Toward a Coordinated Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Nation (1993) / Chapter Skim
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4 Current Situation
4 Current Situation
Pages 19-58
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From page 19... ...
If all or part of the needed data were available from another agency, a data exchange was often set up. When agencies found they were responsible for data collection over the same areas, coproducer agreements were set up where feasible.
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From page 20... ...
location systems, integrated land use/transportation planning models, battlefield management systems, crop rotation forecasts, and environmental impact assessments. MAJOR ISSUES While reviewing the spatial data activities of several federal agencies, the MSC recognized a number of general issues and impediments that need to be resolved to build a more robust NSDI.
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From page 21... ...
In fact, the current cooperative efforts between agencies are more a result of bilateral agreements for data exchange than a concern for a healthy NSDI. The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)
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From page 23... ...
In January 1993, the Federal Geographic Data Committee printed a Manual of Federal Geographic Data Products, which represents a positive first step in the compiling the various federal spatial data holdings. Even if a comprehensive spatial data catalog could be developed for the federal agencies, the extension of such a system to state and local government holdings would be very difficult because to its potential size.
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From page 24... ...
is an attempt by federal agencies, under the sponsorship of the FGDC, to develop a general family of exchange standards for civilian geographic data. The SDTS shouic} serve as the umbrella for more specific "federal profile" standards, such as DIGEST, VPF, and TIGER.
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All federal agencies recognize the large expense involved in collecting spatial data in digital form. However, there are no real incentives (in fact there are oftentimes disincentives)
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26 Cal 4 C~ ca Ct m o in Ct .
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Data collected by one agency in one part of the United States are given to a second in exchange for equivalent data collected elsewhere. Examples of this type of joint data collection include the proposed USGS/ASCS/SCS orthophoto program and the use of USGS ~ :24,000 quadrangles by many agencies as the base for their products.
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From page 28... ...
28 Toward a Coordinated Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Nation TABLE 4.3 Examples of Federal Use of Geographic Information Federal Selected Activities Making Use of Geographic Data Organization Department of Plant and animal disease quarantine studies; pest management; Agriculture cropland, forest, and rangeland management; soils mapping; water shed quality, planning, and management Department of Census taking; climatic mapping; definition, establishment, and Commerce maintenance of the National Geodetic Reference System; develop ment of geoid models; global modeling; coastal, estuarine, and marine resource monitoring and management Department of Base master planning; facilities siting and management; resource Defense and land use management; environmental analysis and planning; hazardous waste remediation; mapping and charting; tactical and strategic military operations Department of Environmental impact analysis; facilities siting; transmission line Energy routing; hazardous waste remediation; energy resource estimates; emergency response; evacuation planning; hazardous materials routing Department of Natural and cultural resource management and planning; economic the Interior development; transportation planning; alternative and conflicting use analysis for federal lands; mineral and energy resource analysis; mineral, oil, and gas leasing; water rights issues; environmental monitoring; mapping; wetlands inventory and trend studies; ca dastral surveys; habitat suitability analysis; land records manage ment; water quality evaluation Department of Litigation; voting rights protection; drug enforcement Justice Department of Airspace management; economic impact of highways studies; Transportation intelligent vehicle and highway systems; policy analysis; emergency response planning; traffic engineering; vehicle routing Environmental Air quality monitoring; Superfund site discovery analysis; Resource Protection Agen- Conservation and Recovery Act site management; water quality and cy vulnerability studies; risk assessment Federal Emer- Emergency planning and response; flood insurance program ad gency Manage- ministration ment Agency U.S. Postal Ser- Mail collection and delivery route modeling vice Tennessee Vat- Land and reservoir management; facilities site screening; natural .
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From page 29... ...
In 1983, an OMB memorandum established the Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee on Digital Cartography (FICCDC) to assist in coordinating data sharing across federal agencies.
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Federal Geographic Data Committee The FGDC was established in October 1990 by revised OMB Circular A-16. The FGDC is responsible for promoting and coordinating the development, use, sharing, and dissemination of GIS data throughout the government.
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as a system of independently held and maintained fecleral digital geographic data bases. The NGDS would encompass the National Digital Cartographic Data Base (NDCDB)
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, Department of Commerce Cadastral Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior Cultural and demographic Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce Geodetic National Geodetic Survey, NOAA, De partment of Commerce Geologic U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior Ground transportation Federal Highway Administration, Depart ment of Transportation Portrayal of certain international Office of the Geographer, Department of boundaries State Soils Soil Conservation Service, Department of Agriculture Vegetation Forest Service, Department of Agriculture Wetlands Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior efforts, which suggest the possibility of data sharing with others.
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From page 33... ...
Additional aspects of TIGER appear in the Street Centerline section of Chapter 5. Some private companies sell improver} versions of TIGER; others are using TIGER files as the base for special studies.
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From page 34... ...
The Bureau of the Census and the USGS have recently undertaken a project to convert TIGER files to the SDTS format. The initial results demonstrate that TIGER content can be expressed in the SDTS format, but it remains to be seen whether the SDTS format is preferable to current TIGER file format for data exchange.
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From page 35... ...
The DMA supports the use of the SDTS as a national digital data exchange mechanism, but views the SOTS as an umbrella standard rather than one to be used for exchanging data. Therefore, the DMA is working with the FGDC to establish the DMA's Vector Product Format (VPF)
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From page 36... ...
. The DMA maintains spatial data catalogs as h are!
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These include the Bureau of the Census TIGER files, the USGS 1:100,000 DLG hydrography and transportation data, the DMA 1:250,000 Digital Elevation Mocle]
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The goals of the state/EPA Data Management Program are twofold: to build and maintain the infrastructure for data sharing with the state environmental agencies (basically complete) , and to integrate this data across multiple media and programs.
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U.S. Forest Service The USFS, like the BEM, is basically a land management agency responsible for 191 million acres of public lands.
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The USFS obtains its spatial data from in-house activities; other fecleral, state, and local agencies using cooperative agreements and costsharing arrangements; and private companies as a condition of permit or timber sale on USFS lands. The USFS produces digital spatial data from their base series maps and orthophotography.
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The Future of the National Mapping Program (1990) reviewed user needs for the USGS spatial data products, and the report Research and Development in the National Mapping Division, USGS: Trends and Prospects (1991)
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From page 42... ...
This is being done through data exchange with federal and state agencies, and by contracting out some of the digitizing to private companies. The USGS is working with the USES for acquiring large amounts of 1:24,000 DLG data.
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The National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program also has a major influence on USGS spatial data activities.
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From page 44... ...
Growth management, mining reclamation, redistricting, tax mapping, transportation planning, traffic safety, hazardous materials, natural resources, economic development, and land records modernization are key areas of spatial data activity at the state and local levels. In the past, most state spatial data activities have been for special programs, often with fecleral funding and/or direction.
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From page 45... ...
The level of cooperation varies from establishment of standards and sharing arrangements to cooperative efforts for digitizing the USGS quad sheets. Federal reporting requirements affect some state spatial data activities.
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From page 50... ...
Coordination of spatial data handling among state agencies has been a chronic problem. Differing requirements, limited resources, and organizational rivalries have impeded cooperation in spatial data activities.
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From page 51... ...
These requirements are sometimes accompanied by resources for compliance. Wisconsin has implemented the Wisconsin Land Information Program that provides access to state funds when local governments implement a land records modernization plan.
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From page 52... ...
GIS data activities have traditionally taken place outside of the conventional information services department. Federal Relationships There is little sharing of data between local governments and federal agencies.
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From page 53... ...
There is about the same level of communication or coordination of spatial data activities among local governments as there is with state and federal agencies. Within a specific area, such as a county, there may be a cooperative GIS project that involves multiple organizations, but there are very few effective mechanisms for communication with other local governments to obtain guidance or resource sharing.
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From page 54... ...
In addition, private sector spatial data vendors in the United States have the tremendous advantage practically unique in the world of unrestricted royalty-free usage of federal spatial data sets like TIGER and DEGs, as well as copyright-free access to federal paper maps as a basis for proprietary spatial data sets. As a result of these advantages, a robust private sector community of users and vendors of spatial data technology has evolved, which consists of a large group of users, software vendors and data vendors.
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From page 55... ...
It is significant to observe that private spatial tiara set vendors dominate the supply of spatial statistical area boundary data bases as well as street centerline data sets. In aggregate, the combined data base creation and maintenance budgets of these companies could exceed fecleral spending on these data sets.
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From page 56... ...
Expansion of the vision of spatial data use beyond fecleral agencies' needs will be considered as a future subject for a Mapping Science Committee study. ACADEMIA Academia serves primarily in a support role for the improvement of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.
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From page 57... ...
FGDC (1991~. A National Geographic Information Resource: The Spatial Foundation of the Ir~formation-Based Society, Federal Geographic Data Committee, First Annual Report to the Director of OMB, 10 pp.
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From page 58... ...
Spatial Data Needs: The Future of the National Mapping Program, Mapping Science Committee, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 78 pp.
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