Attendees:
M.K. Miles & Nancy Blyler, USACE
Susan Riley, NPR
Jim Jancaitis & Tom Connelly, USGS/NMD
Katie Ryan, LOC
Howard Diamond, NOAA/DOC
Rick Yorczyk, NOAA/FGCS
Bert Jarreau, NACO
Gale TeSelle
Bob LaMacchia, Census
Bruce Spear, DOT
Deb Meese & Andy Bruzeenilz, USACE
Ed Harne, BLM
Christine Clark, USDA/NRCS
Margarette Shovlin & Dave Catlin, EPA
Anne Miglarese, NOAA
Bruce Ambacher, NARA
Wendy Blake Coleman, EPA
David Morehouse, DOE
Information Items-
The Corps announced an upcoming CADD/GIS symposium to be held in St. Louis, Missouri May 23-25.
John Moeller announced that Mark Schaefer will be leaving government ~ April 3 to work for the Nature Conservancy.
Report on National Elevation Program-
Jim Jancaitis, USGS, reported that the USGS is concentrating on the Big 3 - Hydrography, Elevation (NED), DOQ's. Today's briefing covered the National Elevation Program or NED.
NED is a new raster product assembled by the USGS designed to provide national elevation data in a seamless form with consistent datum, elevation unit, and projection. NED has a resolution of 1 arc-second for the conterminous US. For more information on NED see: http://edcnts12.cr.usgs.gov/NED/default.htm
USGS will be putting more money into elevation over the next several years to update their elevation datasets and to include higher resolution datasets that meet user community needs. USGS is seeking partnerships similar to those for the DOQ program for NED.
The Subcommittee on Base Cartographic data has formed an elevation consortium. A charter was distributed outlining the National Digital Elevation Program Steering Committee. CG members are asked to take a look and provide comments.
There was a discussion on licensing of data. Mr. Jancaitis said that ASPRS and MAPPS are host a licensing conference in late spring, early fall. It was suggested that FGDC put together a workshop in advance of MAPPS and ASPRS conference to discuss this issue. Anne Hale Miglarese volunteered to help set up this licensing meeting on behalf of the FGDC. Mr. Jancaitis will provide Ms. Miglarese with a USGS document that addresses licensing. It was also suggested that the Procurement Task Group address the issue of licensing of data in their boilerplate template.
- ACTION: Anne Miglarese will take lead on setting up a forum to discuss licensing issues.
Community/Federal Information Partnership Update-
John Moeller reported that C/FIP is included in the President's FY20001 budget: 30 million DOI/USGS, 5 million USDS/NRCS. Mr. Moeller said it was important for people to get word out and build support for this initiative.
Mr. Moeller also discussed the NSDI notice of partnership opportunities which is a proposal to issue an annual notice of available grant, cooperative agreement & partnership programs from FGDC agencies - beginning in FY2001. Agencies would be asked to provide minimal information about their programs such as:
- Program Name
- Agency
- Program Objectives
- Background
- Current year info & deadlines
- Contact information
Design Study Team Discussion-(thanks to Frank Hissong for his contributions to the notes on this subject)
Gale TeSelle presented background information on why the team was formed then began discussing trends that the interview data revealed. Highlights included:
- Many agencies are now beginning to realize that geography is an effective way to organize and present information.
- FGDC agencies began as a data producer but are now moving to becoming more of a data consumer.
- Many managers feel it is more important to collect, say soil samples and buy trucks, than to sit in front of a PC and do GIS stuff.
- Money drives a cooperative spirit.
The Design Study Team has completed all the interviews and will meet on March 31 to draft conclusions and put together recommendations. It was suggested that the Study Team also communicate with the Geodata Organizational group to ensure that areas of overlap, as well as gaps, are identified with respect to coordination of the various communities.
Next Meeting-
April 4, 2000
National Archives and Records Administration
8th & Pennsylvania Ave
Room 505
Washington, DC