Arctic GIS Workshop Demonstration Abstract

22-24 January 2001
Bell Harbor International Conference Center
Seattle, Washington

The Alaska Geographic Data Clearinghouse

Emily Binnian and Mark B. Shasby
EROS Alaska Field Office, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 4230 University Drive Anchorage, AK 99508-4664, Phone: 907/786-7022, Fax: 907/786-7036 binnian@usgs.gov and shasby@usgs.gov

The purpose of the Alaska Geographic Data Committee (AGDC) Clearinghouse is to facilitate the availability and access to geospatial data for Federal, State, and local government, academia and private sector data producers, managers, and users. The AGDC Clearinghouse focuses on Internet service of spatial metadata and data based on emerging technologies and the standards of the Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The USGS Alaska EROS Field Office provides hardware, software, and staff support in maintaining the AGDC Clearinghouse node (http://agdc.usgs.gov) for participating cooperators. The AGDC Clearinghouse is one node among a collection of over 200 spatial data servers, that have digital geographic data primarily for use in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), image processing systems, and other modeling software. These data collections can be searched through a single interface based on their descriptions, or "metadata." In addition, the AGDC Clearinghouse serves as one of six regional gateways facilitating access to the international collection of clearinghouses. New developments for the AGDC Clearinghouse address web-based mapping services and interoperable geoprocessing in accordance with standards organizations including the Open GIS Consortium (OGC), Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), International Standards Organization (ISO), and American National Standards Institute (ANSI).