A bill to encourage the development and integrated use by the public and private sectors of remote sensing and other geospatial information, and for other purposes.

Summary: Remote Sensing Applications Act of 2004 - Requires the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey to: (1) establish a program of grants for pilot projects to explore the integrated use of sources of remote sensing and other geospatial information to address State, local, regional, and tribal agency needs; (2) establish an advisory committee to monitor the program; (3) transmit to Congress an independent evaluation of program effectiveness; and (4) ensure that project results are retrievable through an Internet-accessible database.

 Requires the Director to seek opportunities to assist: (1) in the development of commercial applications potentially available from the remote sensing industry; and (2) State, local, regional, and tribal agencies in applying remote sensing and geospatial information technologies for growth management.

Requires the Director to: (1) establish an educational outreach program to increase awareness at institutions of higher education and such agencies of the potential applications of remote sensing and geospatial information; and (2) study the effect of remote sensing imagery costs on potential State, local, regional, and tribal agency applications.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Remote Sensing Applications Act of 
2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) although urban land use planning, growth management, 
        and other functions of State, local, regional, and tribal 
        agencies are rightfully within their jurisdiction, the Federal 
        Government can and should play an important role in the 
        development and demonstration of innovative techniques to 
        improve comprehensive land use planning and growth management;
            (2) the United States is making a major investment in 
        acquiring remote sensing and other geospatial information from 
        both governmental and commercial sources;
            (3) while much of the data is being acquired for scientific 
        and national security purposes, it also can have important 
        applications to help meet societal goals;
            (4) it has already been demonstrated that Landsat data and 
        other earth observation data can be of enormous assistance to 
        Federal, State, local, regional, and tribal agencies for urban 
        land use planning, coastal zone management, natural and 
        cultural resource management, and disaster monitoring;
            (5) remote sensing, coupled with the emergence of 
        geographic information systems and satellite-based positioning 
        information, offers the capability of developing important new 
        applications of integrated sets of geospatial information to 
        address societal needs;
            (6) the full range of applications of remote sensing and 
        other forms of geospatial information to meeting public sector 
        requirements has not been adequately explored or exploited;
            (7) the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992, 
        Presidential Decision Directive 23 of 1994, and the Commercial 
        Space Act of 1998 all support and promote the development of 
        United States commercial remote sensing capabilities;
            (8) many State, local, regional, tribal, and Federal 
        agencies are unaware of the utility of remote sensing and other 
        geospatial information for meeting their needs, even when 
        research has demonstrated the potential applications of that 
        information;
            (9) even when aware of the utility of remote sensing and 
        geospatial technologies in the area of wildland fire management 
        to detect and monitor a wildland fire in real-time from the 
        early stages of fire growth, many State, local, regional, and 
        tribal agencies are hampered by a lack of overall strategy 
        guiding interagency management of resources and technology, 
        according to a September 2003 Government Accounting Office 
        report;
            (10) remote sensing and other geospatial information, 
        especially when used in a coordinated approach, can be 
        particularly useful to State, local, regional, and tribal 
        agencies in the area of urban planning, especially in their 
        efforts to plan for and manage the impacts of growth, 
        development, and sprawl, as well as in wildland fire management 
        and environmental impact and disaster relief planning and 
        management;
            (11) the United States Geological Survey, in coordination 
        with other agencies, can play a unique role in demonstrating 
        how data acquired for scientific purposes, when combined with 
        other data sources and processing capabilities, can be applied 
        to assist State, local, regional, and tribal agencies and the 
        private sector in decisionmaking in such areas as agriculture, 
        weather forecasting, and forest management; and
            (12) in addition, the United States Geological Survey, in 
        conjunction with other agencies, can play a unique role in 
        stimulating the development of the remote sensing and other 
        geospatial information sector through pilot projects to 
        demonstrate the value of integrating governmental and 
        commercial remote sensing data with geographic information 
        systems and satellite-based positioning data to provide useful 
        applications products.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the United 
        States Geological Survey;
            (2) the term ``geospatial information'' means knowledge of 
        the nature and distribution of physical and cultural features 
        on the landscape based on analysis of data from airborne or 
        spaceborne platforms or other types and sources of data; and
            (3) the term ``institution of higher education'' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 101(a) of the Higher 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)).

SEC. 4. PILOT PROJECTS TO ENCOURAGE PUBLIC SECTOR APPLICATIONS.

    (a) In General.--The Director shall establish a program of grants 
for competitively awarded pilot projects to explore the integrated use 
of sources of remote sensing and other geospatial information to 
address State, local, regional, and tribal agency needs.
    (b) Preferred Projects.--In awarding grants under this section, the 
Director shall give preference to projects that--
            (1) make use of existing public or commercial data sets;
            (2) integrate multiple sources of geospatial information, 
        such as geographic information system data, satellite-provided 
        positioning data, and remotely sensed data, in innovative ways;
            (3) include funds or in-kind contributions from non-Federal 
        sources;
            (4) involve the participation of commercial entities that 
        process raw or lightly processed data, often merging that data 
        with other geospatial information, to create data products that 
        have significant value added to the original data; and
            (5) taken together demonstrate as diverse a set of public 
        sector applications as possible.
    (c) Opportunities.--In carrying out this section, the Director 
shall seek opportunities to assist--
            (1) in the development of commercial applications 
        potentially available from the remote sensing industry;
            (2) State, local, regional, and tribal agencies in applying 
        remote sensing and other geospatial information technologies 
        for growth management; and
            (3) State, local, regional, and tribal agencies in 
        obtaining and utilizing satellite, aviation, and sensor 
        capabilities for wildland fire detection, analysis, and 
        observation.
    (d) Duration.--Assistance for a pilot project under subsection (a) 
shall be provided for a period not to exceed 3 years.
    (e) Report.--Each recipient of a grant under subsection (a) shall 
transmit a report to the Director on the results of the pilot project 
within 180 days of the completion of that project.
    (f) Workshop.--Each recipient of a grant under subsection (a) 
shall, not later than 180 days after the completion of the pilot 
project, conduct at least one workshop for potential users to 
disseminate the lessons learned from the pilot project as widely as 
feasible.
    (g) Regulations.--The Director shall issue regulations establishing 
application, selection, and implementation procedures for pilot 
projects, and guidelines for reports and workshops required by this 
section.

SEC. 5. PROGRAM EVALUATION.

    (a) Advisory Committee.--The Director shall establish an advisory 
committee, consisting of individuals with appropriate expertise in 
State, local, regional, and tribal agencies, the university research 
community, and the remote sensing and other geospatial information 
industry, to monitor the program established under section 4. The 
advisory committee shall consult with the Federal Geographic Data 
Committee and other appropriate industry representatives and 
organizations. Notwithstanding section 14 of the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act, the advisory committee established under this subsection 
shall remain in effect until the termination of the program under 
section 4.
    (b) Effectiveness Evaluation.--Not later than December 31, 2008, 
the Director shall transmit to the Congress an evaluation of the 
effectiveness of the program established under section 4 in exploring 
and promoting the integrated use of sources of remote sensing and other 
geospatial information to address State, local, regional, and tribal 
agency needs. Such evaluation shall have been conducted by an 
independent entity.

SEC. 6. DATA AVAILABILITY.

    The Director shall ensure that the results of each of the pilot 
projects completed under section 4 shall be retrievable through an 
electronic, Internet-accessible database.

SEC. 7. EDUCATION.

    The Director shall establish an educational outreach program to 
increase awareness at institutions of higher education and State, 
local, regional, and tribal agencies of the potential applications of 
remote sensing and other geospatial information.

SEC. 8. COST SENSITIVITY STUDY.

    The Director shall conduct a study of the effect of remote sensing 
imagery costs on potential State, local, regional, and tribal agency 
applications. The study shall identify applications that are likely to 
be most affected by reductions in the cost of remote sensing imagery. 
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Director shall transmit to the Congress the results of the study 
conducted under this section.

SEC. 9. REPORT.

    Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Director shall submit to the Congress a report on how agencies are 
implementing the recommendations contained in the September 2003 
General Accounting Office report entitled ``Geospatial Information: 
Technologies Hold Promise for Wildland Fire Management, but Challenges 
Remain''.

SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the United States 
Geological Survey, $15,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2005 
through 2009 to carry out this Act.