October 17 Steering Committee Meeting Minutes

[Attendees]


Action 1: Send comments or suggestions on the draft FY 2008 Annual Report to Gita Urban-Mathieux at burbanma@usgs.gov by COB October 24.

Action 2: NGAC recommends that immediate action be taken on recommendation #1 in the NRC report to designate a land parcel coordinator and to examine the statutory and policy authorities of BLM to coordinate Federal and national parcel activities.

Action 3: NGAC recommends that FGDC Cadastral Subcommittee, convene a stakeholder group to address parcel data issues related to the mortgage crisis and the economic recovery bill.

Action 4: The FGDC Cadastral Subcommittee, in coordination with DOI, the FGDC Secretariat, and others, will review the budget assumptions in the NRC report recommendations.

Action 5: Ask Bureau of Land Management to present a National Integrated Land System (NILS) briefing at the December 16 Steering Committee meeting.

Action 6: USGS Director Mark Myers will provide a presentation on Lidar for the Nation at the next Steering Committee meeting.


Opening Remarks: Jim Cason, FGDC Chair


Jim Cason, welcomed the Steering Committee members and participants to the October 18 meeting. Mr. Cason introduced Mike Howell from the Office of Management and Budget, E- Government office.  Mike was sitting in for Karen Evans. Mr. Cason gave an overview of the agenda, took roll call, and made several announcements.

Karen Siderelis was introduced in her new position as Geospatial Information Officer at the Department of the Interior. Secretary Dirk Kempthorne established this position for the purpose of coordinating geospatial activities within the Department and assisting the interagency activities.  Karen previously served as the CIO and GIO at the U.S. Geological Survey. One of Karen’s principle activities at the DOI will be to coordinate activities to support the upcoming Administration transition.

The Steering Committee and the Executive Committee Charters are signed and copies of the charters are available on line at www.fgdc.gov.

Each member received a copy of the draft FY 2008 FGDC Annual Report.

Action 1: Send comments or suggestions on the draft FY 2008 Annual Report to Gita Urban-Mathieux at burbanma@usgs.gov by COB October 24.

The SmartBuy “Industry Day” event will be held on October 21 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the J.W. Marriott on 14th and Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Federal agency participation is strongly encouraged.


Executive Committee Report – Jim Cason, FGDC Chair


Jim Cason gave a summary of the Executive Committee meetings. The members have met on several occasions throughout the year and they are making good progress and providing leadership with the work being conducted to advance the Imagery for the Nation initiative.


Imagery for the Nation - Karen Siderelis, DOI

[presentation]


Karen Siderelis presented Imagery for the Nation (IFTN) on behalf of the program manager, Vicki Lukas. The original vision of IFTN is “The Nation will have a sustainable and flexible program to produce multi- resolution aerial imagery of the country that meets the needs of local, state, regional, tribal and Federal agencies.” NGAC suggested slight revisions to this vision statement. Aerial and satellite solutions may change the statement since we don’t want to preclude what the requirements are.


The original IFTN assumptions have been validated through an aerial and satellite requirements survey. There were over 600 responses to the survey; however, a degree of inconsistencies between the agencies resulted in having to normalize the responses. The bottom line is the initial concepts have been validated. The Commercial Remote Sensing Space Policy (CRSSP) Imagery-Derived Requirements (CIDR) tool, designed to collect and provide query and report capabilities on near-term land remote sensing data requirements is also being reviewed to capture additional requirements.


Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne has provided executive support for the IFTN initiative. We are now looking to the Steering Committee to help implement the initiative and take the IFTN concept to reality.


Comment: the IFTN Contracting Work Group met with satellite vendors last week and are putting out an APSRS survey to capture more information with an RFI.


National Geospatial Advisory Committee Update – Anne Miglarese, Booz Allan Hamilton


 Anne Miglarese provided a summary of the third National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC) meeting that was held in Shepherdstown West Virginia on October 15-16, 2008. The NGAC is made up of 27 members from all sectors of the geospatial industry.


The NGAC is tasked to provide advice and recommendations related to management of federal and national geospatial programs, the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and the implementation of Office of Management and Budget Circular A-16 and Executive Order 12906.


The NGAC approved the Changing Landscape white paper in concept. The purpose of the changing landscape white paper, lead by David Cowen, is to summarize significant recent advances in geospatial technology and expansion of uses within government, business and the public. The key audiences for this white paper are the new Administration leadership and managers and to sustain the support and momentum for a number of geospatial related activities. A printable PDF will be available by the end of December. Venues to publish the document are being considered.


The National Land Parcel Paper subgroup was lead by David Cowen. The NGAC endorsed the 9 recommendations in the National Research Council’s Land Parcel report with a few changes of wording and suggested actions:


Action 2: NGAC recommends that immediate action be taken on recommendation #1 in the NRC report to designate a land parcel coordinator and to examine the statutory and policy authorities of BLM to coordinate Federal and national parcel activities.


Action 3: NGAC recommends that FGDC Cadastral Subcommittee, convene a stakeholder group to address parcel data issues related to the mortgage crisis and the economic recovery bill.


The next NGAC meeting is in early February.


DHS Geospatial Concept of Operations - Dan Cotter, DHS

[presentation]


In an effort to kick off this program, Dan provided an overview of the development and implementation for the DHS Geospatial Concept of Operations as it applies to hazards, emergency management, law enforcement and the intelligence communities.


Q. How will data that is already available be sorted to avoid duplication of effort?

A. Much of the data that we are working with is proprietary and we have a decent knowledge of what is available and what gaps are in the data. If anyone has existing conops data please e-mail them to Daniel.cotter@dhs.gov so that we don’t duplicate efforts.


FGDC Business Update – Ken Shaffer, FGDC

[presentation]


  • The FY 2008 Annual Report had a very short turn around time but had excellent response from the agencies. Comments on the draft are due to Gita Urban-Mathieux at burbanma@usgs.gov by cob October 24. The report will be published November 19th, 2008
  • 2009 Cooperative Agreements Program is now open for solicitation and will close on January 6. 26 proposals will be awarded for the 6 categories
  • This is the third year for the 50 State Initiative. 33 States, DC and the VI have received funding to date.  The kick –off meeting is scheduled for NSGIC mid-year, February 22, 2009
  • The Geospatial One- Stop portal grew by 40% this year and collection grew by 27% to ~ 180,000 records


Geospatial Line of Business Update


  • Completed A-16 theme contracts data call and significant data sets
  • Completed draft A-16 supplemental communication strategy
  • The A-16 supplemental guidance package will be presented to the Steering Committee as a recommendation to clarify the existing OMB Circular A-16.


Comment: The Department of Defense would like to address the Homeland Security requirements in the A-16 supplemental guidance


  • Geospatial SmartBuy engaged approximately a dozen agencies to define the scope and requirements
  • Geospatial SmartBuy conducted high level cost benefits analysis
  • Communicating with related activities (e.g., IFTN, HIFLD) to identify collaborative opportunities
  • Release Geospatial SmartBuy Blanket Purchase Agreement, BPA request for information on 10/9/08
  • Outreach underway to SmartBuy users through the FGDC, GSA, and the OMB


Comment: There was concern about the SmartBuy wording and definition for professional services. The RFI was republished just yesterday after going back to GSA to clarify. Comments are due October 31st.


National Land Parcel Data Discussion – Jim Cason, FGDC Chair


An action from the June 5 Steering Committee meeting was to read the National Research Council’s document on Land Parcel Data and to make suggestions on addressing the nine recommendations outlined in the document. Should we support the recommendations, is this a good structure to follow, does it fit within the NSDI?


Comment: DHS - land parcels are important to our mission. Looking for guidance from FGDC to see how we can move forward on this.


Comment: NARA –strongly supports the idea of a single land parcel coordinator. Recommendation #5 needs further thought as it applies to tribal lands and assets. There is a need for tribal lands to be tracked separately.


Comment: A member from the NGAC has agreed to redraft the graphic of information flow for recommendation #5.


Wrap- up – Jim Cason, FGDC Chair


Land Parcels is a complicated endeavor but sense it is would be a great thing to have.

We need to be clear in what we want with the new Administration. Mr. Cason suggests that the Steering Committee adopt a positive direction and address the recommendation of the NGAC to look at parcel data and the mortgage crisis. Don Buhler had volunteered to host a stakeholder meeting on this topic to see what the assumptions of the budget will be and how industry views land parcels.


Action 4: The FGDC Cadastral Subcommittee, in coordination with DOI, the FGDC Secretariat, and others, will review the budget assumptions in the NRC report recommendations.

Those of you that have suggestions for topics for the next meeting, contact Ivan DeLoatch at ideloatch@usgs.gov.


Action 5: Ask Bureau of Land Management to present a National Integrated Land System (NILS) briefing at the December 16 Steering Committee meeting.


Action 6
: USGS Director Mark Myers will provide a presentation on Lidar for the Nation at the next Steering Committee meeting.