First Meetings of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee

 

Ted Koch, the Wisconsin State Cartographer, interviewed Don Dittmar, Land Information Manager for Waukesha County, Wisconsin, on his impressions as a member of the newly formed National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC), a Federal Advisory Committee sponsored by the Department of the Interior. The scope and objectives of the NGAC are described in the NGAC Charter: “The Committee will provide advice and recommendations related to management of Federal and national geospatial programs, the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and the implementation of Office of Management and Budget Circular A-16 and Executive Order 12906. The Committee will review and comment upon geospatial policy and management issues and will provide a forum to convey views representative of non-federal stakeholders in the geospatial community.”

Dittmar discusses beginnings of national committee   

 

Late last January, U.S. Dept. of the Interior Secretary Dick Kempthorne announced the selection of 28 individuals to serve on the newly-created National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). Much to the delight of those of us in Wisconsin, Don Dittmar, Land Information Manager for Waukesha Countywas included as one of the appointments. …Since the January announcement, the NGAC has held two in-person meetings in Washington D.C.  Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Don to discuss his impressions on the beginnings of the NGAC.

 

For full text of the interview, visit: http://news.sco.wisc.edu/news/guest-interview/dittmar-discusses-beginnings-of-national-committee.html

 

Source: Ted Koch, Wisconsin Mapping Bulletin, July 29, 2008

 

Of particular interest given recent discussions regarding a national land parcel database, Don commented:

The committee and especially the federal representatives don’t yet know how to handle us. There was one point when they were discussing building a single, massive database of parcel and address data. After some discussion, I stated that since we had convened that morning, my county had added 6 tax parcels, deleted 2 parcels, and assigned 10 new addresses. I stated that until they figured how to accommodate updates, our discussions were nothing. At that point, the discussion took on a more map service/interactive tone.

 

For more information on NGAC’s “action agenda” also see the article by Anne Hale Miglarese, NGAC Chairperson, in ESRI’s ArcNews Online (Summer 2008). Miglarese also was interviewed by Directions Magazine on August 6, 2008 on their short, medium and long-term plans.

 

 Of note, NGAC reviewed Imagery for the Nation Proposal, and passed a resolution of support.