Geologic maps show where rock units reach the surface. Macrostrat integrates maps made by many organizations, at scales from a single quadrangle to the whole globe, into one harmonized map, and keeps each source's original description beside it.
Geologic maps
What a map source is, how its units are harmonized, and how the integrated map is served.
Map ingestion
The stages a published map passes through to become part of Macrostrat.
Map compilations
How maps assemble into compilations, and how their overlaps are resolved.
Contributing maps
The fields a map needs for each unit, for anyone preparing a map to contribute.
Map interface
Using the interactive map on the website, and what changed in each release.
Glossary
Best age: The age range assigned to a map legend entry by combining the map's stated intervals with the ages of linked column units.
Carto: Macrostrat's main multiscale geologic map, composed from all integrated maps and served as map tiles at several levels of detail. See Map compilations.
Compilation: A map assembled from other maps (its members), with priorities deciding which member is shown where. See Map compilations.
Legend entry: All the polygons of a map that share one description. Legend entries are the unit of harmonization. See Geologic maps.
Mosaic: A compilation whose members divide its area between them without overlapping.
Priority: The authored rank that decides which map is shown where maps overlap in a compilation.
Scale (tiny, small, medium, large): The four scale buckets Macrostrat sorts maps into, from global compilations (tiny) to detailed local mapping (large).
Served layer: A compilation that is published as map tiles.
Source: Any map in Macrostrat, individual or compiled, identified by a source_id
and a slug.
Staging: The workspace where a newly ingested map is cleaned and harmonized before it joins Macrostrat's core map tables. See Map ingestion.
Superseded: Said of a map that has been replaced by a newer map or compilation.
