National Spatial Data Infrastructure: Concepts and Components

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National Spatial Data InfrastructureConcepts
and Components

• Douglas Nebert
• U.S. Federal Geographic
• Data Committee Secretariat
• September 2004

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What is a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)?

• The SDI provides a basis for spatial data
  discovery, evaluation, and application for users
  and providers within all levels of government,
  the commercial sector, the non-profit sector,
  academia and by citizens in general.
• --The SDI Cookbook http//www.gsdi.org

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Who needs access to coordinated geographic
information?

• Land Records Adjudication
• Disaster Response
• Transportation Management
• Water, gas electric planning
• Public Protection
• Defense
• Natural Resource Management
• Telecommunications Infrastructure
• Economic Development
• Civic Entrepreneurs
• Regional Stewards

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Components of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)

• Policies Institutional Arrangements
  (governance, data privacy security, data
  sharing, cost recovery)
• People (training, professional development,
  cooperation, outreach)
• Data (digital base map, thematic, statistical,
  place names)
• Technology (hardware, software, networks,
  databases, technical implementation plans)

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Why build an SDI?

• Build data once and use it many times for many
  applications
• Integrate distributed providers of data
  Cooperative governance
• Place-based management
• Share costs of data creation and maintenance
• Support sustainable economic, social, and
  environmental development

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The outcomes of an NSDI

• The participant members (contributors and users)
  are known and can interact
• Core and specialized map and data services are
  easily discoverable and accessible
• Decision-makers and analysts have ready access to
  the right geo-information for input to analytical
  and visual models indicators, models, trends,
  patterns

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Benefits of an NSDI

• Development of a private sector involved with
  data sales and added value
• A chance for communities of all sizes and
  capabilities to participate in the knowledge
  economy
• A more informed voter/citizen
• Increased access to distributed geo-information
  through standards

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Creating the motivation

• Development of an SDI should be a voluntary and
  have long-term vision
• Government roles may require both incentives and
  directives
• Commercial and non-commercial participants
  should find SDI appealing as a market
• The correct solution for NSDI must be defined by
  the community

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Government Role in Infrastructure

• National Interstate Highway system built for
  defense logistics, now baseline for commerce
• DARPA/ARPA advanced Internet infrastructure
  design, establishing the backbone
• Promotes standards to enable compatible
  solutions
• We cannot imagine the fullest extent of how the
  NSDI will be populated or what applications will
  live upon it!

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Heres one overview of the pieces of the NSDI
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• The first task is to inventory who has what data
  of what type and quality
• A standardized form of metadata was published in
  June 1994 by the FGDC. An international standard
  now exists and will be adopted by the US
  beginning in 2005

Metadata
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Metadata...

• Provides documentation of existing internal
  geospatial data resources within an organisation
  (inventory)
• Permits structured search and comparison of held
  spatial data by others (catalog)
• Provides end-users with adequate information to
  take the data and use it in an appropriate
  context (documentation)

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Metadata Formats

• The FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial
  Metadata (CSDGM, 1998) is expressed in XML for
  exchange and text and HTML for presentation
• Participants in the Geospatial Data
  Clearinghouse offer other metadata formats,
  including Dublin Core, ANZLIC, and expressions of
  ISO 19115
• Any metadata format can be presented by
  requesting the HTML format

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• Metadata describes existing data holdings for
  order, retrieval, or local use
• Metadata should be used to describe all types of
  data, emphasis on truth in labeling

Metadata
Geospatial Data
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• Special-use thematic layers are built and
  described as available geospatial data
• Common data layers are being defined in the
  Framework activity

Metadata
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Framework supports...

• Community development of sets of spatial
  features, feature representation, and attribution
  to a lowest common denominator
• Participant collecting, converting, or
  associating information to common Framework data
  standards with an encoding format to facilitate
  exchange
• Multiple representations of real-world features
  at different scales and times by feature
  identifier and generalization

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Framework Data Standards

• Eleven abstract data content standards are being
  promulgated through the ANSI process to become
  American National Standards in 2005
• Each thematic content standard has an
  informative annex describing its implementation
  as XML/GML Application Schemas using OGC Web
  Feature Services

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The NSDI includes the services to help discover
and interact with data
Services
Metadata
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An important common service in SDI is that of
discovering resources through metadata
Discovery
Access
Processing
Services
Metadata
This Discovery Service is the core function of
the NSDI Clearinghouse for geospatial information
and the GOS geodata.gov portal
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NSDI Clearinghouse Network and geodata.gov portal

• Supports uniform, distributed search through a
  single user interface to all domestic metadata
  collections to find data and maps
• A free advertising mechanism to provide world
  access to your holdings under the principle of
  truth-in-labeling
• Search for spatial data through fields and
  full-text in the metadata and categorical
  browsing
• Links through to full data access and online web
  mapping services, where available

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Geospatial Data Clearinghouse

• The Geospatial Data Clearinghouse Network
  includes nearly 300 distributed collections of
  metadata searched via the Z39.50 protocol, GEO
  Profile
• geodata.gov harvests XML forms of domestic
  metadata from Z39.50 and browseable Web
  directories into a searchable cache

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• A second class of services provides standardised
  access to geospatial information

Discovery
Access
Processing
Services
Metadata

• This may be made via static files on ftp or via
  online data streaming services. These services
  deliver raw data, not maps.

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Data Access Concepts

• Standardisation of data access implies several
  things
• Definition of model used for the data to be
  exchanged
• Adoption of an exchange or encoding format
• Agreement on data access protocol(s)
• Organisations should strive to identify the
  mode(s) of operation to simplify data exchange

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Data Access Examples

• Administrative boundary data conforming to the
  GlobalMap data model, packaged as Vector Product
  Format (VPF), made accessible over ftp
• Panchromatic 10m, single-band, rectified imagery
  to a specific coordinate reference system,
  packaged as GEOTIFF with LZW compression, made
  accessible on CD-ROM

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A third class of services provides additional
processing on geospatial information
Discovery
Access
Processing
Services
Metadata
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Processing Services

• These include capabilities that extend and
  enhance the delivery of data through processes
  applied to raw data
• Web Mapping Services (OGC WMS)
• Symbolization (OGC SLD)
• Coordinate Transformation (OGC WCTS)
• Analysis or topologic overlay services
• Routing services

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Geospatial Interoperability Reference Model (GIRM)

• Voluntary technical participation in the NSDI is
  defined through the GIRM
• The GIRM includes data standards, formats,
  protocols, and interface specifications to
  maximize interoperability
• http//gai.fgdc.gov/girm/

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• Standardization makes SDI work
• Standards touch every SDI activity

Discovery
Access
Processing
Services
Metadata
Standards
Standards include specifications, formal
standards, and documented practices
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FGDC Standards...

• Created by FGDC working groups and thematic
  subcommittees as national standards, representing
  community consensus view of data theme or common
  approach
• Submitted for 90-day public review
• Reviewed across disciplines for uniformity
• Published as US Federal Standards
• Standards by ISO, OGC, W3C and other
  standardization bodies are used FIRST, if they
  exist!
• http//www.fgdc.gov/standards/standards.html

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Roles of standards bodies
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Partnerships extend our capabilities
Partnerships
Discovery
Access
Processing
Services
Metadata
Standards
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Partnerships are the glue...

• FGDC has recognized 40 geographic data councils
  across the country to establish 2-way
  coordination mechanisms
• FGDC has funded numerous agencies with seed
  funding to further existing efforts along common
  lines
• Partnerships extend local capabilities in
  technology, skills, logistics, and data
• The National Map is a partnership designed to
  serve Framework data themes from distributed
  participating organizations for multiple purposes

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Regional consortia

• Locally formed, interdependent
• Inclusive, voluntary, open
• State, local, federal, tribal, academic, private
  sector
• Expanded from existing collaborations

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Best practices

• Treat data as strategic, capital assets and
  public goods
• Collaborate and Coordinate
• Align roles, responsibilities and resources for
  data stewardship
• Organize Effective and Efficient Production and
  Stewardship of Data
• Pool and Leverage Investments

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Treated together this comprises the NSDI
Partnerships
Partnerships
Discovery
Access
Processing
Clearinghouse (catalog)
Services
Metadata
Metadata
GEOdata
Framework
Standards
Standards
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Initiatives and Future Directions

• Geospatial One-Stop and the geodata.gov portal
• An Enterprise Architecture for the NSDI
• NSDI/FGDC Future Directions Initiative

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Geospatial One-Stop

• One of 24 official E-Government initiatives
  started in late 2002
• Focused on the use and re-use of data and
  services between government (G2G) and the citizen
  (G2C)
• Involves all sectors (federal, state, local
  government, academia, commercial)

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How does OneStop support NSDI?

• GOS has a timeline for implementation of NSDI
  components by all partners
• Deploys a one-stop portal (geodata.gov) for
  quick access to community data, services, and
  related resources
• Standards are being developed with multi-sectoral
  stakeholders as national (ANSI) standards, not
  FGDC ones
• Goals include measures of costs and savings
  through cost-sharing in data acquisition,
  processing, and service of geospatial data

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Some operational features

• geodata.gov will speed and simplify search and
  browse of metadata as a replacement for the
  domestic NSDI Gateways
• Metadata are harvested from remote collections
  into a single metadata cache to speed search
  and ranking
• Browsing for geospatial data is made possible
  through common ISO 19115 Topic Categories
• Current portal is an operational prototype based
  on research and development efforts,
  March-September 2004

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Portal at geodata.gov

• Map services can be registered and visualized in
  viewer where links provided in metadata
  (Online_Linkage)
• Other resource types Data, static maps, and
  applications can be registered through metadata
• Channels (thematic communities) post and
  arbitrate selected browseable content
• Operational portal is to be awarded by
  competitive procurement in Q1 2005

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Enterprise Architecture NSDI as the Enterprise

• Develop an Enterprise Architecture for the NSDI
  to encourage the identification of geospatial
  data service producers and consumers, and
  optimize resourcing for relevant programs within
  and across agency lines
• Deliverables to include
• Common terminology and scope to effort Business,
  Data and Technology Reference models
• Validation of Reference Models via active
  prototyping and demonstration
• A consensus process to evolve reference models
  via broad NSDI Stakeholder / Community
  involvement

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NSDI Future Directions Initiative

• Purpose Draft a National Geospatial Strategy
  for the further development of the National
  Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)
• Product A Plan of Action for the FGDC and the
  geospatial community

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Drivers

• Revised OMB Circular A-16 (2002)
• E-Government Act 2002 (Section 216)
• Presidents Management Agenda
• Proposed Legislation
• GAO Reports

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Future Direction Actions

• Making Framework Real
• Framework Standards Development
• Publishing Metadata
• Implementing Standards/Web Protocols
• Urban Areas
• Communicating The Message
• Business Case
• Strategic Communications Plan
• Training and Education

• Partnerships with Purpose
• Restructure FGDC
• Tribal Engagement
• State Councils
• Engaging Non-Geospatial Organizations

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Douglas Nebert

• Federal Geographic Data Committee Secretariat
• ddnebert_at_fgdc.gov
• http//www.fgdc.gov
• [phone]