Cultural Resources in Federal Geospatial Data: The FGDC and the Geospatial Data Act

Mesa Verde National Park. National Park Service.

The Cultural Resources Subcommittee

The National Park Service's Cultural Resources GIS (CRGIS) program is a member of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and Theme Lead of its Cultural Resources Subcommittee. The subcommittee identifies, prioritizes, carries out, coordinates and oversees the strategies and tasks behind the national cultural resource geospatial data theme — and coordinates that work across federal geospatial programs.

The Geospatial Data Act

The Geospatial Data Act (GDA), signed into law in 2018, sets compliance requirements for federal agencies on collecting, managing, sharing and preserving geospatial data, and promotes public access to it nationwide. It is codified in Title 43 (Public Lands), Chapter 46. More on the GDA.

Why standards matter: the 2017 hurricanes

The 2017 hurricane season devastated cultural resources on the Southeast coast and in several U.S. territories. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria did heavy damage, and threatened the integrity of what survived.

The Park Service's Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) — the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) and the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) — documented resources affected by Irma and Maria, gathered in an online StoryMap.

Documenting historic places well depends on consistent data. The NPS Cultural Resources Data Transfer Standards promote uniform collection and maintenance of that information, and a framework for:

• organizing cultural resource spatial data;
• recording its lineage — where it came from;
• integrating and sharing it.

Sources

Based on "FGDC, GDA, and Cultural Resources Theme," Cultural Resources GIS Facility, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The source calls the FGDC the "Federal Geospatial Data Committee" in its summary; its name is the Federal Geographic Data Committee. A screenshot of the StoryMap is not reproduced.