[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 68 (Thursday, April 9, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17439-17440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-9357]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Geological Survey


Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC); Public Comment on the 
Proposal To Develop the ``Hydrographic Data Content Standard for 
Coastal and Inland Waterways'' as a Federal Geographic Data Committee 
Standard

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The FGDC is soliciting public comments on the proposal to 
develop a ``Hydrographic Data Content Standard for Coastal and Inland 
Waterways.'' If the proposal is approved, the standard will be 
developed following the FGDC standards development and approval 
process. If the standard is adopted by the FGDC, it must be followed by 
all Federal agencies gathering and using hydrographic data for the 
purpose of navigation and engineering applications directly or 
indirectly (through grants, partnerships, or contracts).
    In its assigned Federal leadership in the development of the 
National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), the FGDC 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 standard.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 1, 1998.

CONTACT AND ADDRESSES: The complete proposal is included in this 
notice. It is also posted at Internet address: http://www.fgdc.gov/
Standards/Documents/Proposals/hydrocont.html.
    Comments may be submitted via Internet mail or by submitting an 
electronic copy on diskette. Send comments via Internet to: www.fgdc.gov">gdc-
hydrocont@www.fgdc.gov. Comments e-mailed as attachments must be in 
ASCII format.
    A soft copy version may be submitted 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, to the FGDC Secretariat (attn: Jennifer Fox) at U.S. 
Geological Survey, 590 National Center, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, 
Reston, Virginia 20192.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Following is the complete proposal for the 
``Hydrographic Data Content Standard for Coastal and Inland 
Waterways.''
    Project Title: Development of an NSDI Hydrographic Data Content 
Standard for Coastal and Inland Waterways.
    Point of Contact: Kevin Backe, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 703-
428-6505, email: [email protected].
    Submitting Organization: FGDC Bathymetric Subcommittee.
    Objectives: To develop a nationally focused Hydrographic Data 
Content Standard for Inland Waterways (hereafter called Hydrographic 
Standard) from the combination of information from existing standards 
(specified in the related standards paragraph).
    Scope: This activity will first focus on developing a nationally 
focused standard for geospatial data pertaining to coastal and inland 
waterways that supports navigation applications. It will include an 
informative annex that

[[Page 17440]]

contains additional information about presentation of this information 
for charting and electronic chart display applications. The project 
team will further refine the scope of this project as this project 
proceeds.
    This Standard will consist of a feature/attribute/domain catalog 
and will use a logical data model that is consistent with the Spatial 
Data Transfer Standard/Federal Information Processing Standard (SDTS/
FIPS 173 part 2).
    Justification/Benefits: There is currently no national data content 
standard for hydrographic data that support navigation and engineering 
applications; yet there has been considerable interest from Federal 
Agencies, the private industry, and the public for this type of 
information. A comprehensive data content standard that supports 
waterway navigation applications will ensure effective use of 
geospatial data across different agencies, organizations, and other 
users. Inclusion of graphic representation information and symbology 
will increase consistency and accuracy of interpreted information 
displayed on electronic charting.
    Development Approach: The Bathymetric Subcommittee will create a 
project team to develop a draft of this standard. This project team 
will extract feature/attribute information available from existing 
standards and other sources and package and present this information as 
an FGDC Standard. The project team will provide a draft standard for 
the Bathymetric Subcommittee review and approval. Upon its approval the 
Bathymetric Subcommittee will submit the Hydrographic Standard to the 
FGDC Standards Working Group for their review and approval prior to it 
going out for public review. The Bathymetric Subcommittee will also 
submit this information to the FGDC Feature Registry to discover any 
potential overlap with other FGDC Standards.
    Development and Completion Schedule: The Bathymetric Subcommittee 
will form a project team and begin work on the development of this 
standard as soon as this project is approved by the FGDC Standards 
Working Group. The development of a working draft of the Hydrographic 
Standard is expected to take 3-6 months. Once the Bathymetric 
Subcommittee is satisfied with the content of this Standard it will be 
forwarded to the Standards Working Group for their review and 
consideration of its readiness for public review. The Bathymetric 
Subcommittee expects to accomplish the development of this standard in 
one year to eighteen months.
    Resources Required: The Bathymetric Subcommittee has adequate 
resources to accomplish most of the development of this Hydrographic 
Standard. If there is interest in participation on the development of 
this standard from the non-Federal sector, additional resources may be 
required.
    Potential Participants: The primary participants will be the 
members of the Bathymetric Subcommittee that includes representatives 
from federal agencies. Other members of the public and private sector 
will be sought for the development of this Standard.
    Related Standards: There are several significant standards that 
relate to the standard being proposed for development. As mentioned 
above the project team is planning on producing this Hydrographic 
Standard by extracting relevant information from these existing 
standards and other sources. These standards and other sources are:

International Hydrographic Organization's S57 Appendix A ``Object 
Catalog for Digital Hydrographic Data,''
USACE Regional Engineering and Environmental GIS project's data 
dictionary for inland waterways information,
Tri-Service Spatial Data Standard,
Potentially the National Mapping and Imagery Agency (NIMA) Feature 
Attribute Coding Catalog, potentially the NIMA Hydrographic Data Model, 
and potentially the USGS DLG-F feature dictionary.

    Target Authorization Body: The Bathymetric Subcommittee proposes 
pursuing the development of this Hydrographic Standard as a FGDC 
standard. The Bathymetric Subcommittee may consider pursuing (at a 
later date) the promoting of parts of this standard (e.g., inland 
waterways information) that are not currently part of the S57 standard 
to International Hydrographic Organization for inclusion in their 
standard.

    Dated: April 2, 1998.
Kathryn R. Clement,
Associate Chief, National Mapping Division.
[FR Doc. 98-9357 Filed 4-8-98; 8:45 am]
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