The National Geospatial Development Center (NGDC), a collaborative between the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and West Virginia University (WVU), was established in 2004 to support NRCS natural resource business needs through the innovative use of Geographic Information Systems and other technology tools. This collaboration, made possible by a 2004 congressional earmark, will allow NGDC to focus on the use, application, and integration of geo-technology tools to support and expand the efficient delivery of NRCS programs.

In cooperation with other NRCS centers, government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector, NGDC is tasked with identifying and integrating advanced technologies in order to provide accurate, high quality soils data and natural resource information to the public in a format that is easily accessed, readily understood, and consistently reliable. NGDC goals include: 1) improving the detail and accuracy of modern soil surveys and resource inventories; 2) developing, testing, and prototyping field-based technologies for more efficient data collection; 3) researching new generations of digital data collection, organization, and mapping and analysis technologies; 4) identifying effective and efficient means for delivery of information to the user community through web-based map services; 5) promoting partnerships with educational institutions, private industry, government agencies, and community organizations; 6) documenting innovative methods to display information and facilitate its interpretation, understanding, and use; and 7) supporting the end user through technology evaluation, adaptive technologies based on user-developed applications, and the provision of user toolkits.