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Federal Geographic Data Committee 

Established by Office of Management and Budget Circular A-16, the Federal Geographic 

Data Committee (FGDC) promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, and 

dissemination of geographic data. 

The FGDC is chaired by the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, with the Deputy 

Director for Management, OMB, serving as Vice-Chair. Chair and Vice-Chair may 

designate an individual to act in their stead. All agencies responsible for spatial data 

themes are required to be members of the FGDC. 

FGDC subcommittees work on issues related to data categories coordinated under the 

circular. Subcommittees establish and implement standards for data content, quality, and 

transfer; encourage the exchange of information and the transfer of data; and organize the 

collection of geographic data to reduce duplication of effort. Working groups are 

established for issues that transcend data categories. 

For more information about the committee, or to be added to the committee's newsletter 

mailing list, please contact: 

Federal Geographic Data Committee Secretariat 

c/o U.S. Geological Survey 

590 National Center 

Reston, Virginia 22092 

Fax: (703) 648-5755 

email: fgdc@usgs.gov 

World Wide Web: www.fgdc.gov 
Federal Geographic Data Committee FGDC Document Number FGDC-STD-019-2014 

U.S. Government Facility and Building Geospatial Data Content Standard 

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Contents

1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Objective ............................................................................................................. 2

1.2 Scope ......................................................................................................................... 2

1.3 Applicability ............................................................................................................. 2

1.4 Related Standards...................................................................................................... 3

1.5 Standards Development Procedures ......................................................................... 3

1.6 Maintenance Authority ............................................................................................. 4

2. Data Objects, Attributes, and Business Rules ................................................................. 5

2.1 Real Property Asset ......................................................................................... 5

2.2 Geospatial Location ........................................................................................ 6

2.3 Organization .................................................................................................... 6

3. Geometries by Real Property Asset Type ....................................................................... 7

4. References ....................................................................................................................... 8

5. Appendices ...................................................................................................................... 9

5.1 Glossary and symbols and abbreviations (normative) .............................................. 9

5.2 Cross-Standard Harmonization (informative) ......................................................... 11

Tables 

Table 1 Real Property Asset ............................................................................................... 5

Table 2 Geometries by Real Propery Asset Type ............................................................... 7

Table 3 Glossary ................................................................................................................. 9

Table 4 Symbols and abbreviations .................................................................................. 10
Federal Geographic Data Committee FGDC Document Number FGDC-STD-019-2014 

U.S. Government Facility and Building Geospatial Data Content Standard 

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1. Introduction 

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-16, “Coordination of 

Geographic Information and Related Spatial Data Activities,” facilitates stronger 

coordination between users of and more effective management of spatial data. Data 

management, particularly geospatial data management, is essential to the sound 

stewardship of government resources and to the effective and economical use of tax 

dollars. OMB A-16 provides the foundation for a portfolio management approach to a 

National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) Portfolio comprised of National Geospatial 

Data Asset Themes (NGDA Themes) and their associated National Geospatial Data Asset 

Datasets (NGDA Datasets). A NGDA Theme (synonymous with “A-16 Theme”) is an 

organizational construct under which multiple related NGDA Datasets are logically 

grouped and managed as a unit. NGDA Theme Leads will work with their respective 

Thematic Committees and other appropriate communities of interest to identify and 

evaluate geospatial datasets that are candidates for consideration as NGDA Datasets 

within the NGDA Theme. 

The National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) is a physical, organizational, and virtual 

network designed to enable the development and sharing of the nation's digital 

geographic information resources. The NSDI geospatial data theme principles are: 

● Principle 1: Themes are logical groupings of related national capital assets 

serving the needs of citizens, readily discoverable, and accessible to anyone. 

● Principle 2: Themes are national in scope and are created and managed in 

response to well defined spatial data requirements that are common across 

multiple Federal agencies and other organizations. 

● Principle 3: Themes reflect legislated mandates, clearly defined directives, or 

core spatial reference datasets. 

● Principle 4: Themes promote cohesive and collaborative development, 

maintenance, and evolution of multiple related datasets across Federal, State, 

Tribal, and local governments and the private or nonprofit sectors. 

● Principle 5: Themes focus on the spatial representation of natural and 

manmade assets that are important to the Nation, including boundaries 

(jurisdictional, legal, and analytical). 

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) will use these principles to establish, 

modify, and maintain the list of data Themes that compose the entire portfolio. The 

FGDC is an interagency committee that promotes the coordinated development, use, 

sharing, and dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis. 

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is the designated Theme Lead for the 

Real Property Data Theme. This Real Property Asset Data Standard (RPADS) serves as 

the primary data content standard for geolocating real property assets (RPA). This 

standard should be applicable for many federal uses, with minimal extensions needed. 
Federal Geographic Data Committee FGDC Document Number FGDC-STD-019-2014 

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1.1 Objective 

The objectives of this geospatial data content standard, as defined in the original 2010 

proposal and approved by the FGDC, are: 

 

● To establish fundamental definitions for RPAs. These are foundational data 

essential to federal asset accountability. The data will provide the basis for 

support of federal real property management, homeland security, emergency 

response, high-performance green buildings management, and other federal 

government initiatives. 

● To develop a minimum set of attributes describing RPAs, with standardized 

attribute values where appropriate. 

● To provide minimum geospatial standards for the collection of geospatial data 

on RPAs. 

● To minimize the duplication of data collection and maintenance on federal 

RPA information and to allow aggregation of data from different sources. 

1.2 Scope 

The above objectives were expanded and give structure to the following four overarching 

constructs that frame the scope of this standard:

 The scope of this standard is to define the essential data needed to identify RPAs 

(buildings, land parcels, linear structures, and structures). 

 While the objective of this effort is to define the geospatial context of RPAs, this 

standard is established within the context of the broader FGDC Real Property 

Theme. By first defining these fundamental elements of the Theme, the ability to 

adopt third -party consensus standards is increased, and the standard can be more 

readily adapted for other components (e.g. Public Housing) of the Real Property 

Geospatial Data Theme.

 This is a geospatial data content standard, but much of the attribute data inclusive 

to the standard is not geospatial in nature. Thus, where appropriate, 

harmonization with other data standardization efforts (e.g. NIEM, FRPP) should 

be maximized.

 The RPADS includes the minimal set of attributes needed to: 

o Locate RPAs on a map

o Identify what the RPA is

1.3 Applicability 

This standard exists to define the core minimum attributes needed to identify a RPA and 

its geospatial location as represented by a point, line, or polygon. 
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The standard is intended to meet the basic immediate requirements for federal priorities 

such as real property management, emergency response and management, and the 

requirements for federal agencies to develop situational awareness capability, among 

many other uses. 

Agencies will have differing business needs to identify and track facilities, sites, 

installations, campuses, or other entities comprised of RPAs. To maintain consistency 

with the Federal Real Property Profile, the term “installation” is employed when a 

combination of RPAs is referred to. However, this standard provides the necessary 

flexibility to accommodate a different term for a combination of RPAs when an agency’s 

business needs dictate that one be used. 

Future iterations of this geospatial data content standard may incorporate other RPA 

attributes of interest to specific governmental programs, as they relate to the Real 

Property Data Theme. 

 

It is anticipated that this standard will be expanded in the future to include more detailed 

geospatial data as it relates to RPAs. It is intended to be used in conjunction with 

additional business-specific attributes maintained in separate database systems.

1.4 Related Standards 

A goal for this standard is to leverage, to the greatest extent practicable, existing third 

party consensus standards; standards that pertain to a broader domain than the U.S. 

federal government. As such, users should reference the standards listed below. 

● Address information: United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address 

Data Standard. (FGDC-STD-016-2011:2011)

● Federal Real Property Council: Guidance for Real Property Inventory 

Reporting (Federal Real Property Profile:2014) 

● Country and State Code: Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes (GENC 

Standard, Ed 2.0/ NGA.STND.0033_2.0:2014) 

● Geographic information – Schema for coverage geometry and functions. (ISO 

19123:2005) 

● Geographic information – Spatial Schema: (ISO 19107:2003) 

● Latitude/Longitude - Standard Representation of Latitude, Longitude, and 

Altitude for Geographic Point Locations (ISO 6709:2008) 

● Representation of Date and Time Data Standard. (ISO 8601:2004) 

● National Building Information Model Standards (NBIMS) 

● Statistics – Vocabulary and Symbols – Part 2: Applied Statistics. (ISO 3534: 

2006) 

1.5 Standards Development Procedures 

The U.S. Government Real Property Asset Data Standard is a geospatial data content 

standard built upon several previously published data standards, as shown in section 1.4. 
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The Standard is the product of an interagency working group with participation from the 

General Services Administration, the Department of Defense, the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Environmental 

Protection Agency. 

1.6 Maintenance Authority 

GSA is the designated lead for the National Geospatial Data Asset Real Property Data 

Theme. GSA was assigned responsibility to coordinate, manage, and disseminate Real 

Property spatial data under the policy guidance and oversight of the FGDC. GSA, in 

partnership with other government entities, professional societies, and industry 

stakeholders who have an interest real property spatial data, will oversee the maintenance 

and updating of the Standard through periodic reviews. Future revision of the Real 

Property Asset Data Standard shall follow the standards development process described 

in the FGDC Standards Reference Model (FGDC 1996a). 
Federal Geographic Data Committee FGDC Document Number FGDC-STD-019-2014 

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2. Data Objects, Attributes, and Business Rules 

The following tables provide detailed information on the high level, intermediate and 

elemental RPA data groupings. Definitions, notes, recommended sources, and lists of 

allowed values are provided. 

2.1 Real Property Asset

Table 1 Real Property Asset 

Real Property Asset: A building, land parcel, linear structure, or structure

Attribute Definition Data Type Recommended 

Source 

Real Property 

Asset Type 

Acceptable values are building, 

land parcel, linear structure, and 

structure. 

Text (20) FRPP 

Real Property 

Unique 

Identifier 

(RPUID) 

A unique code for a Federal Real 

Property Asset that allows 

interoperability by providing 

linkages to other information 

systems 

Alphanumeric (24) FRPP 

Real Property 

Asset Name 

The public or commercial name 

of a Real Property Asset, or the 

name assigned by an agency 

when the name is ambiguous. It 

is not necessarily the name of the 

occupant organization. 

Alphanumeric(100) 

Real Property 

Asset Address 

The physical address of the RPA. Text (350) US Thoroughfare, 

Landmark and Postal 

Address Data 

Standard 

Installation 

Name 

The name that is used to refer to 

a combination of RPAs 

Alphanumeric 

(100) 

FRPP 

Real Property Asset Business Rules: 

● Each installation must have one or more associated RPAs 

● Installation name is the FRPP term used to identify a combination of RPAs, 

and in this standard is used as the default designation for such a combination; 

however, the term may be replaced with another analogous term (facility, site, 

campus, etc) according to an agency’s business needs 

● Each RPA may be geospatially located by one or more geographic features 

● Each RPA may have multiple unique identifiers, but only one per issuing 

agency (e.g. Real Property Unique Identifier or other identifier) 

● For US Federal real property assets, the FRPP Installation Identifier serves as 

the primary identifier for identifying the same asset across multiple 

agencies/systems. 

● RPAs may or may not be named 
Federal Geographic Data Committee FGDC Document Number FGDC-STD-019-2014 

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2.2 Geospatial Location 

Geospatial Location Business Rules: 

 Each RPA must have a geospatial location expressed through a geospatial 

feature

o Depending on the desired level of granularity, a RPA may be defined 

by a point, line, or polygon feature

 A RPA may have multiple geospatial features; however, each geospatial 

feature must represent one and only one RPA

2.3 Organization 

Organization Business Rules: 

 Many organizations may have a legal interest in a single RPA 

 Identifiers for none federal assets may utilize other standard identifiers, (e.g. 

DUNS, CAGE, etc.) as long as the referenced source is identified. 

Geospatial Location: An expression of where a real world phenomenon exists, relative 

to the earth.

Attribute Definition Data Type Recommended 

Source 

Line A set of ordered coordinates that, when 

connected, represents the linear shape of 

a map object too narrow to be displayed 

as an area. Or, it could be a feature that 

has no width, such as a linear easement. 

Text (100) 

Point A zero-dimensional geometric primitive, 

representing a position (ISO 19107). A 

discrete location defining a geospatial 

feature whose boundaries or shape is too 

small to be shown as a line or area 

feature. 

Text (100) 

Coordinate 

Reference 

System 

A coordinate system that is related to 

the real world by a datum; a coordinate 

system is a set of mathematical rules for 

specifying how coordinates are to be 

assigned to points.

Text (100) ISO 19111 

Polygon A line that represents the spatial extents 

of an entity. A closed figure whose 

boundary encloses a homogeneous area, 

such as a building footprint, site, or land 

parcel. 

Text (100)
Federal Geographic Data Committee FGDC Document Number FGDC-STD-019-2014 

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3. Geometries by Real Property Asset Type 

The table below provides possible and default geometric representations for each Real 

Property Asset type. 

 

Table 2 Geometries by Real Property Asset Type 

Real Property Type Possible Geometry Default Geometry 

Building Polygon, Point Polygon 

Land Parcel Polygon, Point Polygon 

Linear Structure Line Line 

Structure Point, Line, Polygon None 
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4. References 

 Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2011, United States 

Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data Standard, (FGDC-STD-016-

2011) 

 Federal Real Property Council( FRPC), Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP), 

updated yearly, Guidance for Real Property Inventory Reporting 

 International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 2004 Data elements and 

interchange formats – Information interchange – Representation of dates and 

times, (ISO 8601) 

 International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 2005, Geographic 

information – Schema for coverage geometry and functions, (ISO 19123) 

 International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 2003, Geographic 

information – Spatial schema, (ISO 19107) 

 International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 2008 Standard 

representation of geographic point location by coordinates, (ISO 6709) 

 International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 2006, Statistics – 

Vocabulary and symbols – Part 2: Applied Statistics, (ISO 3534-2) 

 National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, 2014, Geopolitical Entities, Names, and 

Codes, ( GENC Ed 2.0) , (NGDA.STD.0033-2.0) 

 Office of Management and Budget (OMB), 2010, OMB Circular A-16 

Supplemental Guidance 

 OMNICLASS Construction Classification System, 2013, Construction Entities by 

Function, (Table 11) 

 OMNICLASS Construction Classification System, 2012, Properties, (Table 49)
Federal Geographic Data Committee FGDC Document Number FGDC-STD-019-2014 

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Appendix 5.1 Glossary and symbols and abbreviations (normative) 

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5. Appendices 

5.1 Glossary and symbols and abbreviations (normative) 

Table 3 Glossary 

Term Definition 

Address This standard relies upon the US Thoroughfare, Landmark and 

Postal Address Data Standard, as adopted by FGDC in Feb 2011. 

The US Thoroughfare, Landmark and Postal Address Data 

Standard states that a standardized address is one that is fully 

spelled out, abbreviated by using the Postal Service standard 

abbreviations (shown in the publication or as shown in the current 

Postal Service ZIP+4 file), and uses the proper format for the 

address style (shown in the publication). 

Alphanumeric A combination of alphabetic (A-Z) and numeric (0-9) characters. 

Building A roofed and floored Real Property Asset enclosed by exterior 

walls and consisting of one or more levels that is suitable for 

single or multiple functions and that protect human beings and or 

their properties.

Geospatial Feature A geospatial feature is an abstraction of a real world phenomenon 

that physically places the phenomenon via an implicit or explicit 

reference to a specific location relative to the Earth. This 

information must be accompanied by the applicable coordinate 

reference system, as defined by the International Organization for 

Standards (ISO). Real property geospatial features are typically 

expressed as a point, line or polygon. 

Installation A combination of RPAs. 

Land Parcel A specific area of land whose perimeter is delineated by a 

cadastral survey. (UFC 1-300-08)

Linear Structure A real property asset whose function requires that it traverse land 

or water (e.g., runway, road, rail line, pipeline, fence, pavement, 

electrical distribution line, canal,) or is otherwise measured or 

reported by a linear unit of measure.

Metadata Characteristics or quality of data. 

Structure A man-made Real Property Asset, other than a building or linear 

structure, permanently fixed to the earth’s surface. 
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Appendix 5.1 Glossary and symbols and abbreviations (normative) 

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Term Definition 

Text A sequence of alphabetic (A-Z) and numeric (0-9) characters, 

including special characters. 

Table 4 Symbols and abbreviations 

Acronym Long Form Name 

ANSI American National Standards Institute 

CAGE Commercial and Government Entity 

FGDC Federal Geographic Data Committee 

FRPP Federal Real Property Profile 

GENC Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes 

GSA General Services Administration 

ISO International Organization for Standardization 

NGDA National Geospatial Data Asset 

NIEM National Information Exchange Model 

NSDI National Spatial Data Infrastructure 

OGC Open Geospatial Consortium 

OMB Office of Management and Budget 

OSCRE Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate 

RPA Real Property Asset 

RPADS Real Property Asset Data Standard, a Geospatial Data Content Standard 
Federal Geographic Data Committee FGDC Document Number FGDC-STD-019-2014 

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Appendix 5.2 Cross-Standard Harmonization (informative) 

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5.2 Cross-Standard Harmonization (informative) 

Efforts will be made to harmonize, where practical, the subcomponents of this standard 

within the U.S. Federal government – with the Housing standard within the Federal Real 

Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Real Property Standard, and with the National 

Information Exchange Model (NIEM). Once approved, this standards development 

workgroup may further work with the Open Geospatial Consortia (OGC) and the Open 

Standards Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE) to make this standard applicable for 

broader commercial real property management concerns, and thus may pursue American 

National Standards Institute (ANSI) or International Standards Organization (ISO) 

designation.