Highlights for January 10, 2002

I. Key Department/Bureau News

• The Manual of Geospatial Science and Technology Published: The Manual of Geospatial Science and Technology *, which is to serve as an authoritative and useful reference for practitioners of GPS, GIS and remote sensing, has just been published. Maury Nyquist and Tom Owens, USGS Center for Biological Informatics, were two of four coauthors for chapter 22: Selected Examples of Remote Sensing Project in which they highlight the USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program. * John D. Bossler, editor. 2002. The Manual of Geospatial Science and Technology. Taylor & Francis, London and New York. 623 p. (Maury Nyquist, Denver, 303-202-4217)

• Global Biodiversity Information Facility: USGS scientist Michael Ruggiero will attend a Science Committee meeting of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Jan. 28-Feb.1. GBIF is an international scientific partnership aimed at facilitating the exchange of biodiversity information. The meeting will focus on developing a framework and terms of reference for future scientific activities and staffing of the GBIF secretariat. (Mike Ruggiero, Smithsonian/Washington, 202-786-3117).

II. Agency Work on Presidential Initiatives

• My.NBII.Gov Release: The National Biological Information Infrastructure is in the process of implementing an Internet knowledge portal, my.nbii.gov, to allow NBII partners and customers the ability to customize content and information presentation. The portal will greatly aid in the delivery of scientific and technical information to a variety of audiences with varying capabilities and interest. Additionally, e-mail, calendaring, web-content, the sharing of documents virtually, collaborating on-line within the various working groups of the project, and the integration of multi-disciplinary information/data from several distributed and non-heterogeneous sources will occur within the project. My.NBII.Gov is scheduled for release to the NBII Node community at the end of January. Additional users will be added as the need arises. (Mike Frame, Reston, 703-648-4164)

III. Notable Congressional Activity
Nothing to report this week.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries
Nothing to report this week.

V. Key FOIA Requests
Nothing to report this week.