The EDC is is a data management, systems development, and research field center for the USGS National Mapping Center. It was opened in the early 1970s in South Dakota and remains there today. Its original mission was to receive, process, and distribute data collected and transmitted to the EDC by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Landsat satellites. It now operates the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive, a legislatively mandated program designed to maintain a high quality data base of space-acquired images of the Earth for use in studying global change and other related issues.

The EDC is designated as a World Data Center for Remotely Sensed Land Data and is a cooperator in many domestic and international programs. In 1996, the EDC completed the addition of a 65,000-square-foot addition to its existing 115,000-square-foot facility in order to support activities in its role as a distributed active archive center associated with NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Program, NASA's Earth Science Enterprise initiative, and NASA's launching of the Landsat-7 satellite. Since 1991, the EDC has supported the United Nations Environment Programme/Global Resources Information Database, making environmental data available to developing countries. In addition, the EDC participates in ongoing activities with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of Defense to name of a few.

See the EROS home page for more information.