The vast majority of Federal Government business is
associated with a place and thus a sizable amount of data generated or
used by government staff and partners have a geospatial component.
These data when used in tandem with geospatial information systems
provide a critical tool to people who solve problems associated with
implementing Federal agency and partner missions. Ensuring this data is
accessible and of sufficient quality to meet the needs of these
programs is essential if programmatic objectives are to be fully
met.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A–16 provides management
directions to Federal agencies that produce, maintain, or use spatial
data either directly or indirectly in the fulfillment of their mission.
The circular also provides processes for agencies that if followed
improve the coordination and use of spatial data. This includes
effective and economical use and management of spatial data assets in
the digital environment. The circular directs the establishment of a
National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) for the benefit of the
Nation and launches the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) to
facilitate its development.
The OMB Circular A–16 Supplemental Guidance, released November 10,
2010, further defines and clarifies implementation of OMB Circular
A–16. It also elucidates a process to modify Circular A–16 Appendix E
themes and associated datasets to reflect the current business of
Federal agencies and their partners. The objective of this coordinated
Federal-wide geospatial asset management is to increase the
effectiveness of geospatial data and associated services in supporting
mission-critical business requirements of the Federal Government and
its stakeholders.
Geospatial data is described for first time in the Supplemental
Guidance as a capital asset, and its importance to the success of
Federal Government and partner programs is emphasized. This focus
provides the foundation for a portfolio management approach for Federal
geospatial datasets of National Significance – a National Geospatial
Data Asset (NGDA) portfolio called for by OMB in fiscal year 2011
budget guidance. All NGDAs are associated with a National Geospatial
Data Asset Theme. These Themes serve as the management units for
collections of related NGDAs that would benefit from coordinated
development and management.
| National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) Theme Selection
Principles Principle 1: Themes and associated Datasets are logical groupings of national capital assets serving the needs of citizens and are readily discoverable and accessible to anyone. Principle 2: Themes and associated Datasets are national in scope and are created and managed in response to well-defined spatial data requirements that are common across multiple Federal agencies and other organizations. Principle 3: Themes and associated Datasets reflect legislated mandates, clearly defined directives, or core spatial reference datasets. Principle 4: Themes promote cohesive and collaborative development, maintenance, and evolution of multiple Datasets across Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments and the private or nonprofit sectors. Principle 5: Themes focus on the spatial representation of natural and manmade assets that are important to the Nation, including boundaries (jurisdictional, legal, statistical, and analytical). |
Management elements clarified by the Supplemental Guidance
to aid this portfolio management approach include: the geospatial data
life-cycle management approach, portfolio management roles and
responsibilities, the process for updating themes, and an outline of
the portfolio management investment strategy. The Supplemental Guidance
and its five reference documents, which provide further details and
information about implementing the portfolio management and the
Supplemental Guidance, are available on the FGDC website (www.fgdc.gov/policyandplanning/a-16).
The FGDC Steering Committee approved 17 NGDA Themes and their
definitions in 2011. During the summer of 2012 the FGDC Coordination
Group continued to evaluate the NGDA Themes and Datasets and proposed
changes to the 17 Themes. The FGDC Steering Committee will review the
recommendation in fiscal year 2013. In addition, the FGDC Steering
Committee will vote on the designation of the Theme lead agencies,
Theme leads, and Theme Executive Champions. In the meantime, the FGDC
Coordination Group is finalizing the identification of the initial set
of Datasets that comprise each Theme.
| Evolution of Data Themes Appendix E of OMB Circular A–16 identified 34 Data Themes. During the development of the OMB Supplemental Guidance it was observed that many of the Themes were actually individual datasets that would more appropriately be grouped as collections under a streamlined set of Themes. The Themes were consolidated into 17 Themes that were approved by the FGDC Steering Committee in 2011. The purpose of the consolidation was threefold: to develop an NGDA Theme and Dataset structure for portfolio management that enables more efficient management and reporting, to ensure that all relevant Datasets associated with a particular Theme effectively support the business processes reliant on them, and to ensure the Datasets are produced in the most cost effective manner. As the portfolio management process matures the NGDA Themes and Datasets will continue to evolve. Datasets that are related to demography were moved to the Governmental Units Theme that was renamed the Governmental Units, and Administrative and Statistical Boundaries Theme. Cultural datasets were moved to the Cultural Resources Theme. The FGDC Steering Committee will review the recommendation in fiscal year 2013. |
Number of NGDA Dataset Candidates by Agency, as of
September 2012.
NGDA Dataset Candidates by Theme as of September 2012. This
chart reflects the
proposed combination of the Cultural & Demographic Statistics and
the Governmental
Units Themes into a single Theme titled Governmental Units, and
Administrative and
Statistical Boundaries.
Below are the NGDA Themes that are the organizational constructs grouping and managing the NGDA Datasets. The list of the over 200 NGDA Datasets is available on the FGDC website (www.fgdc.gov/initiatives/portfolio-management).
Theme: Biota
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Description/Scope of Datasets: Pertains to, or describes, the dynamic processes, interactions, distributions, and relationships between and among organisms and their environments.
Theme: Cadastre
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
Description/Scope of Datasets: Past, current, and future rights and interests in real property including the spatial information necessary to describe geographic extents. Rights and interests are benefits or enjoyment in real property that can be conveyed, transferred, or otherwise allocated to another for economic remuneration. Rights and interests are recorded in land record documents. The spatial information necessary to describe geographic extents includes surveys and legal description frameworks, such as the Public Land Survey System, as well as parcel-by-parcel surveys and descriptions. Does not include Federal government or military facilities.
Theme: Climate and Weather
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Description/Scope of Datasets: Meteorological
conditions, including temperature, precipitation, and wind that
characteristically prevail in a particular region over a long period of
time. Weather is the state of the atmosphere at a given time and place,
with respect to variables such as temperature, moisture, wind velocity,
and barometric pressure.
Theme:Cultural and Demographic Statistics
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of
Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau
Description/Scope of Datasets: Characteristics of
people; the nature of the structures in which they live and work; the
economic and other activities they pursue; the facilities they use to
support their health, recreational, and other needs; the environmental
consequences of their presence; and the boundaries, names, and numeric
codes of geographic entities used to report the information
collected.
Proposed Change: The FGDC Coordination Group has proposed to remove this Theme and separate the Datasets to two other Themes. The FGDC Steering Committee will review the recommendation in fiscal year 2013.
Theme: Cultural Resources
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Description/Scope of Datasets: Features and
characteristics of a collection of places of significance in history,
architecture, engineering, or society. Includes National Monuments and
Icons.
Theme: Elevation
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: Co-Leads: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Description/Scope of Datasets: The measured vertical
position of the earth surface and other landscape or bathymetric
features relative to a reference datum typically related to sea level.
These points normally describe bare earth positions but may also
describe the top surface of buildings and other objects, vegetation
structure, or submerged objects. Elevation data can be stored as a
three-dimensional array or as a continuous surface such as a raster,
triangulated irregular network, or contours. Elevation data may also be
represented in other derivative forms such as slope, aspect, ridge and
drainage lines, and shaded relief.
Theme: Geodetic Control
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Description/Scope of Datasets: Collection of control points that provide a common reference system for establishing coordinates for geographic data.
Theme: Geology
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: Co-Leads: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Description/Scope of Datasets: Geographically
referenced data pertaining to the origin, history, composition,
structure, features, and processes of the solid Earth, both onshore and
offshore. Includes geologic, geophysical, and geochemical maps,
stratigraphy, paleontology, geochronology, mineral and energy
resources, and natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
coatal erosion, and landslides. Does not include soils.
Theme: Governmental Units
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of
Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau
Description/Scope of Datasets: Political,
governmental, and administrative (management) type boundaries that are
used to manage people and resources. Includes geopolitical boundaries
(county, parish, state, city, etc.), Tribal Boundaries, Federal land
boundaries and Federal Regions, International Boundaries, Governmental
administrative units such as Congressional Districts, international
lines of separation, limits, zones, enclaves/exclaves and special areas
between States and dependencies as well as all jurisdictional offshore
limits within U.S. sovereignty. Boundaries associated with natural
resources, demography, and cultural entities are excluded and can be
found in the appropriate subject themes.
Proposed Change: The FGDC Coordination Group has proposed to rename this Theme and change its description and scope of datasets. In addition to the Datasets already in the Theme, it also will contain the statistical boundary Datasets from the removed Cultural and Demographic Statistics Theme. The FGDC Steering Committee will review the recommendation in fiscal year 2013.
Theme: Imagery
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: Co-Leads: U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency and U.S. Department of the
Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Description/Scope of Datasets: Georeferenced images
of the Earth’s surface, which have been collected via aerial
photography or satellite data. Orthoimagery is prepared through a
geometric correction process known as orthorectification to remove
image displacements due to relief and sensor characteristics, allowing
their use as base maps for digital mapping and analyses in a GIS.
Specific imagery datasets created through image interpretation and
classification, such as a land cover image, can be found under Themes
specific to the subject matter. Includes imagery such as Landsat,
National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP), Digital Orthophoto Quarter
Quadrangles (DOQQs).
Theme: Land Use—Land Cover
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: Co-Leads: U.S. Department
of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of the
Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Description/Scope of Datasets: LU/LC is a term referring collectively to natural and man-made surface features that cover the land (Land Cover) and to the primary ways in which land cover is used by humans (Land Use). Examples of Land Cover may be grass, asphalt, trees, bare ground, water, etc. Examples of Land Use may be urban, agricultural, ranges, and forest areas.
Theme: Real Property
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: General Services
Administration
Description/Scope of Datasets: The spatial representation (location) of real property entities typically consist of one or more of the following: unimproved land, a building, a structure, site improvements, and the underlying land. Complex real property entities (that is, “facilities”) are used for a broad spectrum of functions or missions. This theme focuses on the spatial representation of real property assets only and does not seek to describe special purpose functions of real property, such as those found in the Cultural Resources, Transportation, or Utilities Themes.
Theme: Soils
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Description/Scope of Datasets: Depicts the geography and attributes of the many kinds of soils found in the landscape at both large and small map scales. A living, dynamic resource providing a natural medium for plant growth and habitat for living organisms, soil recycles nutrients and wastes, stores carbon, and purifies water supplies. Soil has distinct layers (called ‘horizons’) that, in contrast to underlying geologic material, are altered by the interactions of climate, landscape features, and living organisms over time. For more information on Soils, see soils.usda.gov.
Theme: Transportation
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of
Transportation
Description/Scope of Datasets: Means and aids for conveying persons and/or goods. The transportation system includes both physical and non-physical components related to all modes of travel that allow the movement of goods and people between locations.
Theme: Utilities
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
Description/Scope of Datasets: Means, aids, and usage of facilities for producing, conveying, distributing, processing, or disposing of public and private commodities, including power, energy, communications, natural gas, and water. Includes sub-themes for energy and communications.
Theme: Water — Inland
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: Co-Leads: U.S. Department
of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Department of the
Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Description/Scope of Datasets: Interior hydrologic features and characteristics, including classification, measurements, location, and extent. Includes aquifers, watersheds, wetlands, navigation, water quality, water quantity, and groundwater information.
Theme: Water — Oceans and Coasts
Proposed Theme Lead Agency: U.S. Department of the
Interior, U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Department of the Commerce,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Description/Scope of Datasets: Features and
characteristics of salt water bodies (i.e. tides, tidal waves, coastal
information, reefs) and features and characteristics that represent the
intersection of the land with the water surface (i.e. shorelines), the
lines from which the territorial sea and other maritime zones are
measured (i.e. baseline maritime) and lands covered by water at any
stage of the tide (i.e. Outer Continental Shelf ), as distinguished
from tidelands, which are attached to the mainland or an island and
cover and uncover with the tide.
Appendix C