AMERICAN SAMOA

The United States territory of American Samoa is mapped by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). 1:24,000 scale four-color topographic coverage of Tutuila and the Manu’a Islands was first compiled from aerial coverage flown in 1961 and published in 1963 on a polyconic projection.  A revised version for Tutuila was issued in 1989, on the Universal Transverse Mercator projection, International ellipsoid, with relief shown by 40 m contours. 1:12,000 scale monochrome maps of Manu’a and Ta’u were revised to 1989 and by the Department of Public Works in Pago Pago.

Soviet military topographic mapping of American Samoa is available at the following scale: 1:1,000,000 (3 sheets, complete coverage, published in 1965).  This product is available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.

Soil mapping of the islands was carried out in the early 1980’s by the Soil Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, (now Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)).

A bathymetric chart of Tutuila was published in 1988 by the Geological Society of America (GSA), and the islands also appear on charts published by the National Ocean Service (NOS). Smaller-scale bathymetric coverage is maintained by the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) in its EEZ Series of charts.

The University of Hawai’i Press maintains a general tourist map covering both Western Samoa and American Samoa, printed in three-colors, showing relief with hill-shading and includes town maps of Apia and Pago Pago. Comparable mapping is also issued by the Australian commercial publishers Universal.

Copyright © 2014 De Gruyter for e-version of World Mapping Today, 2nd Edition | Copyright © 2019 East View Geospatial, Inc.

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