where the insiders the transition to digital geography has been truly revolutionary that we can navigate the world with much greater confidence we could have data improvement in coordination between data collection have been implemented recently and how we can ensure the federal government is getting the most out of our tax dollars one of the key questions we will try to technology and transform business processes ensuring broad in effect of collaboration with state local and tribal governments leveraging progress made through industry with our partners with our commercial partners clearing policy obstacles and providing a focus on performance in the short term the administration will concentrate in three areas firstly we will engage the nation in a dialogue about it  intend to hold a national geospatial open forum using new media to garner and talk from all corners of the country to seek out the best ideas for enhancing the secondly we will bring creative energy to making imagery for the nation government structures that we have in place and i'm sure that the federal geographic data committee is successful in providing unprecedented leadership in the twenty first century today american society and expect  technology is one of the most important technologies of our time governor schwarzenegger is convinced enough that he asked one of his cabinet members to develop a statewide strategy just as important to the governor because it allows him to visualize inordinate complex situations that ask the question why and where the intent of the national special date infrastructure is to provide the basic framework to manage business and policy decisions much like our transportation infrastructure is a catalyst for interstate commerce the n s t if properly implemented will stimulate better policy outcomes for the entire nation california would not be the agricultural center that it is not if it were not for the highway and rail network allowing us export our products in agriculture similar we similarly we require a network of data providing for decision transactions the better the data infrastructure the better the decisions if we know where things are we make better decisions supply demand in the region this effort illustrates the struggle of scarce resources before the decision occurs in particular new maps or showing which areas have significant declines in groundwater and which ones require stream flow for sensitive habitat this is critical information for managing an increasingly scarce and vital resource additionally consider the example from the california broadband taskforce it required it developed  prior to making its full set of recommendation because of this map the policy discussion could strategically target where broadband isn't available and then move to locations in which broadband is available but adoption is low one result has been an effort in digital literacy were it not for the mapping the policy decision would have focused perhaps in the wrong place we can answer policymakers questions better if we have the spatial information infrastructure in place which delivers the data to decision makers before a cabinet agency in california for several reasons technology is a technology component that means it has to be aligned with information technology the c e o serves government if my position were located we're not seeing the benefits that we saw in the video why is that occurred or why has that not occurred first of all we don't have a national strategy in this country  in the context of the video and google earth and things like that it becomes much more understandable the federal government has long recognized the new special data for decision making purposes in one thousand nine hundred the federal geographic data committee was formed this committee in turn development of context and while this is good it has not been completed the primary obstacles are lack of funding and intergovernmental agency coordination stated already today where we are now funding a three hundred fifty million entire socio economic system yet the parcel layer remains successful the seven framework local jurisdictions across the united states have the statutory responsibility for maintaining an inventory of the parcel used primarily for equitable taxation with approximately thirty two hundred in the united states this creates the challenge of thirty two hundred puzzle pieces that do not all fit together but with a proper coordination by certainly could the state of tennessee and alabama are very good not technical in addition the two thousand and seven report included a coordination and implementation plan as part of its recommendation model could serve as an example for all of the framework one of the recommendations called for the federal government to provide an inventory of  government to try to catch up or should we simply look to the resources expertise of private sector companies like google if you want to start  requires an i t component it requires a human component people who actually have to be there managing information understand how that information is developed and it requires a standard component we have to have government develop standards a company like google and others have been able to be very successful because they can be elegant in presentation they can take lots of that information and make it available to us in a very simple form it is not however a geographic  partnerships in particular those partnerships in my mind have to be driven through local and regional and state government but there's clearly a role for private sector partnerships in a number of things and we've developed some in california around particular current example of producing data from state to federal that i'm aware of and involvement is the program and u s department of homeland security was an effort to collect critical infrastructure data representatives there were comments in the past about whether the federal geographic committee had enough representation from the private sector from the government or has that been addressed and if q to clarify an earlier statement it seems to me that when we talk about the stimulus bill and the federal government buying mapping technology are we really talking about intermingled in federal lands and private land my question is this is a single current accurate inventory of the land owned by the department of the interior or owned by the federal government from a technology academia and public agencies in the state of ohio prototype university led consortium in the state of ohio consisting of ten research universities distributed across the state was intended to facilitate and expand the use of land lance that satellite data and imagery from other observing satellites including nasa satellite consortium in turn a stablished computer system and network infrastructure to redistribute the satellite data to member institutions and to also make it available to ohio citizens the goal of the u s g s was to establish this prototype as a pilot for a nationwide program the prototype with ohio view created a rapid data delivery infrastructure at the u s g s earth resources observation and science center known as arrow's that was capable of near time data near real time data distribution of satellite data and also reduced the cost of acquiring imagery to the ohio view consortium members in turn facilitating access to u s g s data products and encouraging their widespread use it developed a multi sensor reception capability at the arrow center perhaps  most important it grew the consortium to include additional university participants including several minority participants thereby expanding research in education community that was able to access remotely sense data turn facilitating the development of a broad based constituency in two thousand congress determined that the single state prototype was well positioned to begin building the vision for a nationwide program accordingly two thousand appropriations language for the department of the interior congress instructed the u s g s to pursue a national concept initially entitled gateway to the earth based on the ongoing ohio prototype in two thousand  one renamed america view remained a fairly loose concept in which informal gatherings of interested parties briefed each other on local development initiatives were then established in other states such as south dakota alaska and texas since two thousand and two america view has continued to emerge from its status as a u s g s prototype project its members have worked intensively with the u s g s to develop america view into an independent organization capable of partnering with not only the u s g s but other federal agencies in support of mutually beneficial goals and objectives today there are more than thirty five states with hundreds of members actively participating in a national program dedicated to expanding access to and uses of our nation's earth observation satellite assets for education research monitoring and natural resources management other federal agencies have also benefited from this investment in america view some of the benefits that america has provided to s and the federal government include a partnership supporting our mission to serve the nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe an understanding minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters manage water biological energy and mineral resources and enhance and protect our quality of life the america view consortium also supports a national research councils recommendation from its two thousand and seven report which stated that the u s g s should pursue innovative approaches to educate and train scientists and users of earth observations and applications it is provided that network of state partners to enhance the science of remote sensing and data sharing accomplish needed research in earth sciences and supplemented s capability to deliver data to a growing user community based in part on the suggestions that we received from the americas e u members the u s g s has improved computer systems and network infrastructure and its ability to meet our customers introduced in the house companion bill introduced in the senate by senator johnson and the bill is designed to authorize a comprehensive national program and a set of activities that will promote the application of special imagery for a broad range of applications and purposes through education workforce development and training and applied research within the proposed legislation there is a set of professional development you will also hear examples of activities addressed that address expanding special imagery mapping courses that are being taught at the university level california view in particular is leading several program that there are remote sensing that are best understood and addressed at the state level and are well handled by a workforce that has acquired local knowledge and skills to select and apply that appropriate  to mean reason first american bridges a gap to a significant extent satellite imagery is available to the public from federal agencies like u s g s but satellite imagery is not plug and play expert in universities governmental agencies in the private sector require sophisticated software and processing techniques to extract information for end users what has been missing is the infrastructure to implement that knowledge at a local level where it can be used on a daily basis to improve the lives of people and that is where america comes in america view has become the infrastructure and bridges that gap second america view helps deliver a greater return on the billions of dollars already invested in our federal earth observation systems data warehouses and universities science extends the reach of u s and other agencies let's look at american support for disaster response and recovery  you can see here satellite imagery and air photos provide what no other technology can with just a glance managers can see what they're dealing with here are some examples in june of two thousand and eight all of southern wisconsin experienced severe in times of emergency the charter is especially important for floods and hurricanes because the u s does not have a civilian satellite system that can see through clouds and measure the extent of flooding below as radar systems within a day radar dolly alaska to support fire fighters every summer with daily satellite imagery process to detect kansas to map the aftermath of the greensburg tornado wisconsin to ma the aftermath of the tornado let's look more closely at why america view works i think there are three main reasons first the equality based funding philosophy promotes cooperation we  colleagues not competitors there is a rich exchange of ideas that are twice annual meetings and through a working group teleconference and there is significant sharing of data and educational materials to be happy to provide examples in questions of t second we fulfill a need america view extends the reach of the u s bridging the gap between federal and local removing educational and technical barriers and leveraging our network third each state has the flexibility within america view to adapt its programs to the unique needs of its state these are the three things that are brought success to america but america view is in a sense becoming a victim of its own success as states join we are slicing our budget pie into smaller and smaller wedges over the past three years are per state allocation of diminished a critical level h r twenty four eighty nine and this hearing today gives me hope because i see that the importance of our contributions is now being recognized and understood by those who can help