The FGDC and the Geographic Names Data Theme of the NSDI

July 25, 2002

Bruce McKenzie & Alison KiernanFGDC Directorate

Issues Affecting Nations, Communities & Citizens - Happen in Places

Spatial Data Is Critical to Business and GovernmentGovernment information is a valuable national resource - OMB A-130 (minimize the cost and maximize the usefulness of the information)Estimated 80% of government data has a spatial componentMuch statistical data relates to location and has a spatial componentCant effectively do E-Gov without G-GovGeography serves as the common thread to address diverse issues

Genesis of the FGDC Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee on Digital Cartographic (FICCDC) created under OMB directive in1983FGDC created by OMB in 1990 (Circular A-16) to coordinate geospatial activities across federal governmentCommittee representation:- grown to 17 Cabinet and Executive Level Agencies added 40 Stakeholder groups since issuance of E.O. 12906 in 1994

History of A-16 & Related E.O.1840s First Coordination Proposal1906 EO US Geographic Board1919 EO Federal Board of Surveys & Maps1942 EO Bureau of Budget Lead 1953 Circular A-16 issued 1967 A-16 Revised1973 OMB Report Federal Mapping Task Force on Mapping, Charting, Geodesy and Surveying1983 Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee on Digital Cartography OMB Memorandum M-83-12 1990 A-16 Revised 1994 EO 129062002 Proposed Revision of A-16

1906 Executive OrderThe official title of the United States Board on Geographic Names is changed to UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHIC BOARD.In addition to its present duties, advisory powers are hereby granted to this Board concerning the preparation of maps compiled, or to be compiled, in the various bureaus and offices of the Government, with a special view to the avoidance of unnecessary duplications of work; and for the unification and improvement of the scales of maps, of the symbols and conventions used upon them, and of the methods of representing relief. Hereafter all such projects as are of importance shall be submitted to this Board for advice before being undertaken.Theodore RooseveltThe White HouseAugust 10, 1906

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)17 Cabinet and Executive Level AgenciesCo-chaired by DOI & OMBCoordination of Federal surveying, mapping, and related spatial dataFederal leadership for NSDI (E.O. 12906)Includes participation of many Stakeholders from state, local and tribal governments, private sector and academia

FGDC Federal AgenciesUSDACommerceDefenseNIMAUSACEEnergyHUDInteriorJusticeState

TransportationEPAFEMALibrary of CongressNARANASANSFTVAHHS

Stakeholder Groups31 State Geographic Information CouncilsGeoData AllianceInternational City/County Mgmt Assoc. (ICMA)Intertribal GIS CouncilNational Association of CountiesNational League of CitiesNational States Geographic Information CouncilOpenGIS ConsortiumUniversity Consortium for Geographic Information Science

What is the NSDI?. . .the technology, policies, standards, and human resources necessary to acquire,process, store, distribute, and improve theutilization of geospatial data.

NSDI VisionMany organizations / people working towards a common goal: building a geographic information resource for the 21st CenturyCurrent and accurate geographic information is readily available locally, nationally, and internationallyImprove public and private sector application and use of geospatial data for better decision making

Genesis of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure1990, OMB Circular A-16 called for the development of a national digital spatial information resource.1992, National Academy of Sciences Mapping Science Committee issued a report giving this spatial information resource a name -- the NSDI.1993, VP Gore conducts National Performance Review and identifies the NSDI as one of the key initiatives to be accomplished.1994, Presidential Executive Order 12906, called for the FGDC to lead the development of the NSDI, and to seek the involvement of the non-federal sector.

Participating in the NSDI Think Nationally -- Act Locally Continuum of Participation and Collaboration

NSDI ComponentsPartnerships

NSDI ComponentsExplanation or textual description of data resources

FGDC Metadata Standard

NSDI ComponentsProvide access and catalogue ability

Clearinghouse System

FGDCetc.

Gateways

WebClient

Database

Database

Database

Database

Clearinghouse Nodes

NSDI Components

Clearinghouse Method

Metadatapreparation

The Clearinghouse Method is a publication method for documented spatial data. At its root, it requires the preparation of adequate metadata, or data descriptions, to put into a searchable and potentially browseable catalog. This distributed catalog of data and metadata is known as Clearinghouse and employs metadata and catalog service standards for interoperability. The producer of spatial data or designee prepares or extracts public metadata values. These values are sometimes numeric (dates, times, coordinate footprints) and sometimes text or narrative fields providing story-telling about the data set and its history. This metadata is often brought to or stored in a central location within an organization. This staging area, where QC checks may be run on the data and metadata, may be on a LAN, on each publishers desktop, or in a central agency repository. Metadata publication, then, is the placement of public metadata with links to data in a searchable database service to provide user access.

NSDI ComponentsProvides consistent base for spatial locationFramework Data Themes Imagery Elevation Cadastral Transportation Governmental Units Geodetic Hydrography

Spatial Analysis

Base for Other Data

Finished Maps

Digital orthoimagery

Elevation and bathymetry

Boundaries

Geodetic

Transportation

Cadastral

Hydrography

Federal

agencies

State

agencies

Regional

agencies

Local

agencies

Private

companies

Utilities

Concentrationof chemical X

Framework is envisioned as the sustained ability over some geography-- city, watershed, utility coverage to provide for the availability of basic geographic data for a broad range of users, applications and resolutions.

Other Thematic DataAccess, Sharing, Interoperability and Relationships to Build Once, Use Many TimesSource KY Office of Geographic Information

NSDI ComponentsGeographic data needed for community decision-making

This is just one of many vendor products which have been developed or modified to follow the Open GIS Web Mapping Specifications. Ionic, a company in Europe designed this JAVA based client to provide detailed and very high resolution views of data from multiple sources.

Other industry members that employed Open GIS specifications for web mapping include ESRI, Lockheed Martin, Cubewerx, and many others. For a full listing of the Web Mapping Testbed sponsors and participants, please consult the full version of the Web Mapping Testbed briefing located under Web Mapping Testbed at www.opengis.org.

NSDI ComponentsStandards for data and technology interoperability

NSDI DATA Standards

Data Symbology or Presentation

Data Classification(Wetlands, Vegetation)

Data Content(Attributes, objects)

Metadata is a component of data

Open GIS Specifications

Bring geoprocessing technology providers and technology users togetherDevelop multi-use interoperable technology Standards-based commercial off-the-shelf (SCOTS) technology

Data

Data

Data

Server

Server

Server

Web Client

Standards, Interfaces

This slide illustrates the concept of the WMT in the light of new partnerships between industry, governmentand academia (national and international) to develop open technology standards that will benefit a broad range of developers, users. The result will be increasingly standards based COTS or SCOTS, which should shorten development time, reduce costs and redundancy.

NSDI ComponentsPartnershipsRelationships for collaboration, sharing and policy deliberations

NSDI Partnerships

National League of Cities National Association of CountiesIntertribal GIS CouncilUniversity Consortium on GI SciencesOpen GIS ConsortiumFGDCNational States Geographic Information Council International City / County Managers Association GeoData Alliance

The NSDI has a network of stakeholders: federal, state, local, and tribal governments and associations. The NSDI also has stakeholders from the academic community, and has a relationship with the Open GIS Consortium, which presently represents over 200 members of government, industry and academia in advancing interoperability of geographic processing.

NSDI ComponentsPartnerships

Revised Circular A-16Guaranteeing a Coordinated National Spatial Data Infrastructure

Why revise Circular A-16 in 2002?Address changes in technology and the ways data can be disseminated and sharedFurther define and promote the vision for NSDIMaximize Federal investment in spatial data assetsEnsure NSDI is relevant to Homeland Security and emergency preparedness

What are the significant changes?Links spatial data assets to the budget and performanceIncreases the leadership role of OMBDefines 34 NSDI data layersDesignates lead agencies for data layers; holds agencies accountableRecognizes activities of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA)

Geographic NamesThis dataset contains data or information on geographic place names deemed official for Federal use by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names as pursuant to Public Law 80-242. Geographic Names information includes both the official place name (current, historical, and aliases) and locative direct (i.e., geographic coordinates) and indirect (i.e., State and County where place is located) geospatial identifiers and categorized as populated places, schools, reservoirs, parks, streams, valleys, and ridges.

Major New FGDC Activity

Electronic Government - Geospatial One StopFramework Data Standards Development and ImplementationFulfill and maintain an operational inventory of Framework dataPublish metadata of planned acquisition of Framework dataPrototype and deploy data access and web mapping services for FrameworkEstablish a comprehensive Federal portal to the Framework resources

What is the Geospatial One-Stop Portal? Middleware that integrates access to distributed community data services Community-wide access point for all participating data and map services Employs standard software interfaces to connect to catalog, map, and feature services set up by providers Generic user interface that could be adapted by other communities

Portal Concepts

Features of a Common PortalFramework data services via:OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) using common schemasOGC Web Map Service using Style Layer Descriptors for symbolizationOGC Web Coverage Service for continuous dataData download as archived files (ftp/http)Supportive ServicesGazetteer Service for placenames as specialized WFSCatalog Services (Clearinghouse) for integrated data and service discovery

GNIS-Powered Gazetteer ServiceGNIS(Oracle)geonamesWeb serverformhandlerUserWebbrowserHTMLPOSTSQLCGI-styleprogramsNOWTHEN

Names Gazetteer Use in PortalUser needs data for specific places.User selects State and Feature Type in Portal.Portal makes XML request to GNIS server.Portal receives XML for selected places & converts to a pick list of names (w/ hidden coordinates).With the coordinate results, user can narrow the Portal data search.

FGDC/GNIS CollaborationCurrent GNIS interface only displays query results in HTML.Geo 1 Stop Portal will require structured Gazetteer search results as XML, allowing for integration with other web services.XML (Extended Markup Language) is used to format and transfer data in an easy & consistent way.FGDC will work with GNIS staff to learn to process requests and return with XML to comply with OGC Web Feature Services

Examples of policy driver issues from around the country.Each occurs somewhere on the face of the earth - spatialEach has a spatial component in successful managementExamples of current policy drivers - you can add your favorite.What do high level managers/policy makers need in order to make wise decisions in conducting the business of government?