The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is a United States government committee which promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis. Its 32 members are representatives from the
Executive Office of the President
The Executive Office of the President (EOP) comprises the offices and agencies that support the work of the president at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The EOP consists of several offices and agenci ...
, and
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
level and independent federal agencies. The secretary of the
Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
chairs the FGDC, with the deputy director for management,
Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...
(OMB) as vice-chair.
History
The FGDC's role was determined by OMB Circular A-16 and OMB Circular A-119 until 2018. Then the FGDC's official position and roles were codified in law in the ''Geospatial Data Act'' of 2018.
OMB Circular A-16, revised August 19, 2002, is a
Government circular
A government circular is a written statement of government policy. It will often provide information, guidance, rules, and/or background information on legislative or procedural matters.
See also
*List of circulars {{short description, None
This ...
that was created by the United States
Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...
(OMB) to provide guidance for federal agencies that create, maintain or use spatial data directly or indirectly through the establishment of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC).
The circular establishes guidelines for the management of digital spatial data and the use of those assets. It also appoints the FGDC to the interagency coordinating body for NSDI-related activities. The Secretary of the Interior is established as chair, with the Deputy Director for Management, OMB as Vice-Chair.
U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure
The U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) ensures that spatial information is accurate and available to state, local, and tribal governments as well as to academia and the private sector. The NSDI obeys four primary values:
* Privacy and Security of raw and processed citizens' personal data and accuracy of statistical data
* Access to these data per guidelines subject to
OMB Circular A-130 OMB Circular A-130, titled Managing Information as a Strategic Resource, is one of many Government circulars produced by the United States Federal Government to establish policy for executive branch departments and agencies.
Circular A-130 was firs ...
* Protection of proprietary interests to these data
* Interoperability between various federal agencies' information systems within these data
The NSDI supports the advancement for a Global Spatial Data Infrastructure that coincides with National Security interests. Any Federal system that develops international data in accordance with these systems must follow international voluntary standards as outlined by
Circular A-119.
The NSDI has five parts:
* Data themes
*
Metadata
Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...
*
National Spatial Data Clearinghouse
*
Technical standard
A technical standard is an established norm or requirement for a repeatable technical task which is applied to a common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, ...
s
*
Partnerships
A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...
Mission and policy
The FGDC coordinates the sharing of geographic data, maps, and online services through an online portal, ''geodata.gov'', that searches metadata held within the NSDI Clearinghouse Network.
Spatial Data is considered a national capital asset. The NSDI manages the distribution of these assets across all interconnected systems, federal and private sector, and analyzes it to determine the impact of the world economically, physically and socially upon the United States.
Part of NSDI's mission is to help avoid duplication or erroneous modification of this spatial data. Accurate and dependable spatial data allows NSDI to analyze current situational trends such as weather patterns, traffic congestions, and other various infrastructures to create a national snapshot in order to make predictions or projections based on these data.
Any agency that collects, produces, acquires, maintains, distributes, uses, or preserves any form of spatial data either directly or indirectly with any other agency or organization must follow the policies set forth by the circular.
The following exemplary list is representative of the kinds of systems to which the circular applies:
* the
National Mapping Program
* the
National Spatial Reference System
The National Spatial Reference System (NSRS), managed by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), is a coordinate system that includes latitude, longitude, elevation, and other values. The NSRS consists of a National Shoreline, the NOAA CORS Network (a ...
* the
National Geologic Mapping Program
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
* the
National Wetlands Inventory The National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) was established by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to conduct a nationwide inventory of U.S. wetlands to provide biologists and others with information on the distribution and type of wetlands ...
* the
National Cooperative Soil Survey Program
* the National
Public Land Survey System
The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the surveying method developed and used in the United States to plat, or divide, real property for sale and settling. Also known as the Rectangular Survey System, it was created by the Land Ordinance of 1 ...
* Geographic Coordinate Database
* the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (
NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
) nautical charting and nautical data collection and information programs
* the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (
USACE
, colors =
, anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day)
, battles =
, battles_label = Wars
, website =
, commander1 = ...
) inland waterway charting program
* the Offshore Minerals Program
* the NASA's Earth Science Enterprise
* the
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...
's Flood Plain Mapping program and other federal activities that involve national surveying, mapping, remote sensing, spatially referenced statistical data
*
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
(GPS)
There are few exemptions to adherence to the policy described in the circular:
* spatial data related to tribal governments not paid for with federal funds
* classified national-security related activities of the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philippin ...
(DOD), unless declassified by
Executive Order 12951
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dire ...
(under direction of the Secretary of Defense)
* those activities of the Department of Energy under determination of the Secretary of Energy
* intelligence spatial data activities, under determination of the
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) is a statutory office () that functions as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which in turn is a part of the United States Intelligence Community.
Beginning February 2017, the D ...
Every agency that uses NSDI information must adhere to a set of responsibilities as outlined by the circular.
On July 23, 2009, the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing on federal geospatial data management. Rep.
John Sarbanes
John Peter Spyros Sarbanes ( ; born May 22, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who is the U.S. representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes the state capital of Annapolis, central p ...
of Maryland quoted a U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) report from his briefing material saying that only 4 of the FGDC member agencies were in compliance.
[Will Craig (Fall 2009). ''Governance of the NSDI'']
ArcNews Online
Retrieved 2010-08-24.
See also
*
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...
*
Spatial Data Infrastructure
References
External links
HTML Version of OMB Circular A-16
List of OMB circulars
{{US-gov-stub
Geographic data and information in the United States
United States Office of Management and Budget
Government documents of the United States
Geographic data and information regulation
United States federal boards, commissions, and committees