SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 2003
STP10912S

Defining Cooperative Geospatial Projects Between Organizations

Source

Cooperative development of data between organizations is increasingly common. This can reduce the data development costs for individual organizations. It also affects the data development process and the resulting products. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are jointly developing a habitat monitoring program for the Central Valley, California. The program is described in a work plan between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The overall intent of this program is to evaluate changes in land cover and habitat on a periodic basis. There are three phases for the program. Phase one covers the development of a habitat base map. Phase two identifies spectral change between the base year and the year 2000. In phase three, the cause of spectral change will be identified. At that time, changes in land cover and habitat over the period will be evaluated. During these phases, close coordination between these agencies is required to see that data products meet the needs of both agencies.

The base year for the program is 1993. During phase one, a uniform habitat base map for 1993 and a habitat classification system for the Central Valley have been adopted. The 1993 base map has been developed from the best existing land use and land cover data for that time period. Surrounding the Central Valley and overlapping much of the project area is a statewide change detection program by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the U. S. Forest Service. The habitat legend will be based on a vegetation classification system that is represented in this change detection project. The Central Valley habitat program will use many of the methods and some data developed by the statewide change detection project.

Including data collected under the statewide change detection program and use of an established habitat classification system greatly accelerated this program. However, not all habitats of interest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could be initially represented in the habitat base map. Developing the base map from multiple sources increased the amount of uncertainty in habitat labels for some areas. Addressing these issues in the data development process requires the commitment of staff. Managers and staff need to recognize that cooperative efforts will require substantial additional time for coordination during all phases of the process. With vegetation, land cover, land use data, this coordination must extend to include the statewide change detection project and other state and national efforts at standardizing classification systems.

Author Information

Hansen, DT
MPGIS, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Sacramento, CA
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Details
Developed by Committee: D18
Pages: 26–39
DOI: 10.1520/STP10912S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-5473-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-3455-3