March 12, 1999 FGDC Coordination Meeting Summary

Persons Attending:
Bruce Ambacher (Historical WG), Gerry Barton (NOAA), Don Buhler (Cadastral SC), Kim Burns-Braidlow (FGDC Staff), Kathy Covert (FGDC Staff), George Cross (Earth Cover WG), Eric Goods (FGDC Staff), Norm Gunderson (FGDC Staff), Susan Jampoler (UCGIS), Julie Maitra (Base Carto SC), Anne Hale Miglarese (NOAA-via phone), David Painter (Framework WG), George Rohaley (NRCS), Christine Ulrich (ICMA), Tom Usselman (National Academy of Science), Rick Yorczyk (Geodetic SC)

Information Items:
The 1999 Cooperative Agreements Program Application Program has been extended to March 8 due a web site problem.

Gerry Barton distributed information about the Third IEEE Meta-data Conference, April 6-7, 1999. The conference web page is http://www.llnl.gov/liv_comp/metadata/md99/program.html

Bruce Ambacher escorted the group to witness the raising of the Charters of Freedom from the National Archive's vault.

Reports from task groups:

Norm Gunderson first reported on the status of C/FIP. Mr. Gunderson distributed a C/FIP Estimate for FY2000:

Mr. Gunderson said the numbers are from OMB. Mr. Barton expressed concern that he sees nothing in Commerce's budget for this initiative. Mr. Gunderson said he was working with OMB but admitted there are still issues to be resolved. Mr. Gunderson said that meetings would be set up with OMB and Steering Committee members to resolve these issues and to discuss the processes that will be used for distributing funds through C/FIP.

Mr. Gunderson reported that the group to develop 2001 crosscut budget initiative for NSDI/FGDC in all agencies met after the Steering Committing on 2/24. At their first meeting, they discussed how to get 2001 proposals into the planning communities within agencies. They talked about 3 different types of crosscut budget initiatives: C/FIP; a proposed FGDC Framework initiative; and identifying the internal costs agencies incur when performing coordinating work, such as with the FGDC. Mr. Gunderson reported that the group's next steps were to meet again and to discuss these issues in more detail. He asked the Coordination Group to send him ideas on what can be done to ensure that FY2001 issues get on agency's planning agendas. Mr. Gunderson encouraged the group to talk to their Steering Committee members about C/FIP. Mr. Barton said he would like to see discussions at every Coordination Group meeting concerning the FGDC coordinated budget.

Kim Burns-Braidlow reported that the group formed to clearly define roles & responsibilities of the FGDC organization met on 3/02. Ms. Burns-Braidlow said that the group is looking at a variety of topics including using an Enterprise Model to evaluate the Coordination Group structure. She said the group agreed Framework needs to be at the forefront of any restructuring. Ms. Burns-Braidlow said she was interested in working with Kathy Covert and Alan Gaines in some ideas they have developed for the Rotator Program. The next step for this group is to continue discussions.

Susan Jampoler reported that she's trying to set up a group to look at improving communications about FGDC. Ms. Jampoler has just starting working with UCGIS and is a new member to the FGDC as well. She said at this point, she has a few UCGIS members who are interested in participating. Next steps include holding their first meeting and setting up an e-mail server.

Dave Painter discussed the Framework Survey and presented slides of the Survey results. Mr. Painter said there has been discussion of what to do next with the Survey. He said that he believed the Survey was mainly intended to be an outreach tool, and while the data they received has been helpful, it was not the main focus of the Survey. Eric Goods said that in the analysis of the information that the Survey provided, it was apparent that the some questions on the survey caused confusion, as was evident in some responses to the questions. He added, there needs to be further discussion whether the Framework Survey is an adequate mechanism to perform the type of statistical sampling analysis they need.

It was asked if the respondents to the Survey were the focus of the CAP this year. Mr. Painter said they were trying to build on the Survey but the CAP is not limited to Survey respondents.

A question was asked if there was an Executive Summary of the results of the Survey. Mr. Goods said he had a draft of an article that will be published in upcoming GeoInfo Systems that discusses the Survey. Contact Mr. Goods for a copy.

Mr. Painter and Mr. Goods then discussed the reincarnation of the Framework Focus Group. A questionnaire has been sent to the 'old' Framework Focus Group about framework activities but few have responded. Mr. Painter said they would like to open the group up to a larger membership. Don Buhler agreed this is a good idea, just coming from a NACo meeting, he reported that Framework, as it is currently defined, does not meet their needs.

Next steps for the Framework Focus Group is to meet on March 24 at the Main Interior Building, Room 7000B, 9:00am to noon. Those interested in participating in the group, contact Dave Painter.

Kathy Covert distributed a first draft a description of a Rotator Program. The program would add or designate dedicated personnel to work on high-priority FGDC action items. The draft identified three possible areas: draft NSDI compliant procurement language; conduct management study to enhance the structure of the Coordination Group; and organize the FGDC privacy policy implementation workshop. Ms. Covert said she sees this program as a vehicle for accomplishing these objectives. The purpose of the draft is to introduce you to what the program may look like, suggest three actions that are high priority, and suggest that the next step is to form a small team to draft task descriptions, resources, and the skills needed to complete the task. If you have comments or suggestions contact Ms. Covert or Mr. Gaines.

Review of Cadastral Subcommittee Report:
Don Buhler led discussions of the review. He said that the theme throughout the report is that they are trying to do a lot with little resources. Ms. Burns-Braidlow asked if getting support from the lead agency for Subcommittee activities should be on the agenda for the Fed's-only Steering Committee meeting in May. She said that lack of resources is a common thread throughout many of the Subcommittee and Working Group reports. Mr. Buhler said it is difficult to educate managers about the value of an NSDI and he thinks it may be easier to get money to support these activities from a central funding source rather than through each agency. Ms. Burns-Braidlow asked if other Subcommittees do as Cadastral does in keeping track of who's using their standards. Ms. Maitra said she is aware of a couple that do. Mr. Buhler discussed the resources that are required to maintain their Standard. Ms. Burns-Braidlow added that this is another topic to discuss with the Steering Committee and emphasis the accountability that goes along with endorsing a standard as an FGDC standard includes providing the resources to support all of these activities.

Next Coordination Group Meeting:
April 6, 1999

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
8th and Pennsylvania, NW
Room 105
Washington, DC

Metro - Yellow line at Archives/Navy Memorial Station, NARA is across the street.

Point of Contact for NARA is Bruce Ambacher - (301) 713-6630 ext. 229

03/02/99 Coordination Group Minutes