USGS Featured

The USGS Cooperative National Geologic Map

A new, colorful map from the USGS synthesizes decades of state and federal geologic surveys to create the most detailed visualization of the geology of the contiguous United States to date.

wildfires

How LiDAR measures the toll of climate disasters

Comparing LiDAR data from before and after the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles reveals the scale of devastation in ways satellite imagery can’t match.

NASA

NASA Ames Research Center Archives

In the heart of Silicon Valley, NASA Ames Research Center has the world's largest wind tunnel, and a rich history of space and aeronautics innovation captured in a fascinating visual archive.

WWII Featured

WWII Japanese Mass Incarceration collections

Haunting photos document a shameful chapter of America’s history—the forced displacement and incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Cold War Military Slides

A reporter stumbled upon a treasure trove of Department of Defense slides from the 1970s and 1980s depicting data from missile systems, Soviet capabilities and America’s nuclear arsenal.

US Government UFO (UAP) Footage

For decades, the public suspected that the US Government was hiding secret intelligence about UFOs — (now known as UAPs). Turns out…it kind of was.

ARMY Featured

14,000 Photos of Army Uniforms and Rations from the 70s and 80s

An incredible archive of 14,000 photos of Army uniforms, military gear and rations from the 70s and 80s.

NOAA

Visualizing Ship Movements with AIS Data

Explore the beautiful, intricate paths of ships over a year—tracked from America's busiest ports to the open ocean via AIS marine tracking data.

GSA

Design for the People: The US Web Design System and the Public Sans Typeface

The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the people. This thoughtful public design system aims to make government websites not only look good, but to make them accessible and functional for all.

USGS Featured

Aerial Glacier Photographs

A collection of 100,000 striking high-resolution aerial photos of glaciers, photographed over 40 years with a 63-pound WW II surveillance camera.

FAA

The Naughty Words the FAA Removed From the Sky

New FOIA records from the FAA shed light on the frantic effort in 2015 to rename navigation waypoints related to Donald Trump and reveal the list of naughty waypoint names that were changed over the years.

USPTO

Trademark Design Codes

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a system of 1,400 descriptive "design codes" allowing you to search for trademarks with “Rickshaws”, “Centaurs” or “Mechanical women”.

FAA

FAA Aviation Maps

Among all of the visual information published by the U.S. government, there may be no product with a higher information density than the Federal Aviation Administration’s aviation maps.

ARMY

Government Comic Books

Government comics have taught Americans how to prevent forest fires, survive a nuclear blast, and how soldiers should handle homosexuality in the military.

BLM

Wild Horses

The Bureau of Land Management wants to pay you $1,000 to adopt a wild horse. But the program has been criticized by animal rights advocates and subject to scrutiny by Congress.

ARMY

The Army and Navy Style Guides

These fascinating Army and Navy brand style guides define the look, feel and voice of our armed forces.

LLNL

Nuclear Weapon Test Films

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories has an archive of an estimated 10,000 films of nuclear weapons tests from the 1940's - 1960's.

Cars

All of the 8,331 License Plates in America

States now offer a vast menu of personalized plate options for a dizzying array of organizations, professions, sports teams, causes and other groups.

USGS

Mapping Volcano Eruptions With Drones

Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous environments surrounding volcanic eruptions.

NASA

Here’s All the Rocks We Hauled Back From the Moon

The 12 human beings who walked on the Moon collected, catalogued and returned 842 pounds of lunar rock and soil. Each sample has been meticulously documented in NASA's Lunar Sample Catalog.

NOAA

1,000 Photos of Dolphin Fins

Scars, scratches and wounds abound in these photos as encounters with unknown creatures and boat propellers leave their marks, imprinting a story of close escapes and cheating death.

DOE

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility

A decade-long effort to build a machine to unlock the promise of nuclear fusion fell victim to budget constraints and competing science, and was shut down the day it was dedicated. It was never turned on.

NIST

Special Database 18: 3,248 Mugshots Used for Training Image Recognition Systems

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has maintained a dataset of mugshot photos of 1,573 people for decades, including 175 minors, until we asked about them.

FAA

Pilot Manual for a 1940's U.S. Navy Blimp

This 122 page manual contains all of the operating instructions and technical details needed to pilot this sleek, silver, 250 foot long, weaponized anti-submarine dirigible.

NTIA

The United States Frequency Allocation Chart

This crazy, beautiful chart illustrates the incredible complexity of managing one of our nation’s most crucial – and invisible – national assets: the radio spectrum.