Attendees
Jan Morton (Geologic); Millington Lockwood (Bathymetric); Joel Segal (HUD); Bruce Spear (Ground Transportation); Charles Roswell (NIMA); Mark DeMulder (Base Cartographic); Fred Kaiser (Vegetation); Gale TeSelle (Earth Cover); MK Miles, Nancy Blyler (Facilities); Bruce Ambacher (NARA); Alex Tuyahov (NASA); John Stewart (DOE); Gerry Barton (Commerce); John Spencer (Geodetic); Jeff Goebel (SIMNRE); Dave Meier (Cadastral); Denise Perreca (Standards); Paul Bradford (USFS); Ed Parington (EPA); Dennis Green, Carolyn Davis (FEMA); John Moeller, Billy Tolar, Bruce McKenzie, Kathy Covert (FGDC Secretariat)
Steering Committee Briefings
Mr Moeller raised the point that at the December Steering Committee Meeting the meeting adjourned before a briefing topic for the spring Steering Committee Meeting was selected. The Coordination Group discussed the three topics previously identified along with other topics addressed at the December Steering Committee Meeting. Because of the high level of interest in Monitoring activities, the Northern Oregon Demonstration project, an interagency, intergovernmental effort to coordinate monitoring efforts was recommended as the briefing topic for the spring meeting. Action: Mr Moeller will take action to include this on the agenda. Mr Goebel will coordinate the briefing and will distribute a Briefing Outline for Coordination Group review several weeks prior to the meeting.
CCAP -- call for reviewers
Bruce McKenzie outlined the CCAP process for reviewing applications and selecting the best proposals. The CCAP has been very well received and part of the reason for the success is the quality of the review and selection process. Mr McKenzie described the process and the time requirements for reviewers. Several Coordination Group members (Lockwood and DeMulder) who have been reviewers commented on the value of participating and several others (TeSelle and Spear) commented on the value of keeping a high quality review. Coordination Group members agreed to actively solicit and nominate persons to participate as reviewers. Action: FGDC Secretariat will send a letter to the Steering Committee Members requesting reviewers with a courtesy copy to the Coordination Group. Coordination Group members will identify reviewers to Bruce McKenzie by January 30.
Formation of awards process group
Coordination Group members were asked to nominate persons to participate in the development of an awards process to recognize outstanding NSDI achievement on an annual basis. No nominations were received. After discussion, it was agreed that the FGDC Secretariat would take action to develop the process and criteria for the awards. This will be reviewed with the Coordination Group before implementation. Action: Secretariat develop criteria and process. Coordination Group members are still requested to suggest existing processes that may provide a model to follow.
1997 Work Plans
Mr Moeller reminded the Coordination Group that Work Plans for Subcommittees and Working Groups are due to him by January 14, 1997. Mr. Moeller will also provide a similar work plan for FGDC staff operations. Actions: Chairs of all Subcommittees and Working Groups complete plan and submit to John Moeller by Jan 14, 1997.
FGDC Newsletter
A handout on the focus, content and schedule for the FGDC Newsletter in 1997 was distributed and briefly discussed by Mr Moeller. Subcommittees and Working Groups are requested to continue to submit new items on their activities. Coordination Group Members are also encouraged to submit items about their agency's or activities that would be of interest to the NSDI community. Action: Coordination Group members are requested to submit items for the Newsletter in accordance with the schedule in the Handout. FGDC Secretariat will make the Newsletter available on the FGDC WebSite as soon as possible in order to help speed up distribution.
Shorelines discussion
Millington Lockwood presented a comprehensive briefing on Shorelines. Mr Lockwood also provided a briefing packet that includes additional material. In an analysis of Subcommittees and Working Groups conducted by the FGDC in 1996, shoreline data was identified as a shared interest among many. Shoreline data has periodically been discussed as part of Framework and other NSDI activities, but a clear focus has not been identified and agreed to by FGDC members. Mr Lockwood's briefing identified a number of important background considerations, some concerns, and opportunities for beneficial FGDC action. After the briefing an active discussion highlighted significant FGDC interest in a proactive approach to identifying any needed standards and to coordination of shorelines data activities. It was agreed that Commerce is the appropriate Department for FGDC leadership and that the responsibility should be with the Bathymetric Subcommittee. Action: Mr Moeller will prepare and send a letter to the Commerce Steering Committee Member regarding the Coordination Group discussion and recommend the assignment of FGDC leadership for shorelines to the Bathymetric Subcommittee which is Chaired by NOAA. The letter will also include suggestions for a Workshop to discuss shorelines and related issues and opportunities for FGDC partnerships.
Repackaged text based metadata collection instructions
Mr Tolar gave a status report for the development of guidelines for text based metadata collection and presentation. This is an assignment from the December Coordination Group. Mr Tolar summarized that the guidelines will cover instructions on how to read and implement the Metadata Standard, will identify the preferred method for text based collection, and will provide guidance on conformance testing. Mr Tolar reported that the work has included added elements from the initial assignment and will take an until the end of January to complete. The guidelines will be ready for the Coordination Group at the February meeting.
Standards Working Group
Ms. Perreca reported on the progress on the FGDC Features Registry. Base Carto, vegetation and wetlands features have now been incorporated. Ms Perreca indicated that the SWG is getting more of an idea about the level of effort required to incorporate input from the different Subcommittees and Working Groups but still is not able to develop an full projection of costs. However, experience to date has shown both the level of effort and costs to be well within the FGDC ability to manage. The priorities for the project are to first incorporate features, attributes and values for each FGDC activity and then to begin to normalize them and reduce redundancies that may exist. Mr DeMulder commented that this is a reasonable approach but that we should be careful to portray the Registry as an aggregation in its initial phase and then as an integrated registry at a later time. Mr TeSelle asked about the relation of the Features Registry to SDTS. Ms Perreca replied that it is in concert with and follows SDTS. The Coordination Group expressed strong support to continue to proceed with the project and because of its importance requested monthly update on progress. Action: The Standards Working Group will provide short monthly status reports and a summary of upcoming work at each Coordination Group meeting.
The Geodetic Point Profile and the Soils Standards are announced for public review. The Accuracy Standard is almost ready for review. All FGDC proposed standards will now have a 3 month review period as a minimum. This is to have the public review for all FGDC proposed standards consistent and of sufficient duration to ensure full and adequate time for comment. This review period will also help facilitate the process for those standards which or will be proposed for adoption by ANSI. Agency's are reminded to take advantage of the public review period to assess legal or resource implications of proposed standards.
NACo/NSGIC - next step
Coordination Group members were requested to nominate persons to assist in a process for directing Cooperating Council issues to appropriate parties for response. Ms Covert reported that no nominations were received. The Coordination Group reviewed the process proposed at the December meeting and agreed that the FGDC Secretariat should adopt the principles in the process description and operate on behalf of the Coordination Group to send issues to the appropriate Subcommittee or Working Group or other wise take action to address issues. The FGDC Secretariat will also set up a suspense/tracking file to monitor responses and provide periodic status reports to the Coordination Group and Steering Committee. Action: FGDC Secretariat assign responsibility for issue resolution and track responses.
Other
Two topics not on the agenda were identified at the start of the meeting for discussion if time permitted. These were privacy of data (TeSelle) and FGDC relationship to Monitoring Activities (Moeller). There was not time for discussion of these topics but they were suggested as items for the next meeting. Action: Mr TeSelle will prepare a short issue paper to begin discussion on data privacy and Mr Moeller will report on upcoming discussions about Monitoring Activities.
Next Coordination Group Meeting
The Next meeting is scheduled for: February 4, 1997 from 9-12 USACE Pulaski Building, Room 8222D 20 Massachusetts Ave. NW Preliminary Agenda items include: Ecological Data and Monitoring Activities TNC/EPA proposal (Andy Battin - lead) International Standards Activities (Hogan and Perreca - lead) Data Privacy Issues (TeSelle - lead) Possible briefing by OGC (Open GIS Consortium) and/or UCGIS (University Consortium for Geographic Information Sciences) Please contact John Moeller for any other suggested agenda items.