The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made a purchase of NAVTEQ data. The agency will use the data for their internal analysis, and also as a means to improve their Web mapping applications.

Of significant note is the use of this data for the large-scale pilot program called the Texas Ecological Assessment Protocol (TEAP). TEAP is a planning and screening-level assessment tool that uses GIS data to identify ecologically important resources throughout Texas. The results of the TEAP can be used in project planning (i.e. scoping, alternatives analysis), to determine appropriate areas to conduct detailed field investigations, and in mitigation discussions to avoid ecologically important areas, minimize impacts to those areas, and compensate for unavoidable impacts. The NAVTEQ data will be used to describe how resistant specific areas are to changes in the amount of emissions. Critical to this calculation are the number of roads in the area, and the amount of traffic on those roads.

For more information about TEAP, see http://www.epa.gov/region6/6en/xp/enxp2a4.htm.

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