Disclaimer

This operational server maintains current products and services and historical data, created by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) or received from other official sources. In an effort to enhance our services, experimental products may be accessible on this server and care must be taken when using such products as they are intended for research use.

This server is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Timely delivery of data and products from this server through the Internet is not guaranteed. NGS websites include:

https://www.ngs.noaa.gov
https://geodesy.noaa.gov
https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov
https://shoreline.noaa.gov
https://vdatum.noaa.gov
https://beta.ngs.noaa.gov (experimental products)
https://alpha.ngs.noaa.gov (experimental products)

Use of NOAA/NGS Data and Products

The information on NGS Web pages are in the public domain, unless specifically noted otherwise, and may be used without charge for any lawful purpose so long as you do not:

Claim it is your own (e.g., by claiming copyright for NOAA/NGS information — see below)
Use it in a manner that implies an endorsement or affiliation with NOAA/NGS,
Modify its content and then present it as official government material.
You also cannot present information of your own in a way that makes it appear to be official government information.

Use of the NGS name (“National Geodetic Survey”) may not be used without permission from the NGS. Use of the NGS name and/ or visual identifier to identify unaltered NGS content or links to NGS web sites are allowable uses. Permission is not required to display unaltered NGS products which include the NGS name or NOAA/NGS visual identifier as part of the original product. Neither the name nor visual identifier may be used, however, in a manner that implies an endorsement or affiliation with NOAA/NGS.

Before using information obtained from any NGS Web page special attention should be given to the date and time of the data and products being displayed.

The user assumes the entire risk related to its use of information on NGS Web pages. NGS provides such information “as is,” and NGS disclaims any and all warranties, whether express or implied, including (without limitation) any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will NGS be liable to you or to any third-party for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or exemplary damages or lost profit resulting from any use or misuse of this data.

As required by 17 U.S.C. § 403, third parties producing copyrighted works consisting predominantly of the material appearing in NGS Web pages must provide notice with such work(s) identifying the NGS material incorporated and stating that such material is not subject to copyright protection.

Public Notice of Appropriate Use (Defining Abuse)

Below are guidelines for the use of NGS websites:

Know your data refresh frequency. NGS has data which is updated at significantly different intervals. Knowing the frequency of the data update cycle will help you to create sensible request cycles. For example, if the broadcast ephemeris (orbit) data is updated no more than once an hour; you should not request data for the same location more than once an hour.
Request only the data that you need.
Do not attempt any of the following or similar practices:

Trojan Horse attack
SQL Injection attack
Cross Site Scripting attack
Command Injection
Remote File Inclusion
PHP Script Injection
Scanning of website(s)

Sometimes NGS determines that a particular user is not following these guidelines and is impacting our service delivery capability. This is rarely malicious, however to protect our resources and our service level to the greater user community we may find it necessary to block IP addresses or query types.

Users who find that their queries are blocked should send an email to ngs.webmaster@noaa.gov. Our IT staff are happy to work with you to restore your service within the recommended guidelines (Monday-Friday 0800-1700 Eastern time).

Use of Third-Party Data and Products

Third-party information and imagery are used under license by the individual third-party provider. This third-party information may contain trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features to identify the source of the information. This does not imply an endorsement of the third-party data/products or their provider by NOAA/NGS. Please contact the third-party provider for information on your rights to further use these data/products.

Browser Compatibility Statement

We recognize that our users may have various Internet browsers and operating systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience on the web when using our Site. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers.

The NGS website supports Microsoft® Edge, Mozilla Firefox 60+, Chrome 60+ and any other modern web browser compatible with HTML5 and CSS3.

January 12, 2016: Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer browsers older than IE 11.

Hyperlinks

Any reference from the NGS Web server service to any non-government entity, product, service or information does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration or its employees. We are not responsible for the contents of any “off-site” web pages referenced from NGS servers.

Vendor Map Data

Google Maps, Google Earth, ESRI ArcGIS Online, OpenStreetMaps, Leaflet, Mapbox and others are used under license by the respective vendors. NOAA/National Ocean Service data presented using any vendors map services are in the public domain and are also made available in open geospatial standard formats such as KML/KMZ (Google) and shapefile (ESRI) among other common formats from NOAA/NGS websites. The map information and photographic imagery contain trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features. This does not imply an endorsement of a particular vendor mapping products or services by NOAA/NOS. Under the terms of the license, you are permitted to copy or use the vendors data on your site so long as the vendors trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features are not deleted or in any manner altered.

Linking to Our Site

The information on NGS Web servers and Web sites is in the public domain, unless specifically annotated otherwise, and may be used freely by the public. Before using information obtained from this server special attention should be given to the date and time of the data and products being displayed. This information shall not be modified in content and then presented as official government material.

External Links

The appearance of external links on this World Wide Web site does not constitute endorsement by the National Geodetic Survey of external web sites or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities the National Geodetic Survey does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. These links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this Department of Commerce/NOAA Web site.