Nsgic mid year_strategic_plannning_for_tftn_presentation_march_2010

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

Strategic Plan Development for Transportation for the Nation

(TFTN)

NSGIC Mid-year ConferenceMarch 2010

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

Slide 22

– Research and evaluate the need, scope, requirements, potential benefits and feasibility of TFTN, and

– Involve stakeholders in the information gathering and consensus building process.

Objectives

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

Slide 3

• Identify and engage the entire stakeholder community– All levels of government– Private Sector– OpenStreetMap

• Define requirements, challenges and opportunities

• Document progress already made, good ideas & challenge current assumptions

• Explore implementation issues

• Evaluate funding requirements and sources

Strategic Planning Effort

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

Slide 4

US DOT is a full partner in TFTN

– Transportation Theme Lead for the NSDI

– Produce and Maintain the National Transportation Atlas Databases (NTAD)

– FHWA HPMS Program collecting data from State DOTs

– Funding the Strategic Planning Effort

TFTN and US DOT

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

Slide 5

Outreach Activities /Presentations:

• USGS/Census sponsored meeting of federal stakeholders 10/09

• 2009 NGISC Annual Conference 10/09

• 2010 TRB Presentation 01/10

• 2010 ESRI Federal User Conference 02/10

What’s been done?

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

Slide 66

• Creation of a Steering Committee

• Perform outreach activities: interviews, workshops, meetings, surveys, case studies, etc.

• Identification of what’s working, what’s needed – current practices, requirements, strategies, standards, documentation

• Identification of institutional constraints, capacity, operational authority, motivation, benefits, etc.

The Road Ahead

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

Slide 7

Date Conference LocationApril 12-14 2010

GIS-T Symposium Charleston, WV

July 12-16 2010

ESRI User Conference

San Diego, CA

June 5- 10 2010

NENA Indianapolis, IN

Potential Meetings

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

• TFTN is a “concept”, not a program

• General description in NSGIC Issues Brief from 2008-2009

– Consistent, seamless nationwide dataset of addressable roads…

– Multi-purpose, not single-purpose…

– Participation from multiple levels of government…

– Implementation will remove duplication of effort…

• This project will attempt to further define what TFTN actually is/may become

Issues and Lessons Learned TFTN Defined in Tangible Terms

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

The concept is really pretty simple

• County and local governments are the best primary data source

• County/local data rollup to regional (e.g. via MPO)

• Regional data rollup to state

• State data rollup to TFTN

Standards enable this flow of data

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

The concept is really pretty simple

• But the devil is in the details

• Multi-purpose means:– Shared geometric networks– Supports addressing and geocoding– Supports E911 dispatching– Supports linear referencing systems (LRS)– Supports fully routable roads (e.g. directionality, speed limit)

• Either the standard is complex, or “lowest common denominator” of geometry + simple attributes

• Multiple participants in data creation

• Requirements of ongoing and regular update

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

TFTN is different from Imagery for the Nation (IFTN)

IFTN TFTNOrchestrated, collaborative funding Orchestrated, collaborative work

Periodic update is acceptable Regular, ongoing, transactional update

Multi-purpose is straightforward Multi-purpose is complex

Executed via private sector contracts Role of private sector is not yet clear

• IFTN and TFTN are fundamentally different– We cannot just clone IFTN– Both: identify standard, nationwide data products

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

Role of the private sector

• The private sector currently has several nationwide road centerline data products– Often created from original government data sources

– These data can have shortcomings, particularly in rural places

• Some states have formally partnered with the private sector for centerline maintenance already

• How should the private sector be engaged?– As an advocate for TFTN?

– As a participant in creating/maintaining it?

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

Role of volunteered geographic information (VGI)• The public is an end-user/consumer of these data

• The public is in a good position to identify errors and validate accuracy– Requires processes for creating

trusted users and vetting submitted content

• OpenStreetMap has shownthe potential of large-scale VGI initiatives– Crowdsourcing

• Can such approaches be harnessed as part of TFTN?

NATIONAL STATES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COUNCIL

Role and commitment of US-DOT• Is the US-DOT a facilitator, or owner?

• With proper internal support, the US-DOT could compel this to happen– FHWA funds to states are large and critical

– “Require” submission of an annual statewide centerline file to a TFTN standard as a condition for FHWA funding

– Statewide centerline assembly/maintenance is a small cost next to highway/bridge construction

– “A carrot that’s so big it becomes a stick”

• Easier said, than done– Bureaucracy and politics would need to be overcome