1 Geographic Support System Proposed Initiative – FY 2011 and Beyond Timothy Trainor U.S. Census Bureau 1

2 2 What is the Proposed Geographic Support System Initiative? A budget increase over our base Geographic Support System funding for a 10-year lifecycle program An integrated program of improved address coverage, continual spatial feature updates, and enhanced quality assessment and measurement –All activities contribute to Master Address File (MAF) improvement –Builds on the accomplishments of this decade’s MAF/TIGER Enhancement Program (MTEP) Supports the goal of a targeted (vs. nationwide) address canvassing for the 2020 Decennial Census Continual updates throughout the decade support the American Community Survey and other current surveys

3 Why do we need the GSS Initiative? A response to stakeholder and oversight recommendations –The General Accountability office, the Office of the Inspector General, and the National Academies of Science have reported deficiencies of the Geographic Support System in their evaluations The lack of a comprehensive geographic update program between censuses Associated negative impact on ongoing programs such as the American Community Survey, other current surveys, and small areas estimates programs

4 A logical next step… Between 2003 – 2008 we worked with partners to update and improve the positional accuracy of TIGER That effort was a HUGE success!! The MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement Project was a significant investment that we want to build upon Now focus is on improving our address coverage and quality and maintaining the spatial data

5 Three Integrated Components Address Updates 123 Testdata Road Anytown, CA Lat 37 degrees, 9.6 minutes N Lon 119 degrees, 45.1 minutes W Quality Measurement Street/Feature Updates

6 Complete and current address coverage in areas without city-style addresses –Focus on rural areas –Puerto Rico –Group Quarters GSS Initiative - Addresses

7 7 Currently, our primary sources for address updates: –USPS Delivery Sequence File (DSF) –Field updates from censuses and surveys For FY 11 and beyond, additional sources will focus on best available data from partnership and commercial files Currently strengthening our working relationship with USPS

8 Complete and current address coverage in areas without city-style address (particular focus on rural areas) Beyond the annual American Community Survey, current surveys will be using the Master Address File to support their statistical frames and surveys GSS Initiative - Addresses

9 Continuous update of street network and attributes –Developing a collaboration with USGS Sources will focus on best available data from partnership and commercial files Extensive use of imagery –Data acquisition –Data verification –Data quality assurance GSS Initiative - Features

10 GSS Initiative - Quality Quality improvements apply to: –Address and Spatial Data –IT Processes –Geographic Products Quantitative measures of address and spatial data quality are needed

11 Supporting a Targeted Address Canvassing There will be a shift in focus –from canvassing each street to… –establishing an acceptable address list for each level of government What defines “acceptable” will be a partnership collaboration between governments and the Census Bureau Address quality will be an important component 11

12 Program Overview Proposed Program Existing Expanded Implementation Research Active Program

13 Where are we now? Our FY 2011 budget is waiting for approval by Congress Geography Division management devoted a 2 day session to begin planning for the FY2011 proposed initiative Census Bureau is forming teams to address specific topics: Address coverage and sources Feature coverage and sources Policy Partnerships Quality assessment and evaluation MAF/TIGER Integration Research and Development Geocoding GPS Project and Contract Management

14 Technical consulting expertise: –Attend the GEO offsite; identify key or unresolved issues, areas of potential concern, perceived knowledge gaps, recommendations COMPLETE –Research the state and anticipated future direction of addresses and addressing –Research the use of handheld computers by statistical agencies and other applicable users –Identify the current state and anticipated future direction of potentially useful developing technologies (example: change detection) –Research address and spatial data digital exchange and integration –Research geospatial data quality measurement Ongoing Work Contracting Research & Development

15 Communicate with professional organizations Communicate with advisory groups Conduct market research –Develop a list of potential vendors/services –Cooperative research & development in areas of common interest using “no cost contracts” –Develop a GSS Initiative Contract Plan Ongoing Work Outreach and Market Research

16 Questions? Timothy F. Trainor Chief, Geography Division U.S. Census Bureau (301)