Bandwidth can cost $80/mo per megabit/sec, so set expectations accordingly.
    If you're lucky, you can get it for $0.10/GB or less with burst to 100Mbit.

    $20 per month per Mbit/sec throughput and metered use past the first 10GB may be sustainable.
    Just get a 100Mbit backhaul, so it can handle a significant number of users.
    Here's an example link with a range of up to 20 miles. The next part is to identify the most reliable point to multipoint setup for the last-mile setup.

    You will want to consult the USGS topographical maps and do some math on the fresnel zone to make sure you can serve a customer before setting it up. This can also help you with antenna positioning.

    Also, charge something like $0.30/GB overage - people wouldn't mind that and you'd get more profit the more they download. You should be able to support 1000 or more users on that, then you may be able to afford to contact Qwest for a dedicated fiber backhaul. After that, increase speeds and start getting fiber to your customers.

  6. Re:Have studied Geomorphology by Zcar · · Score: 2, Informative · on The Story of My As-Yet-Unverified Impact Crater

    Most US Geological Survey 7.5 minute quads are available for download in PDF from: US Topo

    With the size the OP mentions, it should show fairly well; these are 10 foot/3 meter contours and a 1200 foot "crater" should be about 0.6"/1.5 cm. Not all states are covered, yet, but there are other free USGS sources to download these.

  7. Re:Frustrating by plover · · Score: 1 · on Open US GPS Data?
    Not only is that $60 million cheap for a national project, (we're talking the U.S. Federal Government here) but it's unnecessary to boot.

    The National Map already has that data.

    The National Map is a compendium of data provided by the states, cities, counties and municipalities. This is from the about page:

    The National Map will be a foundation of information to which the private sector can contribute core feature content and to which proprietary datasets can be linked to provide access to higher resolution data, additional (non-base) features, and enriched attribute information. The National Map will promote cost effectiveness by minimizing the need to find, develop, integrate, and maintain geographic base data each time they are needed.
  8. Re:Frustrating by plover · · Score: 1 · on Open US GPS Data?
    Not only is that $60 million cheap for a national project, (we're talking the U.S. Federal Government here) but it's unnecessary to boot.

    The National Map already has that data.

    The National Map is a compendium of data provided by the states, cities, counties and municipalities. This is from the about page:

    The National Map will be a foundation of information to which the private sector can contribute core feature content and to which proprietary datasets can be linked to provide access to higher resolution data, additional (non-base) features, and enriched attribute information. The National Map will promote cost effectiveness by minimizing the need to find, develop, integrate, and maintain geographic base data each time they are needed.
  9. cf. The National Map Corps by Seanasy · · Score: 1 · on Online Collaboration Creates 'Map-Making For the Masses'

    The USGS uses volunteers with GPS to keep the National Map up-to-date.

  10. Re:james bond bad guy radar by Your+Pal+Dave · · Score: 1 · on Wikipedia's $100 Million Dream
    I had a hard time finding additional imagery after teraserver sold out.(to MS iirc?)


    Actually, MSFT sold out the Terraserver name to another company, but they still run the original site at http://www.terraserver-usa.com/. There's a lot more USGS stuff at http://nationalmap.gov/.

    We're pretty fortunate here in the States that the Government freely distributes their cartographic data. A lot of countries treat it as some sort of state secret, or at least as a revenue stream.
  11. Re:Outrageous... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on CT High Court Rules GIS Data Can Be Kept Secret [UPDATED]

    www.nationalmap.gov. Ask and ye shall receive...

    Straight from the USGS - aerial photos of major metro areas (1 foot/pixel, the best part), plus some street level maps and other information. You can also download the aerial photos, I think.
    All free - you get what you pay for. :)

  12. Might be a nice time to mention... by daveschroeder · · Score: 5, Informative · on Spysats Keeping Watch on the U.S.
    ...some of the ways we benefit from the work of the NGA:

    National Map (National Map Viewer)

    (and the somewhat related National Atlas)

  13. Might be a nice time to mention... by daveschroeder · · Score: 5, Informative · on Spysats Keeping Watch on the U.S.
    ...some of the ways we benefit from the work of the NGA:

    National Map (National Map Viewer)

    (and the somewhat related National Atlas)

  14. USGS National Map by braddk · · Score: 2, Informative · on NASA Releases World Viewer
    While it isn't quite as fancy as what NASA's World Wind seems to be, USGS (United States Geological Survey) has maps of the United States which allows various types of views, from topographic map to satellite photograph. It also loads the Terra Server images.

    Very useful for spying on old images of neighbors.

    It can be viewed at The National Map.