1. Geospatial Platform: Facilitating Open Access to Geospatial Data
Good morning - I am Jennifer Carlino and I am the Metadata Coordinator for the Federal Geographic Data Committee.
Thank you to the organizers and session leads for this opportunity to share information about the Geospatial Platform and facilitating open access to geospatial data.
Jennifer Carlino, FGDC
SciDataCon Workshop
September 13, 2016

2. Topics Overview Federal Geographic Data Committee
Overview National Spatial Data Infrastructure
Components of NSDI
Geospatial Platform Capabilities
Data
Services
Tools
Collaboration
Questions
This morning, I’m going to provide some context for the FGDC and the ongoing development of the NSDI. This will include the Geospatial Platform and its capabilities.
I’m happy to take questions as part of the panel discussion afterwards.

3. Advancing Geospatial Information
The United States Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) was established in 1990 to coordinate geographic information and federal spatial data activities
I wanted to set some context today for the work of the Geospatial Platform as it is part of the larger concept of the NSDI.
With the advancement of computers In the 70’s and 80’s the US government began developing applications and tools that integrated social, environmental and economic data with geographic information for understanding and decision-making. Realizing benefits from these efforts the FGDC was Established in 1990 to coordinate the Nations Geographic Information and Federal Spatial Data Activities.
Over many years we have worked to establish a National Spatial Data Infrastructure to deliver data and services to the nation and more recently have made considerable progress through refinement of our policy and planning framework and dissemination systems.
National Spatial Data Infrastructure

4. National Spatial Data Infrastructure
Partnerships
Policies
Standards
Data
Technology
NSDI
Framework Components
The NSDI Provides a framework of polices, standards, procedures, data and technology to support the effective coordination and sharing of spatial information among a community of stakeholders.
The US NSDI Framework components include:
Partnerships for coordination and collaboration
Policies, procedures, and Standards for data sharing, management and interoperability
Data and Technology services to support access and use of geospatial information
The framework provides the foundational components that have helped our nation advance the use of geographic information and spatial services.

5. Partnerships Collaboration Governance Federal State and Local
Tribal
Industry
Academia
International
Strategic
Non federal advisory
Federal advisory
Thematic & crosscutting topics
In order to achieve the NSDI vision, we must have effective partnerships - people are the most important component of the NSDI.
These partnerships play a critical role in our governance structure which includes 4 tiers.
STRATEGIC - 32 Federal organizations makeup the Steering Committee that sets high-level strategic direction for the FGDC and is led by a subset of Executive Committee members selected from agencies with the largest investments.
NON FEDERAL ADVISORY - Non-Federal Constituents from Public, Private, and academia provide advice through the National Geospatial Advisory Committee
FEDERAL ADVISORY - Coordination Group advises on the day-to-day business of the FGDC
THEMATIC AND CROSS CUTTING TOPICS - Agency Led Subcommittees and Working Groups address specific geospatial issues
Our partnerships and structured governance have developed overtime and continue to evolve to support our implementation efforts.

6. Policies OMB (examples): Executive Orders and directives Public laws
A-16 Coordination of Geographic Information and Related Spatial Activities
A-16 Supplemental Guidance provides foundation for geospatial portfolio management approach through National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA)
A-130 Management of Federal Information Resources
A-119 Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards
M Open Data Policy
Executive Orders and directives
Public laws
References (e.g., Geospatial Interoperability Reference Architecture)
The NSDI policy, standards and procedures components are integrated and leveraged to unleash high value datasets for government, commercial and public use.
Many different components - public laws, executive orders that include open data and standards development as well as circulars issued by the Office of Management and Budget which provide management and operational guidance to agencies.
The FGDC is guided by these policies and directive to enhance geospatial information sharing and use.

7. Standards
Collaborate with State, local, and tribal governments, private sector and academic community and international community
Develop, adopt and implement national & international standards
Foundation for data discovery, access, sharing, and use and interoperability
More than 100+ standards endorsed
Standards facilitate development, sharing, and use of geospatial data and services. The FGDC develops or adopts geospatial standards for implementing the NSDI, in consultation and cooperation with State, local, and tribal governments, the private sector and academic community, and the international community.
Collaborative (inclusive of Public and Private Partners)
Structured
Iterative
Connections with key standards organizations such as OGC, ISO and ANSI.
Federal agencies that collect, use, or disseminate geographic information and/or carry out related spatial data activities are required to follow FGDC standards
Non-Federal agencies are encouraged to use FGDC-endorsed standards to facilitate data sharing.
The FGDC has established and endorsed over 100 meta-data, data, technology and other national and international standards.
ISO :2014

8. Data
Framework Data
A-16 National Geospatial Data Asset Portfolio Themes and Datasets
Focus areas:
3DEP
Imagery
Address database
Open Water Data Initiative
The US has established 7 framework data themes that serve as the foundation for the NSDI.
In addition, the A-16 policy outlines an approach for managing geospatial data using a portfolio management approach cross cutting among Departments/Agencies. We have established geospatial data as a national asset - these are nationally significant resources that are important to multiple agencies/stakeholders or directed by law/policy. The NGDAs provide a standard core set of digital spatial information for the Nation that serve as a foundation for users of geographic information organized into 17 Themes.
We have identified lead agencies who are responsible for developing the NSDI capabilities under each of these framework data elements we are developing strategic and operation plans for accelerating implementation.
There are several focus areas as well. The FGDC supports all geospatial related information.
177 NGDA Datasets comprise the 17 A-16 NGDA Themes

9. Technology - Geospatial Platform
Geospatial Platform provides:
Access to data and information
Tools for visualization, synthesis, and analysis
Services for acquiring and delivering geospatial data
Collaboration tools
In recent years, technology capacity and capabilities has expanded. We’ve been collaborating and working hard to develop the Geospatial Platform as the technology component of the NSDI. It’s also referred to as GeoPlatform.gov.
We have learned as a community that we needed to integrate our technical resources to achieve the NSDI vision.
The Geospatial Platform is envisioned to provide:
Local-to-global access to data, information and knowledge resources
Tools for visualization, synthesis and analysis
Services for acquiring and delivering geospatial information and services
Collaboration tools and services for government, commercial and public use
This next set of slides will go into more details about the Geospatial Platform capabilities.

10. Technology - Geospatial Platform
DATA
Catalog
Marketplace
SERVICES
Service Status Checker
Performance Dashboard
TOOLS
Map Manager
Map Viewer
COLLABORATE
Communities
The Geospatial Platform is envisioned to provide:
Local-to-global access to data, information and knowledge resources
Tools for visualization, synthesis and analysis
Services for acquiring and delivering geospatial information and services
Collaboration tools and services for government, commercial and public use
We’ll start by looking at the Data component

11. Metadata and Shared Catalog
With the open data policy directives, Data.gov is the primary source of data/metadata records for geospatial and non geospatial resources in the U.S.
The geospatial community had geospatial one-stop and the clearinghouse already in publication. It made sense to share a catalog to integrate the geospatial and non geospatial resources using a standards based approach.
Data.gov has 186,255 datasets as of 9/7/2016
Geospatial Platform has subset of geospatial tagged metadata records and has 122,277 as of 9/7/2016

12. Dataset/Metadata Catalog
Filter by Location
Enter Keyword
Facet Search
Tags
Topics
Formats
Organizations
Within the GeoPlatform catalog, users can access the metadata about these datasets in a number of ways:
Sort Search Results

13. Marketplace - Planned Acquisitions
Filter by Location
Enter Keyword
Facet Search
Tags
Topics
Formats
Organizations
For the Marketplace- Here you will find a listing of datasets that are planned for acquisition by one or more of the FGDC member agencies. You can use this listing to determine whether a potential partner is already trying to acquire data that you have an interest in.
This is a subset of the Dataset Catalog and you’ll see just 100 resources here.
Sort Search Results

14. Marketplace - Preview Planned Acquisition Data
Area of Interest for 3DEP planned
The marketplace concept is expanding.
I want to show an initial preview of the upcoming marketplace is being supported by the Integrated Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping (IWG-OCM) and the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP). Demonstrating how we can work together to coordinate on mapping requirements and plans of Federal and state agencies around the country.
Marketplace provides access and management of metadata representing data collection projects of various types and priorities by government agencies and their partners.
Users (and their organizations) can explore the metadata available to find relevant projects or identify possible opportunities for coordination with each other.
Example:
Under Projects - I can see all the planned Data Layers. If I am interested in this area for 3DEP and I can click on the project information.
Project Information

15. Marketplace - Preview Project Page
Information for Area of Interest
That will take me to the project page that gives more details.
I can get more information about my area of Interest by clicking the “i” button which pulls up a pop up box with more information including notes and a point of contact.
I can also look for similar types of information by owner, status, type or nearby by using this feature.
This is a functionality that is still in development, so please test it and provide feedback. The GeoPlatform team would like to get your input on ways to improve and enhance this feature!
Project Details

16. Technology - Geospatial Platform
DATA
Catalog
Marketplace
SERVICES
Service Status Checker
Performance Dashboard
TOOLS
Map Manager
Map Viewer
COLLABORATE
Communities
Another component of the GP is services and I’ll give a couple of examples.

17. Service Status Checker
Monitor
Diagnose
Service Status Checker
Alert
Data Services
WMS
ESRI ArcIMS Image
ArcGIS Map Server
ArcGIS Image Server
ArcGIS Feature Server
OPeNDAP
WFS
WCS
SOS
Metadata Services
Z39.50
Web Accessible Folder (WAF)
CSW
Services are an important factor in the open data world and their reliability is key.
The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) provides a Service Status Checker (SSC) web service to validate, test and score geospatial web services. It returns a set of summary and test diagnostic information about the tests performed on each service.
Standards based services
The data services types include:
The metadata services types include:
The Service Status Checker carries out a set of standard tests on each service type.
statuschecker.fgdc.gov

18. Service Status Checker
Monitor
Diagnose
Service Status Checker
Alert
Dashboard
Receive alerts when services are down
Daily Test Results
Reports
Monitor/Dashboard:
One of these tests gets scored for Speed performance and reliability.
Speed performance (currentSpeed) is simply the time taken in seconds to do the test
Reliability (currentScore) is calculated as a factor of the speed performance and the correctness of the response.
Diagnose:
Users can manage services through the Dashboard
They can review daily test results and get detailed reports to diagnose issues
Alert:
Administrators can receive automatic alerts when services are down.
The Service Status Checker can be used by any organization or program - we have several international and national services being checked on a regular basis.
INTEGRATE SERVICE TESTING DATA WITH OUR DEVELOPER API
The service testing data is available so you can integrate it into your own applications.
Next Steps
SDI Implementations  U.S. GeoPlatform  GEOSS
Version 2 Release  Laravel Framework  MVC Architectural Pattern
Implement new service types REST, KML, RSS/Atom feeds, WPS
Implementation with Catalog Software? GeoNetwork, CKAN
Collect & report service attributes Supported projections Published file types
statuschecker.fgdc.gov

19. Performance Dashboard Overview
Visualizes the National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) Lifecycle Maturity Assessment (LMA)
19 Questions based on the Geospatial Data Lifecycle
Consistent approach for communicating dataset maturity
Identification of strengths and gaps to help set priorities
Complete December 2015
Give some context for the Performance Dashboard.
The Geospatial Data Lifecycle stages for developing, managing and reporting nationally significant datasets
from A-16 Supplemental Guidance p.16

20. Performance Dashboard - Overview
Tool to measure, monitor, and report on National Geospatial Data Assets and services
Implements Service Checker
Performance Dashboard features:
Sort by Type (Theme & Agency)
View multiple Theme & Agency selections
Sort by Survey snapshot
Bar chart representation of each stage & rollup
Export as a PDF
Export data as a CSV
View Service reliability for a dataset
View metadata for a dataset
Manage Agencies, Datasets, Themes, Survey Groups, and Survey Questions.

21. Performance Dashboard - Reliability
This shows a more detailed example of the USGS National Structures Dataset with the reliability and speed.
I want to point out on this example that there are many NGDAs on the performance dashboard that do not have services identified.
Currently, this is a significant effort underway to identify existing web services or establish web services for the NGDAs.
Metadata guidelines have been developed for ISO 19115, CSDGM, and Project Open Data standards to consistency document and report web services and data download links.
This is a critical foundation to support the other 120K+ metadata records in the GeoPlatform.
Reliability of USGS National Structures Service

22. Technology - Geospatial Platform
DATA
Catalog
Marketplace
SERVICES
Service Status Checker
Performance Dashboard
TOOLS
Map Manager
Map Viewer
COLLABORATE
Communities
Another component of the Geospatial Platform I want to cover are the Map Manager and Map Viewer. These tools allow users to find, organize, visualize, and use data from across the GeoPlatform.

23. Map Manager - AGOL Key components AGOL Maps Galleries Search
Add AGOL organization
Key components
AGOL
Maps
Galleries
Harvest maps from ArcGIS online organizations and publish them to the GeoPlatform registry for integration within communities. Create Map Galleries of AGOL and WMV maps for sharing, embedding, and collaboration within the GeoPlatform experience.
Three key components:
AGOL - users can search ArcGIS Online and publish maps to the GeoPlatform registry. Also add AGOL search organizations
Maps - users can browse maps through the GeoPlatform Web Map Viewer or ArcGIS Online
Galleries - are groupings of maps, can expose multiple maps in one place in a GP community or web page.
For the AGOL component, see example above.
Select and Publish to Maps

24. Map Manager - Maps Add to Gallery Search for other maps
Within the Maps function, users can search for other maps within the GeoPlatform registry, learn more information about the map, the author, or even embed the map into a web page.
From the example on the previous slide, the two maps I selected were published from AGOL. Next, I would like to organize these maps into a gallery that I can share with my community more readily.
So, I click the “Add Gallery” button
Published from AGOL
Embed map into web page

25. Map Manager - Gallery Add New Gallery Search for other Galleries
This takes me to the Gallery function within Map Manager.
On this screen I can search for other existing galleries by keyword or author. In my case, I want to create a new gallery. So I add information to the box and click “Add”
Search for other Galleries

26. Map Manager - Gallery Embed Gallery into a webpage
Then, the two maps I selected are integrated into the gallery. From here, I can add additional maps and I can easily share with my community using this URL.
Embed Gallery into a webpage

27. Map Viewer - Overview Menu Options Hide - expand/collapse menu
My Map - save/export/import maps
Layers - current layers
Legend - legend for current layers
Features - vector features
Tools - allows viewport manipulation through geocoding and bookmarking
Find Layers - discover layers from map services
Find Maps - discover maps created by users
Errors - displays problem message
Filter by Location
Enter Keyword
Find Layers
Next, I want to demonstrate some features from the Map Viewer capability.
There are a series of options related to the Map Viewer - describe.
Add Features
Digitize features or Upload .KML, .GeoJSON, .CSV, or shapefiles (in .ZIP) to extract features.   Please note that uploaded files must be less than 2 Mb in size and must be in the WGS84 projection
Drawing Features
Use the draw features button to open a window providing controls for digitizing point, line, and polygon features.
Points are added by clicking the location you would like to mark on the map.
Lines can be drawn by clicking points along a desired path. Click again on the last point to complete the line.
Polygons are added by clicking a location on the map and then clicking continuously in the direction to complete the polygon. To complete your polygon, click again on the last point.
I’m going to highlight the Find Layers feature.

28. Map Viewer - Find Layer Filter by NGDA Service Checker
This opens a screen that allows users to interact with the layers contained within the GeoPlatform.
You can see they are organized by source and type.
We can Filter by NGDA
You’ll see the service checker has been implemented
Filter by NGDA
Service Checker

29. Map Viewer - Find Layer Select “NGDA” Filter on “Very Reliable”
Found the NLCD information for the continental US, select
Decide to add Alaska and Hawaii too.
Can see on the preview map.
Click “Apply”

30. Map Viewer - Find Layer Map of Results Layer Legend
Full preview screen comes up with results. Also a layer legend is available.
Map of Results
Layer Legend

31. Map Viewer - Tools Filter by Location Enter Keyword Add Web Services
Another feature is Tools
Measuring Distances
Click the Measure to enable the measurement controls which allow determining geodetic distance or area on the map. In the window that opens, select whether you would like to measure the distance of a multi-point line or polygon. After making your selection, begin placing points on the map to define the measurement shape. After completing the shape, the calculated distance/area is displayed in the measurement controls window.
I have a web service that I couldn’t find in the GP registry, so I’m going to add it here.
Add Web Services

32. Map Viewer - Web Service
Enter the service Link:
Then Click the Symbol 32

33. Map Viewer - Web Service
Select each of the layers by clicking on the title
An ‘Apply’ button will appear on the right side of the green bar (see next slide) 33

34. Map Viewer - Web Service
GeoPlatform Map Viewer with Service Layers
From here you can explore the data within the GeoPlatform Map Viewer
If you want to add to the registry, it is another step as you need permissions to do that. But, it’s fairly straightforward. You also can access the tools from this page. 34 34

35. Technology - Geospatial Platform
DATA
Catalog
Marketplace
SERVICES
Service Status Checker
Performance Dashboard
TOOLS
Map Manager
Map Viewer
COLLABORATE
Communities
The last component I will talk about today are some of the collaboration tools and services for government, commercial and public use.

36. Communities Specialized internal collaboration areas on topics
Federal public communities
A-16 NGDA Theme communities
There are three types of communities.
Describe each on the screeen.

37. Thank You Jennifer Carlino FGDC jcarlino@usgs.gov 303.202.4260
Overall, the technology is an important component of the NSDI and you can see how it supports all aspects of the NSDI.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My contact information is on the slide.
I also want to acknowledge the GeoPlatform Team for all their effort and contributions to the NSDI.
With a special thanks to Tod Dabolt, Jerry Johnston, John Davidson, and Jim Irvine
Thank you.
Jennifer Carlino FGDC
Acknowledgements
Entire GeoPlatform Team
with special thanks to Tod Dabolt, Jerry Johnston, John Davidson, and Jim Irvine