Policy Issue Briefing from the Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors. From Jeff Lovin, Woolpert

1. Policy Issue Briefing to NSGIC
Jeff Lovin, CP, PS
Woolpert
MAPPS President
October 6, 2009

2. • MAPPS has an effective and influential
government relations program in Washington,
DC that seeks to advance policies that benefit
private geospatial firms, the geospatial
community at large (including NSGIC), and the
nation as a whole
WHY MAPPS?

3. • Aviation Bill
– GAO is studying inconsistencies in Flight Service
District Offices’ (FSDO’s) “ramp check” inspections of
aerial survey aircraft modifications
– MAPPS-Disney in negotiations on airspace restrictions
over Disney properties in Orlando and Anaheim;
MAPPS led the effort to get a “waiver” process for
access to DC area air space for aerial survey flights
– Seeking language in the bill to provide private sector
equal access to airspace for the use of UAVs

4. • Highway Bill
– MAPPS is seeking the establishment of a
Geospatial Management Office in USDOT, similar
to what did in DHS after 9-11.
• Coordination
• Strategic Investment (NSDI, IFTN, etc.)
• Create innovative public-private partnerships between
state DOTs in highway program and private geospatial
firms, as recommended in TRB report

5. • Parcels/Land Inventory
– MAPPS Cadastre Task Force Chair Susan Marlow
testified before House Financial Services
Subcommittee on September 17
• National parcel data could have served as an early
warning system to the mortgage crisis
• Transparency in TARP spending (geo-enabled
visualization)
• Amend HMDA to collect data at parcel, rather than
Census Tract level
• Review Title 13 restrictions on address data in Census

6. • Earlier this year, Congress enacted Omnibus Public
Land Management Act of 2009 , included the Ocean
and Coastal Mapping Integration Act (§ 12201-12208 of
Public Law 111-11)
– Law creates an IOCM structure, but not a data collection
program
– MAPPS is participating in NOAA workshop in November on
implementation of the new IOCM law
• MAPPS is seeking legislation to create a data collection
program, as called for in the “Digital Coast” initiative
and the NRC Report, A Geospatial Framework for the
Coastal Zone: National Needs for Coastal Mapping

7. • Digital Coast
– Prioritization of requirements
– Annual chart inventory assessment
– Data standards
– Collection of shoreline delineation, imagery, land
use/land cover mapping, benthic habitat, topo,
bathy, aquatic vegetation
– Geodetic framework
– Consistent national definition of shoreline

8. • Governance
– MAPPS led the effort to get July 23 oversight
hearing in House Natural Resources
Subcommittee (with jurisdiction over USGS/FGDC)
on Federal Geospatial Data Management
• Hearing resulted in full Committee Chairman Rahall (D-
WV) sending letter to ARRA Board on use of Census
address data for Broadband mapping requirements
• MAPPS staff now working with Subcommittee staff on
possible follow-up legislation

9. • What do these issues all have in common?
– Mortgage Crisis
– Health Care Reform
– Climate Change
– Highways, Public Works, Infrastructure
– Cap and Trade
– Smart Energy Grid
– Universal Broadband
– Managing Federal Real Property Assets
– Providing for Emergency Preparedness and Response
and Homeland Security

10. • They all –
– Are on the Congressional agenda
– Require the NSDI
– Lack a NSDI provision in these bills
And the data to effectively implement these bills
does not currently exist in any comprehensive,
accessible form
• That’s where MAPPS and NSGIC (and others)
can work together

11. • Some Upcoming MAPPS Events to Note:
– MAPPS-ASPRS, San Antonio, TX, November 16-19
MAPPS Workshops
QBS for Geospatial Services - Ms. June Wohlbach,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Licensing of Photogrammetrists and Other
Geospatial Practitioners - Mike Ritchie & John
Palatiello
– MAPPS-NSGIC, Annapolis, MD, March 8-10
Including Joint Day on Capitol Hill Visiting Congress

12. • One Final Note:
– PA-MAPPS, the first MAPPS state chapter, is the
lead organization in forming a coalition to
promote implementation of the “Geospatial
Coordination Strategic Plan for Pennsylvania” and
establishment of a Pennsylvania Statewide
Geospatial Coordination Council.

13. Thank You & Questions