National Spatial Data Infrastructure Partnership Programs: Rethinking the Focus (2001)

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NSDI AND PARTNERSHIPS 13 their sponsors, which include federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), universities, and corporations. Each server’s sponsors contribute data and associated metadata records—using the metadata standards —and manage both data and metadata records locally. At the time of writing there were six portals, more than 250 servers in 26 different countries, and several thousand datasets in the clearinghouse system. As with the metadata standard, the FGDC has taken a lead role in the implementation of standard web-based data serving. The clearinghouse standard has proven very popular with both its sponsors and its users, and has become the de facto international standard. Even though other internet-based solutions for distributing spatial data have evolved in both the public and private sectors, the pioneering effort of the FGDC to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept must be acknowledged. NSDI Framework The core of the NSDI is data sharing, and accurate data must be constructed on a solid foundation. Although a very large number of geospatial data types exist, those that constitute the critical base layers are considered to be the framework for the entire system. The MSC’s 1995 report, A Data Foundation for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, articulated the need for a NSDI foundation. The committee used the construction of a building as a metaphor: “…A solid foundation of concrete or other material is first put in place; then a framework of steel beams is connected to the foundation to create a structure to support the building’s interior and exterior” (NRC, 1995; p. 15). In the same way, a foundation of spatial data serves as a reference for integrating other data themes. As these themes are developed and integrated with the foundation, a structure will be created that can support and sustain the NSDI. The committee considers geodetic control, digital terrain, and digital orthorectified imagery to constitute the NSDI foundation. Under Executive Order 12906, the FGDC established subcommittees and placed priority on transportation, boundary, and hydrology data. In 1995, the FGDC framework working group identified the purpose and goals for the framework and incentives for participation; defined the information content; developed preliminary technical, 

NSDI AND PARTNERSHIPS 14 operational, and business contexts; specified the institutional role needed; and developed a strategy for a phased implementation of the framework (FGDC, 1995). The Framework Working Group identified the following seven themes as the framework of the NSDI: • geodetic control (the measurements and monuments that form the foundation for practical surveying); • orthoimagery (digital datasets derived from aerial photographs and corrected for distortion); • elevation (digital files defining the height of the land surface and depths below water surfaces); • transportation (roads, railways); • hydrography (rivers, lakes, reservoirs); • the definition of boundaries and names of government units (counties, states, cities); and • cadastral information (boundaries defining land ownership). In a sense, the NSDI Framework is the digital equivalent of the USGS’s topographic map. Separate layers representing topography, transportation, hydrology, and cultural features—each denoted by a specific color and cartographic symbol—comprise the topographic map. The topographic map also relies on a solid foundation of geodetic control and imagery. For decades, numerous data acquisition and presentation activities have been based on the USGS topographic quadrangles. Users tie other information to these maps, either through annotation or by directly overlaying information on transparent sheets. As the USGS converted these maps into digital line graphs, the information on these maps became the first nationwide de facto spatial data framework. Over the past couple of decades, other federal agencies, such as the Census, have taken data from these original topographic maps, edited them, and added topological structure and attributes to meet their individual needs. Arguably, the objective of the NSDI is to improve the spatial resolution, the accuracy, the content, and the currency of this base. As the FGDC (1997a) notes, the NSDI Framework should also consider the procedures and technology for building and using the data; and the institutional relationships and business practices that support those procedures. It is the institutional partnerships that are the focus of this report.