Marine & Coastal Spatial Data Subcommittee
Annual Report
Federal Geographic Data Committee
Bathymetric and Nautical Charting Data Subcommittee
1996 Progress Report
December 1996
Summary:
The Bathymetric and Nautical Charting Data Subcommittee held 2 formal
meetings in 1996. The major effort during the year dealt with completing
the standards for bathymetric and nautical charting data, improving communications
between members of the subcommittee, providing support to the FGDC Standards
and Framework Working Groups, and reaching out to the wider (non-Federal)
community of users.
The charter of the subcommittee was revised to clarify to scope of data
of interest to the Subcommittee. The revised Charter includes Nautical
Charting data as well as bathymetry. Bathymetric data include measurements
of the depth of water referenced to a common datum. For this exhibit it
includes depth measurements from estuaries, coastal, global ocean, inland
great lakes and rivers. This information is essential for a variety of
uses including the construction of navigational charts and bottom relief
maps; coastal engineering studies; and marine geological and geophysical
projects.
Nautical Chart Data include those features contained within the NOAA/DMA
Chart #1 -- Nautical Chart Symbols, abbreviations, and terms and/or objects
and attributes described in the IHO Standard S-57 -- Digital Exchange
of Nautical Chart, hydrographic, and related data (also known as DX-90).
Bathymetric and Nautical Charting Data are collected by ships, satellites,
aircraft, and autonomous vehicles.
Significant Accomplishments During 1996
1. In April 1996 the Bathymetric Subcommittee published a home page on
the INTERNET. The address of this page is http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/ocs/text/bathy.htm.
The home page includes information on the Subcommittee's charter, membership,
points of contact, minutes of meetings, annual operating plans, information
about standards, and URL links to sources of bathymetric maps and data
sources.
2. Two "outreach" workshops were held to educate the coastal zone GIS
community with the activities of the FGDC and the Bathymetric Subcommittee.
One was held at the NOAA Coastal Services Center in Charleston, SC. A
second was held at the USGS Atlantic Marine Geology Meeting in Woods Hole,
MA. Subjects discussed included metadata development, location of bathymetric
data, data sharing, quality control, and digitizing from original source.
3. The subcommittee reviewed the second edition of the IHO standard S-44
for Hydrographic Data accuracy. Upon approval of the international community
it is anticipated that this will become a 4 part of the FGDC spatial data
positioning standard.
4. In cooperation with the Tri-Services CADD/GIS Center a review as made
of the IHO Standard S-57 -- Transfer Standard for Digital Hydrographic
Data especially Appendix A- Object Catalog. It is anticipated that this
will be included into the Integrated Geospatial Data Base product being
developed by the Tri-Service Center.
5. In cooperation with the NOAA Coastal Services Center in Charleston,
SC a survey of Coastal Zone GIS community was undertaken to ascertain
their spatial data needs, use of GIS platforms, requirements for vector
and raster data, and technical skills.
6. Members of the Subcommittee have been involved supporting the South
Florida Ecosystem Restoration project and the San Francisco Bay demonstration
project. This includes data clearinghouse, building data sets, and assisting
local agencies with GIS needs.
7. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by NOAA and the MMS for cooperative
production of a US shoreline to assist in development and maintenance
of an official baseline for determining offshore boundaries of the United
States.
8. A hydrographic and bathymetry data "Sharing" workshop was held in
San Francisco in December. The purpose of the workshop was to facilitate
the exchange of information between several federal, state, local, commercial,
and academic interests in the bay area.
9. The Bathymetric Subcommittee continues to provide the primary liaison
between the FGDC and the Hydrographic Source and Assessment System (HYSAS)
being developed by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency NIMA (formerly
DMA) for metadata and data modeling standards.
