OMB Circular A-16, revised August 19, 2002, is a Government circular

Government circular

A Government circular is a written statement of government policy. It will often provide information, guidance, rules, and/or background information on legislative or procedural matters.-References:*...

 that was created by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to provide guidance for federal agencies that create, maintain or use spatial data directly or indirectly through the establishment of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC).

Purpose

The circular establishes guidelines for the management of digital spatial data and the use of those assets. It also appoints the FGDC to the interagency coordinating body for NSDI-related activities. The Secretary of the Interior is established as chair, with the Deputy Director for Management, OMB as Vice-Chair.

NSDI

The NSDI ensures that spatial information is accurate and available to state, local, and tribal governments as well as to academia and the private sector. The NSDI obeys four primary values:

• Privacy and Security of raw and processed citizens' personal data and accuracy of statistical data
• Access to these data per guidelines subject to OMB Circular A-130
  OMB Circular A-130
  OMB Circular A-130, titled Management of Federal Information Resources, is one of many Government circulars produced by the United States Federal Government to establish policy for executive branch departments and agencies....
  
  
• Protection of proprietary interests to these data
• Interoperability between various federal agencies' information systems within these data

The NSDI supports the advancement for a Global Spatial Data Infrastructure that coincides with National Security interests. Any Federal system that develops international data in accordance with these systems must follow international voluntary standards as outlined by Circular A-119.

The NSDI has five parts:

• data themes
• metadata
  Metadata
  The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
  
  
• the National Spatial Data Clearinghouse
• technical standards
• partnerships

Spatial Data

Spatial Data is considered a national capital asset. The NSDI manages the distribution of these assets across all interconnected systems, federal and private sector, and analyzes it to determine the impact of the world economically, physically and socially upon the United States.

Part of NSDI's mission is to help avoid duplication or erroneous modification of this spatial data. Accurate and dependable spatial data allows NSDI to analyze current situational trends such as weather patterns, traffic congestions, and other various infrastructures to create a national snapshot in order to make predictions or projections based on these data.

FGDC

The FGDC is an interagency committee delegated to manage OMB Circular A-16 related activities and implementation of NSDI policy and procedures in accordance with existing federal law and policy. The Department of the Interior provides administrative support to the FGDC when necessary in the event of enforcement of the structure and bylaws mentioned in this circular.

Circular policy

Any agency that collects, produces, acquires, maintains, distributes, uses, or preserves any form of spatial data either directly or indirectly with any other agency or organization must follow the policies set forth by the circular.

The following exemplary list is representative of the kinds of systems to which the circular applies:

• the National Mapping Program
• the National Spatial Reference System
  National Spatial Reference System
  The National Spatial Reference System , which is managed by the National Geodetic Survey , is a coordinate system that includes latitude, longitude, elevation and other values. The NSRS consists of a National Shoreline; the National CORS, a system of Global Positioning System Continuously Operating...
  
  
• the National Geologic Mapping Program
• the National Wetlands Inventory
  National Wetlands Inventory
  In the United States the National Wetland Inventory is a Fish and Wildlife Service program started in the 1970s to inventory and map all wetlands, primarily for scientific purposes. It has since been de-funded and most of its data is outdated. The data and maps it produces have been used to track...
  
  
• the National Cooperative Soil Survey Program
• the National Public Land Survey System
  Public Land Survey System
  The Public Land Survey System is a method used in the United States to survey and identify land parcels, particularly for titles and deeds of rural, wild or undeveloped land. Its basic units of area are the township and section. It is sometimes referred to as the rectangular survey system,...
  
  
• Geographic Coordinate Database
• the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) nautical charting and nautical data collection and information programs
• the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) inland waterway charting program
• the Offshore Minerals Program
• the NASA's Earth Science Enterprise
• the Federal Emergency Management Agency
  Federal Emergency Management Agency
  The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...
  
  's Flood Plain Mapping program and other federal activities that involve national surveying, mapping, remote sensing, spatially referenced statistical data
• Global Positioning System
  Global Positioning System
  The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
  
   (GPS)

There are few exemptions to adherence to the policy described in the circular:

• spatial data related to tribal governments not paid for with federal funds
• classified national-security related activities of the Department of Defense
  United States Department of Defense
  The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
  
   (DOD), unless declassified by Executive Order 12951 (under direction of the Secretary of Defense)
• those activities of the Department of Energy under determination of the Secretary of Energy
• intelligence spatial data activities, under determination of the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
  Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
  Director of the Central Intelligence Agency serves as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which is part of the United States Intelligence Community. The Director reports to the Director of National Intelligence . The Director is assisted by the Deputy Director of the Central...
  
  

Agency responsibility

Every agency that uses NSDI information must adhere to a set of responsibilities as outlined by the circular.

Additional references

• Geographic Information System
  Geographic Information System
  A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
  
  
• Spatial Data Infrastructure
  Spatial Data Infrastructure
  A spatial data infrastructure is a framework of spatial data, metadata, users and tools that are interactively connected in order to use spatial data in an efficient and flexible way...
  
  

External links

• HTML Version of OMB Circular A-16