Partners Providing Public Access
Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access: A Partnership to Provide Access to Government Data

• This presentation

• The nature of geographic data
• The PASDA partnership
• Creating metadata
• The Library’s opportunity

• Example: USGS Digital Orthophoto Quarterquad (DOQ)

• Approx 45 Mb each
• 4 per 7.5 min quad
• 3600 for PA
• 162 Gb for the state
• 300 CDs

A stack over 6 feet high

• PA Department of Environmental Protection

• Penn State University
• Environmental Resources Research Institute
• Department of Geography
• Cataloging Department of PSU Library
• Numerous participating groups, such as
• PA Topographic and Geologic Survey
• County governments
• Non-governmental organizations

• Spatial Data Library Approach

• Data-related tasks include
• identification
• storage
• documentation
• retrieval and distribution

PASDA is a spatial data clearinghouse that provides organized access to spatial data from government, business, academia, and non-governmental organizations in a repository for easy query, analysis, and display. It is an easy to use system that catalogs and serves spatial data critical to the decision making processes.

PASDA Results

• Over 7000 datasets documented
• 3000 Digital Orthophoto Quads
• 1800 Digital Raster Graphics
• 900 Digital Elevation Models
• 1500 Locally Developed Digital Datasets
• "Pull" approach for metadata collection

• 200 Gb of "native" format data

• Over 1.6 million hits per year

• Over 1 terabyte of data served

• Close working relationships with Federal, state, and local gov’t agencies and public, private, nonprofit groups

• High use and satisfaction from GIS professionals

• Metadata is the often unappreciated crucial element

• Cataloging Department of PSU Library is a key partner