National Geospatial Development Center Established

the NRCS National Geospatial Development Center is located in Clark Hall on WVU’s downtown Morgantown, West Virginia campus

The result of a collaborative effort between NRCS and West Virginia University (WVU), the newly created National Geospatial Development Center (NGDC),  located Clark Hall on WVU’s downtown Morgantown, West Virginia campus, will support the natural resource business needs of NRCS through the innovative use of geographic information science technology (Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related tools).

In cooperation with other NRCS centers, government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector, NGDC is responsible for the research and development of geospatial tools to support and expand the efficient delivery of NRCS programs. The NGDC also provides learning opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students interested in the application of geospatial technologies to natural resource issues.

Co-Directors Jon Hempel, NRCS and Trevor Harris, WVU, direct NRCS and WVU staff, affiliated faculty, and graduate and undergraduate research assistants possessing expertise in soil science, GIS, cartography, database management, scientific geovisualization, remote sensing, and computer programming. Organizationally, NGDC reports to the Soil Survey Division within the Soil Survey and Resource Assessment Deputy Area of NRCS; however, the NGDC will address a variety of projects from across the agency. Computing resources are up-to-date and consist of a 10 terabyte array for data storage and three quad-processor servers for daily operations and application development. The NGDC is connected to the WVU network through a gigabit connection. USDA resources are accessed through virtual private networks.
Your contact is Jonathan Hempel, Director, NRCS National Geospatial Development Center, at 304-293-8232, ext. 6101.