Getting Serious About Original Place Names

The April Edition of Spatially Speaking (PDF), the FGDC's monthly update, includes a short article on a grant from the USGS National Geospatial Program Office to the Hawaiian Geographic Information Coordination Council (HIGICC) to enhance the web site of the Hawaii State Board on Geographic Names (HBGN).

The Hawaii names folks have been working through USGS place-name data for the island state (at the USGS' request) and making suggestions on updating the typography and spelling of those names to help users towards a more correct pronunciation of traditional names. The new grant will go towards adding audio files to the HBGN web site to demonstrate proper pronunciations.

The idea is borrowed from the Coeur d'Alene Tribe in Idaho, who have added written and recorded traditional names information on their web site. The Coeur d'Alene Tribe GIS Program has created a Native Names Project (with some USGS funding) that presents information on original names in a searchable database and in several map formats, including as a Google Earth KML.

The project is open to input on names outside of traditional Couer d'Alene areas. Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, for example, is at the same spot as what was once known as Tsi wahswèn:to (MP3) which translates as "at the coal forked mouth."

The projects are expected to expand to include video presentations, additional history, and other information.

NSGIC Mid-Year Reports: The National Map Tactical Plan

The USGS has been working on a new tactical plan for the National Map. Bill Carswell, of USGS, gave an overview of the purpose of the National Map. He described it as a key part of the NSDI and noted that it is built on partnerships and standards. He listed some of the accomplishments of the first version of the National Map, but added that the job is not yet done.

The focus for the National Map "2.0" includes integration into a consistent, quality assured and seamless map; revitalization of topographic maps, and online services from consistent national data.

The near-term priority areas include the coasts, along international borders and the 133 urban areas, among other areas.

Mr. Carswell set out a tactical plan to gather and publish base-map data for the National Map.

Paul Wiese explained a movement from distributed data to centralized data in National Map 2.0.

Vickie Lucas spoke about the importance of partnerships, which she called the foundation of the National Map. The USGS partnership strategy is based on the complimentary roles of levels of government to develop the NSDI.

She noted that the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is an example of working in partnership with states and local governments.

She said that the USGS will draw from the NSGIC 50 States Initiative and the strategic plans that states are developing. Staff are starting meet with NSGIC members to gather feedback.

Bill Carswell reported that the USGS director has signed the National Map 2.0 tactical plan.

Update (3/18/08): Presentation materials from this session are now available on-line.

Update on USGS Research Priorities

Directions Magazine's Adena Schutzberg has an update this morning on research priorities for the USGS.

As we noted in November, the Mapping Science Committee of the National Research Council released A Research Agenda for Geographic Information Science at the United States Geological Survey which offered recommendations to the USGS for future research by the USGS Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS). Last week, Adena and colleague Joe Francica discussed some of those recommendations on their Podcast.

Today, Adena has some reaction from E. Lynn Usery, the acting director of CEGIS, including further discussion of the future of the USGS' National Map project.

Study Recommends USGS Research Priorities

The National Academies Press has published a study that makes recommendations to the USGS for future research by the USGS Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS).

The study, A Research Agenda for Geographic Information Science at the United States Geological Survey, is by the Mapping Science Committee of the National Research Council.

The study makes 12 recommendations:

1. CEGIS should initially focus on research that will improve the capabilities of The National Map.
2. The three priority research areas for CEGIS should be (1) information access and dissemination, (2) integration of data from multiple sources, and (3) data models and knowledge organization systems.
3. The two priority research topics within the area of information access and dissemination should be to reinvent topographic maps in an electronic environment and to investigate user-centered design for The National Map web services.
4. The two priority research topics for CEGIS within the area of data integration should be generalization and fusion.
5. The two priority research topics in the area of data models and knowledge organization systems should be developing geographic feature ontologies and building the associated feature data models and gazetteers.
   
6. CEGIS should initially comprise six to eight Ph.D.-level scientists working in teams of at least two on the high-priority topics identified in Recommendations 3 to 5. Each team would comprise a mix of USGS scientists and visiting scientists and/or postdoctoral fellow(s) as appropriate to the topic. Their location should not be constrained to USGS facilities if the most efficient progress could be made in another setting (e.g., an academic center of excellence).
7. CEGIS should establish and/or support one to two centers of excellence in GIScience at universities with relevant GIScience focus and capabilities that address its longer-term research challenges.
   
8. CEGIS should supplement the work of its core research teams with Broad Area Announcements, Cooperative Research and Development Act agreements, and targeted contracts on high-priority research topics.
   
9. To reestablish USGS’s leadership role in GIScience, maximize efficiency, and share in the cost of addressing common challenges, CEGIS should forge connections with other federal agencies, professional societies, and private-sector firms that conduct, support, and/or promote GIScience research.
10. Because of USGS’s core role in integrating data from local sources for The National Map, CEGIS should establish collaborative activities with state and local agencies that have progressive activities in GIScience.
11. CEGIS should use specialist meetings, perhaps in conjunction with the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science winter meeting or summer assembly, to advance its state of knowledge and plans for addressing emerging research challenges.
12. To provide broad-based input, review, and critique of CEGIS plans, activities, and progress and to institutionalize CEGIS’s connection to the USGS disciplines, the National Geospatial Program Office should establish an advisory board for CEGIS that includes members from each of the USGS disciplines as well as non-USGS GIScience experts.
    

The study is available for sale on the National Academies Press website. An Executive Summary (PDF) is available for free download.

The Center Moves North and West

USGS's Craig Neidig has sent us a link to a story on NPR's Morning Edition yesterday about the designation of a new spot as the "official geographic center of the country."

The story tells about how Belle Fourche, in South Dakota, celebrated its designation as the center of the nation with the unveiling of a new monument at the "actual" center point.


View Larger Map

The center of the 48 continental states had been found to be in Kansas. When Alaska entered the Union, the center of the 49 states moved north to a spot northeast of Belle Fourche. Factoring-in Hawaii shifted the center west by about six miles. That's the spot that the good citizens of that part of Butte County are marking this summer.

Update (and Mea Culpa): A sharp-eyed (and clear-thinking) anonymous commenter spotted my error this morning. I had mistakenly placed Belle Fourche in North Dakota instead of South Dakota. Trying to edit a post with this fancy Google Maps embed-thingy locked up the Blogger editor, though. So I have had to recreate (correct) and re-post. Thus, the correcting comment is lost to the ages. My gratitude to my unknown editor remains.

Moving Forward on the Geospatial Line Of Business

Federal Computer Week reports today on reviews under way at USGS of proposals for management support services and more under the Geospatial Line of Business (LOB).

According to the story, Interior reviewing Geospatial LOB proposals, vendors responded to a Request for Quotes earlier this month.

Under the request for quotes, USGS wants vendors to provide 16 program management support services including project management office support, quarterly and ad hoc reports for the Office of Management and Budget, fiscal 2008 business case and funding strategy, performance management plan, and business requirements strategy and plan.

The RFQ also asks the vendor to develop a geospatial business architecture, which will help agencies understand and implement a standard geospatial business model, value chains for data and services, and other geospatial components.

The federal government released its LOB and asked for comments in 2006. NSGIC was among a number of geospatial groups that provided feedback (PDF).

Another (the Official) Update on Imagery for the Nation

The first of a planned series of Imagery for the Nation (IFTN) updates has been posted to the NSGIC web site.

Imagery for the Nation is a cooperative effort to make real a vision of "a sustainable and flexible digital imagery program that meets the needs of local, state, regional, tribal and federal agencies."

Update #1 (PDF) looks at several on-going activities related to the effort:

• Work now under way on a Cost Benefit Analysis study.
• Thoughts on the idea from the Western Governors Association.
• Recent discussions on potential funding options.
• Next steps and "what can I do to help?"

One answer to that last question is very simple:

You can assist the implementation of IFTN by showing your support for this initiative. Please have your organization send a letter of support to NSGIC for posting on its web page. You can simply use the format from one of the letters on the site, or create your own format. What’s important is your show of support.

Stay connected to the NSGIC blog and to the IFTN web site for further updates.

An Update on Imagery for The Nation

Ted Koch, NSGIC's lead on the Imagery for the Nation (IFTN) project, has posted an update on the project on the Wisconsin Mapping Bulletin.

He reports that the National Digital Orthophoto Programs Committee (NDOP) which has been focused on IFTN lately, met in May and continued their work to flesh-out what IFTN will mean:

The NDOP committee will be developing over the next six months a much greater level of detail on technical specifications, and program and management issues. Work on these issues will involve federal, state and local government participation.

He also reports on work on a Cost Benefit Analysis of IFTN funded by the USGS and the USDA

The CBA will compare costs over a 10-year period of the way orthoimagery is currently collected and achieved vs. the potential methods that could be possible under the IFTN proposal. The study will also look at overall risks and benefits to the proposed program.

He notes that the analysis is expected to be published this summer.

A Useful Update on USGS From Directions Magazine

Directions Magazine's Adenda Schutzberg provides a useful overview of what our friends at USGS are up to in 2007.

She looks into major issues and initiatives such as the increase is USGS Liaisons, the National Geospatial Technical Operations Center, the Geospatial Line of Business,GOS, the National Map and other programs.

The last few years have been a time of change at USGS. It looks like that change, and one hopes growth, will continue.