September 12, 2000 FGDC Coordination Meeting Summary — Federal Geographic Data Committee

Site:
National Association of Counties
8th Floor Conference Room
440 First Street NW, Washington, DC

Update and Status

NSDI Cooperative Agreements Program - John Moeller and David Painter summarized the CAP funding awards for the 2000 program. There were 37 awards in the six program categories for this year. This brings the number of awards for the program to over 300 for the seven years it has been in operation. Congratulations to all who participated in this year's program. For a listing of participating projects and contact information see the FGDC website: http://www.fgdc.gov/funding/duck/2000cap.pdf

GeoData Alliance Organizational Initiative - John Moeller provided a summary of the progress in development of this organizational entity. This initiative was spurred by the "Bold Steps" outlined in the 1999 National GeoData Forum. A Team representing many different sectors and interests in the geospatial data community has met over the past eight months and has developed documents defining and describing purposes, principles, participants and organizational concept of this potential new organization. Materials from the last meeting will be available at the GeoData Alliance Website at http://www.geoall.net by the end of September. As a follow-up to two earlier Town Meetings, John Moeller will schedule a Town Meeting in mid-October in the Washington DC area to cover this Initiative in detail. Coordination Group members will receive notice when the most recent reports are available and will also be notified of the Town Meeting.

Attachment 1: GeoData Alliance PowerPoint presentation given by John Moeller.

Actions: John Moeller will schedule a Town Meeting in mid-October in the Washington DC area.

FGDC Staff will send notice to the Coordination Group when the most recent reports are available.

Geospatial Data and E-Government
Pam Johnson National Partnership for Reinventing Government

Pam Johnson provided a presentation that covered the current concepts and initiatives for electronic government. "G-gov" combined with electronic government will transform the delivery of government services. The plans for e-gov are to have all federal government information accessible on the web. This information will be organized in ways that are important to citizens such as health information, transaction capability for taxpayers, and public safety information. An important component of the E-gov effort will be the idea of an "Interactive Town square" where citizens will be able to more easily find information and services. The focus will be on results, exploring potential services for customers and communities, and having agency stovepipes disappear into the backroom where they will be transparent to user, regardless of which agency has responsibility. Pam has been promoting geospatial data and the NSDI as fundamental underpinnings or building blocks for electronic government. Pam cited several examples where geographic information is buried inside other information and where that geographic component, can help bring order to this information. The President's Management Council is providing the policy leadership for Federal e-gov activities and has been briefed by DOI Deputy Secretary Hayes about the importance of geospatial information.

Attachment 2: G-Government PowerPoint presentation given by Pam Johnson.

Actions: Coordination Group Members should promote NSDI activities and geospatial data as part of e-gov activities in their agencies.

Report of OMB Meeting July 18
Ron Matzner, Office of Management and Budget

The OMB has been holding a series of Roundtables focused on different aspects of Information Technology. This government wide initiative has covered program areas such as drug and alcohol testing, unemployment filing, and taxes. Two recent Roundtables began to bring attention to geospatial data with the session conducted on July 18th devoted to geospatial information technology issues. The Geospatial community is ready for action, with a clear base of previous and ongoing work to build upon. The key issues from the July Roundtable are organizational and institutional barriers. The technology is there and we need to find ways of overcoming the barriers to effective interagency action. Ron distributed a Handout that identified key actions from the July 18 Roundtable. The focus of these actions is on accelerating NSDI Framework data development and integration. Actions fall into three general areas:

Some specific elements of the OMB actions;

OMB will provide leadership and oversight
Several States have expressed interest in developing State
Implementation Plans and Teams; NC, NJ , TX, NY metro area, KY and OR
Focus will be on the 7 Framework data layers, schedule, and 90 - 100 day blocks short-term goals that can be meet and can create visible successes.
The State implementation process can in some ways be viewed as a"reverse tender" with States and local areas identifying what they are looking for from the federal agencies
Cadastral theme was identified as greatly needed
OMB will recognize the relationships between states and local governments and ensure that organizations such as NACO are in the effort.
A federal partners team will be established with OMB, FGDC, USGS, Census, DOT, BLM, NGS, NRCS, and EPA to focus agencies on the effort to overcome barriers for Framework data and to support Implementation Teams.
OMB is setting up meetings with policy officials in each of the lead Framework Agencies to go over the actions identified from the July 18 Roundtable.
One of the keys is financial, The Financial Solutions Team will have two elements: 1) how we can focus on reallocation of resources on system that exists in government where there is an obvious capital long term investment disconnect with yearly budget cycle and 2) other financial alternatives such as debentures, bonds, securities, underwriters
A Team will be formed by September 28th with the Council for Excellence in Government providing the lead.

Attachment 3: Summary of Proceedings from July 7 OMB Roundtable.
Attachment 4: Summary of Proceedings from July 18 OMB Roundtable.
Attachment 5: Ron Matzner's Handout of Federal actions from July 18 Roundtable.

Actions:

- OMB and FGDC Staff continue to meet with Agencies.

- Agencies and FGDC Staff begin to implement actions identified in July 18 Report of Roundtable.

Design Study Team: Potential Revision of OMB Circular A-16 and NSDI Portal

Two specific actions related to the Design Study Team Recommendations were addressed.

Revision of OMB Circular A-16: There is a need to update A-16. OMB is willing to consider a revision. This can provide a real opportunity to reflect changes that have occurred and to set the stage for further actions. John Moeller has prepared an initial Draft to get a rapid start for submission of ideas to OMB. Once ideas are submitted to OMB, the FGDC Staff and the Coordination Group could then begin to work on a final draft and make sure that Steering Committee review is accomplished to help expedite final agency clearance if OMB agrees to a Revised Circular.

Attachment 6: PowerPoint presentation from John Moeller on potential A-16 revision.

Actions: Coordination group will REVIEW and comment to John Moeller on draft A-16 revision John Moeller by September 19, 2000.

NSDI Community Gateway: Developing a Common Portal for Federal Spatial Data Resources: The idea of an NSDI Community Gateway has been recommended by the Design Study Team and discussed with the Coordination Group on several occasions. Bruce McKenzie and Bracken Hendricks presented the fleshed out concept and the phases of implementation. The first steps will be to complement the NSDI Geospatial Data Clearinghouse, and provide information about federal programs, information on grant programs, and begin to develop a catalogue of proven practices, lessons learned and case studies.

Agencies are asked to provide information by September 26 on the following:

the URL's to be linked for program information
NSDI related Grant or Funding Opportunities
NSDI Proven Practices etc

Action: By September 26 each agency provide the following to Bruce McKenzie (see attachments for content):

- the URL's to be linked for program information

- NSDI related Grant or Funding Opportunities (using template provided)

- NSDI Proven Practices etc ( using format provided)

Attachment 7: The NSDI Community Web Portal; Developing a Common Portal for Federal Spatial Data Resources.
Attachment 8: The NSDI Grant Funding Opportunities Template.
Attachment 9: The NSDI Proven Practices Case Study Template.

FGDC Staff Budget

The FGDC Staff Budget is provided to the Coordination Group as an opportunity for member agencies to have a greater input in FGDC Secretariat funding priorities. Due to the time limitations at the meeting there was no opportunity for discussion. Coordination Group members are asked to review and comment within two weeks.

Attachment 10: NSDI 2001 Budget PowerPoint presentation by John Moeller.

Action: Review and Comment to John Moeller on Budget Handout by September 26, 2000.

American Community Survey and Community Address Update System Presentation
Nancy Torrieri, Census Bureau

In addition to the presentation, Nancy provided attendees with a CD-ROM and Brochure handout. The American Community Survey responds to the need to get more frequent, more up to date information, on social and economic condition. A Prototype design was developed during 1996-1998, 31 sites are now going through ACS implementation with 2003 targeted for replacement of the Long-Form. The ACS is designed to help Census better meet its mission and along with the Community Address Updating System will provide more current information and updated TIGER data. Nancy asked for assistance from FGDC member agencies and to help in mapping issues and in data that may be beneficial to the ACS. Agencies are encouraged to contact Nancy Torrieri for more information.

Wrap-up

The next Coordination Group meeting:

Host:
Alan Gaines
Senior Science Associate for Spatial Data and Information
againes@nsf.gov

Directions: Metro Orange Line to Balston; turn right at top of escalators and walk one block south to NSF building (http://www.nsf.gov/home/visit/visit.htm).

Please Note: Since this meeting will be inside the NSF "secure area" attendees will need to notify Alan Gaines by email in order to facilitate clearance at the NSF Security Desk.

Mid November is target for a possible Steering Committee Meeting.

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