FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COMMITTEE PHONE: 703-648-5514

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 590 NATIONAL CENTER FAX: 703-648-5755

RESTON, VIRGINIA 20192 HTTP://WWW .FGDC.GOV E-MAIL: GDC@USGS.GOV

April 1999

NSDI Community Demonstration Projects

What do Dane County Wisconsin and the Tijuana The demonstration projects will help communities

River Watershed have in common? People there help themselves become more livable and more

are concerned about rapid population growth and economically competitive. The wide dissemination 

its impact on the environment. These problems are of useful geographic information is aimed to put

common in communities throughout the United more decision-making power into the hands of

States. The National Partnership for Reinventing families, communities and regions, giving them 

Government and the Departments of Agriculture, more freedom and flexibility. Geographic

Commerce, Interior, and the Environmental technologies will help these communities address

Protection Agency are sponsoring demonstration sustainable development and a range of other

projects in six areas of the country to support the issues. The projects will serve as models for other

use of geographic data for decision making. The communities around the country.

Gallatin County, Montana; Tillamook County,

Oregon; Baltimore Police Department, Maryland; The following communities were selected for this

Susquehanna-Lackawanna River partnership; demonstration effort:

Dane County, Wisconsin; and the Tijuana River

Watershed projects will demonstrate how Federal In Dane County, Wisconsin, the project will create

agencies, working in close collaboration with a citizen-based, online, smart growth planning

local partnerships can provide communities with process to protect farmland and open space and

the geographic information necessary to solve a address environmental concerns, while sustaining

range of problems. continued growth.

These projects will be coordinated by the Federal Gallatin County, Montana, just north of

Geographic Data Committee and will build on the Yellowstone National Park, contains extensive

idea of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure areas of public lands, and is experiencing rapid

(NSDI). The NSDI, an effort of many population growth. This community's project will

organizations, is the linkage of technology, develop tools for the county government to access

policies, standards, and resources necessary to integrated federal, state, and local information,

improve the use of geographic data. consider population impacts, and understand 
alternatives for growth, and the effects of their The Community Demonstration Projects will

decisions on the community. provide a real-world opportunity to explore the

In Tillamook County, Oregon, citizens and local, Each project will also result in a clearinghouse of

state, and federal government agencies will be spatial data for each community linked to the

able to monitor and report progress toward National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse.

common goals for water quality, flood mitigation,

and fish habitat restoration through a

public/private partnership by creating online

web-based tools for reporting and accountability. 

The Susquehanna-Lackawanna River partnership

in central and northeastern Pennsylvania will

provide an integrated regional GIS to help local

communities support an environmental master

plan, flood mitigation, and performance

monitoring for one of the American Heritage

Rivers.

The Tijuana River Watershed is one of the most

populous and environmentally stressed areas

along the U.S. and Mexico border. With new tools

and integrated data, this local, state, federal, and

international partnership will demonstrate an

online decision-support capability to improve

water quality and availability and to promote

better health.

The Baltimore Maryland City Police Department

will apply GIS tools and integrated data to

support the development of CrimeStac, a

comprehensive digital mapping center to track

crime and related trends (e.g., housing, public

health), creating a world-class model for crime

reduction information. 

value of the NSDI in solving community problems. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

More information about the Community

Demonstration Projects can be obtained at the

World Wide Web site: http://www.fgdc.gov/.

Related publications can be obtained from the

Federal Geographic Data Committee.