I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2489 

To authorize a comprehensive national cooperative geospatial imagery mapping program through the United States Geological Survey, to promote 

use of the program for education, workforce training and development, 

and applied research, and to support Federal, State, tribal, and local 

government programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 19, 2009 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN (for herself and Mr. LATOURETTE) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To authorize a comprehensive national cooperative geospatial 

imagery mapping program through the United States 

Geological Survey, to promote use of the program for 

education, workforce training and development, and applied research, and to support Federal, State, tribal, 

and local government programs. 

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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘AmericaView 

5 Geospatial Imagery Mapping Program Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) when Federal geospatial imagery is avail4 able in a cost-effective and timely manner, State and 

5 local governments and educational institutions are 

6 able to develop new scientific, educational, and prac7 tical applications for the data and to adopt new tools 

8 for applied research, education, and training, as evi9 denced by— 

10 (A) the success of the United States Geo11 logical Survey (referred to in this Act as the 

12 ‘‘USGS’’) cooperative pilot projects OhioView 

13 and Gateway to the Earth; and 

14 (B) the 35 member StateView programs 

15 cooperating in the AmericaView program; 

16 (2) increased access to geospatial imagery for 

17 research and educational purposes, made available 

18 through the USGS and from State-level archives 

19 linked to StateView program support, benefits user 

20 communities that have traditionally struggled to af21 ford the data because it enables— 

22 (A) educators to train— 

23 (i) students at institutions of higher 

24 education for technology careers in remote 

25 sensing; and 


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1 (ii) teachers for use of remote sensing 

2 data to enhance student learning in ele3 mentary and secondary education; 

4 (B) historically black colleges and univer5 sities to partner with StateView program uni6 versities to enhance learning and training op7 portunities for students; and 

8 (C) Native Americans to provide training 

9 and education regarding— 

10 (i) the use and application of remote 

11 sensing data for Native American students; 

12 and 

13 (ii) developing satellite-based applica14 tions for managing reservation resources; 

15 (3) institutions of higher education and State 

16 and local government agencies use geospatial im17 agery to support practical mapping and monitoring 

18 purposes, including— 

19 (A) monitoring the health of Federal and 

20 State land and forests; 

21 (B) understanding ecosystems and pre22 dicting ecosystem change; 

23 (C) mapping hydrologic systems and as24 sessing water quality; 


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1 (D) monitoring crop productivity, assessing 

2 damage, and predicting crop yield; 

3 (E) assisting with transportation and land4 use planning in the urban areas of the United 

5 States; 

6 (F) predicting and assisting with the man7 agement of human and wildlife disease out8 breaks; and 

9 (G) mapping natural hazards and assess10 ing risk; and 

11 (4) the AmericaView program is uniquely posi12 tioned to help each State develop applications and 

13 skills necessary— 

14 (A) to effectively apply geospatial imagery 

15 for multiple State-focused mapping purposes; 

16 and 

17 (B) to expand the use and benefits of 

18 geospatial imagery for research and operational 

19 purposes within each State. 

20 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) AMERICAVIEW.—The term ‘‘AmericaView’’ 

23 means the national nonprofit collaboration of 

24 StateView program participants cooperating with the 


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1 USGS to achieve the purposes of the AmericaView 

2 program. 

3 (2) AMERICAVIEW PROGRAM.—The term 

4 ‘‘AmericaView program’’ means the national remote 

5 sensing education, outreach, and research program 

6 of the USGS established under section 4(a), com7 prised of— 

8 (A) the AmericaView project; and 

9 (B) AmericaView. 

10 (3) AMERICAVIEW PROJECT.—The term 

11 ‘‘AmericaView project’’ means the USGS data ar12 chive, development, maintenance, and product dis13 tribution program conducted at the Earth Resources 

14 Observation and Science (EROS) Data Center. 

15 (4) EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.—The term 

16 ‘‘educational institution’’ means— 

17 (A) any public or private elementary or 

18 secondary school, vocational school, correspond19 ence school, business school, institution of high20 er education (including a junior college or 

21 teachers’ college), normal school, professional 

22 school, or scientific or technical institution; and 

23 (B) any other institution that provides an 

24 educational program. 


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1 (5) GEOSPATIAL IMAGERY.—The term 

2 ‘‘geospatial imagery’’ means all information acquired 

3 from above the surface of the Earth by satellite or 

4 airplane. 

5 (6) NATIONAL SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUC6 TURE.—The term ‘‘national spatial data infrastruc7 ture’’ means the technology, policies, standards, and 

8 human resources necessary to acquire, process, 

9 store, distribute, and improve use of geospatial data 

10 for the United States established by Executive Order 

11 12906 (59 Fed. Reg. 17671 (April 13, 1994)). 

12 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di14 rector of the USGS. 

15 (8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 

16 (A) each of the several States of the 

17 United States; 

18 (B) the District of Columbia; 

19 (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; 

20 (D) Guam; 

21 (E) American Samoa; 

22 (F) the Commonwealth of the Northern 

23 Mariana Islands; and 

24 (G) the United States Virgin Islands. 


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1 (9) STATEVIEW PROGRAM.—The term 

2 ‘‘StateView program’’ means the AmericaView pro3 gram of an individual State, comprised of edu4 cational institutions and State and local govern5 ments. 

6 SEC. 4. AMERICAVIEW PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish and 

8 maintain a national remote sensing education, outreach, 

9 and research program within the USGS to advance the 

10 availability, timely distribution, and widespread use of 

11 geospatial imagery for education, research, assessment, 

12 and monitoring purposes in each State. 

13 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the AmericaView 

14 program are— 

15 (1) to increase accessibility to, and expand the 

16 use of, remote sensing data in a standard, easy-to17 use format by Federal, State, local, and tribal gov18 ernments, communities, educational institutions, and 

19 the commercial sector; and 

20 (2) to assist each StateView program in estab21 lishing the cooperative infrastructure necessary to 

22 increase access to geospatial imagery for research 

23 and educational purposes. 

24 (c) ACTIVITIES.— 


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1 (1) AMERICAVIEW PROJECT.—The Secretary, 

2 acting through the AmericaView project, shall sup3 port the geospatial imagery mapping research and 

4 educational programs of each State by cooperating 

5 with States— 

6 (A) to identify new geospatial imagery 

7 mapping needs and infrastructure and to de8 fine, consolidate; and 

9 (B) to maintain the data requirements of 

10 the AmericaView project. 

11 (2) AMERICAVIEW PROGRAM.—The Secretary, 

12 acting through the AmericaView program, shall 

13 maintain AmericaView in each State— 

14 (A) to share and cooperate in the develop15 ment of geospatial imagery mapping applica16 tions, education, and training infrastructure in 

17 each State; 

18 (B) to cooperate with the AmericaView 

19 project to develop nationally consistent stand20 ards for geospatial imagery mapping in each 

21 State; 

22 (C) to expand the number of geospatial im23 agery mapping courses taught at educational 

24 institutions and provide training, remote sens25 ing data, and teaching tools to educators; 


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1 (D) to expand geospatial imagery mapping 

2 research at research educational institutions; 

3 (E) to expand the knowledge and use of 

4 geospatial imagery and map products in the 

5 current workforce through outreach programs, 

6 workshops, and other training opportunities; 

7 (F) to build partnerships with local govern8 ments to identify unique research and develop9 ment needs and geospatial imagery mapping 

10 pilot projects; 

11 (G) to promote cooperation and sharing of 

12 expertise regarding geospatial imagery among 

13 participating States and within each partici14 pating State; and 

15 (H) to enable the States to provide 

16 geospatial imagery to the USGS. 

17 (3) GRANTS.—The Secretary annually shall 

18 provide grants to sustain and develop StateView pro19 grams. 

20 (4) FEDERAL PARTNER ADVISORY COM21 MITTEE.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

23 maintain an advisory committee to advise the 

24 Director of the USGS regarding the 

25 AmericaView program. 


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1 (B) MEMBERSHIP AND APPOINTMENT.— 

2 The advisory committee under subparagraph 

3 (A) shall be composed of— 

4 (i) at least 1 representative of each 

5 of— 

6 (I) AmericaView; 

7 (II) the USGS; and 

8 (III) the Department of Agri9 culture; and 

10 (ii) representatives of such other 

11 agencies as the Secretary may designate. 

12 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

13 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec14 retary such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act 

15 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014. 

Æ 


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