We Proudly Announce…

In late 2010, Xentity won a multi-year contract to support the creation of high-quality scanned maps. The USGS Historical Quadrangle Scanning Project (HQSP) is scanning all scales and all editions of approximately 200,000 topographic maps published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) since the inception of the topographic mapping program in 1884. This scanning will provide a comprehensive digital repository of USGS topographic maps, available to the public at no cost. This project serves the dual purpose of creating a master catalog and digital archive copies of the irreplaceable collection of topographic maps in the USGS Reston Map Library as well as making the maps available for viewing and downloading from the USGS Store and The National Map Viewer.  For further information, see the handout on this program.

Staff from Xentity supported the arduous process for scanning and cataloging during this project. Over a couple calendar years, our Madison, WI-based staff will be able to complete these very high-resolution scans. Furthermore, the process required an eye for detail and to not be complacent with simply getting the job done. Our tasks included:

  • Converting printed scientific reports and maps to an electronic format
  • Create geo-databases for containing the scientific reports, maps, and satellite imagery
  • Scan multiple scales and editions of the more than 75,000 reports published by the USGS since 1879.
  • Accurately referencing the Geographic Names Information System and Topographic map metadata and data dictionaries for project completeness
  • Creating, managing, and running the metadata QA/QC process and metadata verification processing.
  • Maintaining end user documentation
  • Creating batch scripts for post-processing of image files.
  • Manipulating the resulting scans in multiple GIS formats
  • Maintaining databases and front-end catalog systems

We accomplished a great deal during this project, and look forward to future work with HQSP.