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Alaska Geographic Data Committee (AGDC) Introductions Mark Shasby welcomed the meeting attendees and introduced the featured guest speaker, Doug Nebert, Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Clearinghouse Coordinator. Subcommittee Reports Hydrography Dennis Tol, BLM, provided a hard copy summary of the activities of the Subcommittee and a review of the last meeting which was held January 29. This handout highlighted the charter and purpose of this group, discussed the use of standard hydrologic feature identifiers, and gave a status report on the various digital hydrologic data acquisition projects currently in progress. Tol briefed the attendees on the proposed cooperative pilot project that is being supported by the USGS Biological Resource Division (BRD), the State of Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and the BLM Alaska Office. This project will test, verify, and demonstrate the processes and concepts proposed through the efforts of the Hydrography Subcommittee. Tol also discussed the work that is ongoing in other states, such as Washington and Oregon. In addition, he talked about the Competitive Cooperative Agreements Program (CCAP) initiative that was recently submitted by Frank Wallis, State of Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The purpose of the Alaska Hydrography Mapping CCAP initiative is to determine the technical feasibility of developing a common hydrography identification system for Alaska. Keven Roth, USGS, Reston, VA provided a brief overview of hydrologic activities at the national level. She discussed the National Hydrographic Data Set demonstration that was provided to members of the AGDC Hydrography Subcommittee, and the work that she has been involved in with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the use of their River Reach codes over the past three years. Land Cover John Payne, BLM, briefed the group on the FGDC Earth Cover Workgroup which is developing draft standards for earth cover (land use/land cover). He projected that the lower 48 should be completed in two years utilizing Landsat Thematic Mapper images with less than 10% cloud cover. These images will be acquired through a contract with EOSAT. Alaska is presently excluded from this project due to cost constraints. He noted that although Alaska is excluded, the State still needs representation within this group. Payne also noted that Alaska should develop its own internal land cover classification. The BLM Alaska Office will be working on land cover issues for the next five years. The Alaska Group will identify study areas within the State in a draft plan, possibly by this upcoming May. The next meeting of the Land Cover Subcommittee will be at the BLM District Office on Abbott Loop Road on March 27. Soils Mark Shasby announced that Joe White, NRCS has volunteered to be the Chairperson of this recently formed Subcommittee. It was announced that a set of soil standards had been recently released and that the Subcommittee will assume responsibilities for evaluating the standards as applied to Alaska's needs. Data Management Shasby informed the attendees that this group had not been established. This will be brought up for continued discussion at the next AGDC meeting, as there is a defined need to begin addressing issues in this area. PLSS/Cadastral Rich McMahon, State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, talked about the work that was being accomplished under the successful CCAP grant that AKDNR had received last year. A standardized set of data for protracted areas is due by the end of September. His group will provide software and training with the data. He briefed the group recent meetings of the formation of the Alaska Land Managers Forum. This forum is Co-Chaired by Fran Ulmer, Lieutenant Governor, State of Alaska, and Deborah Williams, Special Assistant to the Secretary, Department of the Interior. A working group was formed to gather information on data sharing activities within the State. They are interested in the activities of the AGDC and inquired if a Land Ownership Subcommittee had been established under the auspices of the AGDC. A letter from Ulmer will be sent to Shasby asking AGDC's interest in formulating a strategy to develop an automated data base of land ownership in the State at the parcel level. Geographic Names A draft list of proposed USGS 1:250,000-scale quadrangle abbreviations is attached to these minutes. This is the three letter designation currently being used by the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the National Park Service, and the BLM District Office in Anchorage. No formal, standard set of USGS quadrangle name abbreviations exist at present. This is the list that the AGDC will propose to the USGS to officially adopt. The amount of data that will be flowing into the Alaska Geospatial Data Clearinghouse necessitates a standard set of abbreviations. Please review this set of abbreviations and send comments and suggestions to A.C. Brown, USGS, by March 28. His phone number is (907) 786-7002 and his email address is acbrown2@usgs.gov. Clearinghouse Emily Binnian, USGS, reported on the last AGDC Clearinghouse Working Group meeting which was held January 16 at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A trio of presentations examining metadata creation and metadata validation software tools highlighted this meeting. Julie Michaelson, Alaska Natural Heritage Program, discussed the USGS' MetaMaker 2.0; Karin Preston, USFS Chugach National Forest, discussed Metadata Tracking Vehicle 2; and Barry Dearborn, USFWS, discussed MetaLite 1.0. Binnian noted that all submissions for the CCAP 1997 program are due March 7. The next meeting of the Clearinghouse Working Group will be held at the USGS on April 17. She mentioned that the CCAP proposal decisions may be announced by that date. Doug Nebert, FGDC Clearinghouse Coordinator, gave a presentation on the activities of the Clearinghouse Working Group. Nebert reviewed the recent developments and activities of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Working Group. He toured the meeting attendees through step-by-step tutorials on what is a Clearinghouse, how to prepare FGDC metadata, how to set up the Isite Z39.50 indexer and server package, and how to link servers with the Clearinghouse. Many of the key points highlighted in his presentation are available from the FGDC Clearinghouse Home Page. This Home Page can be accessed at URL: <http://www.fgdc.gov>. Nebert and members of the AGDC Clearinghouse Working Group will participate in the 32nd annual Alaska Surveying and Mapping Conference presenting a technical session entitled "Geospatial Data Resources and the Internet". Interested individuals are encouraged to visit the AGDC Clearinghouse Home Page which can be accessed at URL: <http://agdc.usgs.gov/>. DOI High-Priority Digital Data Program Lee Aggers, USGS, Rocky Mountain Mapping Center, Denver, CO gave an update on the activities of this program. The AGDC has been very successful in leveraging funds from the program in FY96 and FY97. Alaska should receive approximately $1.2M in FY98. This will be sufficient funding to complete statewide coverage for DEM's, DRG's, DLG hydrography layer, and revised transportation over the major corridor areas. The DOI members of the AGDC agreed to pursue production of digital orthophotoquadrangle (DOQ) over Alaska with the balance of the FY98 funding which is estimated to be approximately $600K. Next Meeting Several topics were not addressed during this meeting due to time constraints, but will be taken up a the next general AGDC meeting which is tentatively scheduled to be held at BLM on May 8, 1997. The primary topic at this meeting will be DOQ's. |
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