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INCITS' L1 Takes Lead on GIS Framework Standards

INCITS
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INCITS’ L1 Takes Lead on GIS Framework Standards
Homeland Security and Emergency Response Systems Will Be Key Beneficiaries;
Voting Membership Open to All Interested Parties

Washington, D.C. August 3, 2002 - Today, Technical Committee L1 of the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) announced that it will begin work immediately on Geographic Information Framework Data Content Standards.  The framework standards will address themes identified as needed by many applications for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).  They support the Geospatial One-Stop, which is part of the Office of Management and Budget’s e-government initiative to accelerate federal government improvements in effectiveness, efficiency, and customer service.  

"These framework standards will support vital government services among 87,000 government entities in the United States and their private and academic partners," said Kate McMillan, director of the Secretariat for INCITS.  "Right now, a limited number of national and international data content standards support exchange of NSDI framework digital geographic information.  As a result, the dissemination of geographic data within both the public and private sector suffers. This seriously affects national security and emergency response systems."

"Software developers and vendors will benefit by developing tools that exploit data based on data-content standards," McMillan added.  "Data producers and consumers will benefit from improved access to data through common content standards."

Relevance and Scope of the Standard
Development of the NSDI Framework has been hindered by the lack of a data content standard for the seven NSDI Framework data themes:  Cadastral (real property), digital ortho imagery (earth’s surface), elevation bathymetric and elevation terrestrial (waterways and terrestrial surfaces, respectively), geodetic control (coordination of all geographic data), governmental units (official jurisdictional boundaries), hydrography (surface water), and transportation (characteristics of the transportation system).  

Many organizations need the same basic geographic data for their applications, but either collect that data individually—resulting in redundant data collection—or do so without the necessary data.  A cooperative approach to producing and sharing datasets, collected according to common data content standards, will enable participants to reduce expenditures by sharing the costs of data production.

Any company or individual with a material interest in identification card standards is welcome to join L1.  Details about L1's meeting schedule are at   www.incits.org/tc_home/l1.htm .

About INCITS
The InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) is the venue of choice for information technology developers, producers and users for the creation and maintenance of formal IT standards. INCITS is accredited by, and operates under rules approved by, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). These rules are designed to ensure that voluntary standards are developed by the consensus of directly and materially affected interests. Contact: INCITS Secretariat, Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC), 1250 Eye St. NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005   (www.incits.org) .