What Is the National Mapping Division (NMD) and How Do You Access Its Maps?
The National Mapping Division (NMD) is the USGS organizational unit responsible for national mapping and cartographic products — topographic maps, digital elevation data, and orthoimagery among them. You access those products through EarthExplorer (earthexplorer.usgs.gov), the USGS platform for querying and ordering satellite images, aerial photographs, and cartographic products. Use this guide if you need to find NMD-derived mapping data for a specific place and date range, and you want to know how the search interface narrows results before you download.
What the National Mapping Division covers
NMD is the part of the U.S. Geological Survey that produces and maintains the nation's mapping and cartographic holdings. Its scope, as reflected in EarthExplorer's coverage keywords, extends to the United States, its Territories, and Antarctica.
Products associated with this mapping mission include:
- Topographic and cartographic maps — the classic quadrangle-style map products
- Digital elevation models — gridded terrain data
- Orthoimagery — geometrically corrected aerial and satellite imagery
EarthExplorer is the delivery front end for these holdings. It does not host only NMD material — it also serves satellite and aerial datasets from other USGS programs — so the practical task is filtering down to the dataset you actually want.
How to search NMD mapping products in EarthExplorer
The interface is organized as a four-step flow: Search Criteria → Data Sets → Additional Criteria → Results.
Step 1: Define your area of interest
Under Enter Search Criteria, you can narrow the search area in several ways:
- Type an address or place name (geocoder)
- Enter coordinates
- Click the map to draw a point or polygon
- Upload a GeoJSON, KML, or Shapefile
- Use Path/Row with WRS type (WRS2 or WRS1) — the standard Landsat scene grid
- Use Feature (GNIS) search by feature name
Expected result: the map view and search footprint update to your area, and the criteria panel records what you selected.
Step 2: Select datasets
Move to the Data Sets tab and choose the collection you need. This is where you separate NMD cartographic and elevation products from unrelated imagery holdings.
Step 3: Add additional criteria
Use Additional Criteria to filter by date range and dataset-specific attributes. Date range is set in Step 1 alongside the area, so confirm both before running the search.
Step 4: Review results
The Results tab returns matching scenes and products with a Total Results Approximated count. From here you can preview and place an order.
The 100-record limit and how to stay under it
EarthExplorer caps search results at 100 records. If your area or date range is too broad, you will hit that ceiling and lose the ability to see everything that matched.
The interface tells you this directly: "The search result limit is 100 records; select a Country, Feature Class, and/or Feature Type to reduce your chances of exceeding this limit."
Practical ways to reduce result count:
| Filter | What it does |
|---|---|
| Country | Restricts to a national boundary |
| Feature Class | Groups features by type (populated place, hydrography, etc.) |
| Feature Type | Narrows to a specific feature category |
| State | Limits to a U.S. state or territory |
| Date range | Cuts the temporal span |
The Feature Type list is long and granular — for example, populated places are grouped as PPL*CITY*POPULATED PLACE*PPL*SETTLEMENT*TOWN*VILLAGE, and hydrographic features as ARM*BAY*BIGHT*COVE*ESTUARY*GOLF*INLET*SOUND. Choosing a specific class instead of "All" is the fastest way to drop below the limit.
Common sticking points
- Hitting 100 results with no warning sign until the count appears. Set Country and Feature Class before you search, not after.
- Confusing the area-of-interest tools. Path/Row is for scene-grid datasets; address, coordinates, and file upload are for arbitrary footprints. Pick the one that matches your dataset.
- Assuming everything in EarthExplorer is NMD output. The platform aggregates multiple USGS sources, so verify the dataset name against what you need.
- Forgetting the date range. It is set in Step 1, not in Additional Criteria, and it silently limits results.
What to do next
If you know your area and dataset, go straight to EarthExplorer, set the area in Step 1, pick the dataset in Step 2, and check the result count before ordering. If you exceed 100 records, add a Country, Feature Class, or Feature Type filter and re-run. For help with the advanced map tools, EarthExplorer links to its own help documentation from the search page.