Tools and Data
 Spatial Data Services
FIA has always had a policy of not releasing
exact coordinates for FIA sample locations,
both to protect the privacy of landowners who
grant us access to their lands, as well as to
protect the long term integrity of the FIA sample
plots. This policy was incorporated into law
through the Fiscal Year 2000 Consolidated Appropriations
Bill (PL 106-113), where Congress included language
that modified the Food Security Act of 1985
(7 U.S.C. 2276(d)) to add FIA data collection
to a list of items requiring confidential treatment.
FIA remains committed to enabling our customers
to achieve their analytical objectives in
ways which are consistent with the law. One
of the
ways we are doing this is through the operation
of a national FIA Spatial Data Services center
for spatial data. FIA Spatial Data Services
was created to facilitate access to FIA data
without compromising the security of the plot
locations or land owner privacy.
FIA Spatial
Data Services connects geospatial data submitted
by interested parties to the geospatial information
collected by FIA. We return data to the customer
that both meets their needs and follows the
confidentiality laws set out by Congress.
We also provide a facility where a user may
come
to use FIA data, under appropriate security
conditions, and generate derived products
which do not violate the confidentiality law.
To
learn more about FIA Spatial Data Services,
including how to make requests, please visit
the FIA
Spatial Data Services web site at http://nrs.fs.fed.us/fia/data-tools/sds/. |
