Washington State Geographic Information Council

NSDI Grant

Establishing Washington State's Geospatial Metadata and Clearinghouse to Support the National Spatial Data Infrastructure

February 17, 1994

Geospatial data are a critical part of the State's data resource. They provide spatial information about objects on, above, or below the Earth's surface, and they provide the base to display tabular data geographically. They are becoming increasingly important for providing information that helps government make more informed decisions. The increased importance requires that geospatial data be thoroughly understood and coordinated across the State through the preparation, maintenance, and documentation of geospatial metadata.

The Washington Geographic Information Council proposes a Geospatial Metadata Coordination Project To cooperatively develop and manage geospatial data within the State according to a State-wide geospatial data initiative and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Relevance to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure

The Geospatial Metadata Coordination Project will increase the awareness and understanding of the importance of geospatial data. It will show how to develop and manage geospatial data on a cooperative basis throughout the State to maximize the use of limited resources, and to provide the information necessary to make more informed decisions. The aim of the Project is to coordinate the State's geospatial data and ensure they are compatible with regional and National geospatial data. The emphasis is on the critical importance of geospatial data as a means to accurately place objects on, above, or below the Earth's surface and to display tabular data geographically. The objectives of the Project are:

Geospatial Metadata:

Framework Data Layers:

Geospatial Data Clearinghouse:

Geospatial Metadata Distribution:

The Project contributes to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure in three ways.

The Project complies with the Federal Geographic Data Committee standards and furthers their implementation in four ways.

The Project directly addresses the problem of rapidly increasing quantities of disparate geospatial data through increased awareness and understanding. The increased awareness of existing geospatial data and data plans prevents redundant geospatial data collection and maintenance. The increased understanding of both geospatial data and metadata promotes the use of existing geospatial data. The Project also addresses the problem of integrating tabular data and geospatial data. Proper geocoding and georeferencing techniques allow the analysis and geographical display of large quantities of tabular data.

The Project is applicable to the entire State, not to specific organizations within the State. It is applicable to all jurisdictions, such as Federal agencies, state agencies, cities, counties, Indian tribes, and public utilities. It is also applicable to all disciplines, such as water resource, health care, welfare, all forms of licensing, and environment management. This all-inclusive scope is part of the initiative to integrate and manage all data as a resource of the State.

The Project stimulates the growth of similar efforts three ways.

Technical Approach

The Proposal includes state-of-the concepts and techniques for identifying, understanding, and sharing State-wide, multi-jurisdiction, multi-discipline geospatial data. These concepts and techniques assist the integration of disparate data and metadata and the deployment of those data to provide maximum benefit to organizations using the State's data resource. Metadata tools and techniques developed in the project will assist users in the proper integration and deployment of geospatial data and metadata.

One state-of-the art concept is a common data architecture for identifying all data and metadata within a common context so their content and meaning are readily understood. The common data architecture contains a formal data naming taxonomy and a supporting vocabulary for uniquely naming all data. It also requires comprehensive data definitions based on their content and meaning, and a formal data structure that is technically correct and culturally acceptable. The common data architecture also provides a framework for identifying the data needed to support business activities, inventorying data that currently exist, and determining data that need to be acquired.

Existing data are cross referenced to the common data architecture to understand their content and meaning. After existing data are cross referenced to the common data architecture, the extent of data variability is determined. Official data variations are designated for short-term data sharing and long-term development of an integrated data resource. Data translation schemes provide translations between official and non-official data variations to assist data sharing. New data are defined within the common data architecture according to officially designated data variations.

Another state-of-the art concept is a comprehensive data clearinghouse that documents the States' geospatial data resource. A comprehensive data clearinghouse contains information about automated and non-automated geospatial data sources, unpublished documents, and projects pertaining to the State's data resource. It encompasses all data about the State, including both tabular and geospatial data, whether or not those data are maintained within the State. It also includes indexes to these items through a set of business keywords and core topics, and through a set of geographic areas that include cities, counties, quadrangles, townships, hydrologic units, and water resource inventory areas.

The comprehensive data clearinghouse is one component of a formal Data Resource Guide that documents the State's data resource, similar to the way a 'card catalog' documents the materials in a library. The Data Resource Guide includes the metadata needed to identify, understand, share, and use the State's data resource. It includes a data dictionary component for documenting the State's common data architecture, a data product component that documents existing datasets and data layers and provides cross references to the common data architecture, a glossary of terms and abbreviations, a thesaurus for indexing the State's common data architecture, and data translation schemes to support data sharing. The Department of Information Services is currently designing and developing the Data Resource Guide.

The Project data clearinghouse is a subset of the comprehensive data clearinghouse for metadata about existing geospatial data in the State. The Federal Geographic Data Committee's Metadata Standards are being reviewed, along with other prominent metadata standards, such as the Federal Geographic Data Committee's Cadastral Standards, so that an initial and a detailed set of geospatial metadata can be identified. These metadata will be collected from organizations throughout the State and stored in the data clearinghouse. This incremental approach to collecting metadata allows organizations to get an overview of the majority of geospatial data available about the State rather than a detailed view of some of the data that are available. The Project plan is shown below.

Project Participants / Experience

The Project includes four participating organizations that have a wide diversity of skills and experience in planning, project management, data resource management, and geographic information systems. Personnel in these organizations are very knowledgeable and are experts within their own domain. They have extensive experience gaining consensus from many autonomous organizations and integrating geospatial data developed from many different sources for a variety of purposes.

Washington Geographic Information Council: The Geographic Information Council represents a wide variety of domain experts in many different jurisdictions throughout the State. The Council also represents a wide range of disciplines, such as growth management, water resources, education, transportation, job market, justice, and health care. They will provide input about geospatial metadata requirements and designation of the initial and detailed sets of geospatial metadata. They will be the lead for identifying existing and planned geospatial data about the State, and collecting the initial subset of metadata about those geospatial data.

Snohomish County Department of Information Services: The Snohomish County Department of Information Services represents local government. Their county-wide plan for geospatial data is a landmark for local government. They will select a test set of geospatial data, such as the County's geospatial data layers, and prepare the detailed subset of geospatial metadata for that test set. The Department has personnel with considerable expertise with geospatial data, and the development and maintenance of geographic information systems. They also have knowledge about the data needs for local government, including both urban and rural areas.

Washington Department of Natural Resources: The Washington Department of Natural Resources represents State agencies. They will designate and prioritize the framework data layers and document the framework data layers according to the full set of geospatial metadata. The Department has personnel with extensive geospatial data and geographic information system expertise. They have been developing and maintaining geographic information systems longer than any other State agency. They also have expertise at developing long range visions, initiatives, and strategies.

Central Washington University: Central Washington University represents higher education. They will identify and evaluate the geospatial metadata distribution alternatives, including the Internet and WAIS software. They will select the alternative or alternatives most appropriate to get the geospatial metadata to organizations in the State based on their current technology. They will also recommend future alternatives for the distribution of geospatial metadata. They University has a unique geographic information system lab and provides intensive training about geographic information systems. They are currently involved in a cooperative library project involving FIPS standard Z39.50. The University has personnel with expertise in communication technology, networking, the Internet, and a wide variety of other mechanisms for distributing information to a wide variety of organizations.

Washington Department of Information Services: The Washington Department of Information Services will lead the Project, provide state-of-the-art concepts and techniques, and provide the data clearinghouse. The Department has personnel that are skilled with developing data and metadata models. One person in particular has an international reputation for knowledge, skills, and ability at developing and implementing a common data architecture, and managing highly disparate data and metadata. The Department also has personnel with extensive project planning and management expertise.

Commitment to Effort

The Washington Department of Information Services was established in 1987 with oversight responsibilities for the State's information technology. One of those oversight responsibilities is management of the State's data as a critical resource that supports the State's business activities. The scope of the data resource responsibilities began with core State agencies, but soon expanded to include State agencies, cities, counties, Indian tribes, public utilities, and Federal agencies. Today that responsibility includes multiple jurisdictions and multiple disciplines throughout the State.

In 1988, the Washington Department of Information Services established an initiative To define data in a common context so they could be readily shared. This initiative led to the concept of a common data architecture that provides the common context within which all data can be defined. New data can be aligned with the common data architecture and existing data can be cross referenced to the common data architecture so that the meaning and content of all data could be readily understood. When the content and meaning of all data are thoroughly understood, those data can be easily integrated to support the State's business activities. Development of the Washington State Common Data Architecture is based on this concept.

In 1991, the Washington Geographic Information Council was formed To provide direction for automated geographic information needed to improve the delivery of government products and services in the State of Washington. The Council was revitalized in early 1994 with a new vision that includes establishing product-oriented workgroups, establishing a forum for exchange through professional organizations, and establishing a virtual community through electronic networking. The Local Government Workgroup of the Council is very active and has recently prepared a Geographic Information Outreach Strategy To increase the awareness and understanding of geographic data and geographic information systems through the exchange of problems, ideas, strategies, plans, and successes.

In late 1994, the Washington Department of Information Services and the Washington Geographic Information Council's Local Government Workgroup developed a draft Geospatial Data Initiative for long-term management of the State's geospatial data as a resource. The draft is currently under review and will be presented to the Washington Geographic Information Council by mid-1995. The draft explains an initiative To gain control and increase the understanding of geospatial data before they become as disparate as tabular data, and integrate geospatial data with tabular data to meet business needs and support business strategies. The initiative is supported by fifteen individual strategies oriented to maintaining a common data architecture, increasing data awareness, and improving data accuracy.

The Project participants all have unique capabilities and expertise that, collectively, will contribute to the success of the Project. The participants also have a demonstrated willingness to develop State-wide initiatives, cooperate on implementing State-wide initiatives, to promote those initiatives throughout the State, and to share in the benefits of those initiatives. The participants are also aware of state-of-the-art techniques in data resource management, and the impacts that can occur if the trend of disparate data and disparate metadata continues. They have a profound willingness to face critical issues head on, develop consensus across multiple jurisdictions, and set a strategy for developing a sharable data resource.

Each of the Project participants has a strong commitment to properly managing the State's geospatial data resource. They support an ongoing commitment within the State, not only to properly manage geospatial data, but to manage the State's total data resource in an effective and efficient manner. Each will continue their respective effort after the Project is completed.

Washington Geographic Information Council: The Geographic Information Council will continue its coordination efforts during the Project and after the Project is completed.

Snohomish County Department of Information Services: The Snohomish County Department of Information Services developed a multi-year county-wide Geographic Information System development plan in 1992 and is currently implementing that plan. The plan includes establishment of 'partnerships' with other local governments to develop and maintain a distributed multi-participant database. The County subsequently published database design and land records conversion specifications for local governments, which include cadastral content collection and metadata standards consistent with the efforts of the Federal Geographic Data Committee's Cadastral Subcommittee. Snohomish County will continue to implement geospatial data layers as identified in their Plan through the Project and after the Project is completed.

Snohomish County is also part of a three-county alliance that includes King County and Pierce County. These three counties contain 52% of the State's population, and include both urban and rural areas. They are cooperating on the integration of geospatial data across jurisdictional boundaries to support a variety of initiatives, such as growth management, facilities planning, and education.

Washington Department of Natural Resources: The Washington Department of Natural Resources has an information technology plan that is routinely updated. They are designated by State law as the State's mapping agency and have actively involved in developing geographic information systems since 1983. In line with their charge at the State's mapping agency, they are currently developing the framework data layers for the State. Their efforts with geospatial data and the implementation of framework data layers were ongoing before initiation of the Project, and will continue during and after the Project.

Central Washington University: The Central Washington University will continue their work with information storage and retrieval techniques, and with enhancing the capabilities of network communication after the Project is completed. They are interested in acquiring or developing new and better tools for the Internet.

Washington Department of Information Services: The Washington Department of Information Services, through the initiative established in 1987, will continue with that initiative during the Project and after the Project is completed. That initiative represents a long-term commitment on the part of the Department and the State to identify, document, and share data the State's data resource. The Department will continue to develop and enhance the Data Clearinghouse and distribute it through a variety of mediums.

There is a strong willingness by the Project partners to share data and to cooperate on data collection. This willingness has increased substantially as resources become more limited. All organizations, whether public or private, can no longer afford the luxury of developing data independently or using resources unnecessarily to identify and understand existing data. They are looking for metadata and data to support their business activities, and are very willing to contribute to an integrated data resource to be able to have the benefits of that data resource. They just need an impetus to get started. The Department of Information Services' 1987 initiative and the State's common data architecture provide that impetus.

Project Partners

The Project is within the responsibilities delegated to the Washington Department of Information Services through its enabling legislation. Official endorsement for the Project comes through the Washington State Geographic Information Council and it's State-wide representation. Although the Council is not a legal entity, it does represent, and speaks for, many jurisdictions and disciplines throughout the State.

Matching funds are provided through parallel and supportive efforts in the Department of Information Services, Snohomish County, and the Department of Natural Resources.

Washington Geographic Information Council: The Geographic Information Council does not have a budget, will not receive any project funds, and will not contribute any matching funds.

Snohomish County Department of Information Services: Snohomish County Department of Information Services has committed $14,800 in resources during the project period to assemble local government metadata in accordance with metadata standards and guidelines developed by the Federal Geographic Data Committee and the State.

Washington Department of Natural Resources: The Washington Department of Natural Resource will provide $14,800 in matching funds through development and conversion of metadata for the framework data layers for the State.

Central Washington University: Central Washington University will provide $ 14,550 in matching funds through evaluating, building, testing, and enhancing Internet software for geospatial metadata distribution.

Washington Department of Information Services: The Washington Department of Information Services will provide $22,260 in matching funds through project oversight and coordination, and development and distribution of the data clearinghouse.

For information contact the GIC Coordinator --DIS
wagic@dis.wa.gov
(360)902-3447
Send E-mail to Jeff Holm

Last Updated: December 12, 1995
http://olympus.dis.wa.gov/pub/gic/fedgrant.html