National GI 3C Task Force

2002 - 2004 Report & Recommendations

National GI 3C Task Force Principles

Map it once avoid duplicate datasets and waste of funds

Benefits to all contributors

Equal partners in data development and maintenance

Cost sharing and/or incentives for local data development and update

Recognition of data rights and responsibilities

Free access to public data with secrecy invoked only if necessary

Use of common standards

Open non-hierachical lines of communication

Designated authority and point of contact at all levels

Vertical and horizontal coordination, cooperation & collaboration (3c)

Sustainable spatial data infrastructure

Learn about - Give & Take: National Programs ... Local Implementation
This was a URISA Summit to Promote National Data Partnerships & Collaboration held on May 21, 2003 in Washington, DC. It assembled Federal agencies and state and local government representatives to discuss various Federal initiatives and their impact at the local level. The site includes detailed PowerPoint presentations for the initiatives, a summary of the meeting, as well as attendee testimonials.

The following items were distributed at the URISA 2003 Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA during a Plenary Session entitled "Give & Take: National Programs...Local Implementation - A Follow-up." The documents are available in .pdf form.

Committee

Zorica Nedovic Budic - Chair (email link)
University of Illinois
Diann Danielsen
Dane County, WI
Tom Conry
Fairfax County, VA
Randall Johnson
MetroGIS, St. Paul, MN
Kathy Covert
The Federal Geographic Data Committee
Mark Sievers
East Central Florida Regional
Planning Council
Alex Hepp
Mobile Video
Joe Sewash
Department of Finance and Administration,
State of Tennessee
Scott Oppmann
Oakland County, MI
Scottie Barnes
Geospatial Solutions
Bruce Joffe
GIS Consultants
Krzysztof (Kris) Kolodziej
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Lisa Warnecke
GeoManagement Associates
Stu Davis
Ohio Geographically Referenced
Information Program
Rachel Arulraj
Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas Inc.
Brandt Melick
City of Springfield Public Works

Description

Challenging times present us with new opportunities and responsibilities. The events of 9-11-01 have shown the utility of spatial technologies in recovery efforts and have raised awareness about the importance of up to date and accurate geographic information. Even though the value of technological and information preparedness has already been recognized in other emergency activities (police, medical, fire, and natural disasters), prevention of terrorism-related emergencies have added a new dimension to the overall effort to prevent disasters and be ready for fast recovery in case they happen. Initiatives in this area abound at all levels - from Federal to local – offering a unique opportunity for all producers and users of geographic data and for the nation. Vertical and horizontal integration of existing datasets at regional, state, and national levels, and creation of new data where the gaps exist promise to finally bring about a viable spatial data infrastructure to support decision making and action in both crisis and ordinary situations.

The National GI 3C Task Force is created to voice the views and issues from associations and groups interested in and affected by the initiatives mentioned above. The Task Force was initiated during the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) annual meeting in Chicago in October 2002, and is open to any motivated individual and group representative to contribute to its activities. The main goals of the Task Force are to:

increase awareness and understanding of the scope and objectives of various initiatives among the community members;
identify the relevant organizational and institutional issues and experiences;
point to the effective forms of cooperation, coordination, and collaboration that will bring mutual benefits to the involved parties, but also result in a coherent national information base;
advocate approaches for sustaining long term partnerships and mechanisms for geographic information development and maintenance; and
communicate with the leadership of various initiatives to share views, concerns, and ideas.

Following are the activities that the Task Force proposes to undertake:

Introduce the Task Force’s rationale and goals to the membership;
Invite members to share their experiences with the federal initiative[s];
Summarize the key features of federal activities, relevant experiences reported by URISA members, and expected implications on URISA constituencies (government organizations at all levels, private sector, and spatial technology professionals);
Seek feedback on this summary;
Write a URISA position statement, principles, and mechanisms that would lead to more effective interaction between federal and other levels of government in creating and integrating national datasets; and
Share with key contacts in each of the initiatives (to be identified).

All communications and products are to be based on web and e-mail.The currently ongoing initiatives the Task Force is focused on include:Senate Bill S. 1230: To provide for additional responsibilities for the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Homeland Security relating to geospatial information.House Bill H. R. 3186: To establish and maintain geospatial preparedness for the Nation with the National Spatial Data Infrastructure and integrated applications and systems required for homeland security, national defense, electronic government, and for other purposes.The report "Financing the NSDI: National Spatial Data Infrastructure" was prepared for the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) to research alternative mechanisms and options for securing financial resources for spatial data activities. The report has been delivered to the FGDC by Urban Logic.This report represents a significant accomplishment as a resource for use in considering a wide array of potential opportunities to align or leverage resources and investments for spatial data activities in support of the NSDI. The FGDC intends to use the report in support of ongoing activities to find additional ways of developing resources and providing incentives for NSDI actions.The FGDC's Framework Introduction and Guide is a collaborative effort to create a widely available source of basic geographic data. It provides the most common data themes geographic data users need, as well as an environment to support the development and use of these data.
http://www.fgdc.gov/framework/frameworkintroguide/In November 2000, The National GeoData Alliance (GDA) was officially established to "foster trusted and inclusive processes to enable the creation, effective and equitable flow, and beneficial use of geographic information." The Lessons from Practice guide is the first publication of the emerging GDA. http://www.geoall.net/docs/lessons_from_practice.pdfArticle "Federal GIS: A Weapon of Mass Dysfunction?" is a summary of the May 21, 2003 URISA Federal Summit. It was written by Frank Sietzen, Jr. and published in Geospatial Solutions.
http://www.geospatial-online.com/geospatialsolutions/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=70780Article "Time to Fund NSDI" (Part 1) by John Moeller and Greg Karmazin in Geospatial Solutions (April, 2003):
http://www.geospatial-online.com/geospatialsolutions/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=52686Article "When location counts - Users of geospatial data push industry for better system interoperability"
by Brian Robinson in Federal Computer Week (June, 2003):
http://www.fcw.com/supplements/homeland/2003/sup2/hom-data-06-02-03.aspArticle "Homeland security: Working together - Collaboration and data-sharing efforts take center stage" in Federal Computer Week (June, 2003): http://www.fcw.com/supplements/homeland/2003/sup2/index.aspRead the Summit write-up in the May, 29, 2003 issue of GIS Monitor
http://www.gismonitor.com/news/newsletter/archive/052903.phpArticle "Geospatial One-Stop Opens" in Federal Computer Week (July 1, 2003)
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0630/web-geo-07-01-03.aspArticle "State CIOs, Feds Talk Collaboration" in Federal Computer Week (July 21, 2003)
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0721/pol-collab-07-21-03.asp

The National Map

http://www.nationalmap.usgs.gov
Started in January 2001 by USGS (Department of Interior) to transform the Quad paper series into a seamless, integrated, and online database.You can read URISA’s response to the National Research Council and USGS' invitation to provide its perspective (by Bruce Joffe, GIS Consultants, Oakland, CA)Read a related white paper for the National Research Council (by Will Craig, University of Minnesota) at:The National Academy workshop on The National Map was held last September. Professor Craig was there representing UCGIS. There were numerous other paper submissions as well. The list of presenters can be seen at
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/besr/National_Map_Participants.html
Click on the author's name to see the paper.Also relevant to this topic is a resolution by NSGIC.
http://www.nsgic.org/hot_topics/security/

National Imagery and Mapping Agency’s (NIMA) 133 Cities Project

http://www.nima.mil/ocrn/nima/geospatial.html
This NIMA-led project was conceived as part of a strategy to protect a large portion of the U.S. population from natural disasters and acts of terror. Mapping is integral to the effort, and the issues that have arisen in gathering and sharing map data for the 133 Cities Project (and USGS's corollary, The National Map) call for federal agencies to work with local governments to integrate data for the most populated municipal areas in the United States. For more information, see http://www.geospatial-online.com/geospatialsolutions/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=31971

Geospatial One-Stop

http://www.geo-one-stop.gov/
Part of the new Office of Management and Budget E-Government initiative to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and customer service throughout the Federal Government. The strategy, adopted by the President's Management Council (PMC) in October 2001 implements the "Expanding Electronic Government" reform outlined in the President's Management Agenda. Geospatial One-Stop is expected to revolutionize E-Government by providing a geographic component for use in all Internet based E-Government activities across local, state, tribal and Federal government. The implementation of the Geospatial One-Stop will:

Provide standards and models for the geospatial framework data content;
Provide an interactive index to geospatial data holdings at the Federal and non-Federal levels;
Initiate interaction between Federal, state, and local agencies about existing and planned spatial data collections; and
Provide an online access point to geospatial data.

GeoData Alliance

http://www.geoall.net
New, innovative, nonprofit organization open to all individuals and institutions committed to using geographic information to improve the health of communities, economies, and the Earth. The purpose of the GeoData Alliance is to foster trusted and inclusive processes to enable the creation, effective and equitable flow, and beneficial use of geographic information.

Open Data Consortium (ODC)

http://www.opendataconsortium.org/Funded in part by the U.S. Geological Survey, ODC is a GeoData Alliance initiative, which is now in its formative phases. It is a collaborative project in which public sector data providers and private sector data distributors cooperatively develop a set of standards and agreements – a model data distribution agreement – for creating a more efficient market mechanism to distribute digital geographic information. Please download descriptive documents from FTP://joffes.com. For more information, see http://www.geospatial-online.com/geospatialsolutions/article/articleDeta... Ways to Support Your GIS Without Selling Data
by: Bruce Joffe
URISA Journal Article Under Review.

National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC)

http://www.nsgic.org
Organization of States committed to efficient and effective government through the prudent adoption of geographic information technology (GIT). Members of NSGIC include delegations of state GIS coordinators and senior state GIS managers from across the United States. Other members include representatives from Federal agencies, local government, the private sector, academia and other professional organizations.

TIGER Enhancement

http://www.census.gov

Electronic Government

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/egovstrategy.pdf