US Open Data Policy and Open Access to Earth Observation and Environmental Datasets/Liping Di

CSISS
Center for Spatial Information Science
and Systems
U.S. Open Data Policy and Open Access to Earth
Observation and Environmental Datasets
Dr. Liping Di
Professor and Director
Center for Spatial Information Science and
Systems (CSISS)
George Mason University
ldi@gmu.edu

CSISS
and Systems
Contents
• The Open Data Policy of U.S. Federal Government
• Open Earth Observation and Geospatial Data in U.S. Federal
• Efforts to make data accessible and usable
• Open Consensus-based Standards as the foundation for the open
data policy

CSISS
and Systems
Introduction
• Data is an asset
– Foundation for scientific research
– Foundation for informed, science-based decision makings
• Data does not come for free
– It is very expensive to collect up-to-date data
– Huge resources have been invested by private and public sectors
– Big data archives have been built up at many different federal
agencies
• Data’s value is only realized through applications
– It only has values if it can be used in various application
domain
• Open Data
– A piece of data, which anyone can be free to use, reuse, and
redistribute it – subject only, at most, to the requirement to
attribute and/or share-alike

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and Systems
U.S. Federal Data
• The U.S. Federal government is the largest data producer and
consumer in the United States and probably the world
• Federal government has invested huge amount of money in
collecting and managing those data
– Paid by tax money, so it is tax payers’ (citizen) investment
• Question: How can taxpayers get the best return from the
investment?
• Answer: open data for everyone to use
• Rational: Maximize the return from investment on data
– The data belong to taxpayers
– Make government more open and accountable
– Increase citizen participation in government
– Create opportunities for economic development
– Informs decision making in both the private and public sectors.

CSISS
and Systems
Formulation of Federal Open Data Policy
• U.S. Federal Government has been the promoter and
front runner on modern open data movement
• NOAA has made the weather data freely available since
1970s
• NASA has made its EOS data open data since 1990s
• The formulation of open data policy for entire federal
government has been made through a series of public
laws and presidential executive orders
• The most important one is the executive order signed by
President Obama in 2013 for open data

CSISS
and Systems
History of forming U.S. Federal Open Data Policy
• 1994. Circular A-130, a Clinton administration memorandum
effective July 15, 1994
– The earliest official policy statement asserting the public’s right to
know through information technology
• Late 1990 – early 2000. Open data is one policy among many in
public laws and executive orders, such as the E-Government
Act, the Information Quality Act, and Memorandum M-06-02
• 2009 to 2013. 4 main policy documents were issued
– January 21, 2009. Memorandum on Transparency and Open
Government (“the 2009 Memorandum”)
– December 8, 2009. The Open Government Directive (“the
Directive”, also known as OMB Memorandum M-10-06)
– May 23, 2012. Digital Government: Building a 21st Century
Platform to Better Serve the American People (“the Digital
Government Strategy”)
– May 9, 2013. Memorandum on Open Data Policy—Managing
Information as an Asset(“the Open Data Memorandum”, also
known as M-13-13).

CSISS
and Systems
The 2013 Executive Order on Data Policy
• Executive Order 13642 of May 9, 2013, Making Open and
Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information
– Open
– Machine Readable
• Accompanying the executive order, the White House
issued a Memorandum (M-13-13) to detail the
implementation of Executive Order 13642
– The title of Memo: Open Data Policy – Managing information
as an asset
• The executive order and Memo formed the foundation for
the open data policy of U.S.

CSISS
and Systems
What is federal open data ?
• Open data in U.S. Federal Government refers to
publically available data collected by federal agencies or
their contractors structured in a way that enables the data
to be fully discoverable and usable by end users
• The 8 principles of federal open data:
– Public: agencies must adopt a presumption in favor of
openness to the extent permitted by law and subject to
privacy, confidentiality, security, or other valid restrictions.
– Accessible. Available in convenient, modifiable, and open
formats that can be retrieved, downloaded, indexed, and
searched. Formats should be machine-readable (i.e., data
are reasonably structured to allow automated processing)..
– Described. Fully described so that consumers of the data
have sufficient information to understand their strengths,
weaknesses, analytical limitations, security requirements, as
well as how to process them (Metadata).

CSISS
and Systems
Open data principles (2)
• Reusable. made available under an open license that
places no restrictions on their use or reuse.
• Complete. published in primary forms (i.e., as collected at
the source), with the finest possible level of granularity
that is practicable and permitted by law and other
requirements. Derived or aggregate open data should also
be published but must reference the primary data.
• Timely. made available as quickly as necessary to
preserve the value of the data. Frequency of release
should account for key audiences and downstream needs.
• Managed Post-Release. A point of contact must be
designated to assist with data use and to respond to
complaints about adherence to these open data
requirements.

CSISS
and Systems
The U.S. Open Data Policy
• Formulated around the Executive Order and the principles of
the open data
• Policy requirements
1. Collect or create information in a way that supports downstream
information processing and dissemination activities
a. Use machine-readable and open formats
b. Use data standards
c. Ensure information stewardship through the use of open licenses
d. Use common core and extensible metadata
2. Build information systems to support interoperability and
information accessibility

CSISS
and Systems
Open Data Policy Requirements (2)
3. Strengthen data management and release practices
a. Create and maintain an enterprise data inventory
b. Create and maintain a public data listing
c. Create a process to engage with customers to help facilitate
and prioritize data release
d. d. Clarify roles and responsibilities for promoting efficient and
effective data release practices
4. Strengthen measures to ensure that privacy and
confidentiality are fully protected and that data are properly
secured
5. Incorporate new interoperability and openness
requirements into core agency processes
• data.gov is federal open data portal that provides point of
entry as well as data repository for federal open data

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and Systems
Open Geospatial Data
• Geospatial data is the data which has a location
component
• In the US federal government, 18 federal agencies has
been involved in collecting geospatial data
– NASA, NOAA, USGS, USDA, DOE…
• Geospatial data is very diverse in both sources and data
forms.
• Satellite-based Earth Observation (remote sensing) is by
far, the largest source of geospatial data

CSISS
and Systems
NASA’s Earth Observing System
As of June 22, 2015, NASA EOS had 42 completed missions, 25
operational missions, and 25 future missions

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and Systems
EOSDIS Data Trends
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
FY00 FY01 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13
Volume(PBs)
Multi-year Total Archive Volume (PBs) Trend

CSISS
and Systems
Data and products available at NASA DAAC
• University of Alaska SAR Facility (ASF DAAC): SAR data
• NASA JPL (PO DAAC): Oceanographic data
• USGS EROS (LP DAAC): Land Surface process
• University of Colorado (NSIDC): Snow and Ice data
• NASA Marshall(GHRC): Hydrological remote sensing data
• DOE Oakridge NL (ORNL DAAC): field experiment data
• NASA Langley (ASDC): Atmospheric data
• NASA Goddard (GES DISC): Global biosphere, hydrology,
atmospheric dynamics, atmospheric chemistry
• University of Columbia (SEDAC): Socio-economic data
• NASA Goddard (CDDIS):Crustal Dynamics Data Information System
• NASA Goddard (LAADS):Level 1 and Atmosphere Archive and
Distribution System
• NASA Goddard (OB DAAC): Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive
Center

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and Systems
Efforts to make data accessible and usable
• Document the data with applicable consensus-based open
standards
• Build interoperable web-service based data and
information systems which provide both machine-
interoperable and human readable interface.
– e.g. NASA ECHO, CMR; NOAA OneStop
– International efforts including CWIC and GEOSS
• Both need standards as the foundation.

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and Systems
CWIC Data Partners
BoM, CSIRO, GA
ISRO/NRSC
AOE
ROSCOSMOS
Brazil INPE

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and Systems
CWIC
CWIC OGC CSW Interface
Mediator Core
CWIC CSW Clients
Brazil INPE
Connector
USGS LSI
Connector
NASA ECHO
Connector
Canada
CCMEO
Connector
NOAA
GHRSST
Connector
EUMESAT
Connector
India ISRO
Connector
CWIC interface overview
(OGC CSW)
Data provider
native protocol
OGC CSW protocol
OpenSearch
protocol

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and Systems
The Definition of Standards
• Definition of Standards
– Standards are statements of fact, quality, procedures, or content, to
which applicable entities are compared for purposes of acceptance
and/or use.
– They are documented agreements that contain or specify technical
or other specific criteria to ensure that processes, products, or
services meet their intended purpose.
• Standards can be designated as either voluntary or mandatory
with respect to usage.
• Using common standards increases the sharability, reliability,
and effectiveness of geospatial data.

CSISS
and Systems
Federal Geographic Data Committee
• Federal Geographic Data Committee is an inter-agency
coordination committee established by Executive Order
12906: COORDINATING GEOGRAPHIC DATA
ACQUISITION AND ACCESS: THE NATIONAL SPATIAL
DATA INFRASTRUCTURE, signed by President Bill
Clinton on April 11, 1994.
– Coordinate the establishment of national spatial data
infrastructure to share and reuse the federal geospatial data
among governmental agencies as well as industries and
general public
– Set up the federal geospatial standards that federal agencies
have to comply when they create geospatial data
• Adopted from open consensus-based national (ANSI/INCITS),
International (ISO), and industrial (OGC) standards
• Developed FGDC standards when external standards are not
available

CSISS
and Systems

CSISS
and Systems
Conclusion
• US Federal government is the advocator of open data policy
• US Federal government is the largest providers of open data,
particularly the geospatial data
• The US open data policy and mechanism to enforce the policy
are effective
• Open data benefits the economy and society greatly
– Many companies rely on federal open data to generate value-added
products
• Weather data is the base of industry which generates US$30 billion
annually.
• GPS data is the base of an industry which generate US$90 billion
annually
• Climate Corporation sold for $2 billion; Zillow is valued at over $7 billion
now, the Weather Channel was sold for approximately $3.5 billion in
2008; Redfin has a market cap of $1.9 billion. These are all companies
that were built using raw government data

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