National Spatial Data Infrastructure

Consistent means to share geographic data among all users could produce significant savings for data collection and use and enhance decision making. Executive Order 12906 calls for the establishment of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure defined as the technologies, policies, and people necessary to promote sharing of geospatial data throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and the academic community.

The goal of this Infrastructure is to reduce duplication of effort among agencies, improve quality and reduce costs related to geographic information, to make geographic data more accessible to the public, to increase the benefits of using available data, and to establish key partnerships with states, counties, cities, tribal nations, academia and the private sector to increase data availability.

The NSDI has come to be seen as the technology, policies, criteria, standards and people necessary to promote geospatial data sharing throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and academia. It provides a base or structure of practices and relationships among data producers and users that facilitates data sharing and use. It is a set of actions and new ways of accessing, sharing and using geographic data that enables far more comprehensive analysis of data to help decision-makers chose the best course(s) of action. Much has been accomplished in recent years to further the implementation of the NSDI, but there is still much to be done to achieve the vision of current and accurate geographic data being readily available across the country.

A Strategy for the NSDI Published April 1997

This strategy updates the 1994 Strategic Plan for the NSDI. It was developed with broad input from stakeholders in the geospatial data community, both within and outside of the federal government. Organizations who are helping to build the NSDI using the goals and objectives outlined in the strategy are:

National Academy of Public Administration: Geographic Information for the 21st Century

A panel convened by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) conducted a study in 1997 on geographic information resources in the United States.

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A Strategy for the NSDI Published April 1997

National Academy of Public Administration: Geographic Information for the 21st Century