FGDC | News

July 8, 2024

The Department of the Interior and the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) are seeking nominations to serve on the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). The NGAC provides advice and recommendations relating to the management of Federal and national geospatial programs, the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and implementation of the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA), to the Secretary of the Interior through the FGDC. The NGAC provides a forum for views of non-Federal stakeholders in the geospatial community. The NGAC is a Federal Advisory Committee authorized through the GDA which operates in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

Nominations to participate on this Committee must be received by August 7, 2024 and should be submitted electronically to ngacnominations@fgdc.gov. Nominations may come from employers, associations, professional organizations, or other geospatial organizations. Nominations should include a resume providing an adequate description of the nominee’s qualifications, including information that would enable the Department of the Interior to make an informed decision regarding meeting the membership requirements of the Committee and permit DOI to contact a potential member.  Nominees are strongly encouraged to include supporting letters from employers, associations, professional organizations, and/or other organizations that indicate the support by a meaningful constituency for the nominee. 

The NGAC includes up to 30 members, selected to generally achieve a balanced representation of the viewpoints of the various stakeholders involved in national geospatial activities. NGAC members are appointed for staggered terms, and nominations received through this call for nominations may be used to fill vacancies on the NGAC that will become available in 2025 and 2026. Nominations will be reviewed by the FGDC and additional information may be requested from nominees. Final selection and appointment of NGAC members will be made by the Secretary of the Interior.

The NGAC meets approximately 3-4 times per year. NGAC members will serve without compensation, but travel and per diem costs will be provided by the U.S. Geological Survey. Committee meetings are open to the public. Notice of committee meetings are published in the Federal Register at least 15 days before the date of the meeting. The public will have an opportunity to provide input at these meetings.

The NGAC Charter includes additional information about the NGAC’s roles and responsibilities.

Resources

• FGDC Announcement
• Federal Register Notice 
• NGAC Nominations Webinar

Contact

For additional information or questions, please contact ngacnominations@fgdc.gov.

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) has developed a new National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Strategic Plan (pdf). The plan, which covers the years 2021-2024, was approved by the FGDC Steering Committee in November 2020.  The NSDI strategic plan was developed with inputs from a variety of sources, including FGDC agencies, the National Geospatial Advisory Committee, and geospatial partner organizations. The plan describes a broad national vision and mission for the NSDI, and includes goals and objectives for the continued sustainable development of the NSDI. The FGDC will work collaboratively with partners on implementation of the plan.  Additional information will be posted here regarding the implementation phase. 

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is seeking public comment on the draft strategic plan for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Comments are due by September 17, 2020.

Instructions:

1. The draft plan is posted here: Draft 2021-2024 NSDI Strategic Plan (pdf)
2. Please provide comments using this comment form: NSDI Strategic Plan Comment Form (xls)
3. Comments should be submitted electronically by September 17, 2020 to: nsdicomments@fgdc.gov

Background

The FGDC operates under the authority of the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA) and Office of Management and Budget Circular A-16. One of the FGDC’s responsibilities under the GDA is to “prepare and maintain a strategic plan for the development and implementation of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure in a manner consistent with national security, national defense, and emergency preparedness program policies regarding data accessibility.” The GDA describes the NSDI as “the technology, policies, criteria, standards, and employees necessary to promote geospatial data sharing throughout the Federal Government, State, tribal, and local governments, and the private sector (including nonprofit organizations and institutions of higher education).”

The draft NSDI strategic plan has been developed with inputs from a variety of sources, including FGDC member agencies, the National Geospatial Advisory Committee, and geospatial partner organizations. The plan describes a broad national vision for the NSDI, and includes goals and objectives for the continued sustainable development of the NSDI. Following the public comment period, a revised version of the plan will be prepared for final review and adoption by the FGDC Steering Committee. Following adoption of the strategic plan, the FGDC will work with partners to develop implementation plans for the goals and objectives in the strategic plan.

NSDI Strategic Plan Public Comment Period – Federal Register Notice (pdf)

If you have any questions or need additional information, contact: fgdc@fgdc.gov

FGDC Steering Committee,  

It is my great pleasure to announce that the recipient of the 2019 Doug D. Nebert National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Champion of the Year Award is the multi-agency partnership responsible for developing the NSDI Hydrographic Framework Datasets.  The award honors Doug Nebert, who was a respected Federal Geographic Data Committee colleague, technical visionary, and recognized National and International leader in the establishment of spatial data infrastructures. The awardee was selected by a panel of geospatial representatives from Federal agencies and National Geospatial Advisory Committee members.  

In the early 1990’s, the FGDC Subcommittee on Spatial Water Data, chartered as a joint subcommittee with the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI), began developing the national vision and guidance for water-related geospatial framework data to advance the use of geospatial data to support understanding and managing of the Nation’s water resources. These efforts resulted in the development of the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)––geospatial datasets that map the Nation’s surface water network and hydrologic drainage areas. The NHD represents the Nation’s rivers, streams, canals, lakes, ponds, glaciers, coastline, dams, streamgages and related features.   The WBD is a comprehensive aggregated collection of hydrologic unit data representing drainage areas of the Nation. The NHD and WBD are the most up-to-date and geographically inclusive hydrography datasets for the Nation and have been cited ~6,400 times in an array of scholarly publications. Approximately 50,000 downloads of NHD and WBD geospatial datasets occur annually, and web services of the data receive 2-4 million hits per day. The NHD is also part of the USGS Topographic Base Map (nearly 10 million hits per day) as well as many other popular web maps provided by the private sector.   

The NHD and WBD are managed under OMB Circular A-16 and as a part of the FGDC National Geospatial Data Assets Inland Water Theme, with collaboration, support, formalized stewardship agreements and cost-sharing with many other federal, state, and local entities.  Since their initial release, these components of The National Map have played vital roles in the management of water resources for the Nation. The first 1:100,000-scale NHD, released in 2000, was collaboratively produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and several cooperating states. Early NHD success generated interest in a more detailed NHD that led the USGS to partner with the U.S. Forest Service and numerous state cooperators to produce the high resolution NHD at 1:24,000-scale or better, which was completed in 2007. The states and other partners now support the NHD’s maintenance through a USGS-led data stewardship program that provides guidance, tools, and coordination.  

The foundational work completed by the NHD and WBD teams was instrumental in the development of the FGDC Geospatial Information Framework data standard adopted in 2008. More than 150 applications that rely and build upon the NHD and WBD can be found in the NHDPlus Applications Catalog.  Applications of note include NOAA’s National Water Model, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s incident command tool for drinking water protection, USGS SPARROW water quality modeling, EPA National Aquatic Resources surveys, EPA Waters GeoViewer and the national Open Water Data Initiative. The framework established by this community has been taken up by the Aspen Institute and is being used in the development of the future Internet of Water initiative.    

The teams responsible for developing these datasets and coordinating to leverage standards, shared data, tools, and systems enabled previously unimaginable advances in digital hydrography data and fostered more effective management and understanding of the nation’s water resources.  Doug Nebert was a pioneer and active team member who participated in the design, development and promotion of the NHD.  

The NSDI Hydrographic Framework Datasets were developed and are now maintained through the collective efforts of many hundreds of people to the benefit of many thousands of users from all levels of government, private industry, academia, non-profit and international organizations.  The NSDI Hydrographic Framework Datasets initiative embodies the principles in OMB Circular A-16, applies National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) data for decision-making, and meets all eight foundational precepts of the Doug D. Nebert Award selection criteria.   

While many individuals contributed to these geospatial data development projects, the following core team members responsible for the initial development of the datasets are being recognized:  

I also want to thank all of the participants that submitted nominations. We had a number of excellent nominees and we appreciate the interest from the community.  

Please join me in congratulating the multi-agency partnership responsible for developing the NSDI Hydrographic Framework Datasets on their award.  

Sincerely,

Timothy Petty, Ph.D
Chair, FGDC