U.S. Geological Survey, 205B 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20192

T -- USGS DIGITAL DATA BUSINESS PARTNER PROGRAM POC Mary Wood; Hedy Rossmeissl WEB: Mapping Products Web Page, http://mapping.usgs.gov. E-MAIL: Mary Wood, Point of Contact, mwood@usgs.gov. The U.S. Geological Survey National Mapping Division has for many years maintained a network of affiliated retailers known as Business Partners. Until now, these Business Partners have been recruited to sell USGS topographic and thematic maps. However, in light of the technological advancements with digital data, the USGS is now taking steps to expand the Business Partner Program to include retail sales of digital geospatial data products and their value-added derivatives. USGS digital geospatial data products include digital orthophoto quadrangles (DOQ's), digital elevation models (DEM's), digital line graphs (DLG's), and digital raster graphics (DRG's). The first USGS digital product that will be addressed for the Digital Data Business Partner Program will be DOQ data. DOQ's are digital images of aerial photographs in which displacements caused by the camera have been removed, giving them the geometric properties of a map. The USGS plans to host a meeting in Reston, VA on Wednesday, October 22 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM for prospective firms interested in becoming Digital Data Business Partners. The intent of this meeting will be for USGS to provide an overview of the digital data expansion efforts, and to discuss possible scenarios for establishing the DOQ portion of the program. Those firms interested in participating in this meeting must respond to that effect in writing by October 15 to Hedy Rossmeissl, Senior Program Advisor for Data and Information Delivery, U.S. Geological Survey, Mail Stop 508, Reston, Virginia, 20192. Those firms that will be unable to attend this meeting, but are interested in becoming Digital Data Business Partners should also respond accordingly to Ms. Rossmeissl. Questions about this meeting or about the Digital Data Business Partner Program in general may be forwarded to Mary Wood via e-mail. (0261)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0078 19970922\T-0004.SOL)