The Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO) announces the release of its Report Card on the U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) that depicts the condition and performance of the nation’s geospatial “infrastructure” which includes surveyed, mapped and remotely-sensed information. The NSDI Report Card is in the familiar form of a school report card—assigning letter grades that are based on physical condition and needed investments for improvement.
Report Card on the U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)
The report card was developed by an expert panel chaired by The Honorable James E. Geringer, former Governor of Wyoming, with Dr. David J. Cowen, John J. Moeller, Dr. John D. Bossler, Susan Carson Lambert, The Honorable Tom D. Rust, and The Honorable Robert T. Welch. This effort is loosely patterned after the successful Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers. COGO initiated this effort in 2009 by securing the commitment of the expert panel members who worked on a volunteer basis to produce this report.
As noted in the report’s foreword, COGO “recognizes the individual contributions of all Federal, state, regional, tribal, and local government agencies that have worked in concert with the private and academic sectors to develop the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) as it exists today. This work has spanned entire careers, and COGO applauds the sincerity of their efforts and the value of their contributions.”
The COGO member organizations represent approximately 170,000 individual geospatial practitioners. Together, the coalition is delivering this assessment to help Congress, the Administration, Federal agency executives, and others understand the importance of geospatial data to the nation, as well as shortcomings of the NSDI. The member organizations want to engage Congress, Federal agencies, and the FGDC to discuss and identify common sense improvements that will lead to a more robust National Spatial Data Infrastructure.
Michael Vanhook, COGO Chairman, stated “Federal agencies have worked for many years to improve their geospatial programs, but the COGO member organizations believe that the national data sets and delivery systems (the NSDI) generally need improvement. It is time for the Federal government to more effectively engage the entire stakeholder community to ensure that America has the highest quality geospatial infrastructure. Doing so will allow us to more efficiently and effectively deal with society’s needs, and to reduce duplication of effort.”
Report Card on the U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) – http://cogo.pro/
