[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 68 (Thursday, April 9, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17439-17440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-9357]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Geological Survey
Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC); Public Comment on the
Proposal To Develop the ``Hydrographic Data Content Standard for
Coastal and Inland Waterways'' as a Federal Geographic Data Committee
Standard
ACTION: Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The FGDC is soliciting public comments on the proposal to
develop a ``Hydrographic Data Content Standard for Coastal and Inland
Waterways.'' If the proposal is approved, the standard will be
developed following the FGDC standards development and approval
process. If the standard is adopted by the FGDC, it must be followed by
all Federal agencies gathering and using hydrographic data for the
purpose of navigation and engineering applications directly or
indirectly (through grants, partnerships, or contracts).
In its assigned Federal leadership in the development of the
National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), the FGDC recognizes that
FGDC standards must also meet the needs and recognize the views of
State and local governments, academia, industry, and the public. The
purpose of this notice is to solicit such views. The FGDC invites the
community to review the proposal and comment on the objectives, scope,
approach, and usability of the proposed standard; identify existing
related standards; and indicate their interest in participating in the
development of the standard.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 1, 1998.
CONTACT AND ADDRESSES: The complete proposal is included in this
notice. It is also posted at Internet address: http://www.fgdc.gov/
Standards/Documents/Proposals/hydrocont.html.
Comments may be submitted via Internet mail or by submitting an
electronic copy on diskette. Send comments via Internet to: www.fgdc.gov">gdc-
hydrocont@www.fgdc.gov. Comments e-mailed as attachments must be in
ASCII format.
A soft copy version may be submitted on a 3.5 x 3.5 diskette in
WordPerfect 5.0 or 6.0/6.1 format, along with one hardcopy version of
the comments, to the FGDC Secretariat (attn: Jennifer Fox) at U.S.
Geological Survey, 590 National Center, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive,
Reston, Virginia 20192.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Following is the complete proposal for the
``Hydrographic Data Content Standard for Coastal and Inland
Waterways.''
Project Title: Development of an NSDI Hydrographic Data Content
Standard for Coastal and Inland Waterways.
Point of Contact: Kevin Backe, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 703-
428-6505, email: [email protected].
Submitting Organization: FGDC Bathymetric Subcommittee.
Objectives: To develop a nationally focused Hydrographic Data
Content Standard for Inland Waterways (hereafter called Hydrographic
Standard) from the combination of information from existing standards
(specified in the related standards paragraph).
Scope: This activity will first focus on developing a nationally
focused standard for geospatial data pertaining to coastal and inland
waterways that supports navigation applications. It will include an
informative annex that
[[Page 17440]]
contains additional information about presentation of this information
for charting and electronic chart display applications. The project
team will further refine the scope of this project as this project
proceeds.
This Standard will consist of a feature/attribute/domain catalog
and will use a logical data model that is consistent with the Spatial
Data Transfer Standard/Federal Information Processing Standard (SDTS/
FIPS 173 part 2).
Justification/Benefits: There is currently no national data content
standard for hydrographic data that support navigation and engineering
applications; yet there has been considerable interest from Federal
Agencies, the private industry, and the public for this type of
information. A comprehensive data content standard that supports
waterway navigation applications will ensure effective use of
geospatial data across different agencies, organizations, and other
users. Inclusion of graphic representation information and symbology
will increase consistency and accuracy of interpreted information
displayed on electronic charting.
Development Approach: The Bathymetric Subcommittee will create a
project team to develop a draft of this standard. This project team
will extract feature/attribute information available from existing
standards and other sources and package and present this information as
an FGDC Standard. The project team will provide a draft standard for
the Bathymetric Subcommittee review and approval. Upon its approval the
Bathymetric Subcommittee will submit the Hydrographic Standard to the
FGDC Standards Working Group for their review and approval prior to it
going out for public review. The Bathymetric Subcommittee will also
submit this information to the FGDC Feature Registry to discover any
potential overlap with other FGDC Standards.
Development and Completion Schedule: The Bathymetric Subcommittee
will form a project team and begin work on the development of this
standard as soon as this project is approved by the FGDC Standards
Working Group. The development of a working draft of the Hydrographic
Standard is expected to take 3-6 months. Once the Bathymetric
Subcommittee is satisfied with the content of this Standard it will be
forwarded to the Standards Working Group for their review and
consideration of its readiness for public review. The Bathymetric
Subcommittee expects to accomplish the development of this standard in
one year to eighteen months.
Resources Required: The Bathymetric Subcommittee has adequate
resources to accomplish most of the development of this Hydrographic
Standard. If there is interest in participation on the development of
this standard from the non-Federal sector, additional resources may be
required.
Potential Participants: The primary participants will be the
members of the Bathymetric Subcommittee that includes representatives
from federal agencies. Other members of the public and private sector
will be sought for the development of this Standard.
Related Standards: There are several significant standards that
relate to the standard being proposed for development. As mentioned
above the project team is planning on producing this Hydrographic
Standard by extracting relevant information from these existing
standards and other sources. These standards and other sources are:
International Hydrographic Organization's S57 Appendix A ``Object
Catalog for Digital Hydrographic Data,''
USACE Regional Engineering and Environmental GIS project's data
dictionary for inland waterways information,
Tri-Service Spatial Data Standard,
Potentially the National Mapping and Imagery Agency (NIMA) Feature
Attribute Coding Catalog, potentially the NIMA Hydrographic Data Model,
and potentially the USGS DLG-F feature dictionary.
Target Authorization Body: The Bathymetric Subcommittee proposes
pursuing the development of this Hydrographic Standard as a FGDC
standard. The Bathymetric Subcommittee may consider pursuing (at a
later date) the promoting of parts of this standard (e.g., inland
waterways information) that are not currently part of the S57 standard
to International Hydrographic Organization for inclusion in their
standard.
Dated: April 2, 1998.
Kathryn R. Clement,
Associate Chief, National Mapping Division.
[FR Doc. 98-9357 Filed 4-8-98; 8:45 am]
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