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National Spatial Data Infrastructure Partnership Programs: Rethinking the Focus
use their Web Browsers to easily access a huge quantity of image and other spatial data sources. The efforts of the Open GIS consortium’s Web Mapping Test Bed demonstrate that similar tools can be used to combine data housed on several different FGDC clearinghouse nodes. Such nodes now number more than 240 located in 26 different nations. There has also been considerable technological advancement integrating desktop GIS software with industry standard database management systems and common office products. Better support for the development and use of metadata has facilitated easier exchange of spatial data among formats, map projections, and datums. In fact, map projections can be converted “on the fly” and several databases can be integrated into a single project. Software wizards and improved on-line help systems have led to significant improvements in the usability of sophisticated spatial analytical tools.
Partnership programs designed to support this kind of complete production system and evaluation effort will necessarily require a higher level of per-project funding than has been available in previous partnership programs. Clearly, the more of these efforts that can be funded, the more rapidly the successful population of the Framework database will occur.
Identify whether critical components of the Framework database are being adequately addressed, either by the federal agencies or by non-federal organizations, and take action to address any gaps that are identified. Such gaps may be geographic in nature, thematic, scale-specific, etc. A strategy for addressing such gaps may include providing incentives to an organization to perform the data production, even though the organization would not normally produce such data. In the extreme, it may be determined that it is in the broad public interest to ensure that these data exist and are maintained, and therefore that subsidies or outright funding of the activity might be appropriate. Based on the specific Framework layer(s) involved, one or more federal agencies may have a particular interest in ensuring that the data are collected and maintained and therefore may support the activity financially, or alternatively may collect the data itself.
Offer creative incentives for non-federal organizations to carry out their Framework data production and maintenance missions. These incentives could include cash awards based on completion and continuing maintenance of Framework data. Such incentives could be
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