ShakeMap (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/shakemap)—rapidly, automatically generated shaking and intensity maps—combines instrumental
measurements of shaking with information about local geology and earthquake
location and magnitude to estimate shaking variations throughout a geographic
area. The results are rapidly available via the Web through a variety
of map formats, including Geographic Information System (GIS) coverages.
These maps have become a valuable tool for emergency response, public
information, loss estimation, earthquake planning, and post-earthquake
engineering and scientific analyses. With the adoption of ShakeMap as
a standard tool for a wide array of users and uses came an impressive
demand for up-to-date technical documentation and more general guidelines
for users and software developers. This manual is meant to address this
ShakeMap, and associated Web and data products, are rapidly evolving as new advances
in communications, earthquake science, and user needs drive improvements.
As such, this documentation is organic in nature. We will make every
effort to keep it current, but undoubtedly necessary changes in operational
systems take precedence over producing and making documentation publishable.