U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure Douglas Nebert FGDC/GSDI Secretariat

U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure

Douglas Nebert

FGDC/GSDI Secretariat

FGDC Federal Geographic Data Committee

Foundation of US NSDI

NSDI established as initiative under the interagency coordinating committee, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

FGDC has 17 member federal organizations, official liaison with 35 state councils, and other sectoral organizations

Executive Order 12906 (1994) compelled federal government participation in NSDI


Participation in NSDI through FGDC

US Federal Government agencies (17) 35 state geo-information councils National States Geographic Info Council National Association of Counties National League of Cities Universities (UCGIS) Vendor community: OpenGIS Consortium


Standards

Clearinghouse

Metadata

FrameworkWor

king

Gro

ups

Organization of FGDC

SteeringCommittee

CoordinationGroup

SecretariatStaff

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nspo

rtat

ion

Wat

er

Ele

vatio

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hoim

ager

y

Cad

astr

e

Geo

detic

Gov

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enta

l Uni

ts

Geo

logy

Veg

etat

ion

. . .

Thematic Subcommittees


Legal Framework

FGDC constituted through the Executive Branch, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-67 for interagency coordination on geographic information

Only federal members permitted to vote on adoption of FGDC standards and policies, but process open to all

FGDC encourages standards and specification development in ISO, ANSI, and OGC by all NSDI participants


Roles and Responsibilities

FGDC Secretariat: staff of ~15, provides forum for policies and standards that integrate into a coherent NSDI

Steering Committee: staffed by agency managers, meets 2-3 times per year, approval of policies and FGDC Standards

Coordination Group: chairs of all WGs and Thematic Subcommittees and agency reps, meets monthly

WG and TS members: volunteer domain experts


NSDI Funding

Annual allocation to FGDC Secretariat of approximately $3.6M

Cooperative Agreements Program allots between $1-2M per year from this for sustainable NSDI- building projects

FGDC budget covers Secretariat expenses, interagency projects, and common-use infrastructure maintenance

FGDC member organizations invest at least as much in SDI operations


Standards

OMB Circular 119 requires governmental bodies to work first through international and national standards bodies before developing government-specific standards

FGDC participates in US National Standards for geomatics (ANSI INCITS-L1) and as part of US delegation to ISO TC 211

Data content standards and the Metadata Standard were developed through FGDC – will be migrating this process under ANSI


NSDI and Standards Advocacy

OpenGIS OpenGIS Consortium, W3CConsortium, W3C

Software interfaces(ImplementationSpecifications)

ISO TC 211ISO TC 211

Foundations forimplementation.

(Abstract standards)

NationalNationalStandardsStandards

Content standards,Authority for data

Endorsed practices and specification

s

NSDINSDI

OtherNSDIs

RegionalRegionalSDI CoordinationSDI Coordination


Intellectual Property Rights/Pricing

NSDI founded on principle of “freedom of discovery” to promote awareness and access to all geo-information

Encourage the publication of ALL metadata for data for free or for a fee with the metadata declaring access characteristics and asserter property rights

Federal agencies must make all non-sensitive data available only at the cost of dissemination, but no standard fee schedule exists (per OMB A-130)


Educational Aspects

FGDC has published educational materials and reference implementations of software to promote competence in NSDI concepts

FGDC underwrites local, regional, and national training opportunities through a cadre of on-call trainers

Research grants provided to University Consortium for Geo Information Sciences (UCGIS) for NSDI curricula and evaluation


Content: Core Data

Core data are known as Framework and represent the most commonly used data in base mapping, collected by various agencies:– Elevation– Hydrography (Surface Water)– Governmental Units (Boundaries)– Orthoimagery– Transportation (multi-modal)– Cadastre – Geodetic Control


Framework Data

Federal agency leads defined for each theme Standardization of Framework representation

non-existent until this year Multi-sectoral participation in ANSI-sponsored

standards development teams for Framework underway to define Core representation

Coordination of Framework data service providers to be formalized within each community


Content: Other Data

US NSDI encourages the documentation, publication, and service of all types of geo- information

Abundant environmental, imagery, and other non-Framework data are documented and available through Clearinghouse

Data content standards for non-Framework data are encouraged to promote exchange


Semantic Interoperability

Past FGDC Data Content Standards were not done using consistent modeling and implementation guidance, but provided, at best, semantic guidance on content

Framework Data Content Standards now under development will include common core UML models, documentation, applying a feature cataloguing methodology, identifier systems, and define a single reference application schema for each theme to promote exchange


Semantic Resources

Because geographic data is so diverse in its discipline and usage, the development of a common set of Theme Keywords to be used across all disciplines has been a problem

ISO 19115 Categories provides one high level classification of generic data

International cooperation is sought to identify and endorse a single set of thematic keywords with codes for common use!


Data Documentation

FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) published in 1994 and revised in 1998, US contribution to ISO 19115 metadata standardization effort

Over 130 government, commercial, and academic data catalogs exist in the US with hundreds of thousands of data sets described using CSDGM

US will transition to adopting ISO 19115 Metadata Metadata points to direct data download in about

20% of the records


Community support

Provide reference implementation software to promote adoption of common standards:– Collaborate with UNEP to maintain Enraemed ISO

metadata collection software– Collaborate with FAO to modify data documentation

and publishing framework Spatial Knowledgeware to support ISO and OGC specifications

– Host and share metadata search “gateway” software


Discovery Services

FGDC coordinates a network of six official search Gateways for accessing international content held in Z39.50 (ISO 23950) “GEO” Profile collections (includes non-FGDC metadata)


Discovery Services

FGDC operates the GSDI global directory of servers to help selection of servers to target a full, distributed query

NSDI/GSDI Discovery portals use searchable metadata fields, including spatial and temporal, and full text




APIAPI

API

API

API

UI

MetadataDB/Index

MetadataDB/Index

Data CatalogService

Data CatalogService

GEOdataAccessService

GEOdataAccessService

Web MappingService

Web MappingService

ServiceRegistry/Catalog

ServiceRegistry/Catalog

CatalogClient

CatalogClient

ClientClient

Data/FileManagement

System

Data/FileManagement

System

GeoprocessingService

GeoprocessingService

Symbols

currentcurrent

InterfaceUI

Software/Service

Information

SpatialData

SpatialData

MetadataMetadata

Function

are derived

from

are loadedto or

stored in

is exposedto the Internet

through a

MetadataMetadatacontains

queries for relevantcollection targets

queries

stored in

is exposedto the Internet

through a

may reference instances

may be coupled

to or integrated

with

plannedplanned

API

draws layers from

makesmapsfrom

UI

UI

managedthrough

managedthrough

GatewayGateway

interacts with

distributes to and collates

from multiple

ThesaurusThesaurus

GazetteerGazetteer

enhancesquerywith

enhancesquerywith

UI

feedsserver info

to

1. builds query screens for2. submits queries/requests to3. returns search responses

1 2 3

UI

enter/update

UI

managedthrough

may senddata to

now: planned.:

are derived for each

managedthrough

API

providesapplication

accessthrough

APIsynchronize


Objectives of the Infrastructure

To promote use and re-use of spatial data for multiple purposes by government and citizens

To encourage participation of self-disciplined providers or data and services

To establish baseline services that support community discovery and access to geo-information (directory of services, semantic registry, search gateways, gazetteer, reference software implementation)


E-government: Geospatial OneStop

OMB has established 24 e-government initiatives across the U.S. Government to seek savings of scale by formalizing re-usable G2G services

Geospatial OneStop accelerates implementation of the NSDI by:– Rapid development of Framework schema/standards– Reiterating asset management in Clearinghouse– Establishing G2G needs-based access via the

Clearinghouse– Implementing high-grade federal map and data services

online for Framework themes


ReviewState and

E-Gov UserRequirements

Target 22+e-gov initiativesand other e-gov

Face-to-faceTown Hall

Discussions

Call for businessrequirements of

portal

Developconsolidateduse cases

Compose/convene7 MATs

Extract datarequirements

Who?To whom?

When?How?

Initial PortalFunctional

Design

Calls for requirements and participation

Extract commondata

requirements

ConstructDraft Model

Write draftstd docs

ConstructDraft

Standard

PublicReview

Under ANSI INCITS L1

Vote at ANSI INCITS

L1

Vote at ANSI

PublicReview

FGDC Endorsement

revise

revise

e.g. transportation

Prototypespecific

G2G functions

Establishportal interface

to services

Prototypemap/dataservices

Finalizemap/dataservices

refine

Documentexisting andplanned data

Service andData

Clearinghouse

Augmentportal

functionalityrefine

Draft process diagramof Geospatial OneStop

revised 01Mar02

register

time (not to scale)

PrepareQuestions,Organize

Portal Team

Requirements Team

Standards Teams


What is the Geospatial One-Stop Portal?

Middleware that integrates access to distributed community data services

Community-wide access point for all participating data and map services

Employs standard software interfaces to connect to catalog, map, and feature services set up by providers

Generic user interface that could be adapted by other communities

FGDC Federal Geographic Data CommitteePortal Concept

ClientsWFS WMS WCS CatGazGNIS

Internet

@FGDC

Internet

Geospatial One-Stop PortalUser Interface Widgets

Analysis Symbols Help

Web Browser (Thin Client) Applications (Thick Client)

Services

Provider Organizations

Data

Douglas Nebert

GSDI Secretariat

http://www.gsdi.org

U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee

http://www.fgdc.gov

[email protected]

Documents

U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure Douglas Nebert FGDC/GSDI Secretariat