Common GIS protocols. Federal agencies are big users of geographic information systems (GIS), for a variety of commercial, agricultural, military and intelligence applications. However, each user agency employs its own sets of standards for these systems, which makes the integration of these data difficult at best. The bill instructs the agencies to work with private sector experts to develop common protocols to make non-sensitive GIS application more accessible, better integrated, and less expensive.
Other provisions. The bill has several other provisions, most relating to nuts-and-bolts operations and standards to improve the quality and responsiveness of Federal agency Web sites and databases.
At first glance, the bill looks like another of the periodic attempts to get government systems under control, such as the various and uneven Paperwork Reduction Acts or the Freedom of Information Act that has made only a minor dent in government secrecy. The E-Government Act of 2001, however, has some important differences:
– Much of the bill focuses on the Web and Internet, technologies so pervasive and ubiquitous, the results can make an impact with much greater speed than before.
– Several of the provisions involve the use of standards that cut across the normal agency boundaries and allow for citizens to relate data from different agencies more easily than before. Of particular interest here are the government-wide tagging languages (based on XML) , the national online library, and the common GIS protocols, which if properly integrated, can bring together tons of data that before were in separate computer files.
– The bill explicitly calls for the use of existing e-business applications to government operations to bring government closer to the people. Technologies such as customer relationship management (CRM) perform those very functions in the private sector. This bill aims to make the technologies succeed in the public sector as well.
Links ...
Text of bill: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/...
Summary of bill: http://www.senate.gov/%7Egov_affairs/ego...
Video of Senator Lieberman’s opening statement at the bill’s hearings: http://www.senate.gov/%7Egov_affairs/071...
Witness testimony at the bill’s hearings: http://www.senate.gov/%7Egov_affairs/062...
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