[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 7, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 886-887]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-370]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Geological Survey


Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC); Public Comment on the 
Proposal to Develop the ``Governmental Unit Boundary Data Content 
Standard'' as a Federal Geographic Data Committee Standard

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The FGDC is soliciting public comments on the proposal to 
develop a ``Governmental Unit Boundary Data Content Standard.'' If the 
proposal is approved, the standard will be developed following the FGDC 
standards development and approval process and will be considered for 
adoption by the FGDC
    In its assigned federal leadership role in the development of the 
National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), the Committee recognizes 
that FGDC standards must also meet the needs and recognize the views of 
State and local governments, academia, industry, and the public. The 
purpose of this notice is to solicit such views. The FGDC invites the 
community to review the proposal and comment on the objectives, scope, 
approach, and usability of the proposed standard; identify existing 
related standards; and indicate their interest in participating in the 
development of the standards.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 31, 1998.

CONTACT AND ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted via Internet mail or 
by submitting electronic copy on diskette. Send comments via internet 
to: www.fgdc.gov">gdc-govunit@www.fgdc.gov.
    A soft copy version, on a 3.5 x 3.5 diskette in WordPerfect 5.0 or 
6.0/6.1 format, along with one hardcopy version of the comments may be 
sent to the FGDC Secretariat (attn: Jennifer Fox) at U.S. Geological 
Survey, 590 National Center, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, 
Virginia, 22092.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Following is the complete proposal for the 
``Governmental Unit Boundary Data Content Standard''.
    Date of Proposal: November 1997.
    Project Title: Governmental Unit Boundary Data Content Standard.
    Submitting Organization: Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) 
Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data (SCDD).
    Objectives: To provide consistency in the maintenance and 
interchange of governmental unit boundaries and facilitate the analysis 
of and comparison between the boundaries.
    Scope: The Governmental Unit Boundary Data Content Standard (the 
Standard) will be an FGDC data content standard. The Standard will 
identify and provide semantic definitions and rules for utilizing 
components for describing governmental unit boundaries.
    The applicability of the Standard; that is, the domain of entities 
the components shall be used to describe the boundaries of, is limited 
to governmental units although the Standard's principles may be 
extended to describe the boundaries of other geographic entities. The 
Standard adopts the U.S. Bureau of the Census description of a 
governmental unit as:

    A geographic entity established by legal action, and for the 
purpose of implementing administrative or governmental functions. 
Most governmental units have officially recognized boundaries. All 
area and population of the United States are part of one or more 
legal units.

    1. The Census Bureau recognizes six categories of governmental 
units: active governmental unit, administrative entity, functioning 
governmental unit, general purpose government, inactive governmental 
unit, legal entity, and nonfunctioning governmental unit.
    2. The Standard shall be applicable to all. The Standard will 
include a listing of the domain of governmental units recognized by the 
Census Bureau. Examples are: the Nation, American Indian reservation, 
States and statistically equivalent areas, counties and statistically 
equivalent areas, functioning and legal minor civil divisions, and 
incorporated places.
    Justification: Governmental unit boundaries are a key part of many 
datasets. Although a large number of agencies present data which is 
either directly or indirectly referenced to governmental units, a 
relative few number of agencies are responsible for the collection and 
maintenance of governmental unit boundaries. Governmental unit 
boundaries are held by maintenance agencies in a format designed for 
their internal use, making the interchange of governmental unit 
boundaries to all interested parties unduly complex (for example, the 
Bureau of the Census maintains its governmental unit boundaries in its 
TIGER(tm) database). There is a need for an FGDC governmental unit 
boundary data content standard to improve the sharing and interchange 
of governmental unit boundaries amongst federal, state and local 
governmental and other interested participants.
    The Bureau of the Census conducts a Boundary and Annexation Survey 
(BAS) to determine the inventory of legally defined entities and the 
correct names, political descriptions, and legal boundaries of 
counties, MCDs, and incorporated places as of January 1 of the year of 
the survey. The Standard will assist in the collection of this 
information.
    The Standard meets the responsibilities stated in OMB Circular No. 
A-16 to develop standards through the FGDC to ensure that the spatial 
data produced by all Federal agencies is compatible.
    The Development of a National Digital Geospatial Data Framework 
(Federal Geographic Data Committee publication, April, 1995) identified 
governmental units as one ``layer'' of the information content of 
framework. The Standard will assist in developing this aspect of 
framework. The development of the Standard is particularly timely in 
that Executive Order 12906 states the initial transportation, 
hydrology, and boundary elements of framework should be completed by 
January 1998 in order to support the decennial census of 2000. As Chair 
of the SCDD, the Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, has

[[Page 887]]

identified the development of the Standard as a means of furthering 
this goal.
    Benefits: The Standard will benefit Federal, state and local 
governments and other participants interested in sharing and 
interchanging boundary data. Potential contributors to and users of 
framework data will also benefit.
    Approach: All members of the SCDD participate in developing the 
Standard. The Bureau of the Census will provide staff to lead the 
effort.
    The SCDD plans to draw from existing standards, which include the 
Spatial Data Transfer Standard. The SCDD will coordinate with those 
interested in framework through the FGDC Framework Working Group.
    Related Standards: The following standards have been identified to 
date:

Address Content Standard (draft)--SCDD
Cadastral Data Content Standard for the National Spatial Data 
Infrastructure--FGDC Cadastral Subcommittee, December 1996
FIPS 5-2: Codes for the Identification of the States, the District of 
Columbia and the Outlying Areas of the United States, and Associated 
Areas--National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
FIPS 6-4: Counties and Equivalent Entities of the United States, Its 
Possessions, and Associated Areas--NIST
FIPS 55: Codes for Named Populated Places Primary County Divisions and 
Other Locational Entities--NIST
FIPS 173: Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS)--NIST
Geographic Data File (GDF), version 3--GDF was recently issued to the 
Central European Nomalisation (CEN) for voting procedure and has been 
proposed to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 
Technical Committee (TC) 204
ISO 15046-7, Geographic Information--Part 7: Spatial Subschema (draft), 
ISO/TC 211
Geographic Area Reference Manual--U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau 
of the Census, November 1994

    Schedule: Work will begin on the Standard as soon as the proposal 
is approved by the FGDC's Standards Working Group (SWG). A working 
draft will be completed within nine months of the start date. The 
working draft will be forwarded to the SWG for consideration for public 
review.
    Resources: The SCDD has adequate resources to accomplish most of 
the development and initial review processing of the Standard. However, 
additional resources will be needed to handle the full review and 
comment activity during non-Federal sector public review.
    Potential Participants: Primary participants will be members of the 
SCDD:

Department of Agriculture, National Resources Conservation Service
Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service
Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
Department of Commerce, Office of Ocean Resources, Conservation, and 
Assessment
Department of Defense, Tri-Service CADD/GIS Technology Center
Department of Defense, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers
Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health 
Statistics
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Services
Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics
Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division
Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Department of State
Environmental Protection Agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Library of Congress
National Archives and Records Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Capital Planning Commission
Social Security Administration
Tennessee Valley Authority.

    Input will be solicited from participants in the FGDC's Cadastral 
Subcommittee, Framework Working Group, and International Boundaries 
Subcommittee.
    SCDD's open membership policy allows for and encourages 
participation by non-federal individuals and organizations.
    Target Authorization Body: The SCDD is developing and FGDC data 
content standard; the FGDC is the target authorization body.
    Contact: Ms. Leslie Godwin, Vice Chairperson, SCDD, Bureau of the 
Census, Geography Division, Geospatial Research and Standards Staff, 
Washington, DC 20233-7400
    Phone: (301) 457-1056, FAX: (301) 457-4710, Internet: 
[email protected]
    1. U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics 
Administration, Bureau of the Census, ``Geographic Areas Reference 
Manual'', issued November, 1994.
    2. An active governmental unit is a governmental unit that has 
elected or appointed officials, raises revenues, and performs 
governmental activities (such as enactment of laws, provision of 
services, and entering into contracts.) An administrative entity is a 
geographic entity established by the Census Bureau for 1990 census data 
collection purposes. It usually consists of a census tract or block 
group. A functioning governmental unit is a general-purpose government 
that has the legal capacity to elect or appoint officials, raise 
revenues, provide services, and enter into contracts. A general purpose 
government is a functioning governmental unit that, through appointed 
or elected officials, performs many tasks and provides a wide range of 
services. An inactive governmental unit is a governmental unit that is 
not exercising its legal capacity to have elected or appointed 
officials; thus, it neither raises revenue or provides services. A 
legal entity is a geographic entity whose boundaries, name, origin, and 
political/statistical area description result from charters, laws, 
treaties, or other administrative or governmental action. A 
nonfunctioning governmental unit is a legally defined governmental unit 
that does not have appointed or elected officials, raise revenues, or 
perform general purpose governmental activities such as enacting laws, 
entering into contracts, or providing services. The term refers to an 
entity established to administer a task assigned to another 
governmental unit. A nonfunctioning governmental unit is not classified 
as a government by the Census Bureau.

    Dated: December 23, 1997.
John Fischer,
Acting Chief, National Mapping Division.
[FR Doc. 98-370 Filed 1-6-98; 8:45 am]
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