The Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO) made what may sounds like an obscure bureaucratic proposal recently, but one that could have profound impact on the nation’s geospatial infrastructure. They recommended that Congress include ‘geospatial’ in the name and mission of an existing subcommittee in both the House and Senate to oversee geospatial data and activities.
Currently, responsibility for oversight and authorization of Federal geospatial activities is spread among 30 House and Senate committees and subcommittees. That means there is no consistent national policy and in fact, with geospatial duties scattered among 40 Federal agencies and critical business lines run by the Office of Management and Budget, the plethora of Congressional bodies may create numerous “national policies.” It reminds me of the famous parable about 30 blindmen describing an elephant by each one feeling one part of the massive animal. Each had a completely different interpretation of what it was.
COGO is a coalition of 15 national professional societies, trade associations, and membership organizations representing over 30,000 professionals in the geospatial field [member logos above].
They note that the U.S. government doesn’t even know how much it spends on geospatial information. The last estimate, in 1993, was over $4 billion. That strikes me as ridiculously small for what must be going on today.
The COGO proposal is a sensible proposal that could have explosive ramifications by facilitating a truly national imperative for dealing with geospatial data.
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