Thursday, January 12, 2012

Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee Meeting Updates Users on NGS Products and Services

The Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee (FGCS) conducted its semi-annual meeting on January 10 at NOAA Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. FGCS is chaired by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS). FGCS members were briefed and updated on recent accomplishments, activities, and future plans focusing on improvements to the National Spatial Reference System. Participants heard about numerous NGS activities and projects, including NGS's plans for the National Adjustment of 2011, an update on NGS's Gravity for the Redefinition of the American Vertical Datum (GRAV-D) Project, the results of the large Texas Slope Validation Survey that took place this past summer, plans for NGS's upcoming 2012 Geospatial Summit to be held in San Diego, and an update on the LightSquared terrestrial network tests, among others. The FGCS is an interagency committee that promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis. NGS Director, Juliana Blackwell, chairs the subcommittee, which exercises government-wide leadership in coordinating the planning and execution of geodetic surveys, in developing standards and specifications for these surveys, and in the exchange of geodetic survey data and technical information. Representatives from across the federal government participated in this week's meeting. For more information, contact Jeremy McHugh.