The Imagery for the Nation (IFTN) initiative aims to provide a sustainable and flexible nation-wide imagery program to meet the needs of government at all levels. IFTN will take advantage of existing programs that acquire imagery for Federal purposes. These programs include the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) and a joint effort between the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct the Urban Area Imagery Partnership (UAIP). This initiative will integrate these efforts with state, tribal, regional and local government imagery programs to supply a complete, standard, and comprehensive national coverage. Federal guidelines, established in OMB Circular A-16, identify orthoimagery as a data theme of national significance and include it in a list of core sets of digital spatial information that require development, maintenance, and dissemination.
Related Information
- FGDC Imagery for the Nation RFI released, due August 16, 2010
- Imagery for the Nation Factsheet [PDF 109KB]
- National States Geographic Information Council IFTN Site
- National Digital Orthophoto Programs (NDOP)
- IFTN Record of Decision, Signed September 2, 2009 [PDF 99KB] - The FGDC Executive Committee members have unanimously approved a Record of Decision (ROD) documenting agreement on the major elements of the IFTN Phase 1 Plan. The ROD addresses and establishes the approach on a number of key IFTN management and policy issues.