The USDA Long-Term Agroecosystem Research was established to develop national strategies for sustainable intensification of agricultural production. As part of the Agricultural Research Service, the LTAR Network incorporates numerous geographies consisting of experimental areas and locations where data are being gathered. Starting in early 2019, two working groups of the LTAR Network (Remote Sensing and GIS, and Data Management) set a major goal to jointly develop a geodatabase of LTAR Standard GIS Data Layers. The purpose of the geodatabase was to enhance the Network's ability to utilize coordinated, harmonized datasets and reduce redundancy and potential errors associated with multiple copies of similar datasets. Project organizers met at least twice with each of the 18 LTAR sites from September 2019 through December 2020, compiling and editing a set of detailed geospatial data layers comprising a geodatabase, describing essential data collection areas within the LTAR Network.

The contents of the LTAR Standard GIS Data Layers geodatabase includes geospatial data that represent locations and areas associated with the LTAR Network as of late 2020. The geodatabase includes spatial data describing LTAR site locations, addresses, experimental plots, fields and watersheds, eddy flux towers, and phenocams. There are six data layers in the geodatabase available to the public. This geodatabase was created in 2019-2020 by the LTAR network as a national collaborative effort among working groups and LTAR sites. The process to create the geodatabase began with initial requests to LTAR site leads and data managers for geospatial data, followed by meetings with each LTAR site to review the initial draft. Edits were documented, and the final draft was again reviewed and certified by LTAR site leads or their delegates. Revisions to this geodatabase will occur biennially, with the next revision scheduled to be published in 2023.