USGS -- The National Map: Historical Quadrangle Scanning Project



For more than 125 years, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) topographic maps have accurately portrayed the complex geography of the Nation. The USGS is the largest producer of printed topographic maps, and, prior to 2009, USGS topographic maps were created using traditional cartographic methods and printed using the lithographic printing process.

Because historical maps are stored in a limited number of collections and are not readily available, the USGS National Geospatial Program (NGP) has begun a project to convert these historical printed topographic quadrangles to an electronic format (GeoTIFF and GeoPDF). This scanning and processing effort 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 download from the USGS Store and The National Map Viewer.

 

Read more.

Additionally, a video of the HQSP presentation given at The National Map Users Conference (TNM UC) in May is now available online.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Leiland Meitzler, GenealogyBlog, for making us aware of these great map resources.

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