Action 1: Please send your status graphics to Vaishal Sheth (vsheth@usgs.gov). [status graphics requirements]
Action 2: Please send your photos of your agency’s work on the ground to Tricia Gibbons (tgibbons@leadalliance.com).
Action 3: Tricia Gibbons will work with Doug Nebert and Julie Maitra to draft text about the advancement of Framework Standards, as a 2006 highlight.
Action 4 – Tricia will include information on BLM’s National Parcel Database to be included in the annual report.
Action 5 – Sharon Shin will provide Tricia information on metadata goals for 2007.
Action 6 – Bill Burgess will provide Tricia copy on the IFTN future activities.
Action 7: Tricia Gibbons requests feedback on the draft Annual Report by Friday 1/19 COB (tgibbons@leadalliance.com). Feel free to edit your own piece; we need feedback on each section what do you like, what are the minuses, suggestions for improvement, what is interesting? Don’t need to line edit, we will have professional reviewers.
Action 8: John Mahoney will update and refine the draft FACA charter and will provide it and the draft call for nominations to Coordination Group for their review prior to February CG meeting.
Action 9: Ivan DeLoatch will provide the Coordination Group members all the materials they need to brief their SAOGI nine days prior to the Steering Committee meeting.
Action 10: Wendy Blake-Coleman will speak to Leslie Armstrong about the activity that EPA is undertaking, similar to the DOI Blueprint.
Action 11: Leslie Armstrong will speak to Bill Burgess about the possibility of sharing the DOI examples on ROI with the IFTN contractor.
Action 12: Wendy Blake-Coleman will forward Alison Dishman the EPA National Land Cover Database memo to be posted with today’s meeting minutes.
Action 13: Wendy Blake-Coleman will find the appropriate person to speak to the Office of Science and Technology regarding the MRLC program and its benefits.
Action 14: Please contact Nancy Doyle to attend the Federal Geodetic Control meeting on Feb 13 - 14 in Silver Spring [see FGDC calendar for information].
Action Items from Last Meeting - Alison Dishman, FGDC
Annual Report Update – Roxanne Lamb, USGS; Tricia Gibbons & Brent Gilroy, LEAD Alliance
[presentation] [draft 06 annual report]
We have received 25 of the 29 agency reports – still missing reports from HHS, DOJ, DOL, and State. We have received agency responses, NSGIC report, emergency response success stories, NSDI contribution success stories, and status graphics – still need more status graphics. Still needs graphics to support text – photos of on the ground work, screen shots, charts, graphs, maps.
(The 10 new SAOGIs that joined through the Geospatial Line of Business this year are exempt from contributing to the 2006 report. They will begin contributing to the annual report in 2007.)
Action 1: Please send your status graphics to Vaishal Sheth (vsheth@usgs.gov). [status graphics requirements]
Action 2: Please send your photos of your agency’s work on the ground to Tricia Gibbons (tgibbons@leadalliance.com).
We need consensus on the lead story and 2007 goals.
Timeline:
- Review and comment on the report and lead story by 1/18
- Revisions from 1/19 – 1/26
- Draft 2 review and comment 1/26 – 2/2
- Deliver copy-ready report for layout 2/9
The annual report includes information about hurricane recovery and reaction to future disasters, overview of FGDC and mission, infrastructure and agency contributions to the growth of the NSDI.
The table of contents and glossary are still in work. Glossary is getting huge so we are trying to rethink what to do with the glossary. Last section is the exhibits and bios. Status graphics may be moved into the text, not in the appendix
Message from chair has been drafted – will be routed to Lynn Scarlett, annual report will start off with this.
The Coordination Group members suggested these Highlights of 2006:
- Standards going to ANSI – Framework Standards and Symbology Standards
Action 3: Tricia Gibbons will work with Doug Nebert and Julie Maitra to draft text about the advancement of Framework Standards, as a 2006 highlight.
The Coordination Group members suggested these Goals for 2007:
- Implementing Geospatial Line of Business
- Launch of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee
- 50 States Initiative (expansion of activities)
- Expand International Collaboration and Leadership – USGEO is formalized as of Dec 06 through OSTP and White House
- Progressive enhancement of Geospatial One-Stop - managed by USGS but from policy and program point of view it is collaboration between all the agencies.
- Imagery for the Nation (expansion of activities, cost benefit analysis)
- Standards – completion of standards in the ANSI process
- Street Address Standard published
- Metadata standard – CSDGM 3.0 in the coming year. North American profile of the metadata standard is going into the ANSI review process
- Online training materials based on framework standard will be available in 07. Provide training mechanism for framework and hydro layer
Action 4 – Tricia will include information on BLM’s National Parcel Database to be included in the annual report.
Action 5 – Sharon Shin will provide Tricia information on metadata goals for 2007.
Action 6 – Bill Burgess will provide Tricia copy on the IFTN future activities.
Suggestion: The Annual Report should highlight OMB Circular A-16.
Q: Will there need to be committees or subcommittees to establish contributions needed for the 2007 goals listed in the annual report?
A: No we have commitments with our agencies and partners so there shouldn’t be any additional requirements. It is important to let the senior officials that these activities are going on. Also they need to be aware of the areas where we are lacking.
Suggestion: We could also call them focus areas instead of goals. None of these were intended to have budgetary implications.
Comment: We need to decide the SAOGI’s role in approving the 07 goals. There is still uncertainty from the LoB. We need to evolve into workgroup paradigm.
Response: These are the types of things we will have to do once we solidify the governance process.
Q: Can this review wait until the Steering Cmte meeting? Do we have a drop dead date?
A: The annual report deadlines are in place to get the information out in a timely fashion.
Action 7: Tricia Gibbons requests feedback on the draft Annual Report by Friday 1/19 COB (tgibbons@leadalliance.com). Feel free to edit your own piece; we need feedback on each section what do you like, what are the minuses, suggestions for improvement, what is interesting? Don’t need to line edit, we will have professional reviewers.
The contractor to do the printing / layout will be chosen soon, there have been contracting issues but it will be awarded soon.
Q: Do you plan to implement a regular strategic planning effort? It would be beneficial for FGDC to have a strategic planning session every two years.
A: Yes, we are required to do that – question is the timeframe. A biannual strategic planning session may be considered once the LoB is launched on February 6.
FACA Update – John Mahoney, USGS
[presentation] [draft charter]
Comments on the draft charter were received from NSGIC, WGA, HUD, ASPRS, MAPPS, FWS and John Moeller (former FGDC Staff Director). [see presentation for comments]
Q: Who appoints subgroup members?
A: The committee itself will organize the subgroups themselves. This needs to be clarified in the charter.
Overview of Draft Call for Nominations:
- Current plan is to distribute following briefing to FGDC Steering Committee at Feb 15 SC meeting
- Will be issued electronically by FGDC Chair (Lynn Scarlett)
- Will be distributed broadly (FGDC mail lists, partner mail lists, possibly FedBizOps/Fed. Register)
- Nominations can be submitted by organizations or individuals. However, appointments go to individuals (not organizations)
- Nominations should include:
- A statement summarizing the nominee’s qualifications and interest in Committee membership, and describing the nominee’s ability to represent a stakeholder group
- A biographical sketch, resume, or vita
- A list of three references or endorsements
Action 8: John Mahoney will update and refine the draft FACA charter and will provide it and the draft call for nominations to Coordination Group for their review prior to February CG meeting.
Q: Does the FACA require membership to be only the individual – excluding the organization itself? What about organizations with long standing executive directors or staff?
A: It is a requirement of FACA to represent individuals. Technically under FACA appointments are individual based.
Q: How would the FACA representatives communicate with stakeholder community? Are we assuming individual will work with their organization?
A: Yes – the individual you would pick would be representative of some broader group. For example, FACA doesn’t let you establish a NACo position on a committee; rather you could choose a representative of the NACo leadership. The nominee would have a line of communication back to the organization they are representing.
We don’t want to include too much information in the charter – the focus of the work and goals of the committee should be developed by the committee itself.
Examples of FACA bylaws can be found here: www.gsa.gov/faca
After the formal launching of the Geospatial Line of Business (LoB) on February 6, we are anticipating that OMB will communicate with their stakeholder groups – developing products for them to use, gleaned from the Joint Business Case and other LoB documents. We should be very busy in February.
The LoB will be addressed agency by agency – legal counsel will give guidance from each agency. All agencies should continue to support LoB. Milestones in the budget. Starting point for 07 activities.
LoB advisory committee is a large part of the governance committee.
Agencies meet under the auspices of ad hoc taskforce in preparation of the launching of the LoB. Will help us roll this thing out in the next month. A number of the tasks slated for 07 require additional support from the agencies. We will be able to talk about them more succinctly at the March meeting – how we will handle the transition.
Steering Committee Meeting Preparation – Ivan DeLoatch, FGDC
The Steering Committee meeting will be held on February 15 from 1:20 – 3:30 at the American Institute of Architects Boardroom in Washington, D.C.
The agenda will focus on the FACA, Geospatial Line of Business, 2006 Annual Report, and Continuing Resolution. We will need two full hours to walk through these tough issues.
- FACA -- we will discuss what it means for us as a community. We need the SAOGI’s assistance as we move forward.
- Geospatial Line of Business -- we will communicate that it was released on February 6. We will talk about the near term activities and that we require assistance from the SAOGIs to accomplish our tasks.
- Annual Report -- we will communicate that it is a useful tool for a number of purposes.
Action 9: Ivan DeLoatch will provide the Coordination Group members all the materials they need to brief their SAOGI nine days prior to the Steering Committee meeting.
Last Thursday there was a SES breakfast at the ESRI Federal Users Conference. Clay Johnson (OMB) was a key speaker. When the audience asked him about the governance of the Geospatial LoB he said the FGDC would serve as the policy developing body. Any concerns on the implementation of the LoBs would be elevated to the President’s Management Council (Assistant Secretary level).
Q: Will the internal CONOPS for PMO document be available to the Coordination Group prior to the February 6 CG meeting?
A: The draft deliverable will be finished by the end of this month. The final document will be available on February 9.
Q: Will you be briefing SAOGIs on FACA requirements and LoB activities that originally identified the need for 15 FTE?
A: Yes, will brief them and tie them into the task at hand.
The SAOGIs need to be better informed. We need to take steps to implement the tasks identified in the LoB. We will identify the tasks and milestones slated for this year.
DOI Geospatial Modernization Blueprint – Leslie Armstrong, FGDC
The DOI Geospatial Modernization Blueprint activity began a year ago through the Office of the DOI Chief Information Officer. The Blueprint is a strategy – looking towards the FY09 budget request, it is not an implementation plan. DOI made a significant investment into the Blueprint – a contractor was hired and participants spent approximately 30% of their time on this activity.
Each of the steps and blocks are explained on the DOI CIO webpage. There are many similarities to the LoB. http://www.doi.gov/ocio/architecture/step4.htm
The group didn’t have to start from scratch because Bob Pierce was already leading a Geographic Information Implementation Team – their goals overlap with the blueprint.
Geospatial portfolio will be maintained with some staffing and will save money by improving access to geospatial data and services. The DOI geospatial activities will be coordinated with the LoB PMO staff. Hope to automate the benefits-cost ratio for DOI. It may include development of a system to make all of our data available through a warehouse or viewer.
This activity will require education and change management across the DOI. Governance, policy changes, performance objectives, training, skills, etc
Comment: EPA has geospatial program CPIC that includes all systems. EPA found that OMB doesn’t categorize data as IT -- and received a mixed reaction from OMB because their program includes FTEs, policy and data.
Action 10: Wendy Blake-Coleman will speak to Leslie Armstrong about the activity that EPA is undertaking, similar to the DOI Blueprint.
Action 11: Leslie Armstrong will speak to Bill Burgess about the possibility of sharing the DOI examples on ROI with the IFTN contractor.
Action 12: Wendy Blake-Coleman will forward Alison Dishman the EPA National Land Cover Database memo to be posted with today’s meeting minutes.
Wendy Blake Coleman mentioned a success story:
http://www.mrlc.gov/
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium is a group of federal agencies who first joined together in 1993 (MRLC 1992) to purchase Landsat 5 imagery for the conterminous U.S. and to develop a land cover dataset called the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD 1992). In 1999, a second-generation MRLC consortium (see logos) was formed to purchase three dates of Landsat 7 imagery for the entire United States (MRLC 2001) and to coordinate the production of a comprehensive land cover database for the nation called the National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2001).
The MRLC consortium is specifically designed to meet the current needs of Federal agencies for nationally consistent satellite remote sensing and land-cover data. However, the consortium also provides imagery and land cover data as public domain information, all of which can be accessed through this website.
This is a data set with a lot of use from a lot of difference agencies. Need to address next phase on maintaining it. The LoB will examine the issue of sustainable funding models.
Action 13: Wendy Blake-Coleman will find the appropriate person to speak to the Office of Science and Technology regarding the MRLC program and its benefits.
Action 14: Please contact Nancy Doyle to attend the Federal Geodetic Control meeting on Feb 13 - 14 in Silver Spring [see FGDC calendar for information].