Need direction - cartographic vs. database needs. Need consensus on common symbology, common communication standard. Identify a process on how standards will be developed. Be flexible about standards. If standards are usable, people will use them.
Standards cost money to implement and use.
In early 1995, the USGS decided that the project needed to be a cooperative effort. The database will include metadata on all paper and digital maps produced by the USGS, the states, and others. It will include all or selected digital map files. It will include information on all current projects. The database will include geologic, geophysical, geochemical, geochronologic, and paleontologic spatial information.