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

2. 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

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

4. Federal Guidance on Geospatial Standards
Directive
What it is
Goal – Geospatial Standards
Executive Order (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 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

5. 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

6. Who uses FGDC standards?
Federal agencies:
EO 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

7. 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

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

9. 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

10. 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.

11. FGDC Standards Accomplishments
20 FGDC Endorsed Standards
First standard endorsed in 1995: Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (version 2.0), FGDC-STD
Latest standard endorsed in August 2002: Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata: Extensions for Remote Sensing Metadata, FGDC-STD
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.

12. 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.

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

14. 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.”

15. 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.

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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)

20. Proposed policy on acknowledgement or endorsement of non-Federal standards
Background:
OMB Circulars A-16 and A-119 and EO 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 FGDC Standards Working Group meeting … to be presented at FGDC Coordination Group meeting.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. Framework Standards Theme Leads
Cadastral
Don Buhler/Nancy Von Meyer
Governmental Units
Fred Broome
Transportation
Carol Brandt
Geodetic Control
Rick Yorczyk
Hydrography
Bob Pierce
Elevation
Rick Pearsall
Orthoimagery
Robin Fegeas
Base Standard
Julie Binder Maitra
Phone
Theme
Contact
Just a reminder of who to contact if you’re interested in getting involved.

29. Standards http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/standards.html
Julie Binder Maitra