U.S. Metadata practitioners are invited to comment in the review of the North American Profile of ISO 19115 :2003 – Geographic Information – Metadata, (NAP-Metadata) sponsored by  the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

This review is announced on page 3 of the August 22, 2008 edition of the ANSI Standards Action bulletin (VOL. 39, #34) at the following URL: http://publicaa.ansi.org/sites/apdl/Documents/Standards%20Action/2008%20PDFs/SAV3934.pdf

Comments are critical to assure that the Profile meets the needs of the U.S. geographic information community.

The review period begins on August 22, 2008 and ends October 6, 2008 at 12:00 midnight Eastern Standard Time. Reviewers will need to purchase an electronic copy of the NAP-Metadata from http://www.techstreet.com/cgi-bin/detail?product_id=1572905.  A charge of $30.00 (thirty dollars) is assessed to download the NAP in electronic format; a charge of $40.00 (forty dollars) is assessed to obtain the printed edition.  Comments shall be sent to Barbara Bennett at bbennett@itic.org.

Reviewers are strongly encouraged to use the comment form (Word, Excel) and follow the instructions provided in FGDC Standards Directive #2d, Standards Working Group Review Guidelines: Review Comment Template, for completing the form.

Members of the FGDC Metadata Work Group are invited to a series of webinars hosted by the FGDC.  The purpose of the webinars is to gain a set of consensus-built comments for the ANSI review.  Please review the NAP-Metadata prior to the webinar. The date and time will be announced in the coming weeks to the WG membership.  If you are not a member of the WG, send a request for membership to Sharon Shin at sshin@usgs.gov.

Comments resulting from the review will be adjudicated in mid-October. Editing will be completed by end of November.  The NAP-Metadata will then be processed by both the Secretariat of the U.S. based InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) and the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) before it is approved and simultaneously published as an American National Standard (ANS) and a Canadian National Standard.

INCITS Technical Committee L1 (INCITS L1), Geographic information systems, and the CGSB Committee on Geomatics (CGSB-CoG) developed the North American Profile through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by ANSI and Standards Council of Canada (SCC).

About CGSB-CoG

The CGSB is a federal government organization accredited by the SCC that offers client-centered, comprehensive standards development and conformity assessment services in support of the economic, regulatory, procurement, health, safety, and environmental interests of Canadian stakeholders — government, industry and consumers. The CGSB-CoG is the technical committee responsible for the development and maintenance of unique National Standards in the area of geomatics.

About INCITS L1

ANSI has accredited the procedures of INCITS to develop voluntary consensus standards for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). INCITS comprises many technical committees, including INCITS L1, which develop standards in specific topic areas of ICT.  The U.S. participates in ANSI and ISO standardization activities for geographic information through INCITS L1. OMB Circular A-119 directs Federal agencies to participate in voluntary consensus standards bodies such as INCITS L1. To that end, the FGDC and member agencies have joined INCITS L1 as members.

Links

• North American Profile Register, includes NAP codelists
  
• ANSI Standards Action, VOL. 39, #34 (August 22, 2008), http://publicaa.ansi.org/sites/apdl/Documents/Standards%20Action/2008%20PDFs/SAV3934.pdf
• NAP Profile purchase site, http://www.techstreet.com/cgi-bin/detail?product_id=1572905
  
• Directive #2d, Standards Working Group Review Guidelines: Review Comment Template
• Review comment template (Word), http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/process/standards-directives/template.doc
• Review comment template (Excel), http://www.fgdc.gov/nap/metadata/Comment%20Submission%20Form.xls

Contact

Contact Person: David Danko

Company Name: ESRI

Telephone Number: 703-506-9515 ext. 8011

Fax Number: 703-506-9514

Email Address: ddanko@esri.com

Web site address: www.esri.com

Contact 2

Contact Person: Sharon Shin

Company Name: Federal Geographic Data Committee Secretariat

Telephone Number: 303-202-4230

Fax Number: 303-202-4229

Email Address: sshin@usgs.gov

Web site address:www.fgdc.gov