With this slightly lower elevation, has the tallest mountain in North America shrunk? No, but advances in technology to better measure the elevation at the surface of the Earth have resulted in a more accurate summit height of Alaska’s natural treasure. The revised official height for “the high one” has been measured at 20,310 feet, just 10 feet less than the previous elevation of 20,320 feet which was established using 1950’s era technology. The USGS partnered with NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS), Dewberry, CompassData,(a subcontractor to Dewberry), the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and the Denali National Park to conduct a precise Global Positioning System (GPS)measurement of a specific point at the mountain’s peak in late June.
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Using The National Map services to enable your web and mobile apps
From the USGS, a message for developers or mobile apps – Calling all developers or organizations that use mobile or web applications to support your users, tools or services – the USGS wants to help you. The National Geospatial Technical Operations Center will be hosting a 30- minute webinar on “Using The National Map services to enable your web and mobile mapping efforts” on June 16 at 9am Mountain Time.
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USGS Maps – Over 18 Million Served!
According to the USGS, their maps have been downloaded by the millions since converting to digital delivery. The U.S. Geological Survey, through the National Geospatial Program, has delivered more than 18 million US Topoquadrangles and Historic Topographic Maps in the past six years. A download is counted when a user select the desired map(s) from the USGS Storeor The National Map Viewer and places that file on their computer or mobile device for further manipulation.
USGS Releases Drought Visualization Website – Insights on the California Drought
A newly released interactive California Drought visualization website aims to provide the public with atlas-like, state-wide coverage of the drought and a timeline of its impacts on water resources.

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A new Reward from the USGS for Crowd Sourcing Citizen Scientists
an update from the USGS on their crowd-sourcing efforts… The National Map Corps (TNMCorps) data volunteers continue to make significant additions to the USGS’s ability to provide accurate mapping information and data to the public. To reward those citizen scientists, TNM Corps has issued virtual badges to those participants that reach certain point (structure data submission) levels.
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Mapping the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail – 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada
The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (PCT ) http://www.pcta.org/ is a treasured pathway through some of the most outstanding scenic terrain in the United States. Beginning in southern California at the Mexican border, the PCT travels a total distance of 2,650 miles through California, Oregon, and Washington until reaching the Canadian border.
The Nation is Calling for 3D Data – via the USGS
This from the USGS… The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is a national initiative to accelerate the collection of 3-dimensional elevation data, to manage the authoritative lidar and ifsar datasets, and to provide elevation products and services to everyone for applications ranging from flood risk management to agricultural production.
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National Map’s Historical Topographic Map Collection – 178,000 historical topographic maps of the US
Here’s a fabulous digital archive with tens of thousands of maps for your viewing and printing pleasure! Available in time for the Fourth of July and able to be accessed on all digital devices, the USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer brings to life more than 178,000 maps dating from 1884 to 2006.
In 2009, USGS began the release of a new generation of topographic maps (US Topo) in electronic form, and is now complementing them with the release of high-resolution scans of more than 178,000 historical topographic maps of the United States. The topographic map remains an indispensable tool for everyday use in government, science, industry, land management planning, and recreation.

Update on USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative
An update on 3DEP from the USGS… The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative is being developed to respond to growing needs for high-quality topographic data and for a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation’s natural and constructed features. The primary goal of 3DEP is to systematically collect enhanced elevation data in the form of high-quality light detection and ranging (lidar) data over the conterminous United States, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories, with data acquired over an 8-year period. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (ifsar) data will be collected over Alaska, where cloud cover and remote locations preclude the use of lidar over much of the State. The 3DEP initiative is based on the results of the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment.
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National Climate Change Viewer (NCCV) Unveiled
Something news from the US DOI in this climate viewing tool – The new tool gives citizens and resource managers the opportunity to look at climate-driven impacts on watersheds and map projected changes at the local, regional, state and watershed levels.
The USGS National Climate Change Viewer (NCCV) includes the historical and future climate projections from 30 of the downscaled models for two of the RCP emission scenarios, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. RCP4.5 is one of the possible emissions scenarios in which atmospheric GHG concentrations are stabilized so as not to exceed a radiative equivalent of 4.5 Wm-2 after 2100, about 650 ppm CO2 equivalent. RCP8.5 is the most aggressive emissions scenario in which GHGs continue to rise unchecked through the end of the century leading to an equivalent radiative forcing of 8.5 Wm-2, about 1370 ppm CO2 equivalent. The application also provides access to comprehensive, summary reports in PDF format and CSV files of the temperature and precipitation data for each geographic area.
A detailed description of the application and its use can be found in the NCCV Tutorial (PDF).