The 

Changing 

Geospatial

Landscape

A Report of the 

National Geospatial Advisory Committee

January 2009
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Geospatial 

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Preface

In January of 2008, the Secretary of the Interior formed the National Geospatial Advisory Committee to provide advice and recommendations related to 

the management of Federal and national geospatial programs. This diverse 

committee is comprised of 28 experts from all levels of government, academia 

and the private sector. 

In our first year of deliberations we have endeavored to create a common 

level of understanding as it relates to geospatial technology, policy and programs that exist in the public and private sector. Many of our discussions have 

revolved around the need for a common sense of history – where we have 

come from – and the need for a common vision – for where we hope to go. 

The committee has developed this white paper to describe the changes and 

advancements the community has witnessed over the past three-plus decades 

and to set a context from which in part we will base our future deliberations. 

While this paper is not meant to be all-inclusive in chronicling the growth 

of the industry, we do believe it captures the major milestones and identifies 

several of the major issues that lie ahead. We encourage the reader of interest 

to follow our deliberations and progress at www.fgdc.gov/ngac.

Anne Hale Miglarese

Chair, National Geospatial Advisory Committee
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P ractically overnight, access to terabytes of geographical information, much of it in three dimensions, has changed the way people work, live and play. We 

rely on a host of location-based technologies via our desktop computers, PDAs and even 

our cell phones. These services fuel a market estimated at $30 billion per year and represent a major information technology growth sector. The primary reasons mainstream 

commercial applications have emerged are that a wide variety of businesses have taken 

advantage of investments and policy decisions made by the United States government 

during the past thirty years, and burgeoning technology innovations. These innovations 

include the Internet, communications infrastructure, detailed digital mapping, robust 

data management systems, advancements in modeling the earth’s sphere, the creation of a 

constellation of global positioning system (GPS) satellites, and more. 

Enlightened public policies now support shared geospatial technology, thereby fostering a strong international commercial market. For continued benefit to society, it is 

incumbent upon the nation’s policy leaders to understand these points: the government’s 

role in creating and developing these services, how much the landscape has changed 

during the past 30 years, and what leaders must do to ensure continued advancement in 

geospatial technology in the future.

A brief history of influential events, digital roads, GPS and location awareness

The detailed street maps that support Web-based mapping applications and in-car navigation systems can be traced to the innovations made by the Census Bureau approximately 

forty years ago. Since the initial creation of digital street maps, designed to support the 

1970 Decennial Census, the street map data industry has evolved into two multibilliondollar European companies.

The initial experiments were expanded in the mid 1980s when the Census Bureau 

teamed up with the US Geological Survey to generate the first nationwide digital street 

map with address ranges. This became the TIGER system that supported the 1990 Census 

and forever changed the way we interact with maps. In 1996, MapQuest leveraged these 

intelligent street maps to build a Web-based system that could determine the geographic 

location of a street address and display it on a map. MapQuest was an overnight sensation 

that received 1 million hits in its first 30 days (now 40 million per month). The sale of 

TIGER data (above); 

early MapQuest
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MapQuest to AOL for $1.1 billion in 1999 represents a landmark in the evolution of the 

geospatial technology and marks the date when location-based services officially became 

part of mainstream Internet business.

The need to keep street map and address data current resulted in the creation of Geographic Data Technology (GDT) and Navteq, which have recently been acquired by European companies. GDT was initially purchased by the Belgium company TeleAtlas in 2004, 

and is now being acquired by TomTom, a Dutch personal navigation supplier. Navteq has 

been purchased by the Finnish telecom giant Nokia for eight billion dollars. The fact that 

a major telecom company would place that kind of price tag on geospatial data and technology demonstrates the value of these assets and points toward further vertical integration of location-based services, especially on cell phones and PDAs.

Even though detailed digital street maps provide the basis for spatial search and 

navigation, they do not actually show consumers their immediate locations. This task is 

handled by another American innovation: the global positioning system, or GPS. GPS was 

designed in the mid 1970s to support U.S. Department of Defense missions. In the mid 

1990s, the 24 satellites that formed the GPS Operational Constellation made it possible to 

locate geographic coordinates without reference to any landmarks or features on Earth. 

By recording signals from at least four of the satellites, these GPS receivers were able to 

determine the X, Y and Z coordinates of the receiver anywhere on the Earth’s surface or on 

an aircraft. Since 2000 almost any GPS receiver is able fix a location within a few meters 

of its actual location.

The accuracy of GPS can be enhanced by a network of land-based survey stations that 

provide precise coordinates required for surveying. This precision is made possible by 

the development of a highly accurate model of the earth’s shape. A series of enlightened 

federal policy decisions opened this military system to commercial applications and has 

spurred a huge new international commercial market. Consequently, creative entrepreneurs have coupled these incredible and inexpensive tools to build hundreds of applications that support the public’s insatiable appetite for location-based information.

As the cost of GPS receivers has plummeted, the range of applications has skyrocketed. 

Personal navigation systems manufactured by GPS technology companies such as Garmin 

and TomTom represent the integration of digital maps and GPS technology. The demand 

for navigational assistance has been at the forefront of this trend and has been a major 

boon to car rental agencies. Furthermore, inexpensive personal navigation systems that 

cost a few hundred dollars have become popular consumer items.

Some models provide users with task status as well as real-time location information 

such as traffic conditions, and can even track other people and assets. This tracking capability is now widely deployed to follow the movement of children, employees, criminals, 

vehicles and even fish. A pet products company sells a GPS dog collar; for a monthly fee, 

owners can track their pets’ locations. The fact that other people can follow your movements (geo-tracking) with or without your permission or knowledge elicits a variety of 

reactions ranging from comfort to reluctant acceptance to outrage. In fact, some academics have labeled geo-tracking “geo-slavery.”

Telecom companies such as Nokia join in a vision of the future that places a high 

value on accurate geographic information. They plan to embed geospatial technology in 

the next generation’s social psyche in the same way email has become ubiquitous to this 

generation. An example of such innovation is the Apple iPhone, whose embedded GPS receiver wirelessly accesses the Internet anywhere in the world and integrates its location coordinates with both self-contained and Web-accessible applications. Imagine a MapQuest 

application on a cell phone that shows the current location of the device. Once people can 

fix their locations and transmit these coordinates to other devices, a full range of applications is possible. These include location-based services (find the closest automatic teller 

Personal navigation device

The Global Positioning System 

satellite network
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machine), advertising (get a coupon for a discount at a fast food restaurant around the 

corner) or social networking (find nearby friends). 

The ability of individuals to accurately determine and record locations in the field 

is also revolutionizing the way geographic data is collected and compiled. Using GPSenabled devices, thousands of amateur users act as citizen sensors that routinely create 

volumes of volunteered geographic information (VGI). For example, citizens in New 

Jersey are locating and reporting wetland features. People can use personal navigation 

systems to send data to vendors about changes in road features and points of interest. For 

example, OpenStreetMap has fostered a worldwide phenomenon in which thousands of 

participants freely form mapping parties to create their own street maps.

Social mapping capabilities are changing long-held constructs of map production and 

use. In many parts of the world maps have long been hoarded as military intelligence 

property. In these regions, map data is now being captured in the field by volunteers riding bicycles or walking. Organizations such as OpenStreetMap process this community 

data to create maps. Some of these maps may be the only available map for an area. The 

availability of these maps on the Web puts geography in the hands of everyone.

The Evolution of GIS: from Institutions to Virtual Globes

The development of digital mapping software began in earnest in the 1970s with the 

advent of the first software programs that could convert existing maps into digital data. 

These early systems ran on large mainframe computers that only existed in large public 

organizations. In the US, the period was dominated by federal agencies such as the USGS 

and the Census Bureau that developed their own mapping software to create and maintain digital representations of their existing paper maps. In addition to map generation, 

these systems were used to conduct inventories of land use and limited integration with 

other data layers. The Census Bureau developed a system called geocoding to automatically assign coordinates to a street address. These agencies now have employ commercial 

software for their enterprise-wide geographic information systems (GIS). After a decade, 

some innovative industries such as timber and utilities, along with a few state agencies and 

large local governments, were operating their systems on dedicated minicomputers. In a 

1983 report the National Research Council suggested that the creation of an integrated, 

nationwide GIS could conceivably manage millions of tax parcels. This foresight was an 

Early GIS

OpenStreetMap’s 

website
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inkling of GIS’s potential for managing vast spatial data infrastructures.

The decade of the 1980s represented a migration of geographic information technology to affordable integrated graphics workstations and client-server environments, which 

facilitated the sharing of data across a network. This enabled the technology to be adopted 

by hundreds of midsized organizations and agencies. These organizations often relied 

on medium-scale digital databases that had been created by federal agencies. These data 

sources supported applications based on relatively crude scales such as street centerlines 

and administrative areas and land use. Tremendous inroads were made in the use of 

multiple layers of data for planning applications, suitability analysis, reapportionment and 

other census-based data.

Using commercially available software tools from GIS companies such as ESRI and 

Intergraph, organizations began to create and maintain extensive geographical databases 

of corporate and public assets. Most of the analysis consisted of projects that addressed 

specific issues rather than the daily business activities of an organization. These projects 

were performed by skilled technicians who knew how to find and use the proper set of 

software tools and the output was often a printed report with tables and maps. Dramatic 

advancements were made in tools to manage images and model terrain. Commercial 

digital image processing tools from companies such as ERDAS could convert aerial photographs into geographic data. At that time, digital photography technology was limited and 

satellite data was only useful for large-scale reconnaissance of activities such as agricultural production.

By the 1990s, improvements in computer hardware and software provided a watershed 

for the democratization of computing and GIS software. Agencies migrated their GIS 

from UNIX to Microsoft Windows operating systems and from specialized workstations 

to common personal computers. Software was accessed through easy-to-use graphical 

user interfaces (GUIs). Performance improved as the industry provided faster and cheaper 

processors, graphics cards and storage systems. These advancements meant that powerful 

GIS software could be used both by technical “chauffeurs” who created projects and by 

non-technological professionals such as decision makers, planners, scientists and students. 

Consequently, GIS was successfully adopted by thousands of local government and business users.

GIS for emergency 

response

Workstation GIS
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Other events improved the level of common user adoption. Ready and free access to 

digital versions of Census TIGER files and US Geological Survey topographic quadrangles 

provided a fundamental base map of the nation that could be added to GIS mapping projects. Universities established teaching labs and helped to train a labor force familiar with 

geospatial science and applications. By the end of the decade, personal computers were 

linked to internal networks and the Internet. These advancements allowed for free online 

Web mapping services that could be easily accessed and used by average citizens. The era 

of location-based advertising emerged. Commercial GIS software expanded to include 

hundreds of tools to integrate different kinds of information, process images, perform site 

analysis, support decisions and generate high-quality cartography.

GIS software could incorporate digital imagery and computer aided design (CAD) and 

it could generate publication-quality maps. Satellite imagery with 15-meter resolution was 

also widely available and GPS technology was changing the way surveying and earth measurements were performed. It should also be noted that during this period the traditional 

paper map-based National Mapping Program operated by the US Geological Survey was 

all but eliminated. This topographic map series had provided the blueprint for the development of much of the nation and provided critical information for development of our 

natural resources. It can be argued that the reduction of this program has greatly diminished the federal role as authoritative source of geospatial information.

In the 21st century there has been steady increase in the number of commercial desktop software users who are able to create, maintain and analyze an extraordinary range of 

geographic information. Moreover, the emergence of the complementary, new generation 

of Web-based GIS has made it often irrelevant as to whether an application is running on 

a desktop or across the Internet. This new computing environment has essentially enabled 

the integration of a geographic perspective within almost every possible information 

domain.

GIS professionals rely on desktop software to develop tools, and they use the Internet 

to deploy them to a vast array of consumers. These people are producing a seemingly 

limitless range of applications such as realistic threedimensional visualizations and tools for integrating 

geospatial technologies with spreadsheets and other 

standard databases. This transparency has been fostered by open systems and open data standards that 

result in enterprise environments, which provide services on the open Web. From a technical viewpoint, it 

is important these applications be built with reusable 

software components that have been developed with 

object-oriented and scripting languages.

Many traditional barriers to participation in the 

geospatial data environment have disappeared. Rather 

than maintaining large staffs and infrastructure, organizations can now build entire applications without 

purchasing or storing any data or large toolkits. These 

capabilities have opened the door for GIS professionals to serve an exciting new market 

with customized applications, support for executive decision-making, and simplified tools 

that meet the needs of the task-specific or casual user.

The ability of networks to link to remote servers has empowered a new breed of knowledge experts and mobile and location based services, as well as traditional GIS professionals. The creation of huge server farms spread across extensive broadband networks has 

eliminated the need for users to acquire, download and store massive volumes of data and 

imagery. Often, images and pre-rendered maps are accessed for geographical context and 

GIS on mobile 

devices
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the spatial search or analysis is conducted on a remote server.

Applications that once were performed by an application specialist on a desktop are 

now pushed to a server and quickly and seamlessly accessed by a host of users on a wide 

range of devices. This has enabled handheld devices to become powerful tools. Thousands of GIS professionals employed by the Census Bureau and hundreds of other organizations can go into the field with an inexpensive handheld device to capture new attributes or update existing ones and wirelessly transmit this data back to the office. Similarly, 

average citizens can now access Google Earth on their iPhones to determine their current 

location or to find a good restaurant.

Some experts suggest that emphasis should shift toward the technical and institutional 

infrastructure to support the distribution of geographic information throughout society. 

These spatial data infrastructures (SDI) are frameworks that incorporate technologies, 

policies, standards and human resources to store, process and distribute vast amounts 

of data across many organizations and among governments. In the United States, the 

development of SDIs began in 1994 when President Clinton issued an executive order to 

create the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and form the Federal Geographic 

Data Committee (FGDC). This mandate validated the essential role geographic information plays in modern society. The order drove systems to be better coordinated and 

less redundant. Less emphasis was placed on products and more attention was given to 

processes, knowledge infrastructure, capacity building, communication and coordination. 

In an Internet-based world, value reaches beyond simply sharing data, and extends to 

judging data quality and to determining data fitness for consumption. With this, came the 

necessity to document data in a manner similar to documenting a library’s book catalog. 

Database quality and content took on a different meaning as public agencies published 

their data via Web browser-based applications that allowed average citizens to query and 

view detailed information about their property.

Much emphasis in the 21st century has been placed on providing accurate data to support decision-making. In the public and commercial arena, these decisions are diverse. 

Organizations want to know how to pursue an enemy on a battlefield; what are the best 

land use alternatives for combating global warming; where should police be assigned to 

reduce crime; what areas are at risk for West Nile Virus; what is the best site to build new 

schools; or what are the route logistics for efficient delivery truck fleet management. At 

a personal level, people want to know how to get to a party, where to vote, what neighborhood is a good location to buy a house, where to find their friends, and how will an 

ambulance find them when they call 911.

Today’s citizens, taxpayers, and homeowners have an entirely different set of geographic 

information needs and expectations than people did thirty, twenty or even eight years 

ago. They want to access geographic information from home through powerful, inexpensive personal computers by means of broadband networks. People accustomed to social 

Internet structures are as interested in publishing as they are in consuming information. 

They will readily participate in Facebook’s “what are you doing now” dialog. Today’s 

generation of Internet users are often armed with their personal navigation system, are 

repeat consumers of Google Earth data, and expect easy-to-use applications such as seeing 

their homes and relational values. They flock to sites such as Zillow.com and Cyberhomes.

com to view the value of their property and observe the trends in their neighborhoods. 

This cyberspace generation has high expectations of geographic technologies. They expect 

to link to their local assessor’s records. They expect detailed, recent aerial photography, 

and, even better, with bird’s-eye views at four different oblique angles. In reaction to these 

demands, local governments are incorporating GIS into their enterprise-wide IT environments. Waukesha, Wisconsin, for instance, reports that scores of business decisions relating to everything from E911 to school zoning are driven from a parcel-based GIS because 

Google Earth 

application 

on iPhone
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it is the expected norm.

Development approaches change dramatically when designing systems that meet the 

needs of users who are homeowners and taxpayers. Governor O’Malley of Maryland 

recently stated,

...I’d like you to consider the answer to this question – why is it that virtually any 

display of GIS technology quickly inspires someone one to ask the timeless question, 

“...Can you show me my house?...” Through the power of mapping, we were able to 

create our city’s [Baltimore] first-ever complete inventory of housing stock including 

the ownership information that could be used and accessed by mangers of boarding 

and cleaning crews, by those responsible for policing, those responsible for inspections, 

those responsible for filing the lien on the property after cleaning, those in the city’s 

housing department responsible for clearing title, and taking title, and those responsible for disposing of title so the property could be redeveloped and returned to the tax 

rolls.

To meet the expectations of these new users that include citizens, public employees, and 

real estate-associated professionals, a unified approach is required. Property lines must be 

accurately depicted, images must display fine details (new additions and renovations), and 

3D terrain models must model the flow of water through a neighborhood. These needs 

can only be met by investments in new data and geographic information tools that integrate vast amounts of very high-resolution data that is often measured in terabytes.

The Evolution of GIS: the new white board

The previous discussion suggests that the evolution of geographic information technology into mainstream consumer applications had its origins in investments and innovations made by the federal government. At the beginning of this transformation, a single 

individual or sometimes a small group of scientists could post information into a single 

computer and see limited results. But barriers still existed for that group to publish results 

to a wider audience. Now, current IT infrastructure encompasses federated, Web-based, 

and private-sector approaches. This changing landscape affects and is affected by the 

federal government as well as multi-collaborative stakeholders. Significant advances in 

technology have changed the relative roles of different stakeholders as well as the markets’ 

environment. It is hard to ignore the importance of the recognition by Microsoft, Apple 

and Google of the business case for location-based searches and applications in changing 

a field that was once dominated by the public sector GIS professionals. Now the resulting data and software generated by the dedicated GIS community can be leveraged by the 

exploding group of casual GIS consumers.

The earth is a huge study area. It can be divided into pieces of various sizes and studied 

at macro or micro scales. For some applications, such as tracking hurricanes, scientists can 

rely on relatively coarse-grained information but need it updated in real time. Conversely, 

a civil engineer may require centimeter-level precision when constructing a new bridge. 

The history of geographic information applications has been one of making trade-offs. A 

person could either study large areas at crude levels of detail or small areas in fine detail. 

As we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, these trade-offs no longer 

apply. Perhaps no application exemplifies the success of this better than Google Earth. 

When released in June 2005, Google Earth represented a paradigm shift that shook many 

of our established perceptions about geospatial data. It offered multi-scale, full earth visualization that was free, easy to use and provided a dynamic sense of travel. Even though 

several examples of large-scale, robust geospatial databases existed, none could match 

Google Earth’s ability to fly virtually to any place on Earth and visualize information at 

fine detail. Because it is free and easy to use, its success has skyrocketed over the past three 

GIS application calculates solar 

energy potential in Boston
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years. Content from scores of sources (National Geographic, New York Times, YouTube 

etc.) has been geographically tagged.

A recent article, “Armchair Archaeology” in The Economist, describes how Google 

Earth is changing the way archaeologists “make discoveries, develop theories and plan 

expeditions.” The archeologist states, “Google Earth gives you free access to imagery that 

would otherwise cost a fortune and require specialist training to make use of.” A conservative estimate of the number of Google Earth users is more than 100 million. The net 

result is that in just three decades, the number of geographic data users has grown from 

tens of thousands, to a few hundred thousand and then almost instantaneously jumped 

to hundreds of millions. Its impact has been widely documented in the popular press by 

experts such as James Fallows of Atlantic Monthly who considers Google Earth to be the 

fourth major innovation in popular computing (along with text editing, the Internet, 

and the Web). It is so mainstream that it has been the subject of New Yorker cartoons 

and Google Earth for Dummies is now a popular reference. More importantly, Google 

Earth has actually become a common platform for hosting and sharing geographically 

referenced content of all kinds. In many ways, the mapping service has emerged as the 

new geographic whiteboard, with hundreds of millions of users posting, consuming and 

comparing data collaboratively on a common earth study area. This simple-to-use visualization tool is valuable complement to the professional GIS tools that continue to be used 

to develop content, execute spatial analysis and perform modeling to support businesses 

and governments across the country. The value of spatial data and visualization is being 

realized simultaneously by casual users and professionals.

Considerations amidst the sea change

The demonstrated public appetite for spatial information will require a substantial, educated GIS workforce to meet the demand. The Geospatial Information and Technology 

Association reported that the geospatial sector has steadily increased by 35% a year, with 

the commercial side growing at an incredible rate of 100% annually. The US Department 

of Labor predicted that geospatial was one of the three technology areas that would create 

the most jobs in the coming decade and importantly these are high tech and good paying 

jobs. All of these changes in terms of users and expectations have turned the traditional 

governmental and commercial relationships upside down. Most noteworthy has been the 

dramatic shift of the federal government from being the primary provider of geographic 

data to that of a major consumer. With a few exceptions for administrative regulations 

such as the decennial census and flood plain boundaries, local governments create their 

Google 

Earth
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own data from in-house resources or commercial providers. In times of emergency, the 

federal government must acquire the most detailed and current data from these local governments. With companies such as Microsoft and Google as customers, commercial data 

providers – Navteq, TeleAtlas, Pitney Bowes, First American – are doing a brisk business.

Demand for high-resolution imagery from both aircraft and satellite platforms has 

increased. The recent launch of GeoEye-1 provides a glimpse of the new relationships 

between private and public organizations. This satellite-based camera is capable of collecting black-and-white images with a 0.41-meter ground resolution and 1.65-meter color 

images. The major customers for these images are the National Geospatial Intelligence 

Agency and Google. Aerial photography companies are competing to put fleets of aircraft 

in the air. These aircraft are equipped with sophisticated digital cameras that can capture 

huge quantities of geographically registered images. The imagery capabilities allow for billions of pixels, each covering an area as small as a few inches. Pictometry offers data that 

provides four-inch pixel images from five viewpoints. Applications such as Microsoft’s 

popular Birds Eye View produce images that have 

added a whole new perspective to house hunting.

Airborne lasers that collect detailed elevation data 

(Light Detection and Ranging or LiDAR), provide 

three-dimensional geographic visualization. These 

lasers have been characterized as the equivalent of sending thousands of surveyors into the field to collect X, Y

and Z coordinates. As a result it is possible to improve the 

accuracy of flood plain determination and the potential 

impact of sea level raise in coastal areas.

Changing roles require new partnerships 

and policies

In recent decades a shift has occurred within the data production community from government to private sector providers. 

This shift has been encouraged by Congress and the executive branch. A good example of this phenomenon has been the 

evolution of U.S. commercial remote sensing space policy. The 

11 policy has sustained and enhanced the domestic remote sensing 

Bird’s Eye View of Chicago on 

Microsoft Virtual Earth

High-resolution imagery: Landsat 30-meter image (above) compared with Digital 

Globe/Quickbird 1-meter image (right)

LiDAR image of Ground Zero (Fugro 

EarthData for the State of New York)
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industry while advancing and protecting national security and foreign policy interests. 

The increased involvement of private sector data providers has been fostered by professional organizations and associations such as American Society for Photogrammetry and 

Remote Sensing, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, and Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors that support public-private partnerships. 

(A complete list of the members of COGO, the Coalition of Geospatial Organizations, 

is on page 13 of this document.) Consequently, government’s role has shifted from data 

producer to coordinator, partnership facilitator, and manager. This, in turn, has resulted 

in significant growth in the number, size, capacity and capabilities of the US private geospatial community. This community is the most robust in the world, engaged in serving 

the domestic market and is a significant exporter of services, data and technology to serve 

a growing global market.

The relative shifts in data production from the federal government to the private sector and state and local government call for new forms of partnership. Furthermore, the 

hodgepodge of existing data sharing agreements are stifling productivity and are a serious 

impediment to use even in times of emergency. There is an urgent need to reexamine the 

relationships between data providers and users to establish a fair and equitable geospatial 

data marketplace that serves the full range of applications. When the federal government was the primary data provider, regulations required data to be placed in the public 

domain. This policy jump-started a new marketplace and led to the adoption of GIS 

capabilities across public and commercial sectors. However, these arrangements are very 

different when data assets are controlled by private companies or local governments.

Insistence on database ownership is an expensive policy. When the Census Bureau was 

updating the street networks to prepare for the 2010 Census, it could not take advantage 

of the existing commercial data from Navteq or TeleAtlas; therefore, the government spent 

hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a duplicate version of street centerlines. The 

Bureau which pioneered the field has attempted to assemble street network data collected from more than 4,000 local governments. They found that data often did not exist, 

was incompatible or was unavailable because of local licensing policies. Similarly, the 

federal government’s need for tax parcel information has proven a costly venture. Critical information about the use, value and ownership of property is needed by FEMA, the 

Forest Service, and HUD, for emergency preparedness or response at times of hurricanes 

or wildfires – or even to monitor the current foreclosure problems. Unfortunately, no arrangements have been made for the federal government to acquire the detailed propertyrelated data that it needs to make responsive decisions. Ironically, private companies such 

as the online real estate service Zillow are often better prepared than the federal government to support these critical decisions.

The dramatic shift in the relative roles of the federal, state and local governments has 

been monitored by several institutions and advocacy groups. For example, the National 

Research Council, which oversees the Mapping Science Committee, has conducted 

numerous studies identifying trends and recommending changes that would improve efficiency and coordination of geographic information. State governments have also emerged 

as an increasingly important source of intermediate level geographic information coordination.

As early as 1989, several state GIS managers convened as the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) to establish a forum for coordinating GIS projects and 

government investments. This group provided an early indication of the existence of duplicative efforts and the potential of redundant government activities. NSGIC is one of the 

most active proponents of spatial data infrastructure projects and almost every state now 

has a state GIS coordinator. NSGIC has an active agenda and is working closely with the 

FGDC for new initiatives. One of these initiatives is Imagery for the Nation. It is a model 
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for new partnerships in which the federal government provides partial funding to acquire 

high-resolution digital imagery collected by commercial data providers, with the option 

for state and local governments to “buy-up” for higher-resolution data. This data will be 

placed in the public domain and will be freely available to all sources including commercial entities such as Google and Microsoft who will use this data to fuel their product and 

service offerings to the marketplace

Nearly all the data, technology and applications we see today can be traced to innovative policies and government practices of the past. As such we require similar innovative 

policies now to keep pace with this remarkable sea change. Government-based geographic 

information providers can no longer think of themselves as a players outside of or immune from the community of private sector, state, local or even public stakeholders. 

In many cases these stakeholders have embraced technology and processes which have 

rapidly outpaced anything the federal government can provide. At a minimum, what is 

needed is a commitment to improved spatial data, recognition of the place of multiple 

stakeholders in this brave new world, and coordinated investment.

Although phenomena such as the Zillow Website’s millions of hits, cars equipped with 

navigational devices, and phones embedded with location-based services for locating 

friends are fascinating, the greatest value of the spatial data infrastructure still lies in illuminating complex policy problems. If we as a country are sincere about resolving universal concerns such as global warming, sea level rise, and affordable health care, the Federal 

government needs to adopt innovative policies supporting a dynamic and robust spatial 

data infrastructure, an initiative that was promised more than 15 years ago. The members 

of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee look forward to working with the Obama 

Administration and the geospatial community in formulating recommendations on the 

adoption and or revision of spatial data policies and programs that can empower better 

decision-making through geography at all levels of government and in private enterprise.

Cover illustration: Montage of Mount St. Helens (DigitalGlobe via Google Earth) and a GIS-produced 

map of Los Angeles, CA (courtesy GreenInfo Network).

The founding members of the Coalition of Geospatial Organizations: American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM); American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS); Association of American Geographers (AAG); Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CAGIS); 

Geospatial Information Technology Association (GITA); GIS Certification Institute (GISCI); International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO); Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS); National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC); University 

Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS); Urban and Regional Information Systems 

Association (URISA). Founding advisory organizations are: National Association of Counties (NACo); 

National Emergency Number Association (NENA); Western Governors Association (WGA); American 

Planning Association (APA)
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Ms. Anne Hale Miglarese (NGAC Chair), Principal, 

Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, VA

Mr. Steven P. Wallach (NGAC Vice-Chair), Technical Executive, U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency, Bethesda, MD

Dr. Sean Ahearn, Center for Analysis and Research 

of Spatial Information, Hunter College – City University of New York, New York, NY

Dr. Timothy M. Bull Bennett, TCU Science Coordinator, North Dakota Association of Tribal Colleges; 

Executive Director, NativeView Inc., Bismarck, ND

Mr. Michael Byrne, Geographic Information Architect, State of California Office of Statewide Health 

Planning and Development, Sacramento, CA

Mr. Allen Carroll, Chief Cartographer, National 

Geographic Society, Washington, DC

Mr. Richard B. Clark, Chief Information Officer, 

State of Montana, Helena, MT

Dr. David J. Cowen, Department of Geography, 

University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Mr. Jack Dangermond, President, Environmental 

Systems Research Institute, Redlands, CA

Mr. Donald G. Dittmar, Land Information System 

Manager, Waukesha County Department of Parks 

and Land Use, Waukesha, WI

Mr. Dennis B. Goreham, Manager, Automated 

Geographic Reference Center, State of Utah, Salt 

Lake City, UT

Ms. Kass Green, President, The Alta Vista Company, 

Berkeley, CA

Hon. Randy Johnson, County Commission Chair, 

Hennepin County, Minneapolis, MN

Mr. Randall L. Johnson, MetroGIS Staff Coordinator, Metropolitan Council, St. Paul, MN

Dr. Jerry J. Johnston, Geographic Information 

Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 

Washington, DC

Mr. Barney Krucoff, GIS Director, District of Columbia, Washington, DC

Hon. Timothy Loewenstein, County Supervisor, 

Buffalo County, Kearney, NE

Dr. David F. Maune, Senior Associate, Dewberry, 

Fairfax, VA

Mr. Charles Mondello, Senior Vice President, 

Corporate Development, Pictometry International, 

Rochester, NY

Mr. Zsolt Nagy, Program Manager, Center for 

Geographic Information & Analysis, State of North 

Carolina, Raleigh, NC

Ms. Kimberly T. Nelson, Executive Director for 

eGovernment, Microsoft Corporation, Washington, 

DC

Mr. Matthew O’Connell, President and Chief Executive Officer, GeoEye, Dulles, VA

Mr. John M. Palatiello, Executive Director, Management Association for Private Photogrammetric 

Surveyors, Reston, VA

Dr. Jay Parrish, Director and State Geologist

Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic and Geologic 

Survey, Harrisburg, PA

Mr. G. Michael Ritchie, President and Chief Executive Officer, Photo Science, Lexington, KY

Mr. David Schell, Chairman and Chief Executive 

Officer, Open Geospatial Consortium, Wayland, MA

Mr. Eugene A. Schiller, Deputy Executive Director, 

Division of Management Services, Southwest Florida 

Water Management District, Brooksville, FL

Dr. Christopher Tucker, Senior Vice President, 

Americas & National Programs, Erdas, Inc., Alexandria, VA

Mr. Ivan DeLoatch, Staff Director, Federal 

Geographic Data Committee (NGAC Designated 

Federal Officer)

Members of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee

14

David J. Cowen is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina. During 

his career at the University of South Carolina he was chair of the Department of Geography, Director of the Liberal Arts Computing Lab, co-director of the Center for GIS and Remote Sensing, and a 

Carolina Distinguished Professor. He is currently a member of the NRC Board on Earth Sciences and 

Resources, the Vice President of the Geographic Information Systems Certification Institute and a National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences. Between 2000 and 2006 he chaired the Mapping 

Science Committee of the National Research Council and recently chaired the NRC Study Committee 

“Land Parcel Databases: A National Vision”. He is the 2005 recipient of the ESRI Lifetime Achievement Award in GIS. Since 1967 his research and teaching interests have focused on the development 

and implementation of geographic information systems in a wide range of settings. 

This report was prepared by a subcommittee of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee. This report was approved at the October 2008 meeting of the NGAC. Subcommittee members: Dr. David J. Cowen, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of 

South Carolina (Chair); Dr. Sean Ahearn, Professor of Geography, Director, Center for 

Advanced Research of Spatial Information (CARSI), Hunter College – CUNY; Mr. Michael Byrne, GIS Architect, State of California Office of Statewide Health Planning and 

Development. The subcommittee would like to thank ESRI and the National Geographic 

Society for their assistance in the preparation of this report.

For information about the National 

Geospatial Advisory Committee, 

please visit 

http://www.fgdc.gov/ngac