Geographic information for the 21st century : building a strategy for the nation : a report

392 Pages·1998·97.5 MB·English

by  National Academy of Public Administration

BLM LIBRARY
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BUILDING A STRATEGY
FOR THE NATION
BLM Library ^
Denver Federal Center
Bldg. 50, OC-521
P.O. Box 25047
Denver, CO 80225
ABOUT THE ACADEMY
The National Academy of Public Administration is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit
organization that assists federal, state, and local governments in improving their perfor¬
mance. In 1984, the Academy was granted a congressional charter. The unique source of
the Academy’s expertise is its membership — more than 480 current and former Cabinet
officers, members of Congress, governors, mayors, legislators, diplomats, jurists, business
executives, public managers, and scholars who have been elected as Fellows.
Since its establishment in 1967, the Academy has assisted numerous federal agencies, con¬
gressional committees, state and local governments, and institutions overseas through prob¬
lem solving, research and innovation, and implementing strategies for change. The Academy
is also supported by businesses, foundations, and nonprofit organizations.
The Academy also promotes discourse on emerging issues of governance. It focuses on
performance and management issues, both as overarching processes and as practical con¬
siderations for agencies and programs engaged in the full range of domestic and interna¬
tional concerns.
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A Report by a Panel of the
National Academy of
Public Administration
for the Bureau of Land Management,
Forest Service, United States
Geological Survey, and National
Ocean Service
G(
eographic
January 1998
Information
for the
21st Century:
Building a Strategy
for the Nation
Panel Members
Edward E. David, Jr., Panel Chair
Gerald R. Riso, Panel Co-Chair
Eric A. Anderson
Jerry A. Aspland
Lawrence F. Ayers, Jr.
Jack Dangermond
BLM Library
Jonathan B. Howes
Denver Federal Center
Bradford Huther
Bldg. 50, OC-521
Terrence J. Keating
P.O. Box 25047
Lawrence J. Korb
Denver, CO 80225
Wendy Lathrop
The views expressed in this document are those of the contributors alone.
They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Academy as an institution.
National Academy of Public Administration
1120 G Street, N.W.
8th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
First published 1998
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48.1984.
ISBN 1-57744-062-5
Geographic Information for the 21st Century: Building a Strategy for the Nation
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Officers of the Academy
Jonathan B. Howes, Chair of the Board
David S.C. Chu, Treasurer
Mary Jane England, Vice Chair
R. Scott Fosler, President
Jane Pisano, Secretary
Project Staff
Arnold E. Donahue, Project Co-Director
Roger L. Sperry, Project Co-Director
Robert Lee Chartrand, Senior Research Associate
Patricia M. Durkin, Editor
Martha S. Ditmeyer, Research Assistant
Jeffrey Fitzpatrick, Project Coordinator
Michael B. Fraser, Senior Research Associate
Emily K. Hage, Research Assistant
Bruce D. McDowell, Senior Research Associate
Rebecca Wallace, Senior Research Associate
Lisa Warnecke, Senior Research Associate
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TABLE OF CON TENTS
FOREWORD. ix
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. xi
COMPLETE LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS . xxiii
CHAPTER ONE
Origins of the Study and Research Methodology. 1
CHAPTER TWO
Economic, Technological, and Societal Trends and the Panel’s Vision —
Where Geographic Information Is Headed. 7
CHAPTER THREE
Geography-based Public Purposes and Geographic Information Roles. 35
CFIAPTER FOUR
Providing National Leadership and Coordination for the NSDI. 61
CHAPTER FIVE
Policy Bases, Structure, and Organization to Meet Today’s and Tomorrow’s
Geographic Information Challenges and Opportunities. 101
CHAPTER SIX
Balancing the Roles and Functions of the Government and Private Sectors. 147
CFIAPTER SEVEN
Other Issues. 179
ACRONYMS . 195
GLOSSARY . 199
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Panel Members and Staff . 203
Appendix B: Agency Contacts. 207
Appendix C: Issues, Other Analyses, and Underlying Assumptions. 209
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Table of Contents Appendix D: Interview and Contact List . 213
Appendix E: Historical Evolution of the Federal Government’s Needs
and Programs for Geographic Information (GI). 229
Appendix F: International Trends and Comparisons. 253
Appendix G: U.S. Geographic Information Resources Conference. 267
Appendix H: Selected Bibliography. 305
Appendix I: Relationship Between Public Purposes and Geographic
Information. 323
Appendix J: Comments of Sponsoring Organizations . 331
TABLES
Table 2-1: Principal Relationships between Geographic Information
and the Economy. 12
Table 2-2: Elements of the Policy Base and Governance Structure . 32
Table 3-1: Principal Relationships Between Public Purposes and Geodata . 41
Table 3-2: The Intergovernmental Nature of Geodata for Geography-based
Public Purposes . 42
Table 3-3: Federal Lead Agencies. 48
Table 3-4: Sources of Current Transaction Records Related to Major
Types of Geodata. 51
Table 4-1: National Spatial Data Infrastructure Implementation Actions
from Executive Order 12906, 1994 FGDC Plan for the NSDI,
and 1997 Strategy for the NSDI. 68
Table 4-2: National Spatial Data Infrastructure Implementation Actions
from the National Performance Review. 71
Table 4-3: National Spatial Data Infrastructure Implementation Actions
from Reports of the Mapping Science Committee,
National Research Council. 72
Table 4-4: Comparison of Functions Performed by National Spatial Data
Council and Federal Geographic Data Committee. 81
Table 5-1: Federal Agency Field Structures and Their Counterparts:
Geodetic and Geological Agencies . 120
Table 5-2: Federal Agency Field Structures and Their Counterparts —
Federal Land Management Agencies . 122
Table 5-3: Federal Agency Field Structures and Their Counterparts —
Other Federal Agencies . 124
Table 5-4: Federal Field Presence in States. 125
Table 5-5: Framework Layers and Assignments. 127
Table 5-6: Geodetic Datums Used in the United States . 134
Table 5-7: Surveyors in Four Federal Agencies. 136
Table 6-1: Dimensions of the Public/Private Choice. 158
Table 6-2: USGS National Mapping Division . 163
Table 6-3: National Ocean Service . 165
Table 6-4: Bureau of Land Management. 166
Table 6-5: Forest Service. 167
Table 6-6: Variations in Outsourcing. 168
Table 6-7: USGS Partnership Funding . 170
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Table 7-1: Planned Commercial Remote Sensing Satellites . 181 Table of Contents
Table E-l: National Marine Sanctuaries, November 1997 . 236
Table E-2: Disposition of the Public Lands, 1781-1995 . 240
Table E-3: Organizations and Functions Transferred to FEMA . 246
FIGURES
Figure 2-1: Geographic Information System (GIS) . 15
Figure 2-2: Federal Lands Impact Localities: Sandy, Oregon . 16
Figure 2-3: Federal Data Discrepancies: Differing Agency Data Encourages
Integration, Reconciliation, and Collaborative Data Revisions. 23
Figure 3-1: Relative Shares of Public Lands: Six Largest Federal
Land Management Agencies. 46
Figure 4-1: The Vision for DoD’s Global Information Infrastructure (GII). 85
Figure 4-2: Local, State, and Federal Agencies Collaborate in Utah Ecoregions ... 96
Figure 5-1: Proposed Department of Natural Resources . 104
Figure 5-2: Differing Regional Boundaries of Federal Agencies Having
GI Activities and Land Management Responsibilities . 117
Figure 5-3: Geographic Data Service and National Spatial Data Council. 132
Figure 5-4: Composite of BLM and FS Lands in Twelve Western States . 135
Figure 7-1: Increasing Use of the US Geological Survey
National Mapping Division’s World Wide Web Server. 183
Figure E-l: History of the Four Sponsoring Agencies. 231
Figure E-2: History of the Bureau of Land Management . 231
Figure E-3: History of the Forest Service. 233
Figure E-4: Relative Shares of Public Lands: Six Largest Federal
Land Management Agencies. 234
Figure E-5: History of the National Ocean Service. 235
Figure E-6: Major Eras of Federal Land Ownership and Land Management . 239
Figure E-7: Longevity of Selected Federal Government Programs
Relying on Geodata. 242
Figure G-l: Commercial Satellite Imagery. 297
Figure G-2: Commercial Market Push and Pull . 298
Figure G-3: Information and Data Service Markets. 299
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