1. Strategic Planning for Transportation for the Nation (TFTN) Steve Lewis Geospatial Information Officer, USDOT Director, Office of Geospatial Information Systems, USDOT/RITA/BTS August 10, 2010
2. Background Influenced by several different efforts: NSGIC’s For the Nation (FTN) initiatives that called for the development of TFTN and Imagery For the Nation (IFTN) OMB Circular A-16 identifies the USDOT as the “lead agency” for the “transportation theme” of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Emerging USDOT data requirements for geospatial data for all roads, such as accident reporting for enhanced safety and bridge inventory. Aligned with several initiatives such the emerging federal Geospatial Platform concept. - one element of the “geospatial portfolio”
3. TFTN Concept “Creation and maintenance of high-quality, nationwide transportation data that is in the public domain” An initial focus on street centerlines, but eventually multi-modal Nationwide data spanning all states and territories All roads, not just Federally funded roads Provides a common geometric baseline Road naming Persistent segment ID numbering Advanced functionality is built on top of baseline Data is in the public domain and readily shareable
4. Strategic Planning Effort - History RITA/BTS agreed to fund and manage the effort Funds obligated and contractor selected in October 2009 Koniag Technology Solutions Applied Geographics Suffered through many contracting glitches associated with “end-of-year” money Contract finally awarded in March 2010
5. Strategic Planning Effort – The Process Identify and engage the entire stakeholder community All levels of government Private Sector Citizens (e.g. OpenStreetMap community) Define requirements, challenges and opportunities Document progress already made, good ideas & challenge current assumptions Explore implementation issues Evaluate funding requirements and sources
6. What Has Been Done? USGS/Census Bureau sponsored meeting of federal stakeholders, October 2009 Presentation at the NSGIC Annual Conference, October 2009 Presentation at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, January 2010 Presentation at the ESRI Federal User Conference, February 2010 Presentation at the NSGIC Midyear Conference, February 2010 Creation of TFTN Website, Spring 2010: http://www.transportationresearch.gov/TFTN/default.aspx Press Releases, Spring 2010 Workshop at the AASHTO GIS for Transportation Symposium, April 2010 Creation of TFTN Steering Committee, June 2010 Initial Stakeholder Interviews, June 2010 Workshop at the ESRI User Conference, July 2010
7. The Road Ahead More interviews, workshops, meetings, surveys, case studies, etc. Workshop at the NSGIC Annual Conference, September 2010 Workshop at the URISA GIS Pro Conference, September 2010 Through these, we will: Identify what’s working, what’s needed – current practices, requirements, strategies, standards, documentation Identify institutional constraints, capacity, operational authority, motivation, benefits, etc. Formulate strategies for implementation Identify potential sources of funding
8. Trends from the Workshops and Interviews Near Unanimous Support All of those interviewed and most of those who attended the workshops have indicated their support for this effort Learned of a number of similar efforts underway that benefit from TFTN Safety could be a key to the success of TFTN A geospatial representation of ALL ROADS is needed to meet many of the USDOTs Safety Initiatives A geospatial representation of ALL ROADS is needed for emergency response Lots of federal money for safety initiatives
9. Trends from the Workshops and Interviews “Think Regionally Act Locally” States and counties are beginning to look beyond their borders States and counties are the authoritative data source for their transportation data “Can you live with that?” The Stakeholders have different needs Need to find a baseline that works with everyone Once the baseline is established, the consumers can add their own “special sauce”
10. Baseline Geometry with “Special Sauce” “Special sauce” can be content and/or capabilities The specifics of what’s included in “baseline geometry” requires further definition We need ideas and input from stakeholders on what’s feasible Initial, minimal components might be: Road naming Basic attributes (e.g. functional classification) Persistent segment ID numbering
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12. A Potential Model for TFTN - HPMS FHWA reporting requirements for the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) include the submission of a geospatial network of all Federal-aid roads by each State DOT Current reporting requirements for the HPMS could be expanded to require all roads Detailed HPMS attributes would continues to be provided for only Federal-aid roads Annual nature of HPMS reporting provides a data update mechanism USDOT works with states to develop basic standards Reporting requirement would enable states to utilize FHWA funding for creation and maintenance of inventory
13. Obstacles Associated With This Model FHWA has to change the HPMS Reporting Requirements to include all roads in the geospatial submission States are not required to work with neighbors for connectivity The level of quality/accuracy varies from State to State
14. How Can These Obstacles Be Overcome? State-level Best Practices for Creating Statewide Road Inventories Activate government partners at County and Local level Provide funding and technical support State collects and aggregates into statewide data Examples of this approach include: AR and OH Public-Private partnership with commercial mapping firms State contracts with private sector for creation and maintenance of statewide inventories State obtains licensed data and a mechanism for posting update requests Examples of this approach include: NY and MA
15. Potential Benefits of TFTN Core business benefits to the USDOT To the HPMS program: see HPMS in the context of complete transportation To Highway Safety for nationwide accident mapping To bridge inventory effort Benefits to “sister” federal agencies Reduces costs from redundant nationwide data sets Provides public domain data for sharing with partners Potential collaboration and synergy with other significant mapping programs at USGS and US Census
16. Potential Benefits of TFTN Benefits to State and Local Governments Potentially opens up FHWA resources for statewide road inventories Streamlined requests for data Provides public domain data Facilitates sharing with partners Better data – particularly for rural areas – for GPS-based navigation Easier cross border /multi-jurisdiction coordination and collaboration Benefits to the General Public Consistent data across agencies and programs to support citizen services Publically accessible data for citizen and commercial innovation
