Proceedings of the U.S. Geological Survey Fifth Biennial Geographic Information Science Workshop: March 1–5, 2004, Denver, Colorado

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fifth Biennial Geographic Information Science (GIS) Workshop (USGS–GIS 2004) was held March 1–5, 2004, at the Denver Federal Center in Denver, Colorado. In addition to topics featured in previous workshops—availability and use of national-scope data, GIS system administration, web-based GIS data dissemination, metadata generation, land and water characterization, and GIS-integrated Decision Support Systems—USGS-GIS 2004 featured new topics that include the application of GIS in health sciences, integration of new elevation-data products, nonproprietary GIS software and data formats, advanced cartographic concepts, advanced scientific visualization techniques, and fundamental GIS concepts. These topics were presented in USGS–GIS 2004 through user and vendor presentations, demonstrations, and hands-on technical workshops. Many USGS–GIS 2004 participants submitted abstracts of their presentations for publication in these proceedings.