Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data (SCDD) Status of 1997 Work Plan Actions

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Goal One: Increase the awareness and understanding of the vision, concepts, and benefits of the NSDI through outreach and education.

    Objective: Promote principles and practices of the NSDI through formal and informal education and training.

      ACTION: Arrange for demonstrations and presentations on topics of interest at SCDD meetings (which are convened every other month.) Proposed topics for 1997 include an overview of the National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse, a review of available address matching software, and spotlights on member agency programs.
      STATUS: Although the SCDD held a limited number of meetings in 1997, each meeting included either a demonstration or presentation on a topic of interest. 1997 topics included: (1) an explanation of reasons for and changes to the Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (proposed revision to existing standard), (2) an overview of the FGDC Thematic Feature Registry and demonstration of available tools, and (3) the Census Bureau's Master Address File (MAF).

Goal Two: Develop common solutions for discovery, access, and use of geospatial data in response to the needs of diverse communities.

    Objective: Support the evolution of common means to describe geospatial datasets.

      ACTION: Produce a committee draft and conduct a public review of a supplemental standard in accordance with the SCDD Proposal for a National Spatial Data Infrastructure Standards Project titled, "Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Data Metadata: Thematic Supplement for Geospatially Referenced Cultural and Demographic Data Metadata".
      STATUS: A committee draft supplemental standard was completed in early 1997 and submitted to the Standards Working Group (SWG) for approval for public review. The SWG has delayed considering the committee draft supplemental standard for public review until the revised Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata receives FGDC-endorsement; it is unclear when the revised Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata will be endorsed.

Goal Three: Use community-based approaches to develop and maintain common collections of geospatial data for sound decision-making.

    Objective: Promote common classification systems, content standards, and other common models to facilitate data development, sharing, and use.

      ACTION: Produce a committee draft of an address content standard in accordance with the SCDD Proposal for a National Spatial Data Infrastructure Standards Project titled "Address Content Standard".
      STATUS: The target date of this action, December 1997 will not be met. The SCDD began work in earnest on this standard in July 1997. To date, existing agency-based address content standards have been reviewed, one-on-one interviews with member agencies to determine requirements are being conducted, and an entity model is being developed. The target date for this action is now September 1998.

    Objective: Continue to develop the National Geospatial Data Framework.

      ACTION: Actively participate in FGDC-sponsored Framework meetings.
      STATUS: The SCDD Chairperson has actively participated, and will continue to participate, in the FGDC-sponsored Framework meetings. In 1997, meetings were held in Seattle, WA and Baltimore, MD. As the SCDD has the thematic responsibility for and is developing address standards, the SCDD is extremely interested in the address component of Framework. Through his participation in the Framework meetings, the SCDD chairperson learns of Framework needs in the area of address standards and communicates these needs to the SCDD members along with other items of interest, such as status and impact of work of other Framework activities.