Editing Overview

Before structures data gets incorporated into The National Map it goes through a tiered quality assurance editing process. The structures data is collected and then verified by volunteers before going through a final review at the USGS by members of the TNMCorps team.

Volunteers play a vital role in the structures data quality assurance process by serving as Standard Editors, Peer Review Editors, or Advanced Editors:

Standard Editors use our online map editor to edit USGS structures data by updating existing features, adding new features, and removing obsolete features. Standard Editors are responsible for checking points with a red border.

Peer Reviewers have edited at least 25 points as a Standard Editor and are responsible for checking and improving points edited by Standard Editors. Peer Reviewers are responsible for checking points with a green border.

Advanced Editors have edited 200 or more points as a Standard Editor or Peer Review Editor. They can check any of the points with a red, green, or blue border. The contributions of Advanced Editors have passed a USGS quality assessment. Points edited by Advanced Editors are given a purple border.

Click here for a review of the icon border colors.

Although the editing process is essentially the same for each type of editor, Peer Reviewers and Advanced Editors have a greater level of responsibility to ensure data going into The National Map is accurate and complete. Check out our Name and Address Formatting Guide for more detailed information on what we expect from editors at different levels.