From the first colonial maps to the satellite imagery of the 21st century, cartographic information has helped define and frame our view of the United States. Geospatial imagery is now a critical tool for state and federal researchers pursuing greater understandings of complex matters including: Disaster Relief, Census Data, and Land Use Management.

Concerned that millions of nationally important digital information resources are in danger of being lost or corrupted, the Library of Congress has formed The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP).

As partners in the project the university libraries of UCSB and Stanford are leading the formation of the National Geospatial Digital Archive (NGDA), a collecting network for the archiving of geospatial images and data.