The FGDC Standards Program Presented by Julie Binder Maitra FGDC Standards Coordinator To NIMA NCGIS Tiger Team April 22, 2003

The FGDC Standards Program Components of the NSDI Federal guidance on geospatial standards Who uses FGDC standards? FGDC Organization FGDC Standards Development Process FGDC Standards Accomplishments FGDC Standards Maintenance Non-Federal standards Geospatial One-Stop

Clearinghouse (catalog) Components of the NSDI Metadata GEOdata Clearinghouse (catalog) Framework Standards Partnerships

Federal Guidance on Geospatial Standards Directive What it is Goal – Geospatial Standards Executive Order 12906 (April 1994) A Visionary concept to build the NSDI Directs FGDC to develop standards Directs Federal agencies to use FGDC standards in data acquisition OMB Circular A-119 Policy for federal participation and use of standards and conformance assessment Federal use of external standards – “voluntary consensus standards” Federal participation in voluntary consensus standards bodies OMB Circular A-11 Budget guidance and Capital Asset Planning Section 51-13 and Exhibit 300 – II.A.2.D direct that geospatial data be compliance with FGDC standards OMB Circular A-130 Policy for managing federal information resources “Prudent and proper behavior” in the acquisition, capturing, and generation of information of all types

Federal Guidance on Geospatial Standards, continued Directive What it is Goal – Geospatial Standards OMB Circular A-16 (revised August 2002) Direction to Federal Agencies for geographic information and spatial data activities Incorporates EO 12906 Affirms OMB Circulars A-16, A-119, A-130 E-Gov Act of 2002 – Sec 216 Common protocols for geographic data and technology Reduce redundant data collection and promote use of standards Presidents Management Agenda Strategy for improving management and performance of federal government 5 Goals – E-Gov Goal includes Geospatial OneStop

Who uses FGDC standards? Federal agencies: EO 12906 requires Federal agencies to ensure that data comply with FGDC-endorsed standards prior to obligating funds OMB Circular A-11 requires Federal agencies to indicate if geospatial data to be acquired as part of budget request comply with FGDC-endorsed standards Data producers doing business with Federal Agencies State and local agencies: are not required to use FGDC standards, but FGDC standards are freely available, save State and local agencies time and expense of developing their own, and promote data sharing

Federal agency members FGDC Organization Federal agency members Transportation EPA FEMA Library of Congress NARA NASA NSF State TVA USDA Commerce Defense NIMA USACE Energy GSA HUD HHS Interior Justice

FGDC Organization Standards development has taken place within the subcommittees and working groups

FGDC Standards Process STAGE STEP CUSTODIAN PROPOSAL 1- Develop Proposal FGDC Standards Working Group (SWG) 2 - Review Proposal SWG PROJECT 3 - Set Up Project FGDC Subcommittee or Working Group (SC/WG) DRAFT 4 - Produce Working Draft Standards Development Group 5 - Review Working Draft SC/WG REVIEW 6 - Review and Evaluate Committee Draft 7 - Approve Standard for Public Review FGDC Coordination Group (CG) 8 - Coordinate Public Review FGDC Secretariat 9 - Respond to Public Comments 10 - Evaluate Responsiveness to Public Comments 11 - Approve Standard for Endorsement CG FINAL 12 – Endorsement FGDC Steering Committee The SWG and FGDC Secretariat rely on the SC/WG to know their community, collect requirements, bring in stakeholders, etc. The Standards Development Group is tasked by the SC/WG to develop the standard

FGDC Standards Process The FGDC Standards process is iterative This graphic, from the 1996 Standards Reference Model, did not reproduce well, but the salient point here is that the process is iterative.

FGDC Standards Accomplishments 20 FGDC Endorsed Standards First standard endorsed in 1995: Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (version 2.0), FGDC-STD-001-1998 Latest standard endorsed in August 2002: Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata: Extensions for Remote Sensing Metadata, FGDC-STD-012-2002 Other endorsed standards include: Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) & profiles Geospatial Positioning Accuracy Standards Various thematic data standards 18 other Standards in various stages of the FGDC Standards Process Draft Address Data Content Standard to begin public review on May 1 The FGDC standards program of work is being reviewed to identify projects for withdrawal, standards for maintenance, and standards to raise up as national standards.

FGDC Standards Maintenance FGDC Standards Directive #9, Maintenance: FGDC standards are maintained by Federal agencies The maintenance authority shall initiate the review of FDGC standards at least once every five years after endorsement The maintenance authority shall evaluate the standard to determine if the standard should be reissued as-is, revised/changed, or withdrawn. For example, the National Standard for Spatial Data Accuracy was developed through the Base Cartographic Data Subcommittee. However, that committee has not met in several years. This is why the USGS was designated as the maintenance authority for this standard. The NDEP sponsored by the USGS has submitted a proposal to provide additional instructions for vertical accuracy testing & reporting where a normal distribution cannot be obtained. However, it has been five years since the standard was endorsed, and it is time to review the standard as a whole.

Non-Federal Standards OMB Circular A-119 Standards organizations Proposed FGDC Policy on endorsement or recommendation of non-Federal standards

OMB Circular A-119 According to Office of Management and the Budget (OMB) Circular A-119, 1998, Federal agencies must use voluntary consensus standards in lieu of government-unique standards in their procurement and regulatory activities, except where “inconsistent with law or otherwise impractical.” Voluntary Consensus Standards Processes are characterized by (i) Openness. (ii) Balance of interest. (iii) Due process. (vi) An appeals process. (v) Consensus, or “general agreement, but not necessarily unanimity, and includes a process for attempting to resolve objections by interested parties, as long as all comments have been fairly considered, each objector is advised of the disposition of his or her objection(s) and the reasons why, and the consensus body members are given an opportunity to change their votes after reviewing the comments.”

OMB Circular A-119 Moreover, Agencies must consult with voluntary consensus standards bodies, both domestic and international, and must participate with such bodies in the development of voluntary consensus standards when consultation and participation is in the public interest and is compatible with their missions, authorities, priorities, and budget resources.

Standards organizations Is U.S. member body of ISO Is a Technical Committee of ISO Technical Committee 211 Is liaison with Accredits INCITS L1 as U.S. TAG to Chairs MOU ICSP NIST American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Is accredited by Reports to OMB InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) Sets policy for Participate in standards development NIST reports on agency compliance with OMB Circular A-119 to OMB. It also chairs the ICSP, which advises on government standards policy. Is a Subcommittee of Is an advisory member of Is a member of States FGDC INCITS Technical CommitteeL1 Open GIS Consortium Municipalities Is strategic member of Government ANSI accredited standards development Consortia Adapted from a diagram created by H.J.G.L. Aalders

Standards Organizations To comply with OMB Circular A-119, the FGDC is a member of INCITS Technical Committee L1, Geographic Information Systems. ANSI accredits InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) as standards development organization for Information & Communications Technologies ANSI accredits INCITS L1 as U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to ISO Technical Committee (TC) 211, Geographic information/Geomatics INCITS L1 seeks a balance of interests in its membership, which also includes individual Federal agencies, software developers, system integrators, academia, and professional organizations. ANSI is conduit into ISO standards ANSI itself not a standards development organization, but accredits other organizations such as INCITS to develop standards by its rules

Standards Organizations FGDC also participates in the OpenGIS Consortium to develop common implementation specifications to improve access to spatial information Users benefit from vendor support of information access specifications and integration of solutions into GIS workflow

Standards Organizations ISO TC 211 is focused on abstract specifications, design framework, and international political consensus (what) OpenGIS Consortium specializes in extending the abstract model into implementation specifications (how) National standards support the development of thematic data content standards (who, why)

Proposed policy on acknowledgement or endorsement of non-Federal standards Background: OMB Circulars A-16 and A-119 and EO 12906 do not define a mechanism for identifying, selecting, and coordinating the adoption of non-Federally developed standards. Since common standards promote efficient geographic information collection and exchange, and under A-16 and EO 12906, standards adopted through the FGDC process are mandatory for Federal agency use, it was determined that the FGDC needed such a mechanism. Approved at 2003-04-16 FGDC Standards Working Group meeting … to be presented at 2003-05-06 FGDC Coordination Group meeting.

Proposed policy on acknowledgement or endorsement of non-Federal standards Two levels of FGDC recognition Endorsement – mandatory for use Recommendation – the non-federal standard is recognized as a useful standard, but is not deemed to be of such broad applicability that its use should be mandatory.

Geospatial One-Stop E-Government (E-gov) Initiative Component of President Bush’s Management Agenda One of 24 E-Government initiatives Raises the visibility of the strategic value of geographic information and the NSDI. Accelerates implementation of the NSDI. Increases federal agency accountability for the stewardship and sharing of geospatial resources. Makes it easier, faster, and cheaper for all levels of government and public to access geospatial information. While One-Stop is ‘one’ of 24 E-gov initiatives, it is perceived as providing the geographic component for all of the initiatives. Within the Administration and consequently nationally, it has raised the awareness about the importance of geospatial data. OMB is holding Federal agencies accoutable for their participation in the initiative. They are a prime player in driving this initiative and making sure it happens. GOS should not be viewed as something different than the NSDI, it is simply accelerating the implementation of the NSDI. The purpose of of One-Stop is to make it easier, faster, and cheaper for all to access geospatial information.

Geospatial One-Stop Establishes a collaborative model for directing an intergovernmental initiative. US Office of Management and Budget oversees the direction of all E-Government Initiatives. DOI serves as the Managing Partner for One Stop. Intergovermental Board of Directors provides guidance to the project; includes Federal and non-federal. FGDC supports the Geospatial One Stop project implementation. A lot of the confusion about One-Stop stems from the “collaborative” nature of this E-gov initiative. This effort is directed, managed, guided, and supported in a unique collaborative way. The most significant and unique aspect of collaboration comes into play with the Intergovernmental Board of Directors. The FGDC is not leading this effort but is providing support.

Geospatial One-Stop Project Modules Establish integrated Framework Data Content Standards. Use metadata to inventory, document and publish Framework data holdings in NSDI Clearinghouse. Publish metadata for planned data acquisition and update for Framework data in NSDI Clearinghouse (geospatial data marketplace). Prototype and deploy enhanced data access and web mapping services for Federal Framework data. Establish a Federal Portal (One-Stop) as a logical extension to the NSDI Clearinghouse Network. These are the 5 modules of effort within One-Stop.

Framework Standards Base Standard Air Elevation Transportation Rail Air Roads Elevation Transportation Transit Base Standard Waterways Cadastral Geodetic Control 7 Thematic (standard) modules contribute to the Base Standard to establish common content, required elements, for the collection and exchange of NSDI framework themes. Transportation has 5 sub-parts to it’s module. The goal is to decrease costs of acquiring and exchanging framework data for creators and users through the common description of the content of these seven critical themes. More on reasoning for the BASE standard later in the presentation. Governmental Units Orthoimagery Hydrography

Framework Standards Elevation Cadastral Hydrography Gov. Units Orthoimagery Base Standard Transportation Geodetic Control Air Rail Roads Transit Waterways Working draft sub-theme standards Working draft data theme standard Working draft base standard Module 1 Working draft framework data standard Modules 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Final draft pre-ANSI harmonized framework data standard Lots of confusion about what we are calling different phases of the standards while in development. This is intended to help. We continue to be somewhat loose in our use of the terminology but this helps a bit. Also shows harmonization within trans. The diagram is intended to show harmonization among the 7 themes and base and then across all the modules. Examples of the cross module harmonization would be transfer or encoding standard for the portal, and FGDC vs ISO metadata for the others.

Areas Needing Focus ANSI and FGDC requirements for harmonization. Voluntary consensus standards development process not driven by politically defined deadlines. Historically difficult issues: Framework Variation in vision for data distribution/architecture and needed services – QC/QA Resources of theme leads and standards development teams to ensure adherence to voluntary consensus process. Unforeseen cross module technical issues.

Framework Standards Theme Leads 202 452 7781 dbuhler@sc.blm.gov Cadastral Don Buhler/Nancy Von Meyer 301 457 1056 fbroome@geo.census.gov Governmental Units Fred Broome 202 366 6662 carol.brandt@bts.gov Transportation Carol Brandt 301 713 3191 Rick.yorczyk@noaa.gov Geodetic Control Rick Yorczyk 770 903 9113 rrpierce@usgs.gov Hydrography Bob Pierce 703 648 5596 rpearsal@usgs.gov Elevation Rick Pearsall 703 648 4511 rfegeas@usgs.gov Orthoimagery Robin Fegeas 703 648 4627 jmaitra@fgdc.gov Base Standard Julie Binder Maitra Phone E-mail Theme Contact Just a reminder of who to contact if you’re interested in getting involved.

Standards http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/standards.html Julie Binder Maitra jmaitra@fgdc.gov 703-648-4627