Surveying, Mapping and GIS

Within the NSDI, oversight is provided by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

Additionally, A-16 pursues the following:

• Privacy and Security of raw and processed citizens' personal data and accuracy of statistical data
  
• Access to these data, subject to OMB Circular A-130
  
• Protection of proprietary interests to these data 
  
• Interoperability between various federal agencies' information systems within these data
  

The NSDI supports the advancement for a Global Spatial Data Infrastructure that coincides with National Security interests. Any Federal system that develops international data in accordance with these systems must follow international voluntary standards as outlined by Circular A-119.

With the FGDC and OMB mandate, this prior effort more than anything, establishes a framework.  This framework, in turn, is something that individual agencies and data stewards can build to.  Similarly, the recent Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Geospatial Line of Business (GeoLoB) and other initiatives, such as the Federal CIO Council's Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) Geospatial Profile 1.1 provide guidance toward harmonizing investment, technology and architecture.  Further, the recently-formed National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC) has been formed under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to provide advice, from a community cross-section, to FGDC.

Here nonetheless remains the challenge of populating this framework.  Many diverse efforts are ongoing, which align with these efforts, such as Imagery For The Nation, such as EPA's Exchange Network, however some of these efforts still lack adequate resources for completion, may have issues with stovepipes, lack of interoperability, lack of access, and so on.

The drivers for completing this work are manifold - such as providing adequate tools for planning, to better allow informed decision-making for such things as roadways and transportation, for analysis of demographics toward broadband investments, for homeland security, for planning improvements to municipal sewers, for protecting natural and archaeological heritage and biodiversity, and so on.   As such, with discussion of massive stimulus and the H.R. 1 bill geared toward many of these things, it is imperative that decisions and investments be made in an informed fashion.

Currently multiple documents of relevance and proposals toward populating this framework and advancing the various initiatives are currently circulating within the GIS community:

• NGAC Transition Recommendations, October 16, 2008

• Additional NGAC Documentation, October 15-16, 2008

• A Proposal for National Economic Recovery, published by ESRI and Booz-Allen-Hamilton

• NSDI 2.0: Powering our National Economy, Renewing our Infrastructure, Protecting our Environment, published by a coalition of government and industry partners

• A Proposal for Reinvigorating the American Economy Through Investment in the US National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), published by Autodesk, Microsoft, Oracle, Google and Intergraph
  

All of these speak to the need for populating the NSDI framework.  The questions and differences only remain in approaches.    Many elements are crucial to success, such as:

The hope is that the community can have an open, informed discussion of these elements and proposals, along with all of the key context, history and background.  And hopefully adequate open forums will become available for doing so.