specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: U.S. Geological Survey
providerId: u-s-geological-survey
created: '2026-05-04'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-04, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-05'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - Federal Government
  - Earth Science
  - Open Data
  - FinOps
  - FOCUS
description: 'FOCUS-aligned FinOps for USGS: federal open-data services are zero-cost to consumers; FinOps
  exposure is on the consumer side (egress, downstream compute) rather than direct USGS billing.'
sources:
  - https://www.usgs.gov/products/web-tools/apis
  - https://earthquake.usgs.gov/data/comcat/
  - https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
alignedWith:
  framework: FinOps Foundation Framework
  frameworkUrl: https://www.finops.org/framework/
  dataSpec: FOCUS
  dataSpecVersion: '1.3'
  dataSpecUrl: https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
publisherName: U.S. Geological Survey
serviceCategory: Public Open Data
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: No Charge (Public Open Data)
  billingFrequency: Not Applicable
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories: []
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: U.S. Geological Survey APIs
  ServiceCategory: Public Open Data
  ProviderName: U.S. Geological Survey
  PublisherName: U.S. Geological Survey
  InvoiceIssuerName: U.S. Geological Survey
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Usage
meters:
  - name: api_requests
    description: Count of requests to USGS web services (no monetary charge from USGS)
    unit: request
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - service
      - endpoint
  - name: bulk_download_volume
    description: Volume of catalog / feed bulk downloads
    unit: GB
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - service
principles:
  - name: Visibility
    description: Track consumption inside your own application logs; USGS does not provide a per-consumer
      usage dashboard.
  - name: Allocation
    description: USGS access is free, so allocation is for capacity-planning rather than chargeback —
      tag downstream compute and egress that result from USGS calls.
  - name: Optimization
    description: Cache stable catalog records, prefer the recommended GeoJSON / ATOM feeds over repeated
      ad-hoc queries, and batch via the documented Python download scripts.
  - name: Accountability
    description: Application owners are responsible for being courteous federal-data citizens — avoiding
      polling storms that could trigger network-edge throttling.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com