Persons Attending
Lonell Parks (Cultural and Demographic); Bruce Spear (Ground Trans); Jan Morton (Geologic); MK Miles, Nancy Blyler, Dave Gerczak (Facilities); John Stewart (DOE); Win Lyday (NACo); Tom Palmerlee (UCGIS); Gerry Barton (NOAA); Ed McKay (Geodetic Control); Millington Lockwood (Bathymetric); Alan Gaines (NSF); Richard Hogan (Standards); Don Buhler (Cadastral); Bill Wilen (Wetlands); Fred Kaiser (Vegetation); Hank Garie (NSGIC); Bruce Ambacher (Historical Data); Kathy Clement (Base Cartographic, Earth Cover); Gale TeSelle Earth Cover); Ruth Hildenberger, Jay Larson (MITRE); John Moeller, Denise Perecca, Bruce McKenzie, Kathy Covert (FGDC Secretariat)
Information Items and Follow-up of June Meeting
NACo Conference: The NACo 62nd Annual Conference will be held July 11-15 in Baltimore.
On Sunday July 13, NACo and the FGDC will conduct a Workshop as part of the formal Conference agenda. The Workshop is from 3:15-4:30 in Room 330 and will be moderated by Win Lyday with Dale Beland, Gallatin County MT; Barbara Todd, Pinellas County, FL; Rebecca Somers; and John Moeller as speakers.
Secretary Babbitt will be the featured speaker at the Plenary Session on Monday July 14. Any FGDC Participants at the Meeting are encouraged to attend the session.
An informal NSDI workshop will be held Monday July 14. The purpose of the Workshop is to bring together County, State, Federal and non-government representatives to discuss several activities. The main agenda items are to continue the discussions and actions from the April Steering Committee Meeting. This workshop will be from 11:00-late afternoon in Room 313. Any interested person is invited to attend.
Any persons who plan to attend the conference are to contact Kathy Covert by Monday July 7, 1997.
The National Park Service on behalf of a State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) Data Automation Advisory Group has requested that the FGDC aid them in their effort to create standards for cultural resource geospatial data. John Moeller, Fred Broome and Kathy Covert will meet with John Knoerl of the NPS on July 16, 1997, to develop a recommended course of action and report back to the Coordination Group.
John Moeller distributed a draft of the FGDC Annex to be included in the NIMA Geospatial Information Infrastructure Master Plan. In addition, the NSDI Strategy will also be included in the Annex. Any comments are due by COB Monday July 7, 1997, to Ruth Hildenberger at rah@MITRE.org.
Standards
Richard Hogan introduced this subject by updating the Coordination Group on the status of the Standards Working Group (SWG) and its recommendations for approval of three draft standards which have completed public and SWG review. These Standards are:
The Spatial Data Transfer Standard, Part 6: Point Profile sponsored by the Geodetic Control subcommittee,
The National Vegetation Classification Standard sponsored by the Vegetation subcommittee and
The National Standard for Soil Geographic Data sponsored by the Soils Subcommittee.
Each of the Standards was introduced and discussed by the Coordination Group. Questions about each of the standards and the type of the type of data for which it applied were raised and addressed. In particular the Coordination Group felt that additional policy beyond the NSDI Executive Order is needed to clarify how data standards are to be implemented. This discussion resulted in the following action: Action: The Standards Working Group will develop proposed policy for review and discussion by the Coordination Group on EO 12906, Section 4 to interpret and clarify agency adherence to standards and to provide guidelines for implementation of standards. This draft policy will also address geospatial portrayal and the implementation of classification standards.
After discussion of each proposed standard, the Coordination Group took action to recommend the following actions to the FGDC Steering Committee:
Actions:
Spatial Data Transfer Standard, Part 6: Point Profile - Consensus agreement to recommend adoption.
National Vegetation Classification Standard - Consensus agreement to recommend adoption.
National Standard for Soil Geographic Data - Consensus agreement to recommend adoption.
Mr. Hogan presented a proposal to the Coordination to modify the FGDC process for reviewing proposals for new standards development. The modifications would require solicitation of input from a wide array of interested parties regarding the need and interest in a particular standard. The intent is to more effectively determine potential stakeholders, potential participants in development and whether a standard is perceived as needed. After comment and discussion the Coordination Group approved the proposal with the following changes:
- the description of the new process would clearly state that all proposals would be broadly distributed,
- the new process would apply to all standards proposals not yet approved
- any standard that has been approved for development could go through the new Proposal Review Process at the discretion of the sponsoring Subcommittee or Working Group.
Action: The SWG will revise the FGDC Proposal Review Process to reflect these changes and begin to implement.
Privacy Issues
Kathy Covert provided a short briefing on the work she is doing to develop draft guidelines to balance access to public information and protection of personal information privacy in federal digital geospatial databases. Ms. Covert distributed a packet of material from her research and requested the Coordination Group to review it and send comments to her. Actions: 1) Coordination Group is to review the draft Guidelines and comment to Kathy Covert by July 15, 1997, 2) Coordination Group to review three articles distributed as part of the packet to develop additional ideas and 3) FGDC Secretariat will schedule Dan Metcalf of the Department of Justice Office of Information and Privacy for a presentation at an upcoming Coordination Group meeting.
Competitive Cooperative Agreements Program
Bruce McKenzie gave a report on this year's's CCAP Program and the results of the Panel Reviews of the proposals submitted for funding. 68 proposals were submitted this year. Project funding is at a maximum level of $40,000 except for "Coordination Group" efforts which are funded at $6,000 maximum. Due to available funding less than 40 projects were recommended for funding. Mr McKenzie summarized the Review Panel results for the Coordination Group which after discussion provided its recommendations. Note: Information on Funding Recommendations is Confidential until applicants have been informed of the FGDC decisions. Action: Mr. McKenzie will work with the designated Contracting Official to notify applicants and completed project awards.
NAPA Conference and Study Update
The National Academy of Public Administration Study Panel sponsored a conference, June 27-28 in Washington D.C., on the future structure, organization and operations of U.S. geographic resources. In addition the Panel held a regular meeting at NAPA on June 30, 1997. Kathy Clement and Don Buhler each gave a summary overview of the Conference and Panel meeting. The Study Panel has collected much information and done an extensive study of the structure, organization and operations of geographic activities. They are developing conclusions and findings for the Study and anticipate completion of the Study in September. Roger Sperry, Project Co-director is scheduled to brief the Coordination Group on the Study at the August meeting.
Fall 1997 FGDC Coordination Group and Steering Committee Meeting Schedule
Mr Moeller presented a proposal for meeting schedules for the remainder of the summer and the fall. After discussion the Group agreed to pursue the following schedule. Note: Steering Committee Meeting Schedules are subject to change depending on the availability of the FGDC Chair.
August
Meeting: Coordination Group
Date: August 5
Duration: 3 hours, 9-12
Location: USACE, Pulaski Building, 20 Mass Ave, Washington DC Room 8124C
Focus: Regularly scheduled Coordination Group Meeting
Late August - Early September
Meeting: Steering Committee
Date: TBD
Duration: 2 hours
Location: Main Interior Building, Room 5160, Washington, DC
Focus: Federal Agency business with attendees to be federal representatives and non-
federal persons who are invited to make presentations
September
Meeting: Coordination Group
Date: September, 9-10
Duration: 9-4 each day
Location: Washington, DC area
Focus: 1) To devote blocks of time to discuss issues that have not had sufficient time in regular Coordination Group meetings for issues identification, discussion or resolution.
Potential topics include:
- Commitment to Standards development and implementation
- Agency implementation of NSDI
- Local field office interaction
2) Discuss progress in 1977
3) Plan for FY 1998
October
Meeting: Coordination Group
Date: October 7
Duration: 3 hours, 9-12
Location: Washington DC area
Focus: Regularly scheduled Coordination Group Meeting
November
Meeting: Coordination Group
Date: November 4
Duration: 3 hours, 9-12
Location: Washington, DC area
Focus: Regularly scheduled meeting
- Preparation for Steering Committee Meeting
Meeting: Steering Committee
Date: November, 5 or 6 ( Proposed dates to be requested)
Duration: 2 hours
Location: Main Interior Building, Room 5160, Washington, DC
Focus: Inter-sector Meeting with participants from State, Local, Private and Academic sectors
Possible topics:
- Stakeholder activities
- Roles
- GIS User Toolkit/Starter Kit
- Reports of progress on actions from April Meeting
December
Meeting: Coordination Group
Date: December 2
Duration: 3 hours, 9-12
Location: Washington, DC area
Focus: Regularly scheduled meeting
FGDC/NSDI Shoreline Data Workshop
Millington Lockwood distributed a Prospectus for a Shoreline Workshop to be conducted on November 3-5, 1997 in Charleston SC. In addition to comments on the prospectus, Mr Lockwood asked agencies identified as potential Steering Committee members to begin to name to serve on this committee. Action: Review Prospectus and comment to Mr. Lockwood by July 15, 1997.
GIS Record Disposition
Bruce Ambacher distributed a Draft of a Records Disposition Schedule for GIS data. This description reinforces the FGDC Metadata Standard and SDTS and provides assistance to agencies in developing records control and disposition schedules. Action: Review and comment to the Historical Data Working Group.
Global Observation Information Network
Gerry Barton distributed material about GOIN. This is an information item for the Coordination Group.
Next Coordination Group Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for:
August 5, 1997 from 9:00-12:00
US Army Corps of Engineers
Pulaski Building Room 8124C
20 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington , DC
Directions:
2 blocks west of Union Station
Tentative Topics for August Meeting
Privacy Issues - Briefing by Dan Metcalf of DOJ
NAPA Study Briefing - Roger Sperry
Report/Feedback on Proposal for Cultural Resources Standards
Biological Data Working Group - Anne Frondorf
NRCS - Implementation of the NSDI
Report on NACo Meeting -
Status of Actions assigned from Steering Committee Meeting