In 1996, participants from local, regional, state, and federal government agencies and the vendor community met to share experiences from their geographic data-sharing projects, to critique the framework concept, and to identify steps to develop the framework.

The FGDC would like to extend a sincere thanks to the participants in the 1996 workshops (listed below). They contributed ideas about how to make the framework a reality for the community. Many of the results of those meetings are reflected in this guide.

Bob Ader, Bureau of Land Management
Dean Anderson, Polk County, Oregon
Kyle Anderson, Washoe County, Nevada
Sam Bacharach, Intergraph Corporation
Fred Broome, Bureau of the Census
Will Calicott, City of Dallas, Texas
John Calkins, Environmental Systems Research Institute
Penny Capps, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Kathryn Clement, U.S. Geological Survey
Kirk Contrucci, Ayers Associates
Kathy Covert, FGDC Secretariat
Dixie Davis, Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Debra Dinville, Bureau of Land Management
Michael Domaratz, FGDC Secretariat
Carol Giffin, U.S. Geological Survey
Dennis Goreham, Utah Automated Geographic Reference Center
Kelly Wack Gousios, Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Richard Hager, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Todd Halvorson, Columbia County, Wisconsin
Ron Holeman, Washington Department of Natural Resources
Beth Holl, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Gary Irish, Arizona State Land Department
Karl Johansen, King County, Washington
Randall Johnson, Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities, Minnesota
Richard Klusmeyer, Adams County, Illinois
Robert LaMacchia, Bureau of the Census
John Lutz, Knoxville/Knox County/Knoxville Utilities Board GIS, Tennessee
Susanne Maeder, Minnesota Land Management Information Center
Nancy McCann, Wyoming Board of Control
Richard Memmel, Wyoming Department of Administration and Information
John Moeller, FGDC Secretariat
Mark Naftzger, U.S. Geological Survey
Zsolt Nagy, North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis
Marilyn Otto, Mapinfo Corporation
David Painter, FGDC Secretariat
Denise Perreca, FGDC Secretariat
Patrick Poepping, Poepping, Stone, Bach & Associates
Carl Reed, Genasys II, Inc.
Tom Reis, Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Ruth Roaza, Florida Department of Environmental Protection
J. Milo Robinson, National Geodetic Survey
Mike Romportl, Oneida County, Wisconsin
Keven Roth, U.S. Geological Survey
Barry Schimpf, Eagan, McAllister Associates, Inc.
Sigi Sharp, Eagan, McAllister Associates, Inc.
Steve Sharp, Vermont Center for Geographic Information, Inc.
F. Michael Smith, City of Oakland, California
Rebecca Somers, Somers-St. Claire
Bruce Spear, Bureau of Transportation Statistics
John Spencer, National Geodetic Survey
John Steffenson, Environmental Systems Research Institute
Larry Sugarbaker, Washington Department of Natural Resources
Robert Surber, Michigan Information Center
Thomas Taylor, Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium (facilitator)
Paul Tessar, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Gene Thorley, FGDC
Nancy Tosta, Puget Sound Regional Council, Washington
David Tulloch, University of Wisconsin
Theresa Valentine, Oregon State Service Center for GIS
Paul Waddell, University of Texas at Dallas
Sam Wear, Westchester County, New York
Bruce Westcott, Vermont Center for Geographic Information, Inc.
Jesse Williams, City of Kent, Ohio

Meeting planners: Valerie Gow, Linda Ann Smith, Sharon Valentine, Laura Williams