A product exchange format for the defense mapping agency's vector products

Abstract

The Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) has recently, developed the Vector Product- Format (VPF). This standard for generating digital geographic information in vector format will be used to provide digital products to users. The standard has been designed to support; a wide range of products; and allows direct access to the data from its’ storage media without prior conversion to a working format. The standard was developed in cooperation with the military mapping agencies in Australia Canada, and the United Kingdom. Released simultaneously with the standard, the Digital Chart, of the World (DCW) is the first in a family of DMA vector products to use the VPF. It carries planimetric and topographic information equivalent to, the resolution1 of a 1.1 million scale chart and provides global coverage. The DCW is listed as a public release product to be sold by the co-developer nations. In the United States the sales agent is the United States Geological Survey (USGS). DMA is also prototyping other vector formatted products with appropriate data resolution and content, which will support its customers with manageable sources of geographic information.