[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 13, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19280-19281]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-07513]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

U.S. Geological Survey

[GX20EG33DW20300; OMB Control Number 1028-0111]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; The National 
Map Corps (TNMCorps)--Volunteered Geographic Information Project

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, 
the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are proposing to renew an information 
collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
May 13, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. U.S. 
Geological Survey, Information Collections Officer, 12201 Sunrise 
Valley Drive MS 159, Reston, VA 20192; or by email to [email protected]. Please reference OMB Control Number 1028-
0111 in the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information 
about this ICR, contact Erin Korris by email at [email protected], or by 
telephone at 303-202-4503. You may also view the ICR at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the PRA and 5 CFR 
1320.8(d)(1), we provide the general public and other Federal agencies 
with an opportunity to comment on new, proposed, revised, and 
continuing collections of information. This helps us assess the impact 
of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. It also helps the public understand our information 
collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired 
format.
    A Federal Register notice with a 60-day public comment period 
soliciting comments on this collection of information was published on 
October 23, 2020 (85 FR 67561). No comments were received.
    As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent 
burdens, we are again soliciting comments from the public and other 
Federal agencies on the proposed ICR that is described below. We are 
especially interested in public comment addressing the following:
    (1) Whether or not the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether or not the information will have practical utility;
    (2) The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection 
of information, including the validity of the methodology and 
assumptions used;
    (3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (4) How might the agency minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of response.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of

[[Page 19281]]

public record. Before including your address, phone number, email 
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you 
should be aware that your entire comment--including your personal 
identifying information--may be made publicly available at any time. 
While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal 
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we 
will be able to do so.
    Abstract: The mission of the USGS National Geospatial Program (NGP) 
is to organize, maintain, publish, and disseminate the geospatial 
baseline of the Nation's topography, natural landscape, and built 
environment through The National Map, a set of basic geospatial 
information provided as a variety of products and services.
    Through Office of Management and Budget Circular A-16, the Federal 
Government assigns leadership responsibilities for themes of geospatial 
data among Federal agencies. Based in part on this assignment, and 
because of the unique niche of the Program to provide national coverage 
of topographic data, the primary focus of the program is to provide 
national leadership in The National Map themes of hydrography and 
elevation. The role of the other six layers of The National Map is 
generally to provide contextual or reference information to its 
cartographic products and services. The objective of the Program for 
these layers is to maintain current coverage by obtaining the data from 
other organizations and suppliers with a minimum investment of Program 
resources.
    The National Map Corps (TNMCorps) is the name of the NGP project 
that encourages citizen participation in volunteer map data collection 
activities. TNMCorps uses crowdsourcing--new technologies and internet 
services to georeference structure points and share this information 
with others on map-based internet platforms--to produce volunteered 
geographic information (VGI). People participating in the crowd 
sourcing are considered part of TNMCorps.
    In general, the National Structures Dataset (NSD) has been 
populated with the best available national data. This data has been 
exposed for initial improvement by TNMCorps volunteers via the online 
Map Editor (the instrument). In addition, the data goes through a 
tiered-editing process, which includes Peer Review and Advanced 
Editors. At each stage the data is passed through an automatic ``magic 
filter'' to look for data issues before being submitted into the NSD. 
In addition, data goes through sampling for quality assurance 
procedures.
    Data within the NSD is available at no cost via The National Map 
and US Topo to the USGS and the public.
    Data quality studies in 2012, 2014, and 2018 showed that the 
volunteers' actions were accurate and exceeded USGS quality standards. 
Volunteer-collected data showed an improvement in both location and 
attribute accuracy for existing data points. Completeness, or the 
extent to which all appropriate features were identified and recorded, 
was also improved.
    Title of Collection: The National Map Corps--Volunteered Geographic 
Information Project.
    OMB Control Number: 1028-0111.
    Form Number: None.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: general public.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 1,000.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 101,000.
    Estimated Completion Time per Response: 12 minutes on average.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 21,000.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Frequency of Collection: Varies by volunteer; volunteers are not 
obligated to collect any specific amount of data.
    Total Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: There are no ``no-hour 
cost'' burdens associated with this IC.
    An agency may not conduct, or sponsor and a person is not required 
to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number.
    The authority for this action is the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

David Brostuen,
Director, National Geospatial Technical Operations Center, USGS.
[FR Doc. 2021-07513 Filed 4-12-21; 8:45 am]
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