-------- Original Message -------- Subject: New version of NCGMP09 is available Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 10:25:20 -0600 From: Doug Behm <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> I thought this might be of interest. Douglas D. Behm, P.G. Director of University Lands/University Geologist Office of Land Management and Real Estate Services 102 Hayden-Harris Hall University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: DMT '10 - Digital Mapping Techniques [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David R. Soller Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 10:21 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: New version of NCGMP09 is available Good morning - We're pleased to announce that "NCGMP09-draft standard format for digital publication of geologic maps" has been revised to version 1.1, and is now posted to http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Info/standards/NCGMP09/. It replaces the version released in October, 2009. Why did it take us 13 months to revise it? Following release of the previous version, we sat down with many colleagues who had given NCGMP09 a serious technical evaluation, and through several iterations we reached compromises among the various perspectives and suggestions. The result is this revised database design. We sincerely thank all who, in the spirit of collegiality and the pragmatic desire to develop more commonality in the products that are published, offered their time and ideas. We hope you find version 1.1 to be significantly improved by their efforts. If you're unfamiliar with NCGMP09, an excerpt from the documentation, below, provides some background. Thank you, and we look forward to your comments. Dave Soller, Ralph Haugerud, Steve Richard, and Evan Thoms p.s. A more formal announcement will later be sent to NCGMP colleagues in the AASG and USGS... ----- ----- This document proposes a standard format for geologic map publications funded by the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) of the U.S. Geological Survey. This format, or database design, is named NCGMP09 to reflect the initial audience and the year it was prototyped. We hope that this design will adapt to evolving needs and expectations, and meet the needs of a larger community of users. We and an extended group of colleagues will continue to revise the design based on comments received, and intend to release a revised version under a new name in 2011. NCGMP09 is a database design for encoding content analogous to that contained in a traditional geologic map published by the USGS and by state geological surveys. It stipulates an ESRI database format because this is the GIS most commonly used in the USGS, in the state geological surveys, and by end users. Further, this design is intended to provide a stepping-stone toward development of multi-map databases, in particular the National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------- Geoscience resource for maps and related data http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/