The Role of Standards in the National Spatial Data Infrastructure

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The Role of Standards in the National Spatial
Data Infrastructure
By Richard A. Pearsall FGDC
rpearsall_at_usgs.gov Arkansas GIS Users
Conference 9/09/1999
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What Is the National Spatial Data Infrastructure?

• NSDI is the technologies, policies, standards,
  and human resources necessary to acquire,
  process, store, distribute, and improve the
  utilization of geospatial data.
• Executive Order 12906 - Coordinating Geographic
  Data Acquisition and Access The National Spatial
  Data Infrastructure (NSDI) - April 1994
• Managed/Coordinated by the Federal Geographic
  Data Committee (FGDC)
• Part of a Global Spatial Data Infrastructure

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National Spatial Data Infrastructure
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Geospatial DataSome Examples
Field Measurements
Maps
Spatially-referenced Data
Remotely-sensed Images
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Data

• The most expensive investment for an organization
• Created by many different organizations
• To solve many different problems
• Using many different methods and technologies

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But . . .

• Data are hard to find
• Data are difficult to access
• Data are hard to integrate
• Data are not current
• Data are undocumented
• Data are incomplete

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What is a Standard?
Standards are
documented agreements
technical specifications or
other precise criteria
containing
to be used
rules, guidelines, or
definitions of characteristics,
consistently
as
to
ensure that materials, products, processes and
services
are
fit for their purpose.
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(as defined by ISO)
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What is an Official Standard?

• DeJure - by right or legal establishment
• DeFacto - existing or being such in actual fact
  though not be legal establishment, official
  recognition

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How Long have Standardsbeen around?

• Known to exist as early as 7000 BC when
  Cylindrical Stones defined a Unit of Weight in
  Egypt

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The Importance of Standards (Some Examples)

• Commerce/Manufacturing/Industry
• Units of Weights and Measures (basis for most of
  what we do today)
• World War II - created urgency to extend many
  domestic standards to the international level.
  Allied supplies and facilities were severely
  strained due to the incompatibility of tools,
  replacements parts, and equipment. Standards
  helped to reduced inventories and increase
  compatibility.

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The Importance of Standards (Some Examples)

• Traffic Signals -
• Imagine being a color blind person
• Prior to 1927 - Purple, Orange, Green,
  Yellow, Blue, and Red were common traffic signal
  colors color meanings were not consistent nor
  was placement (the Green signal was popular in
  the top location in Irish sections of the US).
• 1927 - A National Code of Colors (AASHO, NBS,
  NSC).

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The Importance of Standards (Some Examples)

• Diasters (fire, flood, )
• Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 - fire engines from
  different regions responded only to be found
  useless since they had different hose coupling
  sizes that did not fit Baltimore hydrants - fire
  burned over 30 hours, resulted in destruction of
  1526 building covering 17 city blocks.
• Fire 1923 - Fall River, MA saved when over 20
  neighboring fire department responded to a town
  fire since they had standardized on hydrants and
  hose couplings sizes.

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So What is Thought To Be TheMost Significant
Standard?

• Standard for Railroad track gauge - adopted by
  US, UK, Canada, and much of Europe.
• American Civil War
• Australia

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Types of GIS Standards

• Data Classification
• Data Content
• Data Symbology or Presentation
• Data Transfer
• Data Useability

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The Need for Standards in Geographic Information

• Reduce the redundancy and duplication of data
  production
• To enable organizations to describe, utilize, and
  share information and data
• Good Decision making requires we think and work
  outside the box

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Geography Quiz
Where are we?
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Who are the Decision Makers?
Montana
Wyoming
Idaho
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FIRE !
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So Who Makes the Decisions?
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So Who Makes the Decisions?
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Upper Mississippi River Basin
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Mississippi Flood
Preflood Sept. 24, 1992
Peakflood Aug. 1, 1993
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So When is the Best Time to Develop a Standard?
This is not it
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So What do Standards Provide the IT Community?

• Promotes common understanding through a common
  set of terminology
• Promotes/enables Interoperability
• Promotes Data and Information Sharing

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So What do Standards Provide to the IT Community?

• Enables Technology Independent Solutions
• Provides a basis for Conformity Assessment

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FGDC Standards Activity

• 12 Endorsed Standards
• (Metadata, SDTS, Accuracy,
• Soils, Vegetation Classification)
• 22 Under Development
• (Metadata Profiles, Other Data
• Content, Other SDTS Profiles

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Find out more . . .
www.fgdc.gov

• Federal Geographic Data Committee
• USGS 590 National Center
• Reston, Virginia 20192
• 703.648.5514
• 703.648.5575 (fax)
• gdc_at_usgs.gov

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