Highlights for February 19, 1999
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• USGS-NPS Leafy Spurge Project Topic at JPL. On February 10, Ralph Root (USGS Center for Biological Informatics) and Steve Hager (National Park Service) gave a presentation on "High-resolution AVIRIS spectral imaging for detection and mapping of leafy spurge at Theodore Roosevelt National Park" at the 8th NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Airborne Science Workshop held at the JPL in Pasadena, California. This is one of four studies sponsored by the DOI-NASA Hyperspectral Technical Transfer Project, which demonstrates the application of AVIRIS (Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer) data to address specific DOI land management problems. More information on this and related studies is available at the Hyperspectral Imaging DOI-NASA Technical Transfer Project Web site at <http://biology.usgs.gov/hwsc/>. (Ralph Root, Denver, 303-4232)
  

II. Agency Works on Presidential Initiatives:

• USGS Creates Image Map of FGDC Content Standard. On February 22, the 1998 version of the Federal Geographic Data Committee's metadata standard will be available in interactive image-map form at <http://biology.usgs.gov/fgdc.metadata/version2/>. The image-map version allows browsers to graphically explore the structure and content of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM). The CSDGM provides a common set of terminology and definitions for documentation of digital geospatial data. Executive Order 12906, "Coordinating Geographic Data Acquisition and Access: The National Spatial Data Infrastructure," states: ". . .each agency shall document all new geospatial data it collects or produces, either directly or indirectly, using the standard under development by the FGDC, and make that standardized documentation electronically accessible. . . ." The CSDGM is the data documentation standard referenced in the executive order. The CSDGM was revised in June 1998; this new Web site portrays the revised version. (Susan Stitt, Denver, 303-202-4234)
  

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.