April 07, 2010 -- The US Department of Transportation (US DOT) and National States Geographic Information Council (NISGIC) officially kicked-off a Strategic Planning effort for the Transportation for the Nation (TFTN) initiative. The goal of TFTN is to coordinate and develop nationally significant geospatial transportation data, with particular emphasis on road centerlines. This Strategic Planning effort will develop a strategic vision and goals for TFTN, and determine the best strategies for implementation.

“This planning process will stimulate thinking and discussion about the purpose and content of a national transportation spatial data infrastructure,” said Will Craig, President of National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC). “It is an important and timely effort that parallels other national initiatives for imagery and elevation intended to meet the data needs of all levels of government.”
The program will be managed by US DOT Geospatial Information Officer (GIO) Steve Lewis, who will lead a Steering Committee including representatives from other federal agencies, NSGIC, state DOTs, and other stakeholders.

“Collectively, our nation’s experience with transportation data is vast, and involves the private sector, federal agencies, and state, regional, and local governments,” said Lewis. “We’re looking to these stakeholders to help identify priority uses, minimum requirements, best practices, and standards to guide the development of TFTN.”

The contractor team of Koniag Technology Solutions, Inc. (KTS) and Applied Geographics, Inc. (AppGeo) will work with the Steering Committee to gather input through a series of stakeholder workshops to be held across the nation in the coming months. Workshops on TFTN will be held at various transportation and GIS-focused conferences throughout 2010, beginning with the upcoming American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) GIS for Transportation Symposium in Charleston, West Virginia on April 12-14. The final strategic plan will incorporate input and ideas gathered from the workshops. Additional information about the TFTN strategic planning process will be made available as the project progresses at: http://www.transportationresearch.gov/TFTN/default.aspx