In 1996, the FGDC began to support GIS consortia from across the nation to identify projects that can test and refine the framework concept. The FGDC competitively awarded support to a number of these framework-related projects:
- The Framework Demonstration Project Program (FDPP) funded projects that are demonstrating the sustained ability to develop the framework from locally produced data sources.
- The NSDI Competitive Cooperative Agreements Program (CCAP) and other
projects are testing different aspects of the framework. Results will guide policies
and practices for establishing operational framework sites. The projects also serve as
examples of how the frame-work is applied and provide starting points for research
and development.
FDPP Projects
In 1995-96, consortia from across the nation and the FGDC agreed to projects that test and refine the framework concept. Through the FDPP, projects demonstrate the sustained ability to develop the framework from locally produced data sources. CCAP and other projects test different aspects of the framework. Results will guide policies and practices for the establishment of operational framework sites. The projects also act as examples of applied framework and starting points for research and development. The total value of the 1996 projects was $2.8 million. (The contacts for those projects are current as of June 1997.)
A Statewide Framework of Public Lands Data Using Locally Derived Cadastres
This project will create a viable technical process for the maintenance of the framework cadastral theme in North Carolina by improving statewide data sets of federally and state-owned property. On behalf of the North Carolina Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC), the Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (CGIA) will guide a consortium of local, state, and federal government agencies and professional organizations in the integration of cadastral data from county land records offices into statewide data sets of publicly administered parcels. The project will be based on an operational model developed by the CGIA.Collaborating Organizations: North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (lead), North Carolina Geographic Information Coordinating Council (including the Federal Interagency Committee, the Affiliated GIS Users Committee, and the State Government GIS Users Group), North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, Office of the Secretary of State (Land Records Management Program), and the North Carolina State Property Office.
Principal Contact: Zsolt Nagy, Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, North Carolina Office of State Planning, 115 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27603-1721; telephone (919) 733-2090; facsimile (919) 715-0725; Internet zsolt@cgia.state.nc.us.
Creating a Federally Compliant State and Local Delivery System for High Resolution Framework Data
Collaborators will strengthen the abilities of agencies to share and integrate high- resolution framework data in New Mexico and along the U.S.-Mexico border. The participants will assess administrative requirements for integrating data from municipal authorities with those of county and state organizations, establish agreements that provide a backbone on which the framework can be built, identify and evaluate integration models used by local authorities, and test data integration procedures. The project will develop methods for establishing partnerships for data distribution and sharing, identify high-resolution data that comply with metadata and spatial data transfer standards, test data integration within and among themes of data, and evaluate institutional capabilities for maintaining and archiving framework data. Framework data themes that will be addressed are geodetic control, digital orthoimagery, and cadastral.Collaborating Organizations: University of New Mexico Earth Data Analysis Center (lead), City of Santa Fe, Do¤a Ana County, and the New Mexico State Land Office.
Principal Contact: Amelia M. Budge, Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico, 2500 Yale SE, Suite 100, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-6031; telephone (505) 277-3622; facsimile (505) 277-3614; Internet abudge@spock.unm.edu.
Assessing the Framework Model Within a Collaborative Multijurisdictional Local, Regional, and State Setting
This multiparticipant, multijurisdictional project provides an empirical assessment of critical aspects of the premise that local, regional, and state needs can be adequately aligned with the framework data concept. This project leverages ongoing local, regional, and state cooperative arrangements for providing digital geospatial data and will refine the conceptual model of data production and integration roles for those organizations. Procedures will be established to achieve consensus for geospatial data needs and resolve data integration and generalization issues as data are assembled for increasingly larger areas. The local, regional, and state acceptance and support of the framework will be evaluated, and issues identified that require resolution for local, regional, and state needs to align with the framework. This project will conduct case studies that will adapt local, regional, and state data development efforts to the framework, and develop and test data certification policies. Data certification policies and metadata documentation and methodology will be developed and tested for this metropolitan and statewide effort.Collaborating Organizations: Minnesota Office of Strategic and Long Range Planning (lead), Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities, and the Governor's Council on Geographic Information.
Principal Contact: David Arbeit, Office of Strategic and Long Range Planning, Land Management Information Center, 658 Cedar Street, St. Paul, Minnesota 55155; telephone 612-296-1209; facsimile 612-296-1212; Internet david.arbeit@mnplan.state.mn.us.
Utah Cadastral Integration Project
This project is a collaborative effort among federal, state, and local government agencies to meet the critical need throughout the state of Utah for cadastral data at a scale of 1:24,000 or larger. The project will integrate existing cadastral data to produce a statewide cadastral framework, establish a data management infrastructure, and make framework data available through an enhanced National Spatial Data Clearinghouse node. The cadastral data for the project consist of the U.S. Public Land Survey System (PLSS), ownership information (agency jurisdictions and parcels), and government unit boundaries (where coincident with PLSS boundaries). The metadata supporting the cadastral themes will accommodate the consistent descriptive elements necessary for continued integration and use by various data contributors. Technical investigations will address permanent feature identifiers and develop and test data integration processes.Collaborating Organizations: Utah Automated Geographic Reference Center (lead), Bureau of Land Management (Geographic Sciences Team and Utah State Office), U.S. Forest Service (Region 4 Headquarters, Dixie National Forest, and Geometronics Service Center), U.S. Geological Survey, Utah state agencies (Forestry, Fire, and State Lands and the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration), participating Utah counties (Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Davis, Emery, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Piute, Rich, Salt Lake, Sanpete, Summit, Uintah, Utah, Washington, Wayne, and Weber), Canyon Country Partnership, Southwest Utah Planning Authorities Council, Utah Council of Land Surveyors, and the State GIS Advisory Committee.
Principal Contact: Bob Nagel, Utah Automated Geographic Reference Center, 5130 State Office Building, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114; telephone (801) 538-3291; facsimile (801) 538-3622; Internet bnagel@dpagr7.it.as.ex.state.ut.us.
Vermont Spatial Data Partnership Project
The Vermont Spatial Data Partnership Project will enhance Vermont's spatial data development and distribution system. It includes long-term cooperative agreements among federal, state, regional, and local government agencies and commercial spatial data providers and users to promote the development and maintenance of statewide transportation framework data. The project will create a framework for long-term cooperation in the development and use of common databases, establish institutional processes for resolving issues related to data needs, evaluate the needs for new data sets, maintain and distribute framework data, encourage the use of framework data, and ensure that the interests of the partners will be served in the long- term maintenance of statewide transportation data. In particular, the institutional issues related to data standards, certification, and integration will be addressed by the establishment of a transportation theme expert group to identify needs and trends. Technical implementations will address transportation linear referencing systems.Collaborating Organizations: Vermont Center for Geographic Information, Inc. (lead), Vermont's 12 Regional Planning Commissions, Vermont Agency of Transportation, Vermont Enhanced 911 Board, the Bureau of the Census, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Principal Contact: Bruce Westcott, Vermont Center for Geographic Information, Inc., 206 Morrill Hall, Burlington, Vermont 05405-0106; telephone (802) 656-4277; facsimile (802) 656-0776; Internet brucew@vcgi.uvm.edu.
The Baltimore-Washington Regional Digital Spatial Data Framework Demonstration Project for the Gwynns Falls Subwatershed
This project will explore the administrative and technical issues of linking local and regional data sets for the framework themes of geodetic control, digital orthoimagery, elevation, transportation, hydrography, governmental units, and cadastral data. The first phase of this project will bring together many organizations to study the benefits of data sharing for solving local and regional land management problems. In the second phase of the project, issues of standards for data archiving and documentation, data certification, and protocols for sharing and community access will be formalized. Local and regional data sets for the Gwynns Falls watershed and subwatersheds will be made available to public, private, and government organizations at no cost through the Internet.Collaborating Organizations: University of Maryland Baltimore County Department of Geography and Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (lead), Maryland Department of the Environment (Technical and Regulatory Services Administration), the U.S. Geological Survey, Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management, Urban Resources Initiative, and the Chesapeake Bay Program.
Principal Contact: Dr. Timothy Foresman, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Department of Geography and Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, 1000 Hilltop Road, Baltimore, Maryland 21250; telephone (410) 455-3149; facsimile (410) 455-1056; Internet foresman@umbc.edu.
The North Texas GIS Consortium Spatial Data Warehouse
The Bruton Center for Development Studies has facilitated the formation of the North Texas GIS Consortium, consisting of a group of over 30 local governments and utilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area for the development and sharing of data for many framework data themes. The consortium will develop a business plan for the framework activity. It also will link the consortium members through an on-line spatial data warehouse that will assimilate data maintained by its members and provide efficient access to these data. These two activities will be well documented as a result of this project and will serve as a model for adoption by other metropolitan area consortia. This project aims to reduce participant costs of GIS development through cost savings on hardware, software, services, training, and data. It will facilitate the development, maintenance, and sharing of data among members through telecommunications links, area data standards, distributed data maintenance, and a central library database.Collaborating Organizations: University of Texas Bruton Center for Development Studies (lead); Tarrant Appraisal District; Dallas County Public Works Department; the Cities of Arlington, Cedar Hill, Colleyville, Dallas, Flower Mound, Fort Worth, and North Richland Hills; Lone Star Gas Company; Tarrant County 911 District; and Dallas Area Rapid Transit.
Principal Contact: Paul Waddell, University of Texas at Dallas, Bruton Center for Development Studies, PO Box 830688, Richardson, Texas 75083-0688; telephone (214) 883-2088; facsimile (214) 883-2735; Internet waddell@utdallas.edu.
CCAP Projects
The Ohio Geographically Referenced Information Program (OGRIP) Large Scale Features Classification Project
This project will extend the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) 1:24,000-scale Feature Classification and DLG-E Feature Template methodology to large-scale (larger than 1:24,000-scale) feature data. An extensive list of large-scale feature data and definitions will be collected from producers of large-scale data, merged into the ORACLE database and assigned unique feature identifiers. The USGS Feature Classification methodology and Feature Templates will be evaluated, modified, and used to reconcile a pilot set of data. The modifications will be documented and presented for review. The outcome will be the proof-of-concept of a method to help integrate large-scale feature data into smaller-scale regional, state, and federal spatial data sets.Collaborating Organizations: Ohio Department of Administrative Services, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, and The Corporation for Public Information.
Principal Contact: Jean Field, Ohio Department of Administrative Services, Ohio Geographically Referenced Information Program, 1320 Arthur E. Adams Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43221; telephone (614) 466-4747; facsimile (614) 644-2113; Internet ogrip_field@ohio.gov.
Florida Hydrography and the Framework
This project tests the integration of the 1:24,000-scale hydrography data into the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's River Reach File. The project will test the ability of the Reach code to "telescope" across different resolutions of data. A goal of the project is to provide guidelines that can be used by others to enhance the existing national hydrography data set using more detailed, higher-resolution local data, while maintaining the link to the lower-resolution national data. It tests methods that link specific attributes about other points of interest (such as monitoring stations and discharge points) using the Reach code as the permanent feature identifier. The project will investigate techniques for adding attributes to the new, higher-resolution data. The project also will identify methods that can be used to update existing geometry using higher- resolution geometry while still providing lower-resolution, generalized data.Collaborating Organizations: Florida Department of Environmental Protection, St. Johns River Water Management District, University of Florida, U.S. Geological Survey, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Principal Contact: Ruth Montgomery Roaza, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Information Systems, 2600 Blair Stone Road, Mail Station 6520, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400; telephone (904) 488-0892; facsimile (904) 922-6041; Internet roaza_r@dep.state.fl.us.
Transportation Framework Data Development in North Carolina
A prototype transportation data set will be created for Moore County, North Carolina. The data will be documented using the Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata and served through the North Carolina Geographic Data Clearinghouse. Concepts introduced by the FGDC in "Development of a Geospatial Data Framework for the NSDI" will be tested for their technical, operational, and business feasibility. The institutional and programmatic requirements for the long-term management of a transportation framework data set for the NSDI will be assessed and documented.Collaborating Organizations: North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, North Carolina Geographic Information Coordinating Council, Moore County, North Carolina Department of Transportation, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
Principal Contact: Zsolt Nagy, Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, North Carolina Office of State Planning, 115 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27603-1721; telephone (919) 733-2090; facsimile (919) 715-0725; Internet zsolt@cgia.state.nc.us.
Michigan Geographic Framework Project
This federal, state, regional, and county collaborative pilot project seeks to identify and evaluate technical methodologies and institutional arrangements that will facilitate the creation and maintenance of a geographic framework in Michigan. Technically, the project seeks to evaluate the usefulness of conflation tools in integrating geographic base maps, the establishment of unique identifiers, and generalization of geography across institutional lines. Institutionally, the project identifies how the area integrator and framework management concepts may work in the context of Michigan.Collaborating Organizations: Michigan Department of Management and Budget- Michigan Information Center, Michigan Department of Environmental Resources-Real Estate Division-MIRIS, Michigan Department of Transportation-Planning Division, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, Barry County Mapping Department, and the Manistee County Planning Department.
Principal Contact: Rob Surber, Michigan Department of Management and Budget, Michigan Information Center, 320 South Walnut Street, Lewis Cass Building, Lansing, Michigan 49833; telephone (517) 373-7910; facsimile (517) 373-2939; Internet rob_surber@state.mi.us.
Wasatch Front Transportation Data Integration and Generalization Project
This project encompasses the integration and generalization of transportation data within a four-county area. Integration will involve gathering the best data available from various sources and edge-matching these data both spatially and logically. Generalization will involve following the U.S. Geological Survey's rules for transitioning data from 1:24,000 scale (or even higher resolution) to 1:100,000 scale to create a pilot quadrangle, which will also accommodate the needs of the contributors. Results of this project will be the development of documentation and procedures necessary to achieve the integration and generalization of transportation data for the framework.Collaborating Organizations: Utah Automated Geographic Reference Center; Federal Highway Administration; U.S. Geological Survey; Utah Department of Transportation; Mountain Lands Association of Governments; Utah County Public Works; Wasatch County; Salt Lake County; Tooele County; and the State GIS Advisory Committee.
Principal Contact: Dennis Goreham, State of Utah, Division of Information Technology Services, Automated Geographic Reference Center, 5130 State Office Building, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114; telephone (801) 538-3163; facsimile (801) 538-3622; Internet dgoreham@email.state.ut.us.
Public Access to the Alaska Public Land Survey System: An Integrated Software-Data Approach for the NSDI Framework
In Alaska, Public Land Survey System (PLSS) data provide the foundation for ownership records, legal boundaries described in statutes and conveyance documents, parcel-based platting systems for land records within state and municipal jurisdictions, and the georeferencing of many government permitting systems. This project will solve the long-term Alaskan problem related to uniformity and availability of the PLSS data. Software will be developed to facilitate data use on multiplatform environments and dissemination of data via the Internet and CD-ROM. A training program will be implemented to ensure that the user community is aware of and will be able to use the PLSS data and derivative products.Collaborating Organizations: Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska Department of Community and Regional Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Principal Contact: Richard McMahon, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Land Records Information Section, 3601 C Street, Suite 916, Anchorage, Alaska 99503; telephone (907) 269-8836; facsimile (907) 563-1497; Internet richm@dnr.state.ak.us.
Scale and Accuracy Issues in the Use of Orthoimagery Within NSDI
This project will develop methods to extend the use of orthoimagery within NSDI in four ways:
- outlining a methodology to generalize orthoimagery to coarser resolutions;
- characterizing variation in accuracy, scale, and resolution across orthoimages;
- structuring metadata to compare and select orthoimagery from a collection of orthoimagery of various scales and resolutions; and
- structuring metadata to better integrate orthoimagery and vector data overlays.
Principal Contact: Dr. Peggy Agouris, Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469; telephone (207) 581-2180; facsimile (207)581-2206; Internet peggy@spatial.maine.edu.
Oregon Framework
This cooperative venture with all jurisdictions of government in Oregon begins building framework-like data for the state. It will examine organizational barriers, data stewardship issues, core standards, database structures, and provide administrative and technical support to pilot projects that are attempting to implement framework concepts. Strategies developed in successful pilot studies will be implemented statewide.Collaborating Organizations: State Service Center for GIS, Oregon Department of Administrative Services, Oregon Geographic Information Council, Interorganization Resource Information Coordinating Committee, and Oregon GIS Association.
Principal Contact: Theresa J. Valentine, State Service Center for GIS, Oregon Department of Administrative Services, 155 Cottage Street, Salem, Oregon 97310; telephone (503) 378-4163; facsimile (503) 986-3242; Internet theresa.j.valentine@state.or.us
Adams County, Illinois GIS 2002 Project
The Adams County GIS 2002 project is a 10-year, multiparticipant project designed to develop an accurate and continually updated geographic information system of planimetric, topographic, and cadastral base data. The cooperative project focuses on the development of a comprehensive, one-square mile "mini-GIS" pilot area to test the utility of all applicable FGDC-endorsed standards and the concepts embodied in the framework.Collaborating Organizations: Adams County Highway Department (lead), Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, City of Quincy, Central Illinois Public Service, Ameritech, Continental Cablevision, Adams Electrical Co-op, and Adams Telephone Co-op.
Principal Contact: Richard Klusmeyer, Adams County Highway Department, 5200 East Broadway, Quincy, Illinois 62301; telephone (217) 223-0614; facsimile (217) 223-9418; Internet wgallahe@showboat.adams.net