Persons Attending:
Gerry Barton (NOAA), Bill Bergen (USACE), Bill Blake (Facilities WG), Don Buhler (Cadastral SC), Kim Burns-Braidlow (FGDC Staff), Jill Engel-Cox (EPA), Alan Gaines (NSF), Valerie Hartung (Cultural & Demographic SC), Richard Hogan (USGS/NACo), Thomas Iivari (Earth Cover WG), Cliff Kottman (OpenGIS Consortium), Nancy Lopez (Spatial Water Data SC), John Moeller (FGDC Staff), David Morehouse (DOE), Jan Morton (Geologic SC), Mark Naftzger (Base Carto SC), Robert Rugg (UCGIS), Bruce Spear (Ground Transportation SC), N.G. Terry (XY Mapping Project), Gale TeSelle (NRCS), Christine Ulrich (ICMA), Tom Usselman (Mapping Science Committee), Bill Wilen (Wetlands SC), Rick Yorczyk (Geodetic SC)
Information Items:
John Moeller announced the FGDC Secretariat has a new staff member, Bonnie Gallahan. Ms Gallahan was previously with the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Land Management. For the Secretariat, Ms. Gallahan will be working to build stakeholder relationships with tribal organizations, such as the Intertribal GIS Council. She will also focus on the broader stakeholder relationship activities.
Gale TeSelle distributed copies of the USDA Service Center Geographic Information System (GIS) Strategy (this information is also available online at: http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/nsdi_node.html). Mr. TeSelle also distributed a copy of a letter that was sent to states asking them to prioritize their counties for implementation of the USDA Strategy. In December, the national priority list will be assembled and Mr. TeSelle stated that at that time, they will be seeking partnerships in these priority areas with other agencies. A GIS Best Management Practices Forum is being held on November 18th & 19th to do some preliminary work.
Thomas Iiveri, NRCS, will be the new chair of the Earth Cover Working Group.
Nancy Lopez distributed an "Invitation to Join Technical Forums on Water Information" from the Advisory Committee on Water Information. Any interested subcommittee or organizations need to submit a letter requesting membership by November 19, Ms. Lopez stated you must be a member to vote on issues. The Spatial Water Data Subcommittee will hold a meeting on January 13. Bob Pierce will be the new chair, Ms. Lopez announced she's retiring in January.
Bruce Spear mentioned that the 1st draft of the Road Data Model that the Ground Transportation Subcommittee has been working on is now complete. It will be posted on the BTS web site (http://www.bts.gov/gis). Mr. Spear will send notification to the group when it is online.
Gerry Barton stated that he has a call for papers from the journal "Ocean Atmospheric Data Management".
XY Project Standards Proposal:
Richard Hogan distributed a preliminary draft of a standards proposal, "A coordinate-based, two-dimensional spatial address standard for land and land vehicle navigation (Content Standards for a Universal Grid Reference System for Spatial Addressing)" that will eventually be presented to the Standards Working Group (SWG) for review. Mr. Hogan said that this is a proposed modification of an existing military grid reference system. The objective is to provide a uniform way in which 2-dimensional coordinate systems are used for electronic mapping systems, GPS, or paper maps and to allow these various mediums to be used together.
Mr. Hogan stated that this is an early draft of the proposal and he anticipates changes to this document before it is presented to the SWG. Mr. Hogan encouraged anyone with an interest in this standard to inform their SWG representative that this proposal will soon be presented for discussion.
Demonstration Projects Update:
John Moeller reported that a kick-off meeting for the 6 Demonstration Projects was held October 22 & 23 in Reston. The 6 projects, the main focuses of the projects, and the Federal champions are listed below:
City of Baltimore, MD
Crime reduction
One stop federal program data (youth initiatives)
Federal Champion: Dept of Justice
Dane County, WI
Smart growth
Citizen-based growth planning (kiosks, www)
Federal Champion: US Department of Agriculture / NRCS
Gallatin County, MT
Smart Growth
Federal Champion: Department of Interior
Susquehanna-Lackawanna River and Communities
Regional GIS to support local interests
Environmental Master Plan, and flood mitigation
Federal Champion: Environmental Protection Agency
Tijuana River Watershed
Water quality, water availability, health issues
Shared resource U.S. / Mexico
Federal Champion: Dept of Commerce/NOAA
Tillamook County, OR
Water quality, Fish habitat restoration
Flood mitigation
Accountability partnership
Federal Champion: Department of the Interior
Mr. Moeller reported that Mark Reichardt will be turning over his responsibilities of Project Lead over these projects in January to Mark DeMulder. Periodic updates on these projects will be given to the Coordination Group. Mr. Moeller also reported that monies will be available for these projects, to some level, from an Innovative Technologies fund.
- Action: John Moeller will let Coordination Group know when information about the Demonstration Projects are available on-line.
Community/Federal Information Partnership Update:
Norm Gunderson distributed to Federal members the latest version of the CFIP initiative. Mr. Gunderson said that over the next couple of weeks it is very important that participating agencies review the CFIP proposal and their respective annexes in the proposal. In addition, participating agencies are asked to ensure they discuss CFIP with their budget people to ensure agreement on the where the agency stands regarding the initiative.
- Action: Participating agencies check one more time with their budget people to determine where things stand in terms of commitments to CFIP.
Action: Participating agencies review latest version of CFIP, dated November 1998, and ensure respective annexes are correct. Comments to Norm Gunderson November, 13.
GeoData Forum Update:
John Moeller reported that on October 30 a steering committee meeting was held to plan the 3rd National GeoData Forum, June 7-9, 1999. Mr. Moeller stated that the steering committee is made up of an impressive list of members and they have begun to identify a focus for the upcoming 2 ½ day meeting. Issues identified included:
- opportunity to bring a wide array of users together
- reach out to more and different groups
- involvement of private sector
- stakeholder interaction
- role of government
- finance & marketing strategies discussed
- building partnerships
It is hoped that the 2 ½ day meeting could be concluded with a 'town hall-type" meeting with members of Congress. The steering committee agreed that a congressional discussion covering geospatial data, CFIP, and the NSDI is very timely and would be an opportunity to build a bipartisan support for these issues. It is possible this discussion would be broadcast on CSPAN.
Within the next few weeks a proposed design of the Forum will be available to generate comments on the issues identified. Mr. Moeller will notify the group when it is available and he encouraged the Coordination Group to review the proposed design and provide him feedback on the issues. January 22 is the next steering committee meeting for the GeoData Forum. The location for the GeoData Forum is the Marriott at Metro Center in Washington, DC.
- Action: John Moeller will notify the group when the proposed design of GeoData Forum is available. Coordination Group is then responsible for providing Mr. Moeller feedback.
Progress Reports:
The group was reminded that the 1998 NSDI Reports of Accomplishments are due no later than December 31, 1998. The reports will be consolidated into a progress report to OMB. Subcommittees and Working Groups were encouraged to review their charters and report the activities relating to their stated objectives.
It was also agreed that the group would like reports from our non-federal stakeholders - NLC, ICMA, NACo, NSGIC, MSC, OpenGIS Consortium, etc. These reports would include such information items as what the groups have done over the last year to implement the NSDI, and what benefits they derive from being a member of the FGDC.
- Action: Progress reports from subcommittees, working groups, agency representatives, AND STAKEHOLDER GROUPS (NLC, ICMA, NACo, NSGIC, MSC, OGC) due December 31, 1998.
Coordination Group Off-Site Meeting:
At a previous Coordination Group meeting, it was agreed that the group would participate in a 2 day retreat to discuss the direction for 1999. Today, there was once again consensus that the retreat was a good idea. It was agreed that the retreat would be held away from the Washington DC area and would be facilitated by an outside party. The group agreed that the retreat would take place January and the 19th and 20th were suggested.
- Decision: Coordination Group will participate in a 2 day retreat in January.
Participants for the retreat would include subcommittee and working group chairs, representatives from each agency and stakeholder group. Additional attendees would be welcome, however, the group agreed that 60 is the maximum number for the retreat.
- Action: Send additional names, other than chairs and agency/stakeholder representatives, of those who could actively contribute to the discussion at the retreat to Kim by COB Thursday, 11/19.
Action: Send agenda topics you would like to see addressed during the retreat to Kim by COB Thursday, 11/19. Kim will compile the list received and distribute it to the group before the next meeting.
Next Steering Committee / Partnership Meeting:
It was suggested that the next Steering Committee / Partnership meeting be held during the first week in February. If that happens, we will not have a Coordination Group meeting that month.
FGDC Interests in ISPRS Working Groups:
Gerry Barton discussed a meeting he recently attended in Japan, Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). Mr. Barton saw a presentation by the ISPRS (International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) Working Group 4/6 - Global Databases for Environmental Monitoring. The working group is looking for possible cooperation at a conference to be held November 15-18, 1999. If you are interested in more information, contact Mr. Barton. Mr. Barton also informed the group that a CEOS working group is working on a Catalogue Interoperability Protocol (CIP). CIP is now to the point that it is being submitted to ISO.
The meeting was adjourned.
Next Coordination Group Meeting:
December 1, 1998
Bureau of Land Management
7th Floor Conference Room
1620 L Street, NW
Washington, DC
Directions:
1620 L Street is mid-block on the south side of L Street.
Metro's:
1 ½ blocks east of Farragut North (red) L Street exit
2 blocks north, and 2 blocks east of Farragut West (blue/orange) 17th Street exit
2 blocks north, and 1 ½ blocks west of McPherson Square (blue/orange) 16th Street exit