Department of Commerce Accomplishment Report 1997 — Federal Geographic Data Committee

INTRODUCTION

Executive Order 12906, April 13, 1994, requires that Federal agencies participate in the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is the focal point for these activities. The Department of Commerce, through activities in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Bureau of the Census, and the National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST), has a strong commitment to the FGDC:

NOAA Deputy Undersecretary, Diana Josephson, was the Department of Commerce representative to the FGDC Steering Committee that is chaired by Department of Interior Secretary, Bruce Babbitt.
The NOAAServer Data Directory has over 10,000 descriptions of NOAA data in FGDC Metadata Standard format. These descriptions are also available on 10 data base nodes on the FGDC Clearinghouse.
The Department of Commerce chairs three FGDC subcommittees and one new Working Group:
Over 30 representatives from DOC served on other thematic subcommittees and working groups of the FGDC. DOC representatives were active in other aspects of the NSDI/FGDC including reviewing and commenting on FGDC Standards, serving on FGDC grant review/evaluation teams, serving on panels at national meetings, and submitting articles for the FGDC newsletter.
In FY-96 the NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the FGDC. This document was updated for FY-97 activities. The CSC provided $135,000 in FY-96 and $150,000 in FY-97 in support of the FGDC Competitive Cooperative Agreements Program for state and local governments. In addition to supporting this grants program, the Center is providing staff for the proposal review process and hosted the November 1997 Workshop for the Sea Level Working Group.
DOC participation in the FGDC was recognized at a DOC awards ceremony and at a NOAA awards ceremony. Department Secretary Daley and representatives from Vice President Gore's office presented the Vice President's Hammer Award to DOC.
The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) sponsors a cost-sharing geodetic advisory program with several states. Twenty two advisors instruct local surveyors and others on how to use and preserve the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS). The program provides a liaison between NOAA and the host state, usually with a jointly-funded NOAA employee residing in the state to guide and assist the state's geodetic and surveying programs. The program is designed to fill a need for more accurate local geodetic surveys, and is in response to the states' desire to improve their surveying techniques to meet FGCS standards and specifications.
The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) sponsors a cost-sharing geodetic advisory program with several states. The twenty two advisors provide a liaison between NOAA and the host state, usually with a jointly-funded NOAA employee residing in the state to guide and assist the state's geodetic and surveying programs

Many of the programs in DOC organizations are related to the NSDI and FGDC. For example, since most of NOAA's data have latitude and longitude location information or other geopositonal information such as zip code or river drainage location information , most of NOAA's work is related to NSDI and FGDC activities. There are also programs in DOC that directly relate to FGDC, such as Census programs and NOAA's geodetic and charting activities. In FY-1997 the Department of Commerce continued to contribute directly to the NSDI and the FGDC through the activities listed below. The Goals and Objectives are from the 1996 Strategic Plan for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 1997 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Goal 1: Increase the awareness and understanding of the vision, concepts, and benefits of the NSDI through outreach and education.

Intent: This goal seeks to propagate the stated NSDI vision. The concepts of NSDI, defined by Executive Order 12902, include community-based standards, public access to data through distributed clearinghouses, development of a framework of basic data, and sharing data with others among all sectors of government, academia and private industry. Organizations committed to the NSDI should communicate widely with current and potential users of geospatial data. This goal also seeks to incorporate ideas and practices that foster NSDI into the educational system at all levels, from kindergarten through university and professional training.

Objectives

1.1 Demonstrate the benefits of participation in the NSDI to existing and prospective participants.

M. Lockwood, NOS, wrote two papers:
"Background and Need for a National Shoreline Data Standard." American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing annual meeting April 1998;
"Implementing the National Spatial Data Infrastructure in the United States: Opportunities and Implications for the Strategic Direction of the International Hydrographic Organization." Presented to the IHO Annual Planning Meeting December 1997.

G. Barton, NESDIS, wrote two FGDC articles in the NOAA Earth System Monitor:
"NOAA and the Federal Geographic Data Committee" in the March 1997 edition;
"NOAA Environmental Services Data Directory" in the December 1996 edition. This article discussed the conversion of over 8100 NOAA data descriptions from the Directory Interchange Format to the FGDC Metadata Standard Format.

1.2. Promote principles and practices of the NSDI through formal and informal education and training.

M. Lockwood, NOS, conducted four "Open Forum" meetings during the year where he presented overviews of the FGDC and specific activities relevant to the Bathymetric Subcommittee: in December 1997 in conjunction with the San Francisco Bay Demonstration project; at the 1997 Federal Waterways R&D conference; at the Coastal Zone '97 meeting; and at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/NOAA surveying symposium in St. Louis, August 1997.

Carol Gerlitz and David Hastings of NGDC participated in the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) Implementors' Workshop, held in Rolla, Missouri on September 15-18, 1997. Gerlitz presented a paper on "Adventures With Point Data in SDTS." Hastings led a session on a proposed public SDTS translation demonstration. Approximately 150 people participated in the conference, from federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as software developers.

The National Academy of Science U.S. National CODATA Committee organized a Conference on Scientific and Technical Data Exchange and Integration, held in December at the National Institutes of Heath Natcher Conference Center, Bethesda MD. NOAA was a cosponsor of the Conference where the FGDC was represented with an on-line demonstration and a panel presentation.

NOAA was Cosponsor of the Second IEEE Metadata Conference held in September in the NOAA Silver Spring, MD, auditorium. There were several FGDC presentations and a poster presentation.

Bureau of the Census Geography Division staff continued to coordinate with appropriate Census Bureau divisions, staffs, and offices on activities associated with the implementation of Executive Order 12906 by beginning production of metadata for all Census Bureau geospatially referenced datasets in accordance with the FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata.

Coastal Services Center: Presentations and demonstrations of FGDC were given at the following sites:

Florida Marine Research Institute
Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) Annual Meeting
North Carolina/South Carolina Arc Users Conference
South Carolina Special Libraries Association
Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) Annual Conference
North Inlet-Winyah Bay NERR and Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research
National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML) LABNET Workshop
National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML) Annual Directors Meeting
Coastal Services Center: Workshops:
CSC presented a pilot workshop on how the write FGDC compliant metadata to state and local government representatives from the Southeastern U.S. The workshop included hands-on sessions, demonstrations of metadata tools, and instructions on creating an NSDI Clearinghouse node.
CSC gave a mini-workshop at the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) Centralized Data Management Office (CDMO) at the Baruch Institute on developing FGDC metadata and hands-on aid in constructing a NSDI Clearinghouse node.

1.3. Identify and promote the attitudes and actions that help to develop the NSDI.

Goal 2: Develop common solutions for discovery, access, and use of geospatial data in response to the needs of diverse communities. Intent: The NSDI will move toward common languages and architectures for describing describe geospatial data from many applications, and common technical solutions for accessing and using these data. Individuals from many different organizations and disciplines will contribute to the definition and development of these solutions.

Objectives:

2.1. Continue to develop a seamless National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse.

Coastal Services Center created a NSDI Clearinghouse node and provides all CSC metadata through this node.

CSC continued to document all CSC datasets in FGDC metadata format.

Access to the NOAA Data Directory was implemented using the NOAAServer software that allows search of data descriptions and access to selected NOAA data systems. Over 10,000 NOAA data descriptions are available in the FGDC Metadata Standard Format.

The NOAA Data Directory descriptions were implemented as 13 data base nodes on the FGDC Clearinghouse. All descriptions are in the FGDC Metadata Standard Format. Over 10,000 descriptions are available in 11 separate NOAA data base nodes on the Clearinghouse. Two other nodes have data related to NOAA: the GOIN node has 300 Japanese data descriptions; and the NEDRES node has over 20,000 legacy of federal, state and local data sets described in the period 1972-1989. The 13 nodes are:

An FGDC section was inserted into the NOAA Environmental Information Services Home Page. It details some of the NOAA FGDC activities and NOAA metadata activities.

The Data Discovery Subsystem of DoD's Master Environmental Library requires all metadata to be FGDC compliant. The NGDC SPIDR data base is an important MEL component,. Metadata descriptions of all Solar-Terrestrial Physics and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program data sets in SPIDR are now FGDC compliant. Those data sets are ionospheric parameters, geomagnetic 1-minute variations, geomagnetic hourly variations, geomagnetic activity indices, GOES solar x-rays, GOES magnetometer, GOES energetic particles, DMSP visible imagery, DMSP thermal infrared imagery, DMSP microwave imagery, DMSP auroral particles, solar indices, sunspot numbers, ancient solar databases, and solar radio.

2.2. Support the evolution of common means to describe geospatial data sets.

M. Lockwood, NOS, provided leadership for the development of a National Shoreline Data Standard. He gave briefings to the FGDC Coordination Group and to the FGDC Steering Committee and developed a proposal and federal register announcement outlining the issues that need to be addressed. He organized the Shoreline Workshop held at the Coastal Services Center in Charleston, SC on November 3-5, 1997. He managed the steering committee and was responsible for all organizational and logistical aspects of the meeting. See Federal Register, Vol 26 no. 156, August 13, 1997.

NOS staff worked to develop a data accuracy standard for bathymetric and hydrographic survey data.

NOAA staff worked to develop a data content standard (feature and attribute catalogue) for nautical chart (marine/oceanic/coastal) objects.

The "Annual" meeting of the Bathymetry Subcommittee was organized and chaired by NOS and held in December 1997.

The Coastal Services Center staff developed a tool called the ArcView Metadata Collector to help create FGDC compliant metadata for ArcView GIS users. This tool won 2nd place in the ArcView Avenue competition at the annual ESRI Conference.

The Coastal Services Center staff created and maintained a metadata reference guide on the World Wide Web (http://www.csc.noaa.gov/metadata/).

2.3. Support the development of tools that allow for easy exchange of applications, information, and results.

The "Spatial Access to NOAA Framework Data" project, a joint effort of the National Geodetic Survey and the National Geophysical Data Center, has developed a Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) encoder for NGS geodetic control data, which is based on the SDTS Point Profile. The encoder dynamically accesses the NGS database to obtain up-to-date data. A World Wide Web interface to the encoder has been developed on the National Geodetic Survey web site, from which users may download geodetic data in SDTS-compliant format. The Point Profile is the first major addition to the Spatial Data Transfer Standard since the original development of SDTS by the FGDC. In addition to providing a means to transfer high precision point data, the Point Profile is serving as a model for additional SDTS profiles currently being developed. The NGDC effort was funded by the NOAA ESDIM Program. See the Web page http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/products_services.html

NGDC staff are collaborating with ESRI in development of ARC/INFO translators for the SDTS Point Profile. NGDC has provided NOAA point data sets to ESRI to aid development work, and has arranged to beta test the ARC/INFO Point Profile translators.

NOS staff developed and maintained the Bathymetric Subcommittee Home Page, and maintained a mailing list of subcommittee members

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Steering Committee officially approved the Point Profile as Part 6 of the Spatial Data Transfer Standard at its October 22 meeting. A product of the ESDIM-funded "Spatial Access to NOAA Framework Data" project, the Point Profile was jointly developed by NGDC, NOS, and the USGS to enable transfer of high-precision point data such as the National Geodetic Survey's geodetic control data. It will be published as FGDC document number FGDC-STD-002.6 by the Federal Geographic Data Committee.

The NOS Strategic Environmental Assessment Division implemented the on-line MapFinder Service that allows on-line Web-based searching and viewing of digital image and map products. The ESDIM funded project provides direct Internet access to primary NOS imagery and data holdings for coastal photography, nautical charts, coastal survey maps, environmental sensitivity index maps, hydrographic surveys, water level stations, and geodetic control points. NOS MapFinder provides a spatial index that allows users to identify specific NOS products.

NOAA staff participated in GC-ASK Pilot Study completed in 1997 by the Data Management Working Group of the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The Global Change Assisted Search for Knowledge (GC-ASK).is a tool for accessing and exploiting diverse, distributed databases via the Internet. GC-ASK is built on a powerful, dictionary/thesaurus based natural language knowledge retrieval system.

2.4. Research, develop, and implement architectures and technologies that enable data sharing.

The Prototype NOAAServer Web Page that provides access to NOAA Metadata and data services was implemented as an operational system. It now accesses over 10,000 NOAA data descriptions stored in the FGDC Metadata Standard format. Selected NOAA data bases can then be accessed for on-line data browse and preview, and for on-line data ordering.

Goal 3: Use community-based approaches to develop and maintain common collections of geospatial data for sound decision-making.

Intent: This goal recognizes that the job of developing and maintaining large collections of geospatial data can no longer be supported by any one institution. The highest resolution, most current data are usually produced and maintained in the communities in which they are used. The goal seeks to leverage activities that are already occurring over any given piece of geography so that common data may be more easily shared. A community-based approach will emerge from the efforts of individual data producers and users coming together to cooperatively solve problems.

Objectives

3.1. Continue to develop the National Geospatial Data Framework.

NOAA's National Ocean Survey, Coastal Services Center, and the National Geophysical Data Center are currently producing primary framework data sets for the coastal zone GIS Community. The data sets are primarily bathymetry/hydrography and shoreline data from Coast Survey and National Geodetic Survey coastal surveys. Much of this activity has been supported by the NOAA ESDIM program.

3.2. Provide additional geospatial data that citizens, governments, and industry need.

The NOS Alaska office had contracts awarded to enable GIS for Kachemak Bay Estuarine Research Reserve.

3.3. Promote common classification systems, content standards, and other common models to facilitate data development, sharing, and use.

Dr. George Sharman, NGDC, as a member of the Bathymetric Data Subcommittee, participated in the Shoreline Data Content Standard Workshop, November 3-5, 1997, at NOAA's Coastal Services Center, Charleston, SC. As a result of the workshop, Dr. Sharman is part of the Glossary Working Group to help better define, refine, and clarify the terms bandied about in the context of shorelines, GIS, and associated data.

Coastal Services Center staff made plans for a Shoreline workshop to be held at the CSC in FY-98.

The Coastal Services Center staff provided documentation on a comparison of five land cover classification metadata schemes to the Earth Cover Working Group Subcommittee.

J. Thomas, NMFS, participated in FGDC Earth Cover Working Group meetings to help work toward a standard classification scheme.

J. Thomas, NMFS, participated in a FGDC Wetlands Subcommittee meeting for coordination purposes.

G. Fromm, NOS/NGS, participated in activities of the Subcommittee on Base Cartographic Data and is a member of the newly formed FGDC group developing a National Standard for Shoreline Data.

Alaska was represented at the National Shoreline Standards meeting by representatives from the NOS Anchorage office and the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

Five Coastal Services Center staff members participated on the following FGDC committees:

Cindy Fowler        Bathymetric Subcommittee
                    Base Cartographic Data Subcommittee
Don Field           Multiresolution Land Characterization Consortium
                    Earth Cover Working Group Subcommittee
                    Wetlands Subcommittee (substitute as needed)
Dorsey Worthy       Earth Cover Working Group Subcommittee
Anne Miglarese      Bathymetric Subcommittee
David Stein         Standards Working Group

NGDC staff members participated on the following FGDC committees:

Allen Hittelman     National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse                                
                    FGDC Geological Data Subcommittee      
George Sharman      FGDC Bathymetric Data Subcommittee

Bureau of the Census Geography Division Contributions to FGDC:

NOS/SEAS Division contributions to FGDC:

Attended Cultural and Demographic Subcommittee Meetings;
Completed Priority Rating Survey of FGDC Standards;
Provided input to Cultural and Demographic Subcommittee on proposals for:
- Governmental Unit Boundary Data Content Standard
- Address Content Standard
- Creation of a Cultural Resources Work Group
- FGDC Thematic Feature Registry and database

NOAA staff continued to work with FGDC to establish a Wetlands Vegetation Classification and Earth Cover standards that can be used for the NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCAP) and will work to adopt common definitions for aggregating TNC/UNESCO categories to C-CAP categories

The Census Bureau continued to chair the FGDC's Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data (SCDD). The SCDD is develop a cultural and demographic data feature registry and conducting a data query as a preparatory step in developing a data classification standard.

Federal Geodetic Control Subcommitte Activities:

The Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee (FGCS) of the Federal Geographic Data Committee was chaired by Captain Lewis Lapine, former Director NOAA National Geodetic Survey. The FGCS exercises government-wide leadership in coordinating the planning and execution of geodetic surveys, in developing standards and specifications for these surveys, and in the exchange of geodetic survey data and technical information. FGCS coordinates Federal agencies' aspects of surveying that are governmental responsibilities. These responsibilities include standards setting, testing new geodetic instrumentation and operational systems, coordination of user agency requirements, and dissemination of government data to user agencies.

The FGCS acts to ensure that the Global Positioning System (GPS) will continue to meet the positioning needs of the Federal civilian community and works to strengthen the ties between the GPS positioning and navigation communities. This responsibility will be implemented through its role as GPS Interagency Advisory Council (GIAC) to the Department of Transportation PosNav Executive Committee.

Examples of Geodetic Control Subcommittee accomplishments:

GIAC in collaboration with the Institute of Navigation (ION) held two GPS Modernization Technical Sessions/Workshops on August 26 and November 6
Five GPS-Derived Orthometric Height Workshops given. Responsible Party: FGCS Vertical Reference Working Group, NOAA, Co-sponsors: California Land Surveyors Association, Oregon GPS Users Group, Washington GPS Users Group, Land Surveyors Association of Washington, American Society for Surveying and mapping (ACSM).
Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) Workshop, Houston, TX. Responsible Party: FGCS Fixed Reference Station Working Group, NOAA, Co-sponsor: Texas Society of Professional Surveyors.
Geospatial Positioning Accuracy Standards Workshops, Raleigh, NC and Williamsburg, VA. Responsible Party: FGCS Methodology Working Group, NOAA, Co-sponsor: ACSM, Virginia Association of Surveyors
Field Procedures Required to Meet Survey Standards and Specifications Workshop, Largo, MD. Responsible Party: FGCS Methodology Working Group, NOAA, Co-sponsor: Maryland Society of Professional Surveyors.
Four Development, Implementation and Future of the National Spatial Reference System Workshops. Responsible Party: FGCS Methodology Working Group, NOAA, Co-sponsors: California Land Surveyors Association, Massachusetts Association of Land Surveyors and Civil Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors of Wyoming, and Florida GPS Users Group.
Three State Plane Coordinate and Datum Transformation Workshops. Responsible Party: FGCS Methodology Working Group, NOAA, Co-sponsors: ACSM, Fresno State University, Texas Society of Professional Surveyors.

Evaluate surveying systems technology:

Completed testing of NovAtel L1/L2 Outrider GPS survey system
Completed testing of two Ashtech surveying systems: the GPS based Ashtech Z- Surveyor, and the GPS and GLONASS based Ashtech GG-Surveyor.
Performed preliminary testing of the Zeiss digital bar code level DiNi 10
Provided Internet access for test data and existing reports.
Opened GPS test course to manufacturers.

Monitor compatibility of Federal fixed reference stations with NAD 83 and their relationship to the development of a single Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) system to meet the requirements of Federal GPS post-processing procedures.
1. Twenty-eight CORS brought online.

Ongoing participation in the nationwide implementation of NAVD 88 and in the development of the Nation's geodetic height system using GPS: submitted "Guidelines for Establishing GPS-derived Ellipsoid Heights (Standards: 2 cm and 5 cm)."

Ongoing participation in the implementation of the geodetic data framework. completed Geodetic Control Framework Profile

3.4. Provide mechanisms and incentives to incorporate multi-resolution data from many organizations into the NSDI.

Regional Pilot GIS projects in San Francisco Bay and South Florida were supported by the NOAA Environmental Services Data and Information (ESDIM) program

Goal 4: Build relationships among organizations to support the continuing development of the NSDI.

Intent: The intent of this goal is that organizations and individuals work together to jointly build the NSDI and share data. Relationships among groups will take many forms and NSDI will be flexible enough to support a multitude of relationships. Economic, organizational, legal, and behavioral constraints can significantly influence the willingness and abilities of organizations to share data. It is also the intent of this goal that these constraints be identified and removed, where appropriate.

Objectives

4.1. Develop a process that allows stakeholder groups to define logical and complementary roles in support of the NSDI. Two Census staff members participated in the FGDC Cooperative Agreement Program proposal review.

Coastal Services Center provided four staff members to the NSDI CCAP program for reviewing proposals and paid for travel from Charleston, SC to Reston, VA for the panel meeting.

The Coastal Services Center transferred $150K to the NSDI CCAP program in support of projects that further the amount and quality of coastal metadata available

4.2. Build a network of organizations linked through commitment to common interests within the context of the NSDI.

NOS Alaska office: The Office of Coast Survey Anchorage staff participates in the Alaska Geographic Data Committee (AGDC) for inter-agency coordination on coastal mapping, bathymetry, and geodesy. Activities have included discussions on raster imagery, including NOAA Charts and USGS Digital Raster Graphics; review of private data sources for the Pribilof Islands to meet coastal mapping needs; evaluation of remote sensed data sources, including internal NOAA sources and potentials for application of national source data to Alaska issues; coordination with public and private members, including State of Alaska Division of Natural Resources, Municipality of Anchorage, several native corporations, and private firms, on access to coastal data; and establishment of a Bathymetry Subcommittee. Of particular note is that the AGDC offers a public- private data coordination forum that enables discussions of standards for data collection and distribution to enable understanding for GIS development and contract planning. An open forum, in the bathymetric subscommittee, enables discussions of data needs and differences in standards between federal agencies, including bathymetric data standards between the Coast Survey and Corps of Engineers, and coastal mapping standards between the USGS and NGS. The bathymetry subcommittee also noted the significant lack of data in western Alaska, including tidal datums, geodesy, and coastal mapping.

NOAA continued to work with Multiresolution Land Characterization (MRLC) Interagency Consortium to share thematic data sets.

The Coastal Services Center continued to develop partnerships with state and local organizations within coastal states for the purpose of sharing coastal zone data

The National Geodetic Survey monitored the compatibility of federal fixed reference stations with NAD83 and their relationship to the development of a single Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) system to meet a maximum number of Federal GPS post-processing requirements to support NSDI development.

The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) sponsors a cost-sharing geodetic advisory program with several states. Twenty two advisors instruct local surveyors and others on how to use and preserve the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS). The program provides a liaison between NOAA and the host state, usually with a jointly-funded NOAA employee residing in the state to guide and assist the state's geodetic and surveying programs. The program is designed to fill a need for more accurate local geodetic surveys, and is in response to the states' desire to improve their surveying techniques to meet FGCS standards and specifications. The advisors are:

CALIFORNIA: Joseph D. D'Onofrio    COLORADO: Richard S. Cohen
DELAWARE: Edward E. Carlson        FLORIDA: Ronnie L. Taylor 
ILLINOIS: Ronald K. Brewer         KANSAS: Monroe Rivers III 
LOUISIANA: Robert Zurfluh          MARYLAND: Donald M. Mulcare
MASSACHUSETTS: Curt Crow           MICHIGAN: Ronald L. Ramsey 
MINNESOTA: Dixon Hoyle             MISSISSIPPI: Donald D. Rexrode 
MONTANA: Charles Wright            NEBRASKA: Jerry Odum
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Curt Crow           NEW JERSEY: Michael Cline
NEW MEXICO: William Stone          OHIO: David A. Conner, NGS
OREGON: Curt Smith                 VERMONT: J. Milo Robinson 
WASHINGTON: Gary C. Perasso        WISCONSIN: Dr. D. David Moyer

4.3. Remove regulatory and administrative barriers to agreement formation.

4.4. Find new ways to provide resources for data production, integration, and maintenance.

In support of the Presidential Decision Directive on GPS, the Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee (FGCS) in its role as Global Positioning System (GPS) Interagency Advisory Council to the DOT Pos/Nav Executive Committee, acted to ensure that GPS will continue to meet the needs of the civilian community and works to strengthen the ties between federal agencies involved in GPS positioning, timing, and related navigation activities.

NOAA continued the development of the National Environmental Data Index, NOAAServer, and the Coastal Information Directory.

The NOAA High Performance Computer and Communication (HPCC) Office will continue to support the research and development of innovative, collaborative, and data sharing and dissemination technologies in NOAA

4.5. Identify and support the personal, institutional, and economic behaviors; technologies; policies and legal frameworks that promote the development of the NSDI.

4.6. Participate with the international geospatial data information community in the development of a global geospatial data infrastructure.

The Census Bureau continued participation on the International Organization of Standard's Technical Committee 211, Geographic Information/Geomatics (IS/TC 211). ISO TC/211 is developing a suite of standards defining a schema for information on data sets which can be exchanged via GIS systems. Bureau staff will continue to lead Work Item 13 "Data Quality," and participate in Work Item 10" Cataloguing," Work Item 14 " Quality Evaluation Procedures," and Work Item 15 "Metadata."