THE FY-1997 NATIONAL SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE (NSDI) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

THE FY-1997 NATIONAL SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE (NSDI) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

INTRODUCTION

Executive Order 12906, April 13, 1994, requires that federal agencies participate in the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is the focal point for these activities. The Department of Commerce, through activities in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Census, and the National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST), has a strong commitment to the FGDC:

1. NOAA Deputy Undersecretary, Diana Josephson, is the Department of Commerce representative to the FGDC Steering Committee that is chaired by Department of Interior Secretary, Bruce Babbitt.
2. NOAA Environmental Services Data Directory has over 8,000 descriptions of NOAA data in FGDC Metadata Standard format.
3. The Department of Commerce chairs three FGDC subcommittees:
   1. Captain Lewis A. Lapine, NOAA National Geodetic Survey, is Chair of the Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee (FGCS).
   2. Frank Maloney, NOAA Coast Survey, is Chair of the Bathymetric Subcommittee.
   3. Frederick Broome, Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, is chair of the Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data.
4. There are many (approximately 30) representatives from DOC who serve on other thematic subcommittees and working groups of the FGDC. DOC representatives are active in other aspects of the NSDI/FGDC including reviewing and commenting on FGDC Standards, serving on FGDC grant review/evaluation teams, serving on panels at national meetings, and submitting articles for the FGDC newsletter.
5. In FY-96 the NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the FGDC. This document has been updated for FY-97 activities. The CSC provided $135,000 in FY-96 and will provide $150,000 in FY-97 in support of the FGDC Competitive Cooperative Agreements Program for state and local governments. In addition to supporting this grants program, the Center is providing staff for the proposal review process and has offered to host the annual meeting for the recipients of the cooperatives agreements.

Many of the programs in DOC organizations are related to the NSDI and FGDC. For example, since most of NOAA's data has latitude and longitude location information or other geopositonal information such as zip code or river drainage location information, most of NOAA's work is related to NSDI and FGDC activities. There are programs in DOC that directly relate to FGDC such as Census programs and NOAA's geodetic and charting activities. In FY-1997 the Department of Commerce will continue to contribute directly to the NSDI and the FGDC through the activities listed below. The Goals and Objectives are from the 1996 Strategic Plan for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 1997 PLANS

Strategic Goals and Objectives from the 1996 Strategic Plan for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure

Goal 1: Increase the awareness and understanding of the vision, concepts, and benefits of the NSDI through outreach and education.

Intent: This goal seeks to propagate the stated NSDI vision. The concepts of NSDI, defined by Executive Order 12902, include community-based standards, public access to data through distributed clearinghouses, development of a framework of basic data, and sharing data with others among all sectors of government, academia and private industry. Organizations committed to the NSDI should communicate widely with current and potential users of geospatial data. This goal also seeks to incorporate ideas and practices that foster NSDI into the educational system at all levels, from kindergarten through university and professional training.

Objectives

1.1 Demonstrate the benefits of participation in the NSDI to existing and prospective participants.

• Awareness of the NSDI and FGDC will be promulgated in the Department of Commerce
• The Census Bureau will continue participating in the FGDC's Framework Workshops.

1.2. Promote principles and practices of the NSDI through formal and informal education and training.

• NOS San Francisco Bay Project will co-host an educational and outreach workshop on contemporary bathymetry of San Francisco Bay by December 1996
• The NOAA Coastal Services Center will host workshops on FGDC and Clearinghouse Metadata requirements for the U.S. coastal community. The Center is developing a FGDC metadata training workshop that will be giving in Charleston as well as regionally.
• The NOAA Coastal Services Center has developed a computer training laboratory for use by state coastal managers. This laboratory is equipped with 15 computer stations based on PC or Macintosh platforms. The Center will offer a number of information related workshops at very low cost to the coastal community. These training programs will include for example introductions to GIS, ARC/VIEW3, Metadata Documentation.

1.3. Identify and promote the attitudes and actions that help to develop the NSDI.

Goal 2: Develop common solutions for discovery, access, and use of geospatial data in response to the needs of diverse communities.

Intent: The NSDI will move toward common languages and architectures for describing describe geospatial data from many applications, and common technical solutions for accessing and using these data. Individuals from many different organizations and disciplines will contribute to the definition and development of these solutions.

Objectives:

2.1. Continue to develop a seamless National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse.

• The NOAA Coastal Services Office will transfer funds to FGDC to support Coastal Data Clearinghouse development
• NOAA Environmental Information Services will install the NOAA node of the Clearinghouse by March 1997. It will contain about 8,500 NOAA data set descriptions in the FGDC Metadata Standard format.
• NOAA's World Wide Web activities and thematic home pages, NOAA server project
• Under its adopted policy to implement E.O. 12906 (January 11, 1996), the Census Bureau will continue to produce and make standardized documentation electronically accessible to the Clearinghouse network for all current and, to the extent practicable, for all previously collected or produced, but still actively provided, geospatially referenced data sets.
• Continue to locate and describe NOAA data sets in the FGDC Metadata Standard format for inclusion in the NOAA Data Directory and the NOAA node of the FGDC Clearinghouse

2.2. Support the evolution of common means to describe geospatial data sets.

• The FGDC's Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data (SCDD), chaired by the Bureau of the Census will continue to work on developing a "Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata: Thematic Supplement for Geospatially Referenced Cultural and Demographic Data Metadata." This supplemental standard will maintain consistency in creating FGDC-compliant metadata and encourage use of the Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata while producing metadata to meet the unique needs of data producers and users of geospatially referenced cultural and demographic data.
• The Census Bureau will continue work on a Standard for Survey Design and Statistical Methodology Metadata to meet the needs of the statistical data community.

2.3. Support the development of tools that allow for easy exchange of applications, information, and results.

• The NOAA Coastal Service Center will encourage support of the NSDI by developing a WWW page on documenting coastal data sets using FGDC compliant methods.
• The Census Bureau will continue to advance CRADAs (partnering with private industry) as well explore other avenues for developing technical solutions to updating and exchanging geospatial base features of the Census Bureau's Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) database and extracts (TIGER/Line files).
• Continue development of three Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) projects sponsored by the NOAA Environmental Services Data and Information Program (ESDIM)

2.4. Research, develop, and implement architectures and technologies that enable data sharing.

• Continue development and enhancement of the NOAAServer Project
• Continue development and enhancement of the National Environmental Data Index (NEDI)
• The NOAA Coastal Remote Sensing Program and the Coastal Services Center are developing programs for automatic metadata generation for satellite data as it is received, in near real-time.

Goal 3: Use community-based approaches to develop and maintain common collections of geospatial data for sound decision-making.

Intent: This goal recognizes that the job of developing and maintaining large collections of geospatial data can no longer be supported by any one institution. The highest resolution, most current data are usually produced and maintained in the communities in which they are used. The goal seeks to leverage activities that are already occurring over any given piece of geography so that common data may be more easily shared. A community-based approach will emerge from the efforts of individual data producers and users coming together to cooperatively solve problems.

Objectives

3.1. Continue to develop the National Geospatial Data Framework.

• NOAA National Geodetic Survey will continue to develop the primary network for the national geodetic framework, called the Federal Base Network (FBN).

3.2. Provide additional geospatial data that citizens, governments, and industry need.

• NOAA's National Ocean Survey, Coastal Services Center, and the National Geophysical Data Center are currently producing primary framework data sets for the coastal zone GIS Community (primarily bathymetry/hydrography and shoreline -- much of this activity has been supported by the NOAA ESDIM program)
• NOAA will expand the Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCAP) to other regions of the U.S. to include 15 projects nationwide
• NOAA will complete the conversion of critical data sets for U.S. shoreline and geodetic data base to FGDC SDTS
• The Environmental Services Data and Information Program (ESDIM) will continue to fund NOAA projects that will improve access and quality of data and information in NOAA. These projects are organized under three major themes: Data Rescue, Data Access, and Data Modernization

3.3. Promote common classification systems, content standards, and other common models to facilitate data development, sharing, and use.

• The FGDC's Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data (SCDD), chaired by the Bureau of the Census will continue work on developing an "Address Content Standard" to provided consistency in the maintenance and exchange of address data and enhance its usability. The Development of a National Digital Geospatial Data Framework identifies addresses as an element of framework data; the proposed standard will assist in
• NOAA National Geodetic Survey will continue to chair the Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee (FGCS) and NGS will coordinate the development, adoption, publication, and promotion of classification standards for geodetic data and for geodetic surveying techniques.
• NOAA Coast Survey will continue to chair the FGDC Bathymetric Subcommittee and is developing standards for bathymetric/hydrographic data collection and exchange in conjunction with the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). The Bathymetric Subcommittee is also working with other federal agencies (DMA, USGS, USCOE, USCG) to develop common formats for exchange of critical charting information.
• NOAA will work with FGDC to establish a Wetlands Vegetation Classification standards that can be used for the Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCAP) and will work to adopt common definitions for aggregating TNC/UNESCO categories to C-CAP categories
• The Census Bu reau will continue to chair the FGDC's Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data (SCDD). The SCDD is develop a cultural and demographic data feature registry and conducting a data query as a preparatory step in developing a data classification standard.

3.4. Provide mechanisms and incentives to incorporate multi-resolution data from many organizations into the NSDI.

• Regional Pilot GIS projects in San Francisco Bay and South Florida are supported by the NOAA Environmental Services Data and Information (ESDIM) program

Goal 4: Build relationships among organizations to support the continuing development of the NSDI.

Intent: The intent of this goal is that organizations and individuals work together to jointly build the NSDI and share data. Relationships among groups will take many forms and NSDI will be flexible enough to support a multitude of relationships. Economic, organizational, legal, and behavioral constraints can significantly influence the willingness and abilities of organizations to share data. It is also the intent of this goal that these constraints be identified and removed, where appropriate.

Objectives

4.1. Develop a process that allows stakeholder groups to define logical and complementary roles in support of the NSDI.

4.2. Build a network of organizations linked through commitment to common interests within the context of the NSDI.

• NOAA will continue to work with Multiresolution Land Characterization (MRLC) Interagency Consortium to share thematic data sets
• NOAA State Geodetic Advisors will promote NSDI
• Continue development of Coastal Services Center partnerships with state and local organizations
• The National Geodetic Survey will monitor compatibility of federal fixed reference stations with NAD83 and their relationship to the development of a single Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) system to meet a maximum number of Federal GPS post-processing requirements to support NSDI development.

4.3. Remove regulatory and administrative barriers to agreement formation.

4.4. Find new ways to provide resources for data production, integration, and maintenance.

• In support of the Presidential Decision Directive on GPS, the Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee (FGCS) in its role as Global Positioning System (GPS) Interagency Advisory Council to the DOT Pos/Nav Executive Committee, acts to ensure that GPS will continue to meet the needs of the civilian community and works to strengthen the ties between federal agencies involved in GPS positioning, timing, and related navigation activities.
• Continue development of the National Environmental Data Index, NOAA Environmental Services Data Directory, NOAAServer, and the Coastal Information Directory
• The NOAA High Performance Computer and Communication (HPCC) Office will continue to support the research and development of innovative, collaborative, and data sharing and dissemination technologies in NOAA

4.5. Identify and support the personal, institutional, and economic behaviors; technologies; policies and legal frameworks that promote the development of the NSDI.

4.6. Participate with the international geospatial data information community in the development of a global geospatial data infrastructure.

• The Census Bureau will continue its participation on the International Organization of Standard's Technical Committee 211 - Geographic Information/Geomatics (ISO/TC 211). ISO TC/211 is developing a suite of standards defining a schema for information on data sets which can be exchanged by geographic information systems. Bureau staff will continue to lead Work Item 13 - Data Quality and participate in Work Item 10 - Cataloguing, Work Item 14 - Quality Evaluation Procedures, and Work Item 15 - Metadata.

http://www.esdim.noaa.gov/impldoc.html
Lisa Peoples
11/22/97