Highlights for January 28, 2000
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• Vegetation Mapping Updates for Great Smoky Mountains. USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program (VMP) documentation for Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been updated on the VMP Web site . Now available: vegetation sampling and classification scheme, vegetation class field key, vegetation descriptions, index to association descriptions by ELCODE, and a link to National Park Service information about the Great Smoky Mountains. The goal of the VMP is to classify and map the vegetation communities of national parks that have a natural resource component. Complete documentation is currently available for nine parks, including aerial photographs, photointerpretive signature keys, field data (field sites, physical descriptive and species list data), geospatial vegetation information, accuracy assessment information, metadata (physical descriptive, species list data, and geospatial vegetation information), a mapping report, and a link to National Park Service information about the respective park area. The VMP is managed by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics in cooperation with the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. (Theresa Singh, Denver, 303-202-4227)

II. Agency Works on Presidential Initiatives:

• ICA Standards Book in Press. International Cartographic Association (ICA) members received word this week that their proposed book on world-wide spatial metadata standards has been approved by publisher Elsevier. The Biological Data Profile, developed by a Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) team led by Susan Stitt of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics, is the only standard with a biological emphasis. The book will also contain chapters relating to metadata standards from Australia-New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Russia, the International Health Organization (IHO), U.S. FGDC, U.S. Census Bureau, and several other organizations. It is anticipated that the ICA book will become the authoritative reference work for spatial metadata standards of the world. (Susan Stitt, Denver, 303-202-4228)
• NBII Metadata Training. On January 19 and 20, Sharon Shin of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics provided staff at the USGS Midcontinent Ecological Science Center (MESC) with two 1-day National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Metadata Workshops. Diane Schneider of MESC organized the workshop, which was attended by more than 40 staff members from Denver and Albuquerque. The computer- based workshop covered the Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata standard, the NBII Biological Data Profile, the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and the NBII Clearinghouse. A session on MetaWebber was also presented. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)

• Don't Duck Metadata! A National Biological Information Infrastructure "Train the Trainers" Metadata Workshop will be held at the Denver Federal Center February 28 to March 3. Jennifer Gaines of the Office of Biological Informatics and Outreach and Sharon Shin of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics, with George Lienkaemper of the USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center and Michelle Gudorf of the National Park Service Intermountain Support Office, will provide training for up to 20 participants from Federal, State, and private-sector natural resource organizations. Participants will learn techniques of providing meaningful and lasting metadata training. During the session, they will develop modules on a specific metadata topic and will learn to employ various training techniques for presentation. Train the Trainers workshops are sponsored by a National Spatial Data Infrastructure grant under their Don't Duck Metadata Program. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.