USGS Spatial Data Sets

The list of URLs shown below is by no means a comprehensive list of all the spatial products available from the USGS. These spatial data sets are useful for creating maps that illustrate a variety of information.

For spatial data exclusive to Oklahoma, see bottom of page. For information about ground-water flow modeling, see bottom of page.

National Land Use and Land Cover Data (NLCD)

The National Land Cover Data is the most up-to-date information on land use and vegetative cover today. The land-cover data were released just last year and are preliminary for some states. The land-cover data were mapped using 30 general land cover classes and have a 30-meter resolution.

Spatial Data for Water

This web site contains a variety of spatial data sets published by the USGS in reports and they are available free for downloading. Most of the data sets are specific to a reports study area, however, some could be useful and there may be several specific to your area of interest. Some examples are shown below:

• County boundaries of the United States (1:100,000-scale)
  http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/metadata/usgswrd/county100.html

• Hydrologic unit boundaries (watershed boundaries) of the U.S. (1:250,000-scale)
  http://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?huc250k

• Estimates of the herbicide use for the 20 most-used herbicides in the U.S.
  http://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?herbicide1

• Principal aquifers of the U.S.
  http://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?aquifers_us

DLGs, DOQs, and DRGs

Note: sometime soon the URL will change to http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov and there is a cost to download the selected data sets. If you are interested in these data sets for Oklahoma, please see the bottom of the page.

Digital Line Graphs (DLGs)

Some examples are:

• roads
• state and county boundaries
• streams, rivers, and lakes
• public land survey system boundaries, etc.

Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles (Georeferenced Aerial Photos)

The Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle images combine the photo image with geometric qualities of a map. They come in black and white or color infrared. The 3.75-minute quadrangle image has a 1-meter ground resolution. These are very large files.

Digital Raster Graphics (Scanned image of USGS Topographic Maps)

The Digital Raster Graphics (DRGs) are scanned USGS topographic quadrangles. The images are georeferenced and are available at a 1:24,000-scale, 1:100,000-scale, and 1:250,000-scale.

The DRGs include all of the information you see on the paper copy map.

National Elevation Data Set (digital elevation model)

The webpage states that:
"The USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED) has been developed by merging the highest-resolution, best-quality elevation data available across the United States into a seamless raster format. NED is the result of the maturation of the USGS effort to provide 1:24,000-scale Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data for the conterminous US".

Soils Spatial Data (NOT created by the U.S. Geological Survey)

SSURGO ---This database of soil information was done by the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and duplicates the original soil survey maps. Mapping scales generally range from 1:12,000 to 1:63,360. The fact sheet says that the user should be knowledgeable of soils data and their characteristics. SSURGO soils data are not available for every county in all states. Check the availability map.

MIAD/MUIR ---For the counties in Oklahoma where SSURGO is not available, the next best large-scale spatial soil database is the MIAD/MUIR data set (I don't know about other states, please check with your NRCS state soil scientist). This database was created in the 1980's. I have been told that the database is not user friendly, so if you want to use these data please contact your NRCS state soil scientist.

Oklahoma Data Sets

The data sets are downloaded for the whole state (look under the Digital Atlas of Oklahoma link):

• Administrative boundaries

• county boundaries
• latitudinal lines and longitudinal lines
• geographic names
• indexes of U.S. Geological Survey 1:100,000, and 1:250,000-scale topographic quadrangles
• a shaded-relief image
• locations of U.S. Geological Survey stream gages
• watershed boundaries and hydrologic cataloging unit numbers
• locations of weather stations

• census block group boundaries with selected demographic data
• city and major highways text
• geographic names
• land surface elevation contours
• elevation points
• an index of U.S. Geological Survey 1:24,000-scale topographic quadrangles
• an index of U.S. Geological Survey 1:100,000-scale topographic quadrangles
• an index of U.S. Geological Survey 1:250,000-scale topographic quadrangles
• roads, streets, and address ranges
• streams, rivers, and lakes
• public land survey system (township range and sections)

Aquifer characteristics of selected aquifers in Oklahoma
http://ok.water.usgs.gov/gis/aquifers/index.html

DRGs and DOQs of Oklahoma
http://www.geo.ou.edu/services/index.htm

What is its primary purpose?
To predict how ground-water levels, rivers, streams, springs, and lakes will be affected by natural and man-made conditions. Such as changes in precipitation (recharge) and excessive use of ground water or surface water. Predicting the flow of water in an aquifer can also provide information about the movement of contaminants in the ground water.

For more information about ground-water flow models see Modeling Ground-water Flow with MODFLOW and Related Programs, USGS Fact Sheet-121-97 http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/FS/FS-121-97.