Highlights for March 21, 1997
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• BRD Represented on Colorado Ecosystem Partnership Steering Committee: On March 14, Sharon Shin (CBI) represented the USGS–BRD at the Colorado Ecosystem Partnership (CEP) Steering Committee meeting. The CEP is a collaboration of nine Federal agencies, seven State agencies, local government entities, academia, and private citizens and organizations whose goal is to achieve ecologically sustainable, economically feasible, socially acceptable resource management and protection. Shin will serve on the Information Resource Management Subcommittee (IRM). The IRM Subcommittee will establish strategies, priorities, and time frames to ensure effective participation of individual member agencies. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303/202-4230)

• USGS–NPS Vegetation Mapping Program in Acadia National Park: On March 25–26, Gary Waggoner and Frank D'Erchia (CBI) will lead a planning meeting at Acadia National Park in Maine in preparation for a Park-wide vegetation mapping project to begin this year. They will meet with Park management and staff as well as local university biologists and others to plan upcoming field work. (Gary Waggoner, Denver, 303/202-4222)

II. Agency Works on Presidential Initiatives:

• Vice President Gore's ACCESS AMERICA Applauds NBII and ITIS: The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and the Interagency Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) have been recognized and applauded in Vice President Gore's February 3, 1997, report ACCESS AMERICA — Reengineering Through Information Technology (text available through http://www.gits.fed.gov/htm/access.htm). ITIS, an interagency partnership among six Federal agencies and the scientific community, is co-chaired by Gary Waggoner (CBI) and Roy McDiarmid (Biological Survey Project). The ACCESS AMERICA report states, in part: "Providing effective access to this data and carrying out the entire NBII concept will be easier, and in some cases only possible, if common information standards are developed. The Interagency Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is one example of a cooperative effort among Federal agencies to develop the needed standards." (Gary Waggoner, Denver, 303/202-4222)

• NBII Metadata Standard Proposal Officially Approved: On March 18, Anne Frondorf (OBIO) and Maury Nyquist (CBI) participated in the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Standards Working Group meeting. During the meeting, the announcement was made that the minor modifications to the NBII Metadata Standard had been reviewed and the NBII Metadata Standard proposal is officially approved. Nyquist and Susan Stitt (CBI) had provided review comments on the revised FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata. Once the revised standard is finalized and approved though the FGDC process, any modifications necessary to bring the NBII Metadata Standard into compliance with the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata will be made. Frondorf and Nyquist are also reviewing the public comments process used by the FGDC Vegetation Subcommittee for the proposed National Vegetation Classification System. Once this review is completed, final subcommittee discussion and approval can take place. (Maury Nyquist, Denver, 303/202-4217)

• USDA Comparing Metadata Formats, Considering USGS MetaMaker: On March 11–14, Sharon Shin (CBI) prepared a sample metadata set for Roberta Rand, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Global Change Data and Information Management Coordinator, to assist the USDA in selecting a metadata tool. Shin demonstrated the use of MetaMaker, a software application for metadata creation developed by the USGS. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303/202-4230)

• NBII Metadata Workshop: On March 18–19, Sharon Shin (CBI), Marcia McNiff (USFWS), and Jennifer Gaines (OBIO) conducted a metadata workshop for DOI bureaus. The two-day workshop was hosted by the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center (FRESC) in Corvallis, Oregon. On-site logistics were coordinated by Elle-Piret Multer (FRESC). A general introduction and overview of Federal data sharing initiatives was provided, as well as a detailed walk-through of the National Biological Information Infrastructure and Federal Geographic Data Committee Metadata Content Standards. The workshop also included hands-on time for participants to compile metadata using MetaMaker, a software application for metadata creation developed by the USGS. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303/202-4230)