1999 Goals
The Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data's (SCDD) objective is to promote the collection, use, sharing and dissemination of cultural and demographic geospatially referenced data pertinent to the needs of the Nation. Several responsibilities listed in its Charter suggest a methodology for fulfilling the objective, and include:
1. assisting the FGDC’s Coordination Group in promoting the development, maintenance and management of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI),
2. developing and maintaining governmentwide standards for the description, documentation and exchange of geospatially referenced cultural and demographic data,
3. compiling information on the activities of Federal agencies that collect and use cultural and demographic geospatially referenced data, and
4. assisting in determining boundary elements and appropriate additional categories of cultural and demographic geospatially referenced data significant to a broad variety of users within any geographic area or nationwide for including in the National Digital Geospatial Data Framework (“framework”).
Actions
The SCDD held four meetings in 1999. Meeting locations, standards discussed, special presentations and tours are summarized in following table.
Date | Location | Standards Addressed | Presentation/Tour |
2/23 | U.S. Bureau of the Census, Geography Division | Governmental Unit Boundary Standard -Progress report -Working Draft review | Presentation – Census Bureau’s American Factfinder |
4/21 | Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division | Governmental Unit Boundary Standard - Request for comments on Working Draft | Presentation – Developing a Spatial Data File for Testing GIS Systems
Tour – Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress |
9/14 | National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) | Address Data Content Standard -Review and progress report | Presentation – Center for Disease Control’s Common Data Elements Implementation Guide (Address-specific data elements) |
11/15 | National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | Address Data Content Standard -Follow-up report on comments received from SCDD members and from URISA Conference presentation | Presentation – CDC’s Cartography and GIS Guest Lecture Series. “Benchmark Testing of GIS Capabilities for Epidemiologic Studies of Breast Cancer on Long Island, New York” |
The SCDD promotes outreach and education among organizations and therefore, each SCDD meeting was hosted by its member agencies and included either a presentation on a topic of interest and/or a tour of the host agency (refer to responsibilities #1 and 3 above). The SCDD has also continued to support the work of the Cultural Resources Working Group and its activities (refer to responsibilities #1 and 4 above).
The SCDD encourages the development and advancement of the standards it sponsors (refer to responsibilities #2 and 4 above). For example, an SCDD representative presented the Address Data Content Standard at URISA's "Street Smart and Address Savvy" Conference held in October 1999. Comments were solicited from conference participants in order to obtain a diverse range of input to the standard.
Barriers
Several barriers have hindered SCDD accomplishments and the advancement of SCDD goals in 1999, including:
· low member participation and turnout at meetings (i.e. limited amount of time each member can contribute),
· time and expense of hosting and organizing meetings,
· staffing difficulties that have affected the management and development of standards, and
· difficulty in obtaining review and comments on draft standards.
Status of SCDD Sponsored Standards
Address Data Content Standard
· Step 4 of the FGDC Standards Development Process: Draft Standard Development Stage
· Currently awaiting additional comments and SCDD member approval
Governmental Unit Boundary Standard
· Step 4 of the FGDC Standards Development Process: Draft Standard Development Stage
Metadata Profile for Geospatially Referenced Cultural and Demographic Data
· Step 4 of the FGDC Standards Development Process: Draft Standard Development Stage
· Currently in inactive status