specification: API Commons Rate Limits
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/RateLimits
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: false
tags:
  - Federal Government
  - Earth Science
  - Earthquake
  - Hydrology
  - Open Data
  - Rate Limiting
description: USGS does not publish numeric rate limits for its public web services. Documentation steers
  high-volume / automated consumers toward the bulk GeoJSON feeds, ATOM feeds, and Python-based catalog
  download scripts rather than ad-hoc API polling. Specific throttling thresholds and headers are not
  documented on the public USGS pages reviewed.
notes: No documented numeric rate limits could be located on USGS pages reviewed. Reconciled flag remains
  false until USGS publishes per-service throttling thresholds.
sources:
  - https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/
  - https://earthquake.usgs.gov/data/comcat/
  - https://www.usgs.gov/products/web-tools/apis
limits:
  - name: Earthquake / FDSN Web Service
    scope: IP
    metric: varies
    limit: see https://earthquake.usgs.gov/data/comcat/
    notes: USGS recommends real-time GeoJSON feeds over repeated FDSN queries for automated applications;
      explicit per-second numeric limits are not published.
  - name: USGS Water Data
    scope: IP
    metric: varies
    limit: see https://api.waterdata.usgs.gov/
    notes: Specific request-rate ceilings not documented on the public service pages reviewed.
policies:
  - name: Use Bulk Feeds for Automation
    description: USGS explicitly recommends that automated applications consume the real-time GeoJSON
      / ATOM feeds rather than repeatedly polling the catalog API.
  - name: Acceptable Use
    description: Federal information services expect courteous use; sustained excessive polling may be
      throttled at the network edge without prior notice.
  - name: 429 Handling
    description: Apply exponential backoff on transient failures; specific Retry-After timing is not
      published.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com