Subcommittee onCultural and Demographic Data (SCDD)

Proposal for aNational Spatial Data Infrastructure Standards Project
 

 DATE OF PROPOSAL: November 1997.
 

 PROJECT TITLE: Governmental Unit Boundary Data ContentStandard.
 

 SUBMITTING ORGANIZATION: Federal Geographic Data Committee(FGDC) Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data (SCDD).
 

 OBJECTIVES: To provide consistency in the maintenance andinterchange of governmental unit boundaries and facilitate the analysisof and comparison between the boundaries.
 

 SCOPE: The Governmental Unit Boundary Data Content Standard(the Standard) will be an FGDC data content standard. The Standard willidentify and provide semantic definitions and rules for utilizing componentsfor describing governmental unit boundaries.

The applicability of the Standard; that is, the domain of entities thecomponents shall be used to describe the boundaries of, is limited to governmentalunits although the Standards' principles may be extended to describe theboundaries of other geographic entities. The Standard adopts the U.S. Bureauof the Census description of a governmental unit as:

 
JUSTIFICATION: Governmental unit boundaries are a key part ofmany datasets. Although a large number of agencies present data which iseither directly or indirectly referenced to governmental units, a relativefew number of agencies are responsible for the collection and maintenanceof governmental unit boundaries. Governmental unit boundaries are heldby maintenance agencies in a format designed for their internal use, makingthe interchange of governmental unit boundaries to all interested partiesunduly complex (for example, the Bureau of the Census maintains its governmentalunit boundaries in its TIGER database). There is a need for an FGDC governmentalunit boundary data content standard to improve the sharing and interchangeof governmental unit boundaries amongst federal, state and local governmentsand other interested participants.

 The Bureau of the Census conducts a Boundary and Annexation Survey(BAS) to determine the inventory of legally defined entities and the correctnames, political descriptions, and legal boundaries of counties, MCDs,and incorporated places as of January 1 of the year of the survey. TheStandard will assist in the collection of this information.

 The Standard meets the responsibilities stated in OMB CircularNo. A-16 to develop standards through the FGDC to ensure that the spatialdata produced by all Federal agencies is compatible.

 The Development of a National Digital Geospatial Data Framework(Federal Geographic Data Committee publication, April, 1995) identifiedgovernmental units as one layer of the information content of framework.The Standard will assist in developing this aspect of framework. The developmentof the Standard is particularly timely in that Executive Order 12906 statesthe initial transportation, hydrology, and boundary elements offramework should be completed by January 1998 in order to support the decennialcensus of 2000. As Chair of the SCDD, the Department of Commerce, Bureauof the Census, has identified the development of the Standard as a meansof furthering this goal.

 
BENEFITS: The Standard will benefit Federal, state and localgovernments and other participants interested in sharing and interchangingboundary data. Potential contributors to and users of framework data willalso benefit.

 
APPROACH: All members of the SCDD participate in developingthe Standard. The Bureau of the Census will provide staff to lead the effort.

 The SCDD plans to draw from existing standards, which includethe Spatial Data Transfer Standard. The SCDD will coordinate with thoseinterested in framework through the FGDC Framework Working Group.

 
RELATED STANDARDS: The following standards have been identifiedto date:

 
RESOURCES: The SCDD has adequate resources to accomplish mostof the development and initial review processing of the Standard. However,additional resources will be needed to handle the full review and commentactivity during non-Federal sector public review.

 
POTENTIAL PARTICIPANTS: Primary participants will be membersof the SCDD:

Department of Agriculture, National Resources ConservationService
Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service
Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
Department of Commerce, Office of Ocean Resources, Conservation,and Assessment
Department of Defense, Tri-Service CADD/GIS TechnologyCenter
Department of Defense, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers
Department of Health and Human Services, National Centerfor Health Statistics
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Services
Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics
Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division
Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Department of State
Environmental Protection Agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Library of Congress
National Archives and Records Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Capital Planning Commission
Social Security Administration
Tennessee Valley Authority.

 Input will be solicited from participants in the FGDC's CadastralSubcommittee, Framework Working Group, and International Boundaries Subcommittee.

 SCDD's open membership policy allows for and encourages participationby non-Federal individuals and organizations.

 
TARGET AUTHORIZATION BODY:  The SCDD is developing an FGDCdata content standard; the FGDC is the target authorization body.

 
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Last revised: Friday, 08-Dec-2000 14:11:47 EST