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Consistent means to share geographic data among all users could produce significant savings for data collection and use and enhance decision making. Executive Order 12906 calls for the establishment of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure defined as the technologies, policies, and people necessary to promote sharing of geospatial data throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and the academic community.

September 2, 1998
Clinton Administration Initiatives to Foster the NSDI

In a major address at the Brookings Insitution in Washington , D.C., Vice President Gore called for stronger efforts nationwide to enhance the livability and economic competitiveness of American communities. The Vice President said the Administration will expand its support for the use of geographic information systems technologies and encourage increased public access and sharing of geographic data to put "more control, more information, more decision-making power into the hands of families, communities, and regions - to give them all the freedom and flexibility they need to reclaim their own unique place in the world, "

A Strategy for the NSDI

This strategy updates the 1994 Strategic Plan for the NSDI. It was developed with broad input from stakeholders in the geospatial data community, both within and outside of the federal government. Organizations who are helping to build the NSDI using the goals and objectives outlined in the strategy are:

NSDI discussion list

National Academy of Public Administration: Geographic Information for the 21st Century

A panel convened by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) conducted a study in 1997 on geographic information resources in the United States.

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