Document Actions
Factsheets
| Author |
Factsheet |
Date |
Abstract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common Service Workgroup | GSA Federal SmartBuy for
Geospatial Products [PDF 69KB] |
2008 | Federal agencies use many of the same commercial
products to perform geospatial operations but possess widely disparate
contractual vehicles for procuring software and services. Procurement
of geospatial software products can be fragmented and sometimes
redundant. Consequently, the potential for agency savings is eroded and
commercial vendors spend a disproportionate amount of time coordinating
dozens, if not hundreds, of different accounts within an agency or
department. Furthermore, many agencies do not have access to
value-added services of the vendor community such as training and
technical support. The CSWG, composed of representatives from across
the federal community, is working with the General Services
Administration (GSA) SmartBUY Team to implement a multi-vendor Blanket
Purchase Agreement (BPA) that will provide small, medium, and large
government users a common portfolio of geospatial technology
options. |
| Geo-Enabling Business Workgroup |
Geo-Enabling the businesses of
government [PDF 219KB] |
2008 |
Geo-enabling is to take loosely geo referenced information
typically in a database with a column that contains a street address, a
zip code, a county name, a permit number, a watershed code, or route
number and automatically join it up with the representation of that
geography to make a map-able dataset (make a map) and to support visual
and GIS analysis against other data. The value is not in making the
map, but in potential juxtaposition with other geodata that may support
or enhance an existing or desired business process or decision support
scenario. This factsheet provides information on the value of
geo-enabling as well as examples in the federal sector. |
| Geo-Enabling Business Workgroup | Documenting
Tabular Geospatial Data [PDF 55.6KB] |
2008 |
The term 'geospatial data' is most
commonly used to reference maps, photographs, satellite images and
Geographic Information System (GIS) products. However, vast amounts of
geospatial data are collected in common tables and databases. This
tabular data may include a specific column for geographic coordinates
but it is far more common that geospatial location is referenced by
street address, administrative boundaries such as school districts,
geophysical features such as watersheds and other "mappable"
attributes. At some level, most tabular data is geospatial. Though the
geospatial character of the dataset features may reference an area
rather than a specific point, the data can, none the less, be tied to a
location on the earth. This guidance describes tabular data
in the sense of geospatial metadata, refers to the Content Standard for
Digital Geospatial Metadata, provides a quick reference to methods and
tools, applies the CSDGM to tabular data, and documenting tabular
attributes in metadata. |