I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3186

To establish and maintain geospatial preparedness for the Nation with the 

National Spatial Data Infrastructure and integrated applications and 

systems required for homeland security, national defense, electronic government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2003

Mr. CLAY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Science 

A BILL

To establish and maintain geospatial preparedness for the 

Nation with the National Spatial Data Infrastructure 

and integrated applications and systems required for 

homeland security, national defense, electronic government, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Geospatial Preparedness Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows:
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

Sec. 4. Homeland security and national geospatial preparedness. 

Sec. 5. Security policy and guidelines for geospatial data. 

Sec. 6. Office of Geospatial Management and Geospatial Information Officer. 

Sec. 7. Authorization of appropriations.

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Geospatial technologies and geospatial data 

4 can provide all levels of government and the private 

5 sector with proven capabilities to carry out detection, 

6 planning, preparedness, mitigation, response, and re7 covery activities for homeland security purposes that 

8 save lives and protect property. 

9 (2) The completion and maintenance of the Na10 tional Spatial Data Infrastructure with integrated 

11 applications and systems will provide the level of 

12 geospatial preparedness required to protect critical 

13 infrastructure, strategic assets, the economic base, 

14 and persons. 

15 (3) Geospatial technology and information have 

16 proven to be essential to enabling more informed de17 cisionmaking, greater efficiency, increased account18 ability, and better management in all levels of gov19 ernment and the private sector. 

20 (4) Building spatial data once and then sharing 

21 it many times between all levels of government and 

22 the private sector increases the ability of information 
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1 technology applications and systems to provide bet2 ter services to the public in a cost-effective manner. 

3 (5) The use of international, national, and in4 dustry consensus standards to develop and deploy 

5 interoperable geospatial data and geospatial tech6 nologies assists the commercial geospatial industry 

7 to provide products that make it easier, faster, and 

8 less expensive for all levels of government and the 

9 private sector to share, integrate, and use geospatial 

10 data for decisionmaking. 

11 (6) Establishing a new Federal Government 

12 program to provide financial incentives to State, re13 gional, local, and tribal governments will greatly ac14 celerate adoption of international, national, and in15 dustry consensus standards. 

16 (7) Geospatial technologies and geospatial data 

17 can be essential tools for virtually all functions of 

18 government and business. 

19 (8) Geospatial preparedness in the United 

20 States is not adequate due to a variety of factors in21 cluding inadequate geospatial data compatibility, in22 sufficient geospatial data sharing, technology inter23 operability barriers, institutional and organizational 

24 resistance to new ways of doing business, lack of fi25 nancial incentives to improved use of geospatial 
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1 technologies, and inefficient geospatial data collec2 tion and sharing. 

3 (9) Interoperable geospatial technology and 

4 geospatial data capabilities are emerging and incen5 tives are needed for full adoption and for collabo6 rative use to meet community and national needs. 

7 (10) Geospatial technologies and geospatial 

8 data are maintained by all levels of government and 

9 the private sector. A comprehensive nationwide pro10 gram is necessary to build and maintain a stand11 ards-based geospatial spatial data infrastructure and 

12 geographic information systems required to respond 

13 to increasing demands. 

14 (11) State, regional, local, and tribal govern15 ments, the private sector, and other non-government 

16 organizations are investing in geospatial technologies 

17 and geospatial data. Incentives are necessary to le18 verage these investments for more effective use to 

19 meet community and national needs. 

20 (12) Establishing the Office of Geospatial Man21 agement, administered by a Geospatial Information 

22 Officer, within the Department of Homeland Secu23 rity will ensure the most effective and efficient man24 agement of programs and activities involving 

25 geospatial technologies and geospatial data. 
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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS SOFT4 WARE AND HARDWARE.—The term ‘‘geographic in5 formation systems software and hardware’’ means 

6 computer software and hardware required to iden7 tify, depict, visualize, analyze, maintain, or otherwise 

8 utilize geospatial data. 

9 (2) GEOSPATIAL APPLICATIONS.—The term 

10 ‘‘geospatial applications’’ means computer software 

11 and systems that extend the capabilities of geo12 graphic information systems software and hardware 

13 to identify, depict, visualize, analyze, maintain, or 

14 otherwise utilize geospatial data. 

15 (3) GEOSPATIAL DATA.—The term ‘‘geospatial 

16 data’’ means information that identifies, depicts, or 

17 describes the geographic locations, boundaries, or 

18 characteristics of inhabitants and natural or con19 structed features on the Earth, including such infor20 mation derived from, among other sources, socio-de21 mographic analysis, economic analysis, land informa22 tion records and land use information processing, 

23 statistical analysis, survey and observational meth24 odologies, environmental analysis, critical infrastruc25 ture protection, satellites, remote sensing, airborne 

26 imagery collection, mapping, engineering, construc-
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1 tion, global positioning systems, and surveying tech2 nologies and activities. 

3 (4) GEOSPATIAL PREPAREDNESS.—The term 

4 ‘‘geospatial preparedness’’ means the level of overall 

5 capability and capacity necessary to enable all levels 

6 of government and the private sector to utilize 

7 geospatial data, geographic information systems 

8 software and hardware, and geospatial applications 

9 to perform essential emergency management func10 tions, including detection, planning, mitigation, re11 sponse, and recovery, in order to minimize loss of 

12 life and property from weapons of mass destruction, 

13 terrorist threats, major man-made accidents, and 

14 natural disasters. 

15 (5) NATIONAL SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUC16 TURE.—The term ‘‘National Spatial Data Infra17 structure’’ means the combination of the geographic 

18 information systems software and hardware, 

19 geospatial applications, geospatial data, standards, 

20 policies, programs, and human resources necessary 

21 to acquire, process, analyze, store, maintain, dis22 tribute, and otherwise utilize geospatial data as a 

23 strategic asset for the Nation. 

24 (6) OFFICE OF GEOSPATIAL MANAGEMENT.—

25 The term ‘‘Office of Geospatial Management’’ means 
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1 the administrative organization responsible for de2 signing, managing, coordinating, and implementing 

3 comprehensive geospatial initiatives. 

4 (7) STANDARDS.—The term ‘‘standards’’ means 

5 documented international, national, or industry con6 sensus agreements containing technical specifications 

7 or other precise criteria to be used consistently as 

8 rules, guidelines, or definitions to ensure that mate9 rials, products, processes, or services are proper for 

10 their purposes. 

11 SEC. 4. HOMELAND SECURITY AND NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL 

12 PREPAREDNESS. 

13 The Secretary shall direct the Chief Information Offi14 cer to work, consistent with Office of Management and 

15 Budget Circular A–16, Executive Order 12906, and sec16 tion 216 of the Electronic Government Act, with the De17 partment of the Interior, the Department of Justice, the 

18 Federal Geographic Data Committee, the National Im19 agery and Mapping Agency, other appropriate Federal 

20 agencies, and members of the Steering Committee and Co21 ordination Group of the Federal Geographic Data Com22 mittee, to use and enhance the National Spatial Data In23 frastructure for homeland security purposes, by—

24 (1) developing a comprehensive national enter25 prise strategy, incorporating industry and govern-
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1 ment standards, for the coordinated acquisition, 

2 building, storage, maintenance, and use of Federal 

3 Government, non-Federal Government, and private 

4 sector geospatial data with, when feasible and appro5 priate, integrated and interoperable commercially6 provided geographic information systems software 

7 and hardware, geospatial applications, geospatial 

8 data, and services in order to achieve an adequate 

9 level of national geospatial preparedness; 

10 (2) providing grants, technical assistance, and 

11 cooperative agreements to State, regional, local, and 

12 tribal government as well as non-profit organizations 

13 in order to increase geospatial preparedness by ac14 tions such as analyzing requirements, performing 

15 strategic planning, sharing geospatial data, devel16 oping agreements for sharing geospatial data, inte17 grating geospatial data, developing standards, inte18 grating systems, and acquiring, when feasible and 

19 appropriate, interoperable commercially-provided ge20 ographic information systems software and hard21 ware, geospatial applications, geospatial data, and 

22 Global Positioning System equipment and procuring 

23 services in order to achieve an adequate level of na24 tional geospatial preparedness; 
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1 (3) coordinating with, and assisting, the Fed2 eral Geographic Data Committee, the Office of Man3 agement and Budget, and the commercial geospatial 

4 industry to establish national standards for the de5 velopment, acquisition, storage, maintenance, dis6 tribution, utilization, and application of geospatial 

7 data; 

8 (4) coordinating with, and assisting, the com9 mercial geospatial industry to establish national 

10 standards for the development, distribution, and uti11 lization of geographic information systems software 

12 and hardware and geospatial applications; and 

13 (5) utilizing, when feasible and appropriate, 

14 commercially-provided interoperable geographic in15 formation systems software and hardware, geospatial 

16 applications, geospatial data, and services to carry 

17 out the responsibilities, activities, and programs au18 thorized by this section. 

19 SEC. 5. SECURITY POLICY AND GUIDELINES FOR 

20 GEOSPATIAL DATA. 

21 The Chief Information Officer of the Department of 

22 Homeland Security shall establish, within 180 days after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act and consistent with 

24 overall homeland security goals of the Department of 

25 Homeland Security, security policy and guidelines for the 
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1 acquisition, processing, and dissemination of geospatial 

2 data depicting critical infrastructure and strategic assets 

3 located in the United States. 

4 SEC. 6. OFFICE OF GEOSPATIAL MANAGEMENT AND 

5 GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION OFFICER. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu7 rity shall establish the Office of Geospatial Management 

8 within the Office of the Chief Information Officer. The 

9 Office of Geospatial Management shall be administered by 

10 the Geospatial Information Officer under the direction of 

11 the Chief Information Officer. 

12 (b) GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION OFFICER.—The 

13 Geospatial Information Officer—

14 (1) shall be appointed by the Secretary from 

15 among individuals who are skilled in geographic in16 formation technology and systems management; and 

17 (2) shall be responsible for—

18 (A) designing, managing, coordinating, and 

19 implementing comprehensive geospatial initia20 tives; and 

21 (B) working with the Chief Information 

22 Officer to carry out section 4 and section 5. 

23 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

24 For the purpose of carrying out this Act, there are 

25 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec-
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1 essary for each of the fiscal years 2004 through 2008. 

2 Such authorization is in addition to other authorizations 

3 of appropriations that are available for such purpose.

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