The Place of NHD
Stewardship in the National
Map Program
Craig A. Neidig
WV Geospatial Liaison
U.S. Geological Survey
Eastern Region Partnership Office
USGS Science Strategy
Facing Tomorrow’s Challenges – U.S. Geological Survey Science in
the Decade 2007-2017
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
USGS Science Strategy
Facing Tomorrow’s Challenges – U.S. Geological
Survey Science in the Decade 2007-2017
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Six Science strategic directions
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Understanding Ecosystems and Predicting Ecosystem Change:
Ensuring the Nation’s Economic and Environmental Future
Climate Variability and Change: Clarifying the Record and Assessing
Consequences
Energy and Minerals for America’s Future: Providing a Scientific
Foundation for Resource Security, Environmental Health, Economic
Vitality, and Land Management
A National Hazards, Risk, and Resilience Assessment Program:
Ensuring the Long-Term Health and Wealth of the Nation
The Role of Environment and Wildlife in Human Health: A System that
Identifies Environmental Risk to Public Health in America
A Water Census of the United States: Quantifying, Forecasting, and
Securing Freshwater for America’s Future
Refocus on Integrated Science (interdisciplinary approach)
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
The USGS National Geospatial Program
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Headquarters (Reston, VA)
– Programmatic Guidance, Product and Service Leads,
Funding
National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
(NGTOC – Rolla, MO / Denver, CO)
- Operations, Data Services, Technical POCs
Geospatial Research Center (CEGIS)
Emergency Operations
Partnerships and External Coordination
State Geospatial Liaison Network
Partners
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
National Geospatial Program
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
The National Map
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The National Map contributes to the NSDI
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The National Map includes eight “framework” data
layers: hydrography, elevation, imagery,
geographic names, boundaries, transportation,
land cover, structure
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Public domain data to support:
 USGS topographic maps
 Products and services at multiple scales and
resolutions
 Analysis, modeling and other applications at
multiple scales and resolutions
The National Map is built on partnerships,
standards, and best practices
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West Virginia NHD Stewardship
The National Map Vision
 A seamless, continuously
maintained, trusted, nationally
consistent, integrated and current
set of base geographic data
 Developed and maintained through
partnerships
 A national foundation for science,
land and resource management,
recreation, policy making, and
homeland security
 The source for revised topographic
maps
 In the public domain
 Available via the internet
The vision has not significantly
changed since 2001
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
Framework National Databases
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USGS A-16 Responsibility Themes
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Elevation - National Elevation Database (NED)
Hydrography – National Hydrography Dataset (NHD)
Orthoimagery – Seamless Server
Geographic Names – Geographic Names Information System
(GNIS)
Land Cover – National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD)
USGS Managed Themes (non-A-16 responsibility)
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Boundaries (Governmental Units) – Census, BLM
Structures - Census
Transportation – Census, Federal DOT
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
The National Map 2.0 - Tactical Plan Focus
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Integration into consistent, quality-assured, seamless
databases
Guided by the 2-year Tactical Plan
Next generation topographic map series
Geospatial Web-Services
Alignment of Data, Systems, and Liaison Network
Focused on USGS Science Strategy
Foundation for DOI Data Integration Blueprint
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
The National Map 2.0 Tactical Plan
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Data Products
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National databases of base content (centralized)
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Partner data holdings of base content (distributed)
Graphic Products
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Legacy topographic maps (high resolution scans)
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Standard digital image maps with limited vector overlays
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Standard digital topographic maps (geopdf)
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Custom topographic maps (Map On Demand)
Services
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Improved interfaces and faster data download
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WMS, WFS, WCS, KML, replication services
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GOS Marketplace
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
TNM Program Priorities
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Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Coasts (CONUS)
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Mexico and Canada borders
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Two counties (~50 miles) deep from the coastline;
50 miles on the U.S. side of the international boundaries
USGS Science Priorities
DOI High Priority Lands
Major Urban areas (“133 cities”)
Supports emergency management, homeland security,
and USGS disciplines and programs
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
FY09 Mapping Contracts and Partnerships
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USGS ARRA (“Stimulus”) Funding $140M
$14.6M to NGP for mapping
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$1M for Alaska IFSAR and LiDAR elevation
$7M for Imagery and LiDAR (urban areas, borders
and coasts)
Approximately $6M for everything else
Pooled funding from Partnership Office and TNM
Product and Service Leads
TNM Management Team (NGP Chief and program
managers) allocate to themes
Approximately $800K to NHD program
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
Partner Input to The National Map
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State, local, Tribal, Federal, and private entities produce
and maintain a vast array of current, accurate geospatial
data
Over the years, a significant objective and investment
focus of NGP has been the development of mutually
beneficial partnerships to coordinate data acquisition,
integration, maintenance and stewardship
Partner contributions and data remain a primary input
and foundation of TNM
NGP Geospatial Liaisons are placed in the states to
support partnership development
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
State Geospatial Liaison Role
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Facilitate growth of NSDI and TNM in a state
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Link to FGDC activities and grants
Federal representation on state/regional GIS coordination bodies
Support development of specific GIS layers
Promote partnership and stewardship opportunities
Fifty-States strategic planning initiative (NSGIC)
Support Geospatial Technology exchange
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Provide information on USGS TNM programs and activities
Facilitate training and professional development opportunities
GIS support for homeland security and natural disaster response
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
NHD Stewardship
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The NHD was designed and substantially built by three Federal partners:
USGS, EPA and the USDA Forest Service. It was designed to be a reliable
source of data that would grow both through system-wide revisions and the
contributions of its users.
Because the data will come increasingly from local sources, there will be a
greater need for management and oversight at an intermediary level. Those
intermediaries are referred to as "data stewards.”
The NHD has been specifically designed to accommodate transactions.
The USGS is actively working with a network of agencies and groups that
have or are interested in becoming NHD data stewards.
The most direct benefit of shared maintenance is the ability to have access to
up-to-date information of changes on the landscape and to receive spatial
data that faithfully represents those changes.
The key to implementing stewardship is having an editing tool that can deal
with the unique characteristics of NHD data. An editing tool specific to the
NHD, known as NHDGeoEdit, was originally developed by ESRI for the
Forest Service.
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
Path to NHD Stewardship
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Organization
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Identify Stakeholders
Mission / Business drivers
Needs Assessment / Best
Practices
NHD Business Plan
Links to State GIS Strategic
Plan
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Partnership Agreement
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Statement of Work
Deliverables / Reports
Funding
Process Development
MOU / Charter
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Steward / Sub-stewards /
other partners
General Terms and Conditions
Roles and Responsibilities
Outreach / Education
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
The Role of the Data Steward
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The data steward's responsibilities include:
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Guarantee that updated NHD data pass all validation tests.
Assure that the core content (features, attributes and
relationships identified in the NHD standards) is included.
Keep the data current.
Consider any change submitted and decide authoritatively if it
will be accepted or not.
Report the decision publicly.
Respond to proposed changes within a reasonable time.
Provide publicly available information on status of data
development and updating.
Maintain awareness of activities by other agencies and groups.
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
Factors Considered Partnership Funding
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USGS to Partner funding ratio (typically 50% match required)
NGP geographic area priorities
Builds more current data
Improve resolution or accuracy
Meets TNM data integration goals
Partner Priority / Statewide Plans
Technical soundness / completeness of proposal
Areal extent of project (regional / statewide / inter-state)
Stewardship Agreement in place or imminent
Partner Past Performance
Regional science priority
Leverages other partnership activities
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
Partnership Funding Process
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Liaisons consult with Program Lead (NHD=Jeff Simley)
at beginning of fiscal year for proposal guidelines
Liaisons submit proposals after collaborating with
partners in their states. Proposal characteristics are
scored by the liaison, the product lead, the regional
liaison chief, and NGTOC
Proposal Review Board votes on all proposals. Requires
unanimous vote from at least 2 Regional Chiefs, 2
Product and Service Leads, and 1 NGTOC Location
Chief. If not unanimous, forwarded to NGP managers for
resolution
Hold continuous review meetings every two weeks
throughout the year
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
USGS Contracting Process
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Liaisons work with a USGS Contracting Officer from their
region; each region operates somewhat independently
Liaisons have access to multiple contracting vehicles –
work share, Cooperative Agreement, grants, Joint
Funding Agreement (JFA), Interagency Agreement
Liaisons develop the initial statement of work and
requisition paperwork, in conjunction with the state
partner
Liaisons can assist with Grants.gov process, or work
with the contracting officer to have training provided as
required
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
USGS Commitment to States
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State Geospatial liaison
Hydrography area specialist
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Works with 8-10 states
Technology expert
Applications support
Coordination/Continuity
Training
Advocate for hydrography
The USGS Geospatial Liaison, the NHD Technical POC
and NGTOC, and NHD Product lead will work together to
provide support to state stewards.
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
Why Stewardship
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Goal: To assume (shared) ownership for the greater
good of all the water resource data users in West
Virginia . . .
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Motivation:
The USGS wants to maximize the efficiency of
surface water mapping and analysis for its needs.
The community of users become the stewards of the
data
The USGS facilitates the stewardship process
The users evolve the data to best meet their needs
The USGS guides the evolution for national continuity
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West Virginia NHD Stewardship
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
NHD Stewardship Issues
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Level of Densification – Ephemerals?
When Should Local Resolution Be Incorporated?
Freeze a High Resolution Dataset for In-State Use?
Can we produce derivative products?
What’s Important to Edit?
Frequency of Revisions?
Training (who/how many)?
Certified Contractors?
Geographic Names (GNIS) integration?
Sub-Stewardships?
Annualized costs for maintenance after implemented?
West Virginia NHD Stewardship
West Virginia NHD Stewardship