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Geospatial Platform WorkshopDecember 7-8, 2016

Event Summary

SUBJECT: Geospatial Platform Workshop (December 7-8)

1. BACKGROUND: The Department of Interior (DOI), the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), with assistance from the World-Wide Human Geography Data Working Group (WWHGD WG) hosted the “Geospatial Platform (GeoPlatform) Workshop” on December 7-8, 2016. The purpose of the workshop was to present the implementation of the GeoPlatform and share the GeoPlatform.gov functional capabilities to the community of data stewards who produce and use governmental, academic, private, and public data to inform national and regional issues. There were presentations on the approaches underway at the GeoPlatform to improve awareness of and access to geospatial data; discussions on future development of the GeoPlatform and collaborative efforts with academia and other web-based data sharing capabilities. The objectives of the workshop were to enhance information sharing capabilities of the Federal Government by encouraging dynamic geospatial data sharing through the web-service capabilities facilitated and promoted by the GeoPlatform; provide training on how to access, use, analyze, and share geospatial data through the GeoPlatform; and enable community feedback to identify improvements for the GeoPlatform.

2. ATTENDANCE: 221 total participants with 97 in-person attendees and 124 webinar attendees from 78 different organizations across Department of Defense, Interagency, Academia, International (Canada), and Private Corporations.

2.1 U.S. Federal Government Representation Bureau of Land Management; Bureau of Indian Affairs; Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement; Defense Installations Spatial Data Infrastructure; Defense Threat Reduction Agency; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Federal Emergency Management Agency; Federal Geographic Data Committee; Food and Drug Administration; Indian Health Service; Millennium Challenge Corporation; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; National Geospatial Intelligence Agency; National Park Service; National Space Research and Development Agency; Oak Ridge National Lab; Social Security Administration; United States Agency for International Development; United States Army; United States Army Corps of Engineers; United States Army GEOINT Office; United States Army Geospatial Center; United States Census Bureau; United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; United States Department of Agriculture; United States Department of Foreign Agricultural Service; United States Department of Homeland Security; United States Department of Interior; United States Department of Justice; United States Department of State; United States Environmental Protection Agency; United States Geological Survey; United States Geological Survey National Geospatial Program; United States Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

2.2 Global Representation Government of Canada.

2.3 State and Local Representation Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency; Pennsylvania State Police; Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

2.4 Industry and Academic Representation Amazon; Applied Future Technologies, ArdentMC; Booz Allen Hamilton; Cherokee Nation Business Technologies; Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network; Colorado State

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University; Deloitte Advisory; Digital Globe; Engility Corp; Esri; Experian; Frontier Technology Inc.; Geographic Services, Inc.; George Mason University; Global Marketing Insights, Inc.; GMI; Harris Corp.; Howard University; Human Geo Group; Image Matters, LLC.; Long Island Rail Road; Mason, Bruce and Girard; Michael Baker International; Michigan Tech Research Institute; Montgomery College; Morgan State University; New Light Technologies Inc.; Nexus Capital Group; Pennsylvania State University GeoVISTA Center; PIXIA Corp; San Diego State University; Tesla Government Inc.; The Carbon Project; Thomson Reuters; time8machine; United States Air Force Academy; University of Maryland; University of Texas at Dallas.

3. SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDS AND OUTCOMES

3.1. All audio and visual proceeds, approved for release, will be posted on https://wwhgd.org

3.1.1.  Action items from this event are binned in the areas of A) Content (Data); B) Context (Analysis); C) Conveyance (Dissemination); and D) Consequences (Impacts of Community Engagement).

A) Content (Data)i. During the GeoPlatform Workshop, presenters discussed datasets available on http://geoplatform.gov.

B) Context (Analysis)                                  i. Data and analytic products available on http://geoplatform.gov.

C) Conveyance (Dissemination) i. The GeoPlatform Workshop provided a forum for presenters to discuss available data on the

GeoPlatform website (as noted above), but also additional data disseminated through other platforms and websites such as:

a. Data USA: https://datausa.io/b. U.S. EPA’s EJSCREEN - http://www.epa.gov/ejscreenc. U.S. EPA Clean Power Plan Story Maps http://cleanpowerplanmaps.epa.gov/cpp/ d. U.S. EPA’s NEPAssist - http://nepassisttool.epa.gov/nepassist/entry.aspx; e. U.S. EPA’s Annual Enforcement Results Map –

http://www.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-annual-results-concluded-cases-map-fiscal-year-fy-2015

f. NGA’s ArcGIS Online Website: https://nga.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.htmlg. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers GeoPlatform: http://geoplatform.usace.army.mil/home/

(Includes Defense Installations Spatial Data Infrastructure (DISDI) Public Data)h. NGA’s GeoQ WebMap: http://jrvis.com/red-dwarf/?user=ngageoint&repo=geoq i. FEMA GeoPlatform: http://fema.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html

D) Consequences (Impacts of Community Engagement)i. The GeoPlatform workshop exposed a larger audience to the GeoPlatform data sharing capability. It

also engaged a larger community who can value-add to the new implementation plans. Presentations exposed the audience to metadata requirements which will increase discoverability and usefulness of the Geoplatform while allowing for better operability with other geospatial platforms. The WWHGD WG Support Staff was able to connect active GeoPlatform Workshop participant, Dr. May Yuan from University of Texas at Dallas, to current WWHGD WG member actively participating in data calls – Dr. Ashely Moran, University of Texas at Austin for future potential data collaboration.  

4. Relevance – The GeoPlatform Workshop provided the ability to build partnerships between federal, civil, and academic communities with the ability to register data and grow the GeoPlatform community. The Workshop also provided the opportunity for participants to discuss the necessity of integrating various platforms.

5. Effectiveness – The WWHGD Working Group, assisting DOI, FGDC, and NGA, brought together a total of 221 attendees from 78 different organizations to discuss the GeoPlatform.

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6. Impact – Individuals from organizations across DoD, Civil, Academic, and Private Industry were able to come together to learn more about the GeoPlatform, its’ future, register global data, and collaborate with other users and potential users. Participants were able to ask questions and present suggestions for the future of the GeoPlatform.

7. Challenge – Dr. Lee Schwartz identified the difficulty in registering international data on the GeoPlatform. Additionally, many presenters discussed the need for integration among other geospatial data sharing platforms with the GeoPlatform.

8. SYMPOSIUM AND WEBINAR HIGHLIGHTS SUMMARY: The following are highlights from presentations delivered during the symposium and webinar. Those presentations and audio approved for release can be accessed at https://wwhgd.org.8.1. Welcome and IntroductionsMr. Justin Sherin welcomed all participants to the GeoPlatform Workshop and explained that the Workshop’s goal was to promote information/data sharing, receive feedback from participants and discuss the potential to work towards federated platforms. Mr. Sherin introduced available applications within the GeoPlatform website and brought up the importance of the relationships formed surrounding the GeoPlatform. Mr. Tod Dabolt requested the group’s feedback on the Platform to see if it is meeting users’ needs and also discussed the importance of partnerships. He explained that DOI is the managing partner for the GeoPlatform and stewards of the shared investment working to make information discoverable and useable across organizational boundaries.

8.2. Keynote Address - Mr. Matthew Gentile, Deloitte Advisory and National Geospatial Advisory Committee Member

Mr. Matthew Gentile started his presentation by first wanting to celebrate the success of the GeoPlatform. Mr. Gentile acknowledged the GeoPlatforms’s robust and growing set of data that is currently available and relayed that it is now easier to search, consume and collaborate around the data. Mr. Gentile then challenged the audience with the question “Where do we go from here?” Mr. Gentile shared some of his ideas to evolve and continue to engage participants around geospatial data. He shared that now is the time to:

Look for new ways to engage people who have data or can share data (e.g. universities, incubators etc.) Look for different ways to present data and share data. Geo-enable data that is already available and make it discoverable. Frame data so that it comes together in common themes so people can understand it for analysis. Focus on the API so it can be easily embedded and used.

8.3 Need for GIS as Key Element of the Government – Mr. Harvey Simon, US EPAAs a representative of the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Simon discussed the growth and development of the EPA Geospatial Data repository. This shared technology and governance framework encompasses a community of expertise and a suite of geospatial tools, data and services in an effort to manage data and coordinate mapping activities across the Agency. Mr. Simon briefly showcased some of the services available through the platform, including EJSCREEN and NEPAssist. Moving forward, the most prominent challenge is ensuring interoperability and federated authentication across multiple geospatial platforms. Also, one of the key opportunities this project presents is designing a platform that makes searching for geospatial data more relevant and useful for all users.

8.4 Overview of the FGDC and Role of the US National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) – Mr. Ivan DeLoatch, Executive Director, Federal Geographic Data Committee

In the 21st century, the growth of geospatial services and technologies has been driven largely by mobile users, and the FGDC understands that connected “smart” communities are the future of geospatial data sharing. Mr. DeLoatch discussed how the role of the FGDC’s NSDI is working to advance the Location-Based Digital Ecosystem (LBDE). He focused on three key features that work together to enable this: People, Data, and Technology. Engaging in public-private partnerships at all levels (Federal, State, Local, Tribal, etc.) is imperative when implementing new policies and procedures, and fostering public engagement and participation will help ensure that the FGDC is working in the user’s best interests. Designing a solid data framework by making sure data is discoverable, accessible and usable is also crucial. Finally, emerging technologies – such as the Cloud, the “internet of things”, autonomous vehicles, sensor

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networks and numerous others – are being integrated throughout the geospatial community at a rapid pace, and therefore must be implemented as a principal component of the LBDE. If these three features can successfully be implemented together, this platform will serve as an excellent tool to foster international collaboration across the geospatial community.

8.5 Evolution of the NSDI and GeoPlatform.gov – Mr. Tod Dabolt, Geographic Information Officer, US Department of the Interior

As one of the principal coordinators of the GeoPlatform Workshop, Mr. Dabolt provided a brief but thorough discussion on the ongoing evolution of the NSDI and GeoPlatform.gov. Today, the GeoPlatform is an established and reliable online portal for the sharing of geospatial data and services that implements key NSDI objectives. It was created as part of the need to develop a better data-sharing platform, a process that is still ongoing today. In the past two years, the GeoPlatform has greatly improved its user interface, as well as the core services and tools available for users. These accomplishments have been facilitated by further integration with the Cloud, and much more data and services are planned to be hosted on the Cloud over the course of the upcoming year. Mr. Dabolt concluded by addressing some ways in which the GeoPlatform helps data and service asset owners by hosting data and services; managing the health, status and usage of layers, maps and services; and facilitating integration with the GeoPlatform’s unified open architecture. He also listed some ways in which the GeoPlatform assists its end users by hosting tools to build communities of interest; providing tools to build and share maps and map galleries; and providing a streamlined means of searching for and discovering data, services, layers and map assets.

8.6 From Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Roots to the Present – Mr. Kurt Buehler, President, Image Matters LLC

Today, the OGC is a leading not-for-profit organization “committed to making quality open standards for the global geospatial community.” Mr. Buehler discussed the evolution of the OGC, which traces its roots back three decades to the late 1980s. In 1992, the Open GRASS Foundation was formed by the merging of the GRASS User Forum (1986) and the GRASS Interagency Steering Committee (1990). That year, the Open GIS Project was formed, and in 1994 it became a limited liability company. The company name was changed to the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. and has since evolved its architecture to where it stands today. OGC collects data and services from Federal, state, local, tribal and private sources and collaborates with general users, project and agency leads, and GeoPlatform administrators to create the best end products for all users and collaborators. The key takeaway Mr. Buehler provided is that the evolution of data sharing platforms and software is critical – getting stuck in the methods of the past only hinders progress.

8.6 Overview of the GeoPlatform and Agnostic Approach – Mr. Thomas Dabolt, DOIMr. Thomas Dabolt introduced Amazon’s Mr. Alex Roth to speak about Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud service provider for DOI and GeoPlatform. He praises AWS for its stability, reliability and ability to move quickly from a development sprint into production.

8.7 Amazon Cloud Overview – Mr. Alex Roth, AmazonMr. Alex Roth presented the capability of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its increasing role in the Federal space. Federal Agencies have been moving to AWS because of its innovation, strong security and stable roots in the private sector. Security highlights include achieving FedRAMP High JAB, 26 agency authorizations in US GovCloud, 36 agency authorizations in US East West and 9 services FedRAMP authorized. Many large federal entities are already using AWS including Navy, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the United States Postal Service. AWS allows the maturation of many government systems, even those leveraging highly secure workloads.

8.8 GeoPlatform Infrastructure & Amazon Cloud Services – Mr. Gary Latzke, USGSMr. Gary Latzke offers geospatial service hosting to all FGDC partners. This cloud hosting offer is part of a seven year PaaS (Managed Platform as a Service) contract awarded to GTRI utilizing Amazon Web Services as a back end cloud provider. ESRI and OpenGeo stacks are available for public or internal use and offer managed services such as IAM management, OS patching, vulnerability scans and more. Organizations can sign up for geospatial hosting by visiting GeoPlatform.gov and navigating to Open Cloud Hosting Services. Current entities utilizing this service include five DOI bureaus, FEMA and USACE.

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8.9 AGOL Role within the GeoPlatform and Future of AGOL – Mr. Jeffrey Peters, ESRIMr. Jeff Peters described the advantage of bringing GIS to the cloud and the need for accessible, actionable data. We have grown into a spatially aware society where the need for open data is high. Both government and private entities have open data aspirations and initiatives which need to be operationalized; barriers between these entities need to be dissolved. People, process and technology are the elements of change, but we need more focus on people and process. ESRI is moving fully into the cloud and looks forward to helping bring GIS into the Internet of Things.

8.3. Marketplace, Dataset Search, Map Viewer, Map Manager – Mr. Patrick Neal, Image Matters, LLC.

Mr. Patrick Neal described the purpose, concept of operations, features, benefits and complexities for four portions of the GeoPlatform: Marketplace, Dataset Search, Map Viewer, and Map Manager. He also conducted demonstrations for each portion. He explained that the Marketplace’s purpose is to connect GeoData Producers with Producers and Consumers/collaborators. The Marketplace provides a location for sharing services and making partnerships with others; maintaining long-term plans; integrating content; accessing, browsing, registering and managing data. Dataset Search provides an application that will be stable and reusable to search for data through http://data.gov. The GeoPlatform Map Viewer provides a location for geospatial data discovery and exploitation. The GeoPlatform Map Manager provides a means to curate, manage and share ‘Open Maps’ – allowing users to access published maps from other sources to curate map galleries within the Platform.

8.4. Service Dashboard, LMA Dashboard – Mr. Jeffrey Harrison, The Carbon ProjectMr. Jeffrey Harrison provided an overview of the GeoPlatform’s Service Dashboard and LMA Dashboard, as well as provided demonstrations of both capabilities. The Service Dashboard monitors the reliability and performance of the National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) Services, Agencies, and Themes. The dashboard includes statistics including grade, trend, and description of underperforming services. The LMA Dashboard (NGDA Lifecycle Maturity Assessment (LMA)) allows for users to gain a better understanding of the performance and maturity of the NGDA. The LMA Dashboard provides functionality to filter by theme or agency and color codes metrics for easy viewing.

8.5. Communities, Workflow Manager – Mr. Gate Jantaraweragul, Image Matters, LLC. Mr. Gate Jantaraweragul provided an overview of GeoPlatform Communities as well as the Workflow Manager. GeoPlatform Communities provide a space for communities of interest to share their curated content and data on a public facing page. Subject Matter Experts within these Communities can embed Map Viewer, Map Manager, and other tools within the Platform for their own Community Page. Community Pages are now done in an easy to use and input Word Press blog style. Community Pages allow for maintained, self-service content that is still directly integrated with the GeoPlatform. The Workflow Manager is an automated process portal allowing for FGDC and NGDA process monitoring and facilitation of tasks and workflows between groups and members. Workflow Manager is a one-stop-shop for workflow of the FGDC.

8.6. GeoPlatform Futures (Architecture and CONOPS) – Mr. Harry Niedzwiadek, Image Matters, LLC.

Mr. Harry Niedzwiadek discussed GeoPlatform’s future with the NSDI goal of shared National Data and Services. GeoPlatform provides a location for stakeholders to find what they need as well as minimizing redundancy through asset sharing. One of GeoPlatform’s challenges moving forward is continuing to address the criticality of Open Data, Services, and interoperability. GeoPlatform’s approach towards the definition of ‘Open’ provides for unambiguous access and communication between GeoPlatform users and software. Mr. Niedzwiadek explained that GeoPlatform’s architecture is very important and is optimized for extensibility, flexibility, and ease of integration. The number one GeoPlatform productivity enhancement objective is to help users find just the right data for the right task. To do this, current metadata is critical. Users need to ensure metadata is input, and the GeoPlatform Knowledge Graph ensures that Common Business Objects resources are both human and machine-readable. Lastly, Semantics are critical to interoperability, sharing with common vocabulary as well as discovery.

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8.7 GeoPlatform, What’s in Work? – Mr. John Davidson, Image Matters, LLC. Mr. John Davidson articulated his roadmap and key priorities for the GeoPlatform for 2017.

Priority 1 - Promote metadata tools and get them into production use and accelerate the adoption of ISO 19115 NGDA Datasets and Services. This will make it easier for users to create metadata and for systems to exploit metadata.

Priority 2 – Collect and Report data and service performance and utilization. Understanding the business analytics will help to improve the use of the tools and overall GeoPlatform capability.

Priority 3 – Demonstrate and roll out new capabilities through the coming year. Priority 4 – Expand active use of GeoPlatform in new communities such as climate data, fisheries, remote

sensing and infrastructure. Priority 5 – Catalog Integration – connecting community and vendor datasets and catalogs for better platform

integration.

With all the new priorities in 2017, there are also challenges that GeoPlatform will need to work through according to Mr. Davidson. The main concern is that metadata is often inconsistent because it’s created for human rather than machine consumption. Additionally, missing or inconsistent policies, procedures and tools sometimes inhibit full lifecycle management. Mr. Davidson went on to discuss some of the tools for managing Portfolio resources and metadata. He also gave additional details on how they will introduce capabilities to Open Layer, OpenMap and Open APIs for better interoperability and ability to link data for better capability for search functions.

8.8 Importance of Metadata – Ms. Jennifer Carlino, USGSMs. Jennifer Carlino outlined how the initial focus of the GeoPlatform was on identifying and sharing data. The next focus for GeoPlatform is focused on moving toward human and machine readability. GeoPlatform based metadata issues parallel general community Metadata concerns. National data and services way ahead includes the common goals of a disciplined, robust, common language approach and better operating tolls for the system. She also further articulated the GeoPlatform Road map key priorities which include identifying metadata that is useful, as well as collecting and reporting data and service performance and utilization. Ms. Carlino shared that there are four GeoPlatform software releases scheduled for 2017 aimed at improving GeoPlatform metadata status. Ms. Carlino shared a website called Statuschecker.fgdc.gov which allows the community to validate, test and score geospatial web services. Ms. Carlino urged attendees to get involved and provide critical input, engage with the tools and publish their data to GeoPlatform. She also invited attendees to learn more about FGDC metadata initiatives at the May 24 2017 USGS sponsored Metadata summit in Reston, VA.       

8.9 GEOINT Services: Delivering Common Geospatial Services for NGA’s Partners – Dr. Carter Christopher, NGA

Dr. Carter Christopher described the importance of serviced geospatial data and NGA efforts to provide GEOINT services. NGA’s goal is to become a managed service provider and data broker. NGA wants to succeed in the open and build low with the ability to move to higher domains as needed. These goals entail promoting open source technology, bolstering unclassified geospatial data and making data more available in a cloud environment. NGA seeks the help integrate the U.S. Intelligence Community by deploying geospatial resources in their new GEOINT Services Exchange.

8.10 Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program – Mr. Marzio Dellagnello, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Mr. Dellagnello outlined the framework of the NGA Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program (MGCP), which aims to implement multinational cooperation to increase global digital mapping coverage for all member nations (31 of which are currently producing standardized datasets). The data within the program are not available to the general public, but internal transparency allows for the rapid sharing of data across member states, which in turn fosters trust and collaboration. There are several benefits towards using MGCP data including minimizing duplication; the ability to rapidly share data; utilizing a standard interoperable dataset (2D Shapefile format from high-resolution commercial imagery, with a horizontal accuracy of 25 meters); an adaptiveness and quick-response to national priorities and crisis situations; the provision of standards for orthophoto production and data generation; and the ability to influence standards for non-MCGP member nations in Africa, Latin/South America and the Asia-Pacific

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region. Lessons learned from this program include the criticality of building relationships and a standardized means of data production, and the importance of investing in the future with a long-term focus.

8.11 NGA Disaster Response/Recovery & Community Issues – Mr. Richard Benjamin, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Mr. Benjamin provided an overview of NGA’s disaster response and recovery methods by showcasing the partnership and trust between FEMA and NGA in regards to the FEMA Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) Operations Dashboard, utilized during Hurricane Matthew. The Dashboard is an unclassified ArcGIS Online page that hosts live data collected to support various disaster response and recovery efforts including some NGA damage assessments. Mr. Benjamin used data collected from Hurricane Matthew to demonstrate the process in which NGA collects and displays the collected data, thereby demonstrating the value of disaster response data collection and dissemination. Mr. Benjamin also showcased NGA’s ArcGIS Online website for the Arctic, Nepal, Ebola, Hurricane Matthew, and Combatting Wildlife Trafficking. He stated that NGA’s 2017 goal for this platform will be to showcase more unclassified data, thereby increasing collaboration throughout the community. The primary challenge will be to identify a better means for disseminating the collected data to relevant parties; Mr. Benjamin suggested the publishing of data across multiple platforms the way Instagram allows you to publish photos across various platforms. Additionally, online tools such as Slack could be utilized as a task manager and collaborator during various disaster response and recovery efforts. Mr. Benjamin also emphasized that NGA support any domestic area/mission must be done through the request of a lead Federal agency based on Executive Order 12333.

8.12 Day Two Keynote Address – Dr. Lee Schwartz, Department of StateDr. Schwartz began Day Two of the GeoPlatform Workshop with his Keynote Address, in which he thanked the DOI and the FGDC for organizing the event. As the Geographer of the United States working at the Department of State, Dr. Schwartz expressed his interest in active, useful geodata and how the GeoPlatform acts as a means of sharing such data. He provided a brief background of the WWHGD WG, highlighting how the organization works to share foundation datasets; build global data partnerships; document human geography data requirements; discover and catalog human geography datasets; facilitate data sharing; and promote methodologies to build datasets at scales appropriate to end users. The WWHGD became the first international community on the GeoPlatform in October 2014. In addition, Dr. Schwartz addressed some ongoing challenges with the GeoPlatform, including that it was not the “go-to” data-sharing platform during the 2014 Ebola outbreak and other various humanitarian crises. Also, the current process for WWHGD members to register their data on the platform is inefficient and should be streamlined in the near future to facilitate data sharing, especially amongst international members.

8.13 Current and Future of the Geospatial Web Part 1 – Dr. Anthony Stefanidis, George Mason University (GMU)

Dr. Anthony Stefanidis described the evolution of new geospatial information and how we can utilize it. New sources of geospatial data include more advanced sensors for raster data, new deployment techniques like drones and community engagement such as volunteer geographic information (VGI) and social media. Social and behavioral spatial data can be discovered using social media like Twitter or open records like Wikipedia. Phenomenon such as sociocultural hotspots and place identity can be quantified and mapped using these new sources of geospatial data. The potential for this area of study is urban sensing and the development for a new spatial analysis framework.

8.14 Current and Future of the Geospatial Web Part 2 – Dr. Andreas Zufle, GMUDr. Andreas Zufle explained the recent enrichment of geospatial data and his research in utilizing geolocated social media. Spatial data is abundant and enriched by multimedia such as images and videos. Using spatial data today involves problems of volume, variety and velocity; uncertainty and privacy are also growing concerns. Dr. Zufle is focusing on three possible applications of geolocated twitter data: trend prediction, user identification and recommendation systems. By analyzing spatial patterns of trends on twitter, trends can be classified and then hopefully predicted. Users can be identified by their trajectories alone, and these location trajectories can be used to predict information such as restaurant ratings. These types of analyses are part of a new computational environment where geospatial data is a key component.

8.15 Department of Homeland Security HLS GeoCONOPS – Mr. David Lilley, DHS

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Mr. David Lilley discussed the mission of the DHS Geospatial Management Office (GMO), their role on GeoPlatform and the use of their Geospatial Information Infrastructure (GII) for sensitive unclassified information. GMO’s mission is to provide homeland security operators with the platform and tools they need to utilize geospatial data. They have developed a GeoCONOPS outlining plans to connect with stakeholders and communities while discovering geospatial resources, capabilities and products. GMO currently has a presence on GeoPlatform, and is cataloging resources in its GII system until a larger, unified, federated system is in place.

8.16 National System for Geospatial-Intelligence (NSG) Open Mapping Enclave (NOME) – Mr. Will Mortenson, NGA

Mr. Mortenson discussed the framework and objectives of NOME, an NGA initiative to implement Volunteer Geographic Information (VGI) concepts and tools (i.e. crowd-sourced mapping) to produce foundation GEOINT data within the Intelligence Community, the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG), and amongst foreign partners. The initiative utilizes the military concept of “every soldier a sensor” by allowing American soldiers located all over the world to engage in ground-truth data collection that cannot be observed by imagery analysis alone. He outlined the VGI Triad model, with NOME at the center and three main branches: Community sourcing (a current capability), Active VGI and Passive VGI (crowd-sourcing concepts, both developing capabilities). Through this model, the NGA is attempting to build relationships with the public by sharing open data; it also aims to enable dynamic content generation via a “living map” to provide up-to-date maps and imagery to military personnel in the field. New technologies are further allowing the NGA to grow this capability, and the unclassified nature of the data means it can be shared with the public – including international partners.

8.17 DISDI, David LaBranch, DoDMr. David LaBranch described the necessity for getting quality geospatial data to those who need it. The DoD is cataloging data in a registry to align with their internal and international data standards. The GeoPlatform is an excellent avenue to share open data; however, a great deal of data remains Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI, i.e. FOUO). DoD, Army and Navy are all moving their data into secure clouds, and are starting to share what data they can on open platforms such as GeoPlatform.

8.18 Geo-Q Implementations, Ray Bauer, NGAMr. Ray Bauer described his focus on unclassified information in the GeoQ project, an open source geospatial workflow and exploitation platform. GeoQ provides a platform to crowdsource the generation of GEOINT information for disaster relief efforts. Source code is available on GitHub for users to customize for any use. Mr. Bauer stresses the need for creative ideas like GeoQ and encourages us to keep innovating.

8.19 FEMA Geospatial Platform – Mr. Chris Vaughan, FEMAMr. Vaughan provided an overview of the FEMA Hurricane Timeline and Geospatial Framework, two tools that provide a ‘deliberate planning approach’ before, during and after disaster strikes. The Hurricane Response Timeline provides models and data for every phase of an incident – from early onset to long-term recovery – with levels of confidence for each. The FEMA Geospatial Framework includes 21 highly curated, standard products and the ArcGIS Online Based Decision Support Tool, which is designed to ask open-ended questions during a disaster event to build trust and foster collaboration between FEMA employees and afflicted community members. Mr. Vaughan also outlined the FEMA Geospatial Information Sharing Concept for 2017, which is aimed at moving beyond ArcGIS as the sole platform for publishing data. The idea is to present the best of the best data to the public, while also focusing on internal needs within the agency. Finally, he encouraged audience members to look into the FEMA Modeling and Data Working Group, which serves as the principle mechanism to share communications about event-related support, upcoming events, and training opportunities for the FEMA geospatial community.

8.20 Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness – Mr. Thomas Dabolt, DOIAs the speakers from the Global Climate Change Research Program were unable to attend the event, Mr. Dabolt provided some information on the Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness (PREP) – a “public-private collaboration to empower a data-driven approach to building climate resilience.” Created by the current outgoing administration, it features several companies – both large and small – working together to close the gap between climate science (big data) and local communities trying to place resilience into their planning decisions. The primary

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question is: How do you create a means to search and catalog vast amounts of geodata for locations around the world? Also, how do you find relevant information quickly for the management decisions you are focused on? PREP and GeoPlatform are the beginnings of a platform-to-platform integration that delivers curated information and datasets on a global scale to the PREP partnership – which will likely continue after this administration, with or without government involvement.

8.21 Standards Policy and Approach: Data Sharing/Leadership Roles, Metadata Needs – Mr. Ivan DeLoatch, FGDC

Mr. DeLoatch provided an overview on the current role of the GeoPlatform, and also outlined the most pressing metadata ‘needs’ for the geospatial community moving forward. In preparing for the incoming administration, the GeoPlatform will prove to be an excellent use-case to showcase how all government agencies are working together. Most importantly, Mr. DeLoatch stressed the importance of standards as a means of working collectively across all platforms. The FGDC and geo-community have made excellent progress on implementing better metadata standards, but there is still lots of work to be done; these improvements will help enhance search capabilities. Another area where standards are important is data sharing – the implementation of APIs has become a very useful tool to collect information from multiple resources. Participation will be crucial in order to make the best decisions moving forward to 2017 and beyond; there is lots of commonality in the challenges faced by this community. Two primary challenges are: the proliferation of data-sharing platforms, and whether or not the power of government can help bridge the gap between platforms; and the question of how to move from data to web services, as well as the means of publishing services.

8.22 Way Forward Statement, Thomas Dabolt, DOIMr. Thomas Dabolt closed the GeoPlatform Workshop with a message of encouragement and collaboration. Commercial, academic and federal members of the geospatial community need to come together to innovate and collaborate. Strong partnerships are key to the way forward.

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