Interactions and exchanges of personnel have occurred over the year. ADL participates in the on-going FGDC Clearinghouse discussions. ADL and USGS have had continuing discussions on gazetteer standards, data serving, and the linking of existing USGS databases to ADL.
As part of our collection development for our joint project with Microsoft, we are working with USGS Headquarters (Hedy Rossmeissl) and National Mapping Division (George Lee) to acquire the complete set of published digital orthophoto quadrangles (DOQs). This dataset comprises over 41,000 grayscale images with an aggregate compressed size of over 200 GB. Each image is rectified to one quarter of a standard 7.5-minute USGS topographic quadrangle. This dataset is an unrivaled source of high-resolution, planimetric imagery of a significant fraction of the United States. When available online, it will be ADL's flagship collection.
The University of Colorado Team recently completed a series of focus groups to assist U.S. Geological Survey evaluate a prototype interface design for their planned National Atlas of the United States. The product will be a Web-based atlas of maps, data and imagery available from Federal data producers, targeted for the lay public and in schools. USGS is interested in further interface evaluation efforts, including transaction log monitoring by the CU Team once a working Web prototype is established. Discussions for USGS funding for that effort are underway.