Moving Toward Enterprise GIS in the USDA Forest Service

Susan J. DeLost

USDA Forest Service

Washington, D.C.Image Courtesy of NGA

USDA Forest ServiceHistory

• Established by Congress in 1905 as an agency in the Department of Agriculture• 60 Forest Reserves covering 56 million acres

“Caring for the Land and

Serving People”

“To provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run.”

http://www.fs.fed.us

Forest Service Organization• National Headquarters in Washington, DC

• National Forest System

• 9 Regional Offices, 155 National Forests (600 Ranger Districts) and 20 Grasslands in 41 states and Puerto Rico

• Manages 191 million acres of public land

• Research

• 7 stations, 50 field offices

• State and Private Forestry

• Fire & Aviation• Forest Health Protection

• International Programs

30,000 employees nationwideNo NF lands in MA, CT, RI, NJ, DE, MD, IA, HI or DC

• Forest planning• Forest heath protection• Watershed restoration• Fire• Disturbance processes• Habitat• Recreation• Transportation• Research

Geospatial information is used every day across the Forest Service…

History of Enterprise GIS in the Forest Service

• 1980’s, Pre-eGIS era: GIS on a project-by-project basis, studies and reports (e.g. National GIS Plan)

• 1990’s, eGIS First Steps: Project 615, 1999

Baltimore workshop

• 2000’s, eGIS Progress: Vision and Strategy, Implementation, Focus Areas

Geospatial Executive Board Established in 1999

Charter

“Ensure that Forest Service geospatial policies, programs, and related activities are coordinated, compatible, integrated, and responsive to FS business needs”

• HQ Staff Directors

• Oversight and Coordination

• Corporate vision for an enterprise-wide FS geospatial environment

• Geospatial Advisory Committee

Geospatial Executive Board

Charter

“Identify, monitor, and address issues regarding the state of FS geospatial

programs and activities”

Geospatial Advisory Committee

• 28 Members

- Chairperson

- Rotating Members, 3-year term

- Standing Members

- Secretary (non-voting member)

Geospatial Advisory Committee

Geospatial Advisory Committee Focus Areas

• Vision and Strategy

• Technology Architecture Coordination

• Training and Awareness

• Standardized Geospatial Data

• Coordinate and Share Standardized Data

• Coordination of National Applications

• Mapping Requirements, Generation and Delivery

http://www.fs.fed.us/gac

Goals/Accomplishments Vision and Strategy

• Updating the Vision and Strategy

• Goals through 2008

“Quality Forest Service geospatial information is routinely available to internal

and external customers for efficient use”

Goals/Accomplishments Technology Architecture

Coordination

• FS Enterprise Architecture

• Image Compression

• ArcSDE implementation plan

• Strategic ArcGIS Implementation Plan

Goals/Accomplishments Training and Awareness

• Bi-annual Geospatial Workshop

- FS/BLM, Phoenix, April 18-22, 2005

• Centralized approach to Training– New course development– On-line course catalogue and registration– ~1300 FS employees participate yearly– Centralized geospatial training website:

http://fsweb.geotraining.fs.fed.us

Goals/Accomplishments Standardized Geospatial Data

• FS GIS Data Dictionary

– Change management process

– Deputy Area GIS Data Administrators

– Pilot-test GIS Data Standards

• Resource Mapping Evaluation Toolset (RMET)

Goals/Accomplishments Standardized Geospatial Data

Resource Mapping Evaluation Toolset (RMET)

Inventory and Monitoring Program Plans (IMPP)

Budget Formulation and Execution System (BFES)

Performance Accountability System (PAS)

Department

OMB Budget Language

Standards & Guidelines

Goals/Accomplishments Coordinate and Share

Standardized Data

There is a need to coordinate and share standardized data internally and externally with

our partners

Goals/Accomplishments Coordinate and Share Standardized

Data

• Interagency Coordination

• FGDC-compliant Metadata • On-line Users Guide • Feature-level

• eFOIA Clarification

Goals/Accomplishments Coordinate and Share

Standardized Data

• “Serving Geospatial Data Over the Internet” (Draft Guidelines)

• FS Geodata Clearinghouse• http://fsgeodata.fs.fed.us

Goals/Accomplishments Coordinate and Share

Standardized Data

• The National Map– http://nationalmap.usgs.gov/

• Recreation.gov – http://recreation.gov

Goals/AccomplishmentsCoordination of Natural Resource

Applications

Goals/AccomplishmentsCoordination of

Natural Resource Applications

• FSNRA* Geospatial Strategy and Tactical Plan

• ArcGIS Implementation Plan

• Geospatial Interface – “getting data out”

• FSNRA Geodatabase Tactical Plan (draft)

* FSNRA = Forest Service Natural Resource Applications

Goals/Accomplishments Mapping requirements, generation

and delivery

• Develop cartographic tools to produce standard maps from geographic datasets

• Ensure GIS data and metadata will support cartographic requirements

- Standard Symbology Team- Mapping Migration Team

Tied to Ground

GeospatialInterface

Geospatial

‘05

ArcGISAwareness&

Training

MapProducts

Metadata

Geospatial

One-Stop

DataAcquisitio

n

Standardized

Data

Geospatial

Strategy

Geospatial

Vision

NationalApplicatio

ns

DataAccess

ServingData

RemoteSensing

‘04

Geospatial

‘03eGIS

LocationLocationLocation

RemoteSensing

‘06

RMET

Fitting all of the pieces together

As we move toward Enterprise GIS

-Serving Data

-Metadata

-Training & Awareness

-GI

Getting Our Job Done

Standard Map Products

Data Stewardship

Fire, Mortality, Insect/Disease

Invasive Species

Forest Planning

Geospatial

Vision & Strategy

Business Requirements

FS Business

-ArcGIS

-FGDC

Seamless National

Applications

Habitat Fragmentation

Data Access

Geospatia

l Acti

vities

Enterprise GIS To Meet FS

Business Needs

Unmanaged

Recreation

Urban Interface

Tied to Ground

-Carto Tools

-Data Dictionary

eGIS

Healthy Forests

Homeland Security

Questions?