An Idea to Improve Data.Gov

NSGIC has registered an idea on the Federal CIO Council's Evolving Data.gov web site. The site was developed as part of the CIO Council's effort to involve the public in the evolution and growth of data.gov.

NSGIC leadership gathered via Google Wave to discuss data.gov and how it might help with NSGIC's effort to support a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Out of those talks grew an idea:

Data.gov should become a nationally managed "access point" that provides a mechanism for all levels of government to participate or integrate with, thus creating a single location for citizens to access government data.

This idea matches NSGIC's vision for the NSDI; a nationwide collection of geospatial data that originates in local, county and state agencies and is aggregated up to the national level. It is an approach that counts on a national effort to develop and promote data standards and to manage the integration of data from all levels of government.

"Nearly 30 of us tossed around a number of ideas and ultimately chose this as NSGIC's official submission," explained NSGIC President Will Craig (Minnesota). "I will ask the full membership to consider this idea within the context of the Evolving Data.Gov site. I hope to see other ideas submitted by NSGIC members as well."

USA Spending: IT Dashboard

Editor's Note: The following is cross-posted from Mike VanHook's excellent new blog.

Has anybody taken a good glance at the USA Spending IT Dashboard and noticed the difference a word can make? “Investment”

I pulled up the “IT Dashboard” to try to figure out what it was telling me about US government and the new administration has decided to show us how much they are spending and where the money is going. But rather than call it spending as the site domain says, they have listed it as investments.

Dashboard: http://it.usaspending.gov/?q=content/dashboard

If GIS were more often considered an investment it would certainly help!

Each “investment” is rated by the agency's CIO and is reported as a stoplight Red, Yellow, Green which provides a quick scorecard to the public.

Investment List: http://it.usaspending.gov/?q=content/investment-list

As a citizen – I don’t want to see any of my investments in red. (note the change in my language to “my investments”)

DOA (Agriculture) has an investment Geographic Information Services (GIS) #84 (Yellow, 4.7). An immediate red flag on the investment is because it is late and not rated by the CIO. Further investigation and several indicators (all 28) were not rated. This has the potential to make the Prime Contractor look bad (our sponsors).

If I don’t like this rating I can contact the Agency CIO by email, phone or snail mail.

http://it.usaspending.gov/?q=content/cio-information&agency_id=005&buscid=4042

Looking at this further, I think this is in part NAIP contracts and I’m sure we have a bunch of angry citizens if the NAIP imagery program is getting poor ratings. According to the site this investment “needs attention.”

What does NSGIC have to say about this GIS “investment”?

Big kudos to the Obama administration to get me thinking about my government and its spending as an investment.

A Few Words From the NSGIC President: April Showers Bring May Flowers Showers

The following is the seventh in a series of monthly guest-posts from 2008-2009 NSGIC President Learon Dalby, of Arkansas.

It's been a busy April for NSGIC, and we don't see any signs of a slow-down in May. The Board and committee leadership have been active on many fronts. Let me give you a sense of what's been going on. I know I can't do real justice to any of these, but here's what's been happening.

The NSDI White Paper
The NSDI white paper (PDF) is complete and has been approved by the NSGIC Board. This paper, based on many discussions among NSGIC membership, presents our thoughts on how best to create the National Spatial Data Infrastructure that we all seek to achieve. If I have to boil it down to one thought, it is this: The NSDI will be created as a collection of inter-related SSDIs - State Spatial Data Infrastructures.

Broadband
NSGIC leadership provided comments to the Federal Communications Commission on ways to make broadband mapping more effective as the nation works to close the digital divide. Broadband enhancement is a big and complicated job, but it will depend on accurate mapping of where the broadband infrastructure already exists. And that's something we know how to do.

The National IT Dialogue
NSGIC, as an organization, submitted two ideas to the National IT Dialogue. And many NSGIC members have been active in this on-line discussion which was set up to try to find ways to make recovery and Government Transparency web sites more useful.

We suggested ways to enhance recovery web sites with imagery; a funded Imagery for the Nation (IFTN) program would certainly make this easier.

We also offered thoughts on a nationally consistent approach to collecting geospatial location information on where recovery funds are spent. You'd think that that would be an easy thing to do. But if we want to do it right on a nation-wide basis, we all need to agree on a simple, logical approach.

ARRA Comments
We submitted comments on May 1, 2009, on OMB Section 1512 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5. Again, our focus was on a consistent approach to collecting geospatial location information.

FLAIR Act Support
The NSGIC Board passed a motion supporting HR1520 (The FLAIR Act) at its April meeting. This is legislation that calls for the federal government to "improve federal land management, resource conservation, environmental protection, and use of Federal real property, by requiring the Secretary of the Interior to develop a multipurpose cadastre of Federal real property and identifying inaccurate, duplicate, and out-of-date Federal land inventories, and for other purposes."

NSGIC continues to respond to federal requests for comments as best it can. To be most effective, we need the whole of the state GIS coordination community to present a united message and to speak, at times, with many voices in unison. If we do that, we can share the load of speaking to the federal government. If we present a consistent message, we can amplify our message and be most effective.

The NSGIC leadership also needs to hear from individual states as we formulate NSGIC positions. The "State Caucus" is no longer just a part of the mid-year and annual conferences. We now have a "continual caucus" that meets on-line and by conference call. Please don't be a stranger; be a voice in our discussions and in our chorus.

Cason Presented With Distinguished Service Award

NSGIC President Learon Dalby, of Arkansas, presented the 2009 NSGIC Distinguished Service Award to James E. Cason, formerly of the U.S. Department of the Interior, on Wednesday, February 25. The presentation took place at the NSGIC Technology Showcase at the Rayburn House Office Building.

Mr. Cason, who had served as Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget (PMB) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Department, was given the award both for his work as a strong and effective champion for Imagery for the Nation (IFTN) and for his leadership as Chair of the Steering Committee for Federal Geographic Data Committee.

In this role, he quickly realized that the committee needed strong leadership and a sense of purpose which he provided. In addition, he became the “Champion” for Imagery for the Nation which is still NSGIC’s #1 advocacy issue. He created an Executive Committee to shepherd development of IFTN and gave them a mandate to complete their planning process by the end of 2008. Based on the work of the Executive Committee, Mr. Cason forwarded a stimulus request to fund the program.

Many members of NSGIC were saddened to see Mr. Cason tender his resignation, as protocol dictates, with the recent change in administration. His leadership will be missed, but will serve as an inspiration to help carry forward the work of providing dependable geospatial data for the nation.

The Distinguished Service Award is one of several awards presented by NSGIC. It is usually given "to an individual or organization that is in a leadership position, advanced the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, promoted NSGIC’s goal of efficient and effective government through prudent implementation of geospatial technologies, and is likely to continue in their current or a more challenging position." It is NSGIC’s highest service award recognition.

NSGIC Leadership in Support of "Building a National GIS" Proposal

NSGIC President Learon Dalby, writing on behalf of the NSGIC Board and leadership, has sent letters to Congressional leaders in support of the "Building a National GIS" proposal suggested by several of the larger geospatial companies in recent days.

In his letter (PDF), Mr. Dalby notes NSGIC's support for the development and maintenance of the data and systems that would make up a National Spatial Data Infrastructure. he adds:

We support full funding for this proposal to be managed by the Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary, for activities to design, field, and support the National Geospatial Information System. The Secretary of Interior should distribute those funds accordingly to the appropriate Federal agencies.

The letter was sent on January 19, 2009, to:

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
• Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
• Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
• Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI)

Directions Magazine Digs Into COGO's Letter to Congress

The latest Directions Magazine Podcast finds Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg in a detailed discussion of the recent letter from COGO to the leaders of the House and Senate calling for more congressional oversight of federal geospatial activities.

Mr. Francica starts the podcast by describing the letter as a "demand," though in the conversation Ms. Schutzberg tones that down to "a request, but a big one." They discuss the timing of the request -- tied to the start of a new Congress -- and links to industry meetings coming up in the first part of the year.

There is also a brief discussion of what the prospects for the request might be. Mr. Francica wonders if there is an effective lobbying organization in place. Ms. Schutzberg notes that this is only a first step; letting Congress know that there is an issue and a constituency for that issue.

There is also a discussion of whether the idea might get "pushed aside" by the budget crises. Both agreed that a stimulus package will require some geospatial guidance, though and that makes the timing fortuitous.

Image (Tivo Play) courtesy of flickr user rgusic.

COGO Advocates Congressional Oversight of Geospatial Efforts

The leadership of the Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO) has sent a letter to Congressional leaders suggesting that House and Senate subcommittees be given some level of jurisdiction over geospatial activities at the federal level.

The letter (PDF) is from COGO Chair (and past NSGIC President) Cy Smith to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). It outlines some of the history of geospatial coordination, stresses the value of geospatial data and coordination in the public and private sectors, and points to the problem with the current state of congressional oversight:

Despite this extraordinary growth and the near-ubiquitous presence of geospatial data in government and the private sector, Congress does not have a committee or subcommittee with primary jurisdiction over geospatial activities. Rather, responsibility for oversight and authorization of federal geospatial activities is spread among more than 30 House and Senate committee and subcommittees.

It is important to note that the letter does not ask for a new committee or subcommittee. Rather, it suggests "including geospatial in the name and mission of an existing House and Senate subcommittee."

A Few Words from the NSGIC President: Join us in Annapolis!

The following is the second in a series of monthly guest-posts from 2008-2009 NSGIC President Learon Dalby, of Arkansas.

The 2009 NSGIC Midyear Conference will be held February 22 through 25 in Annapolis, Maryland. We hope you will join us as we focus on our Advocacy Agenda items for 2008 and 2009:

• Imagery for the Nation,
  
• Parcel Mapping,
• Transportation for the Nation,
  
• Partnership Funding, and
  
• Technology for the 21st Century

We'll discuss progress on these initiatives, plans to continue that progress, and the many positive impacts these initiatives will have on GIS coordination in the states and at the national level.

NSGIC meetings provide an opportunity for state GIS Coordinators to meet and learn from one another. They share their state coordination success stories and the challenges they have overcome. They meet with federal representatives to learn about programs relevant to state efforts and to identify potential funding and partnership opportunities.

The midyear conference in Annapolis provides an opportunity to meet with legislators and push initiatives specific to each state and to support the NSGIC Advocacy Agenda. Our 2008-2009 Advocacy Agenda is the strongest yet. We are seeing real movement at the national level on initiatives like IFTN – movement that translates into coordinated federal investment in GIS data and process.

The 2009 Midyear will conclude on Capitol Hill with a NSGIC Tech Expo "Fifty States for the Nation: Navigating Change and Mapping Opportunities."

Representation by individual states is vital to advocacy and coordination efforts, and is critical this year due to the changes that will occur in Washington as a result of the changing Administration. It is crucial that we keep these efforts moving forward.

The nation is in a transition phase this month and will start moving forward in a new direction in January. President-Elect Obama has done more than just talk about technology, he has embraced it. That makes our participation even more important.

NSGIC’s core values – relationship-building, coordination, stakeholder involvement, and shared solutions – have never been more relevant. NSGIC’s voice is strongest when it is the combined voice of all of the states. The NSGIC Midyear Conference is an opportunity to come together and make a difference.

NGAC Transition Recommendations Posted

Materials from the most recent meeting of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC) have been posted on the FGDC web site. The NGAC met October 15 -16, 2008, in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

The posted materials include a meeting summary (PDF), updates from NGAC members, an action plan for the committee and information on several major issues now under discussion by the committee:

• The "Changing Landscape" White Paper
• National Land Parcel Data
• Imagery for the Nation (IFTN)
• The Geospatial Line of Business (LoB)

Most timely on this election eve, there is also a three-page paper outlining the NGAC's recommendations (PDF) for the transition team of which-ever candidate will be the next President of the United States.

An Interview with the USDOT GIO

Adenda Schutzberg has a five-question interview with USDOT GIO Steve Lewis up on DirectionsMag.com today. Mr. Lewis, who was with NSGIC in Colorado this fall and spoke this past March at the NSGIC Mid-Year, includes a gratifying shout-out to NSGIC when speaking about the role of a federal agency GIO.

But the part of the interview that caught my eye is where Mr. Lewis explains how his approach to coordinating the use of geospatial technologies will differ from past attempts in his agency, which focused on technical governance requirements.

There were no attempts to create a true sense of community, where the members can learn from each other and leverage the work that is being done across all of the DOT Operating Administrations. The community will, of course, address FGDC and OMB requirements, but it will also focus heavily on sharing experiences and working together.

This is an important aspect of coordination efforts that sometimes gets lost in the bureaucracy. NSGIC has, I think, done a fairly good job of building a community, and many of us working at the state level find that a sense of community and shared-purpose, while hard to measure, can be a valuable asset to coordination.

Tell the EPA What Data You Need

The Environmental Protection Agency is looking for our opinions:

We want to know what kind of environmental information you need, and how you want to get it.

To that end, the EPA has launched a "national dialogue," including a "partner blog" that is open though June 13 for anyone to leave comments.

According to EPA CIO Molly O'Neill, the idea is to gather input for a "multi-year EPA strategy on environmental information access."

As our partner in environmental protection, you share an interest in enhancing access to high quality environmental information to support our joint mission. We need your insights to understand the possibilities both now and for the future.

The strategy is to be completed later this year.

The Roster for the NGAC Has Been Officially Released

A number of NSGIC members, and many NSGIC Friends, are among 28 individuals named today to serve on the new National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). The NGAC membership was announced (PDF) by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today.

Fourteen members represent the private sector, nonprofits, or Academia:

• Sean Ahearn, Hunter College, City University of New York;
• Allen Carroll, National Geographic Society;
• David Cowen, University of South Carolina;
• Jack Dangermond, Environmental Systems Research Institute;
• Kass Green, The Alta Vista Company;
• David Maune, Dewberry;
• Anne Hale Miglarese, Fugro EarthData, Inc.;
• Charles Mondello, Pictometry International;
• Kim Nelson, Microsoft Corporation;
• Matthew O’Connell, GeoEye;
• John Palatiello; Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors;
• G. Michael Ritchie, Photo Science;
• David Schell, Open Geospatial Consortium; and
• Christopher Tucker, IONIC Enterprise

Another 14 members represent government agencies:

• Rizwan Ahmed, State of Louisiana;
• Timothy M. Bennett, NativeView;
• Michael Byrne, State of California;
• Donald Dittmar, Waukesha County, WI;
• Dennis Goreham, State of Utah;
• Randall L. Johnson, Metropolitan Council, St. Paul, MN;
• Randy Johnson, Hennepin County, MN;
• Jerry Johnston, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;
• Barney Krucoff, District of Columbia;
• Timothy Loewenstein, Buffalo County, NE;
• Zsolt Nagy, State of North Carolina;
• Jay Parrish; State of Pennsylvania;
• Gene Schiller, Southwest Florida Water Management District; and
• Steven Wallach, U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

According to Secretary Kempthorne, the committee "will help provide advice and perspectives from a broad range of our partner organizations as we continue to develop new ways to utilize geospatial information for the benefit of the public."

The NGAC is an advisory committee, formed under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and is charged with "providing recommendations on effective management of Federal geospatial programs." In particular, development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).

NSGIC took a closer look at the NGAC in the Summer/Fall 2007 issue of NSGIC News (PDF).

More Mapped Election Finances

The Federal Elections Commission has announced a map-presentation of campaign finance data for House and Senate races in 2008. This is a companion to the Presidential campaign finance map we noted in June.

A mouse-over on the House and Senate version shows the number of Representative Districts in the state. Clicking on the map brings up a state-view showing all the Districts boundaries. Mousing-over on that map highlights the District and shows the folks running for that seat.


From there, one can drill down to see detailed financial and donor data for each candidate.

As map-presented data goes, this is a fairly simple-looking site. But it leads users to a wealth of data. And that's probably the point.

NSGIC Posts 2007-2008 Advocacy Agenda

The National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) has posted its 2007-2008 Advocacy Agenda (PDF). The Advocacy Agenda is part of an effort to meet the NSGIC Strategic Plan (PDF) goal of being an effective advocate for states in national geospatial policy initiatives.

The 2007-2008 Advocacy Agenda focuses on several key and specific initiatives approved by member states at the NSGIC Annual Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, in September of 2007. They are:

1. Imagery for the Nation -- The Council will seek authorization and funding from Congress to implement a sustained federal program for the collection, maintenance, distribution and archive of aerial imagery that meets on-going local, state, and federal program requirements.
2. Cadastral (Parcel) Mapping -- The National Academy’s report entitled “National Land Parcel Data: A Vision for the Future” provides an opportunity to quickly enhance and improve significant portions of the cadastral layers of the NSDI. The report’s nine recommendations are important in that they encourage cost sharing and integration among federal, state and local cadastral activities.
   
3. Cooperative Agreements Program (CAP) Grants -- The Council will seek, support, and advocate for increased funding (new funds) for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Cooperative Agreements Program (CAP) Grants within the U.S. Department of Interior. In FY 2007 a total of $1.2 million was made available to fund an estimated 26 innovative projects that spread across five categories. Each project focuses on ways to build and improve the existing geospatial data infrastructure necessary to effectively discover, access, share, manage and use digital geographic data.
   

The Advocacy agenda will help NSGIC in its effort to guide the states in fulfilling their role in building the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), and to promote statewide geospatial coordination activities in all states.

Updates from the GIS in the Rockies Conference

Joe Francica, of All Points Blog, is reporting this week from the GIS in the Rockies Conference and has posted some interesting notes from the Mile High conference site.

So far, he's reported on Jack Dangermond's Keynote Address, a discuss of Service Oriented Architecture for GIS and a multi-agency federal update that folks planning to attend the NSGIC Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, later this month may want to review.

There's also an announcement out of Colorado state government and NSGIC's own Jon Gottsegen that the state has opened its GIS Portal. Even more exciting is the announcement from Michael Locatis, Colorado's Chief Information Officer, "that Gottsegen's position was being elevated to that of a statewide Geographic Information Officer (GIO) that will report in through the Governor's office."

Well done, Jon!

"Information is a national asset"

The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the CIO Council have released a set of IT Architecture Principles for the U.S. Government, according to a story in Federal Computer World.

The Architecture Principles (PDF) are intended to support "a single Federal Enterprise Architecture to achieve operational excellence for the American public."

The Introduction includes a basic statement of purpose:

Government coordination depends upon consistent decision making across multiple business units, departments and projects. But a natural tension exists whenever more than 100 agencies and thousands of sub-agencies and programs must work together as one. An enterprise-wide architecture tries to create a framework for effective decision making across multiple business units. Otherwise, independent groups decide alone resulting in inconsistency, information islands, isolated business processes, and inefficient technologies. This mixture is a recipe for poor performance.

Among the seven principles is one that sounds a theme familiar to NSGIC members: "Information is a national asset."

The rationale for this principle speaks of the importance of "a well-informed citizenry" and notes that "accurate information is critical to effective decision making, improved performance, and accurate reporting."

Among the implications of this principle are several that reflect lessons learned by NSGIC members about geospatial data coordination:

• Government must "identify authoritative sources of high quality information, and agencies to provide access to specified data and information."
• This may require some "restructuring" of data sources.
• The federal government will need a strategy "to promote cost effective data sharing with other levels of government."
  

A Geospatial Presentation of Campaign Finance Information

The Federal Elections Commission has established a map-based interface with its campaign contributions data.

The 2008 Presidential Campaign Finance Map "summarizes financial information disclosed by each active 2008 Presidential candidate who has reported at least $10,000 in contributions from individuals other than the candidate," according to the FEC web site.

The site uses a simple "CONUS" view of the nation, with Alaska and Hawaii tucked-in where Mexico would be. Amounts of contributions are represented by circles of different relative sizes. Clicking on a state's circle will "zoom" to a state-level view with circles showing contribution amounts by 3-digit ZIP code levels. Clicking on those circles, if you have a candidate selected, brings you to the individual contribution records.

Users can view data for all candidates, candidates by party affiliation, or for individual candidates. the map-based presentation offers a simple, intuitive way to view one aspect of campaign contributions -- where geographically they come from.

The site currently shows about $157 million in contributions through the end of March. The next update will come in July.

FGDC Releases 2006 Annual Report

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) has released its 2006 Annual Report. The report is available on the FGDC web site in both PDF and HTML versions.

The report includes highlights and successes from th past year, as well as goals for 2007. There is also a status report on the NSDI Framework Data Themes.

Registration Now Open for NSGIC 2007 Mid-Year Conference

It is time to register on-line for the NSGIC 2007 Midyear Conference.

The 2007 Mid-Year Conference will run from Sunday, March 25, through Thursday, March 29, at the Doubletree Hotel Annapolis, in Annapolis, Maryland.

The theme for this conference is "Guiding Lights." The draft agenda (XLS) includes meetings of the NSGIC State Caucus and meetings with a variety of federal agencies involved in the use and sharing of geospatial data. Major topics will include strategic and business planning, state and federal cooperation and coordination, providing nationwide aerial photography and transportation data, and a variety of other NSGIC initiatives.

Registration for the conference is $250 for NSGIC members registering by March 2, $300 when registering by March 23, and $350 after March 23. Registration for non-members is $400 before March 2, $450 after March 2, and $500 after March 23.

It probably would make sense, therefore, to join NSGIC before registering.

Leaders in the geospatial industry are represented as sponsors at NSGIC conferences. They know that, since NSGIC attracts the top geographic information executives in state government, and works closely with those in county and municipal government as well as the federal government, becoming a NSGIC Sponsor is a great way to reach top decision-makers.

Interior Department to Get New Acting CIO

Federal Computer Week reports today that Michael Howell, now the CIO for the Fish and Wildlife Service, will become acting CIO for the whole Department starting on January 4.

This may be very parochial of me, but here's the part that caught my eye:

Howell, who has extensive experience with geographic information systems, began his federal career with the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho and Washington.

And, yes, the emphasis is mine.