[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 121 (Monday, June 24, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52496-52497]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-13815]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Geological Survey

[GX24EG32DW20300; 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: Geological Survey, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
July 24, 2024.

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 Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function. Please provide a 
copy of your comments by mail to U.S. Geological Survey, Information 
Collections Officer, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive MS 159, Reston, VA 
20192;

[[Page 52497]]

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 Information Collection Request (ICR), contact Erin Korris by 
email at [email protected], or by telephone at 303-202-4503. Individuals 
in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have 
a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access 
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United 
States should use the relay services offered within their country to 
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States. 
You may also view the ICR at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.) 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 
April 18, 2024, (89 FR 27780). 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 the agency might 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 
public record. Before including your address, phone number, email 
address, or other personally identifiable information (PII) in your 
comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--including your 
PII--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us 
in your comment to withhold your PII 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 (TNMap), 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 ability of the NGP to provide national coverage 
of topographic data, the primary focus of the NGP 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 NGP for these 
layers is to maintain current coverage by obtaining the data from other 
organizations and suppliers with a minimum investment of resources.
    TNMCorps is the name of the NGP project that encourages citizen 
participation in volunteer map data collection activities. TNMCorps 
uses crowdsourcing to produce volunteered geographic information (VGI) 
by georeferencing structure points and sharing this information with 
others on map-based internet platforms. People participating in the 
crowdsourcing 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.
    TNMCorps seeks to enable collaborations with other federal 
agencies, as well and private and public entities. Data within the NSD 
is available at no cost to the USGS and the public via The National Map 
and US Topo.
    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: 100,000.
    Estimated Completion Time per Response: 100,000 responses x 12 
minutes on average to use the instrument = 20,000 hours. 1,000 
respondents x 60 minutes on average to use the training video = 1,000 
hours.
    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 ICR.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, nor is a person required to 
respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently 
valid OMB control number.
    The authority for this PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

Leslie D. Hansmann,
Supervisory Cartographer, Core Science Systems, USGS.
[FR Doc. 2024-13815 Filed 6-21-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4338-11-P