Screenshot of Step 1 Geospatial Data Gateway.
Screenshot of USDA Geospatial Data Gateway. 
NRCS/USDA Geospatial Data Gateway – Distribution of a Variety of Base Maps and 
Other GIS Data 

http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/ 

Program Highlights 

Data Product 

• The Geospatial Data Gateway provides
one-stop shopping for natural resources
or environmental data. 
• Source for Natural Resources 
Conservation Service (NRCS) U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (USDA) 
Countywide Compressed Orthophoto 
Mosaics. 


Advantages 

• Data downloads are free and near-real 
time. 
• Compressed, mosaicked counties are 
easier to work with, color/tone 
balanced, and potentially more accurate
than individual quarter quad National Digital Orthophoto Program (NDOP) Digital Orthophoto 
Quadrangles (DOQs). 


Disadvantages 

• Compression of imagery may degrade visual quality. 
• County mosaics generally use first generation NDOP imagery so they are fairly old. 
• USDA is not the authoritative source for all data on the site, so some data may be out of date. 


Program Overview 

The Geospatial Data Gateway is intended to 
provide a single access point for resource data. It 
provides a way to easily locate data that exist for 
selected geographic areas, find the types of data 
for that area, and deliver the data packaged in 
formats compatible with commercial and USDA 
Service Center application formats. 

One major purpose of the Gateway is to support 
the development, presentation, and dissemination 
of information by Service Center field staff 
working in the field with customers away from 
the office. However, the public has access to the 
Gateway to find and retrieve resource data. 


Data Details 

The data sets served by the Gateway are primarily determined by the USDA Service Center Geographic 
Information System (GIS) Strategy. The data themes are listed on the Gateway Data Management page at 
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/GDGHome_StatusMaps.aspx. This page also identifies non-geospatial 
data that may be available through the Gateway. 

The Gateway provides metadata that comply with the Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata 
standards for all data available through the Gateway. Metadata enable users to assess the applicability of a 
dataset to their needs before downloading or ordering it. 

Data Applicability to Flood Mapping Program 

County orthophotograph mosaics can be used as Flood Insurance Rate Map base maps provided the 
compression does not reduce the usability of the image. These mosaics are much easier to work with, 
have more consistent image brightness, contrast, and sometimes improved positional accuracy compared 
to the first-generation tiled DOQs. 

Data Availability 

The Geospatial Data Gateway provides access to many different data layers, which may be updated as 
frequently as once per week. The most critical themes are generally available nationwide. 

Critical Themes 

• Orthoimagery 
• Soils 
• Common Land Unit 


Data Ordering 

Users can download the data from the Web site directly, retrieve it from a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) 
site, or order it on CD or DVD.