Reported by Cassie Tammy Wang
Greater Princeton AYLUS (GPA), NJ Branch, has a year-round “Conservation” project, and it offers GPA members an opportunity to volunteer with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the sole science agency for the Department of the Interior, which provides science about the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods, the water, energy, minerals, and other natural resources human rely on, the health of ecosystems and environment, and the impacts of climate and land-use change. The President of GPA, Cassie Tammy Wang, has become one of the top Online Map Editors with USGS since 2016.
On December 10th, 2018, Cassie took honor to recruit fifteen GPA volunteers for the National Map Corps (TNMCorps) of USGS, the online crowdsourcing mapping project with volunteers successfully editing structures in all 50 States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As part of The National Map, structures include schools, hospitals, post offices, police stations, cemeteries, and other important public buildings. By updating and verifying structures data, our volunteers are making significant contributions to the USGS’s ability to provide the Nation with accurate mapping information. Newly modified point features become part of the USGS National Structures Database, The National Map, and U.S. Topo Maps!
To volunteer, all you need is access to the internet, an email address, and a willingness to learn. “How to” documentation including a comprehensive User Guide and a Quick Start Guide. Volunteers earn virtual badges for participating and are recognized for their contributions via USGS and National Map social media.
Regarding the volunteer hours, GPA would count it by “One Minute Per Point Edited Successfully”, say, when a volunteer member has successfully edited 60 points on the map (it will show up on the dashboard), 1 hours would be considered to have contributed to the USGS.
The fifteen GPA members who have teamed up with Cassie Tammy Wang to volunteer for the USGS are: Ming Li, Ryan Tian, Amber Yu, Michael Tang, Jonathan Ye, Raymond Lin, Elizabeth Yunjue Li, Kevin Song, Xin Chen, Prince Hu, Angela Hu, Victoria He, Catherine Feng, Steven Chi, and Andy Chi. Congratulations to everyone for starting to make significant contributions to the National Structures Database, and other GPA members are always welcome to join us whenever you are ready to help!
Below is a letter from Emily Anderson of USGS to Cassie, President of GPA:
Hi Cassie, thank you for reaching out and for recruiting more volunteers for The National Map Corps! I’ve included our standard welcome message which contains links to all of the online resources everyone will need to get started. If anyone has questions about getting started or about the editing process, please reach out to me directly, or send a message to nationalmapcorps@usgs.gov.
What is The National Map Corps?
The National Map Corps is an online mapping project in which volunteer map editors use their own computers to help update structures data for the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Using aerial imagery base layers and internet research, volunteers verify, update, delete or create structure points in our online mapping editor. We are currently collecting ten different structure features including schools, hospitals, post offices, police stations and other important public buildings.
Why does it matter?
Our volunteers are making significant contributions to the USGS’s ability to provide the Nation with accurate mapping information. Newly modified point features become part of the USGS National Structures Database, The National Map, and U.S. Topo Maps.
How do I get started?
First, we highly recommend carefully reading the TNMCorps User Guide. This will be your most comprehensive resource for learning about our project and the editing process.
Next, you’ll need to register at edits.nationalmap.gov/tnmcorps/. For a list of helpful links, click on the green “Getting Started” button on the homepage.
(FYI, Google Chrome is the ideal browser to use with our online editor. If you are having trouble viewing our website properly on another browser, we recommend switching to Chrome)
Don’t hesitate to contact us with feedback, questions, or suggestions at nationalmapcorps@usgs.gov.
Welcome to the team!
Emily Anderson (eanderson@usgs.gov, 303.202.4124)
The National Map Corps Team, a United States Geological Survey Citizen Science project where volunteer map editors update features for The National Map and US Topo maps
