The Water Resources NSDI Node is an online centralized repository of digital metadata that conforms to the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) standards.

WRD Numbered Memorandum 2010.07-08: "Guidelines for the Release of Digital Spatial Data Sets"

WATER RESOURCES DIVISION MEMORANDUM NO. 2010.07-08

Subject: Guidelines for the Release of Digital Spatial Data Sets

This memorandum modifies and supplements the policies and guidelines regarding procedures for documenting, reviewing, and releasing digital spatial data sets produced by the Water Resources Discipline(WRD) as first announced in WRD Memorandum No. 94.34, August 19, 1994. The resulting spatial data sets are useful information products in support of public and private sector applications and, thus, need to be documented, approved, and released to the public in a timely manner. Timely release of the spatial data sets is facilitated by changing technology that has made it much easier to create and document metadata for a digital spatial data set and to distribute digital spatial data sets through the Internet.

In keeping with Executive Order 12906, which requires that Federal agencies provide metadata with their digital spatial data sets and make them available to the public, this memorandum provides additional information to assist in complying with the Executive Order and WRD's requirements regarding quality assurance of data sets. The principles for providing metadata, reviewing, and releasing digital spatial data sets are as follows:

• Digital spatial data sets are any data sets that reference data to a geographic location. Data stored in the National Water Information System and all of its subsystems, or retrieved from these systems in an unaltered state are exempt from these guidelines. For purposes of these guidelines, spatial data sets are any data sets that reside in or have been processed by any spatial analytical software, such as a GIS or an image-processing system.
• Digital spatial data sets may be released by themselves and do not need to be part of any report.
• Digital spatial data sets must be released to the public if they are necessary for preserving the scientific record or if there is a significant potential for reuse beyond the originating project. Excluded from mandatory release requirements are temporary or working data sets, minor modifications of existing digital data sets, proprietary or national-security data sets. Depending on the current demand for a data set, data sets that were created before the Executive Order was issued in April 1994 are to be documented and released over the next few years as they can be integrated into the work schedule.
• When released, digital spatial data sets become a part of the scientific record. They must be permanently archived so that any released version may be retrieved at a later date.
• Digital spatial data sets may be cited in publications.
• Digital spatial data sets shall have metadata that meets the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standards for Metadata. A digital spatial data set and its associated metadata comprise a single logical entity, even though they may be stored physically apart; the digital spatial data set and metadata must receive colleague review together and shall be approved for release concurrently by an appropriate Director's approving official.
• Metadata for all approved digital spatial data sets shall be placed in the WRD Node of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Clearinghouse.
• Approved digital spatial data sets shall be made available on-line to the public. Digital spatial data sets that contain non-interpretive or interpretive material are released as a USGS formal-series reports.

WRD has established a node of the NSDI to assist in managing and distributing digital spatial data sets. All are encouraged to distribute their digital spatial data sets by this means. For more detailed guidance and examples of how the above principles are to be applied in practice, and to submit digital spatial data sets and metadata to the WRD Node, refer to WRD Web-site pages on "Releasing Spatial Data Sets" at uniform resource locator https://water.usgs.gov/usgs/gis.

These new guidelines and attachments clarify the role of digital spatial data sets as an information product and help to expedite releasing these products to the public.

Attachment

Distribution: E

This memorandum updates WRD Memorandum No. 94.34.

Date: July 08, 2010
Katherine Lins
Chief, Office of Water Information, WRD
U.S. Geological Survey
440 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
703-648-5014

    The Water Resources NSDI Node is an online centralized repository of digital metadata that conforms to the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) standards.