crum@utah-cs.UUCP (Gary L. Crum) (05/27/88)
The National Cartographic Information Center (NCIC) distributes digital cartographic/geographic data files produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of the National Mapping Program. I have purchased one of the maps and I am making it available by anonymous ftp from Internet host wasatch.utah.edu in the directory pub/maps/dem. That directory contains: -rw-r--r-- 1 crum 256 May 26 11:21 INDEX -rw-r--r-- 1 crum 1090600 May 26 10:33 MAP.N0009338 -rw-r--r-- 1 crum 278140 May 26 12:03 MAP.N0009338.Z -rw-r--r-- 1 crum 1481 May 26 11:37 README where MAP.N0009338 is DEM data for the quadrant where I am posting from. Applications of computers to provide dynamic perspective viewing of 3D geographic-scale data models sounds interesting and is becoming practical with the availability of transformation hardware. One such viewing program is a class project of mine this quarter. Please contribute machine-readable geographic data to my collection as suggested by my README file included below. Thanks, -Gary (crum@cs.utah.edu) --- README from ~ftp/pub/maps/dem on wasatch.utah.edu --- This directory contains Digital Elevation Model data as made available by the United States Geological Survey National Mapping Program. The format of DEM map files is described in the publication "Digital Elevation Models, Data Users Guide" available free of charge from: National Cartographic Information Center U. S. Geological Survey 507 National Center Reston, VA 22092 (703)860-6045 DEM tapes for 7.5 minute square quadrants cost $100 plus a $25 service charge. This data was obtained by Gary Crum at the University of Utah, and it is being made publicly available because it is not copyrighted and in hopes that others who have purchased DEM data will make their data available here. The USGS distribution charge is very high, considering that 100 DEM quads would fit on a single 2400' 6250bpi tape, but such a tape would cost around 100 * $100 = $10,000 plus the $25 per tape service charge. DEM maps in this directory are described in the INDEX file. If you would like to help offset the cost of purchasing map data from USGS, please send a contribution to the corresponding buyers listed in the INDEX file. $5 per map seems reasonable. Thank you. This DEM data is (as of 25-May-1988) available by anonymous ftp from Internet host wasatch.utah.edu in the directory pub/maps/dem. If you can contribute map data, please do by transferring map datafiles to this writable directory and requesting that the INDEX file be updated by the maintainer, crum@wasatch.utah.edu.
tve@alice.UUCP (06/01/88)
I have a couple of 1 degree by 1 degree USGS maps (200 feet grid) I'll copy as soon as the internet permits (New Jersey - Utah => :-( ). I called NCIC to check whether they are PD: answer is yes. The six maps I have are the grand canyon area (2 maps), kings canyon area (3 maps) and New Jersey (1 map). What I'm looking for right now is COLOR for the maps! I contacted EOSAT for their Landsat image data (low orbit earth observation satellite) but here we start talking real $$: Landsat data for approximately the same area as covered by a 1x1 degree $75 USGS map costs $600 !!! (EOSAT is a company, not US gov...), also their data is strictly NOT PD. Does anybody know of alternate sources for color data? I know that the French and Russians sell the same kind of data because this is why one can buy the Landsat data (if THEY sell it and make money, why shouldn't WE do it as well..) but I don't know where to contact them. Any pointers? Thorsten von Eicken Computing Science Research Center AT&T Bell Laboratories Murray Hill, NJ07974 ...!research!tve -or- tve@research.att.com _
rusty@velveeta.berkeley.edu (rusty wright) (06/03/88)
A couple of things: (1) Could somebody also put on wasatch some code (C preferred) that shows how to read these DEM files? I'm too impatient to wait for the NCIC to mail me the User's Guide. (Also, it's no longer free, but it's so cheap that it's almost free; something like $1.) (2) Does anybody have any of the NCIC Digital Line Graph maps? These have things like roads, bodies of water, political boundaries, etc. (3) Does anybody have any of the the NCIC's files that list names and locations of things (I forget what the NCIC calls this)? Of all three, this one is the least interesting graphically, but it's the one that our library has the User's Guide for. -------------------------------------- rusty c. wright rusty@cartan.berkeley.edu ucbvax!cartan!rusty