A Report Card on the U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)

The Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO) recently released its 2018 Report Card on the U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The report card utilizes a letter grading system to depict the status and condition of the USA’s geospatial infrastructure.  COGO commissioned 24 content area experts to develop this second Report Card for the NSDI. These experts, drawn from the 12 member organizations of COGO, focused on the NSDI Framework to grade national efforts, and also candidly point to some of the shortcomings of those efforts.

The national assessment of the NSDI’s ability to meet future geospatial data, based on address, cadastral, elevation, geodetic control, government units, hydrography, orthoimagery, and transportation themes rose from a C in the 2015 Report Card, to a B- in the 2018 Report Card.   Grades improved across all themes; cadastral and transportation scoring a C- and a C, respectively.

The report also contains updated statements about the Federal Geographic Data Committee and the NSDI, which should be useful for anyone immersed in using geospatial data as well as to anyone teaching these concepts.  For example, on page 11 is a concise statement about what the NSDI should be, namely:
• A geographic resource for both the present and the future.
• A foundation for helping the public and private sectors use geospatial data for better decision making.
• A resource for many people and organizations working together towards common
goals.
• A collection of current and accurate geospatial data available for local, state,
national, and global use.
• An infrastructure for geospatial applications and services.
• A flexible resource that changes as technology, business requirements, and user needs change.

This 100-page document provides some excellent information about the history of data development and about the major data sets available for each theme.  In that sense, outside of the recommendations, the document is helpful as a short of “Data 101” document.  Plus, in some ways similar to the reviews that we have done on this blog, the authors review the major ways to access geospatial data.  The document provides insightful recommendations on how access can be improved, and how the data sets themselves can be improved, and so in the interests of all of us in the GIS profession, it is my fervent hope that these recommendations will be read and acted upon by those in the organizations responsible for each data set.

Report card on the NSDI–a detailed and helpful document.

–Joseph Kerski