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I have signed up to volunteer as a map editor and look forward to the experience. I was wondering if I can receive verification/documentation for my volunteering, either from you or another supervisor in USGS. This documentation simply needs to include an official letterhead from the USGS describing the hours I will volunteer along with a signature from any supervisor. |
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As long as this project has been approved by the court (or other school/agency/organization requiring volunteer hours), you are welcome to participate in order to fulfill your community(volunteer) service hours. Since the work for this project is done remotely, you will be responsible for tracking your own hours. Once you think you've completed your required number of hours, you will need to notify us so we can verify your time and complete a certification letter. Make sure to notify us of your hours completion at least five business days prior to when you will need to turn in your certification. To verify the amount of time you've spent editing, we look at the number of points you've edited. We estimate that it takes an average of 12.5 minutes to edit a single point, so if you've edited 100 unique points, we can verify that you've committed roughly 20 hours to our project. Keep in mind that we will be reviewing your contributions. If we decide that they aren't being properly researched and edited, we reserve the right to withhold the certification letter until the quality of work improves. |
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You are awesome Mole Trapper! Thanks for the information. I think you'll like the new web mapping application once it comes out later this summer. I think you'll be able to move your point more easily. |
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I have documented my time since I started and I have found that 12 minutes is my average per edit. Of course things go a lot faster now with experience. Those extra hard ones where the edit might be as much as 15 to 20 miles away from where the edit screen shows can really eat up the time. Remember we don't cancel the existing mark but only move it to the new location. Because I am a caretaker for my wife I have many hours to work on my edits available. Lets just say I have more than 3000 hours documented to editing over 2 years. I only kept track for my own information and my last volunteer program with another agency I had over 8000 hours. If you can get credit for your time go for it. Mole Trapper |
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If needed, we can confirm volunteer hours. Be sure to check with whoever you are reporting to to be sure our project is an acceptable volunteer project. In most cases it will be. Our more experienced volunteers suggest it takes an average of 10-15 minutes per point to edit. As a rule of thumb be sure to include time taken to read the user guides and learn the process. Email nationalmapcorps@usgs.gov if you have further questions. |
