National Hydrography Dataset (NHD)

Dataset Identification:

Resource Abstract:
The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is a feature-based database that interconnects and uniquely identifies the stream segments or reaches that make up the nation's surface water drainage system. NHD data was originally developed at 1:100,000 scale and exists at that scale for the whole country. High resolution NHD adds detail to the original 1:100,000-scale NHD. (Data for Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands was developed at high-resolution, not 1:100,000 scale.) Like the 1:100,000-scale NHD, high resolution NHD contains reach codes for networked features and isolated lakes, flow direction, names, stream level, and centerline representations for areal water bodies. Reaches are also defined to represent waterbodies and the approximate shorelines of the Great Lakes, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. The NHD also incorporates the National Spatial Data Infrastructure framework criteria set out by the Federal Geographic Data Committee.
Citation
Title National Hydrography Dataset (NHD)
publication  Date   2001-01-01
presentationForm  mapDigital
cited responsible party - publisher
organisation Name  U.S. Geological Survey
Contact information
Address
, Reston, Virginia
cited responsible party - originator
organisation Name  U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other State and local partners (see dataset specific metadata under Data_Set_Credit for details)
cited responsible party -
organisation Name  
Contact information
Linkage for online resource
URL: https://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?nhd
Keywords:
Theme keywords (theme):
FWHYDROGRAPHY
Hydrography
Stream / River
Lake / Pond
Canal / Ditch
Reservoir
Spring / Seep
Swamp / Marsh
Artificial Path
Reach
inlandWaters
thesaurus name >
Title U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 1999, Standards for National Hydrography Dataset (http://mapping.usgs.gov/standards/)
Location keywords:
US
thesaurus name >
Title U.S. Department of Commerce, 1977, Countries, dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and their principal administrative divisions (Federal Information Processing Standards 10-3): Washington, D.C., National Institute of Standards and Technology.
purpose:
NHD is used with other data themes such as elevation, boundaries, and transportation to produce general reference maps. The NHD is often used by scientists using GIS technology. GIS takes advantage of a rich set of attributes that can be processed to generate specialized information. These analyses are possible because the NHD contains a flow direction network that traces the water downstream or upstream. The NHD also uses an addressing system to link specific information about the water such as discharge rates, water quality, and fish population. Using the basic NHD attributes, flow network, linked information, and other characteristics, it is possible to study cause and affect relationships such as how a source of poor water quality upstream might affect a fish population downstream. The features in the NHD are organized into polygons, lines and points. The polygons most commonly portray waterbodies such as lakes while lines commonly portray streams. The stream lines are broken into shorter segments stretching from confluence-to-confluence. The segments are then linked together to trace the flow of water across the landscape. Flowlines attributed as artificial paths are added inside water bodies to maintain the flow network.
Browse image (thumbnail):
thumbnail file name:  ...
file type: html
thumbnail file description:  Web site and further information pertaining to the National Hydrography Dataset.
Resource language:  eng; USA
Resource progress code:  underDevelopment
Resource Maintenance Information
maintenance or update frequency:  irregular
Constraints on resource usage:
Constraints
Use limitation statement:
Although this data set has been used by the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the U.S. Geological Survey as to the accuracy of the data and related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of this data, software, or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Constraints on resource usage:
Legal Constraints
use constraint:  otherRestrictions
Other constraints
Use Constraints: None. Acknowledgment of the originating agencies would be appreciated in products derived from these data.
Constraints on resource usage:
Legal Constraints
Access Constraints  otherRestrictions
Other constraints
Access Constraints: None
Spatial representation type code:  vector
Resource extent
Geographic Extent
Geographic Bounding Box
westBoundLongitude  -124.7333
eastBoundLongitude  -067.9500
northBoundLatitude  49.3833
southBoundLatitude  24.5333
Temporal Extent
2001-01-01
Credits:
See dataset specific metadata
point of contact - pointOfContact
organisation Name  National Hydrography Dataset User Support, USGS
Contact information
Telephone
Voice 1-888-275-8747
Fax 573-308-3652
Address
Mail Stop 808 1400 Independence Road, Rolla, MO, 65401 Country USA
electronic Mail Address nhd@usgs.gov
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Grid spatial representation

number of grid dimensions: 2
Grid axis property:
Grid Dimension
Dimension Name:  column
Dimension Size 
Grid Dimension
Dimension Name:  row
Dimension Size 
transformation parameter availability:  false
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Content information: feature catalog description

Included With Dataset  false
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Scope of quality information
scope level  dataset
Resource lineage description
source
source description  Source Contribution: Reach codes and flow direction attributes.Source Type Online
representative resolution scale:
Scale denominator: 100000
source citation
Title National Hydrography Dataset
publication  Date   1999-01-01
cited responsible party - originator
organisation Name  U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Resource extent
Temporal Extent
1999-01-01
source
source description  Source Contribution: Names for reaches and areal water.Source Type Online
source citation
Title Geographic Names Information System Oracle Database
publication  Date  
other Citation Details  unpublished materials
cited responsible party - originator
organisation Name  U.S. Geological Survey
Resource extent
Temporal Extent
1999-01-01
source
source description  Source Contribution: Spatial and attribute information.Source Type Online
representative resolution scale:
Scale denominator: 24000
source citation
Title NHD basic features
publication  Date  
other Citation Details  unpublished materials
cited responsible party - originator
organisation Name  U.S. Geological Survey
Resource extent
Temporal Extent
source
source description  Source Contribution: Updated Subbasin boundariesSource Type Online
source citation
Title Subbasin boundaries (formerly called Cataloging Unit Boundaries)
publication  Date  
cited responsible party - originator
organisation Name  (see dataset specific metadata)
Resource extent
Temporal Extent
AbsoluteExternalPositionalAccuracy
name Of Measure Horizontal Positional Accuracy Report
evaluation Method Description  (at map scale). Features with like dimensionality (for example, features that all are delineated with lines), with or without like characteristics, that are within the tolerance are aligned by moving the features equally to a common point. Features outside the tolerance are not moved; instead, a feature of type connector is added to join the features.
AbsoluteExternalPositionalAccuracy
name Of Measure Vertical Positional Accuracy Report
evaluation Method Description  Statements of vertical positional accuracy for elevation of water surfaces are based on accuracy statements made for U.S. Geological Survey topographic quadrangle maps. These maps were compiled to meet National Map Accuracy Standards. For vertical accuracy, this standard is met if at least 90 percent of well-defined points tested are within one-half contour interval of the correct value. Elevations of water surface printed on the published map meet this standard; the contour intervals of the maps vary. These elevations were transcribed into the digital data; the accuracy of this transcription was checked by visual comparison between the data and the map.
Completeness Commission
evaluation Method Description  ond features. Detailed capture conditions are provided for every feature type in the Standards for National Hydrography Dataset - High Resolution (USGS, 1999), available online through http://mapping.usgs.gov/standards/.
Completeness Omission
evaluation Method Description  ond features. Detailed capture conditions are provided for every feature type in the Standards for National Hydrography Dataset - High Resolution (USGS, 1999), available online through http://mapping.usgs.gov/standards/.
ConceptualConsistency
measure Description  Points, nodes, lines, and areas conform to topological rules. Lines intersect only at nodes, and all nodes anchor the ends of lines. Lines do not overshoot or undershoot other lines where they are supposed to meet. There are no duplicate lines. Lines bound areas and lines identify the areas to the left and right of the lines. Gaps and overlaps among areas do not exist. All areas close.

Resource distribution information

Distributor
distributor contact - distributor
organisation Name  U.S. Geological Survey
position Name Ask USGS - Water Webserver Team
Contact information
Telephone
Voice 1-888-275-8747 (1-888-ASK-USGS)
Address
445 National Center, Reston, VA, 20192
electronic Mail Address https://water.usgs.gov/user_feedback_form.html
Standard ordering process
fees None. This dataset is provided by USGS as a public service.
Format
Format name Web Site for download
Format version 
file Decompression Technique  data downloads
Digital Transfer Options
transfer Size large files
Linkage for online resource
name Web Site for download
URL: ftp://nhdftp.usgs.gov/DataSets/National
link function 
Description Full coverage

Metadata data stamp:  2004-11-08
Resource Maintenance Information
maintenance or update frequency:  annually
notes: This metadata was automatically generated from the FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata standard (version FGDC-STD-001-1998) using the 2012-06-20T17:21:00 version of the FGDC RSE to ISO 19115-2 transform.
Metadata contact - pointOfContact
organisation Name  U.S. Geological Survey
position Name Ask USGS -- Water Webserver Team
Contact information
Telephone
Voice 1-888-275-8747 (1-888-ASK-USGS)
Address
445 National Center, Reston, VA, 20192
electronic Mail Address https://answers.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/gsanswers?pemail=h2oteam&subject=GIS+Dataset+nhd
Metadata scope code  dataset
Metadata language  eng; USA
Metadata character set encoding:   utf8
Metadata standard for this record:  ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data
standard version:  ISO 19115-2:2009(E)
Metadata record identifier:  2a3e4375-b4ea-4387-9306-db5400fa0d18

Metadata record format is ISO19139-2 XML (MI_Metadata)