A Defense Installation Spatial Data Infrastructure (DISDI) that includes an Installation Visualization Tool (IVT), a tool that assisted with the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC), will provide base data for such core Defense Department functions as human resource management, weapon system lifecycle management, materiel supply and service management, real property and installation lifecycle management, and financial management. That was the message Colonel Brian Cullis (USAF), Special Assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment for Geospatial Information Policy and Executive Manager of the Defense Installation Spatial Data Infrastructure told members of MAPPS on December 8.
Col. Cullis was the featured speaker at the inaugural MAPPS Washington Policy Forum. His presentation, "Geo-Enabling the DoD Business Enterprise," highlighted the new attention being given to the role of geospatial information resources and spatial technologies in achieving the goals of the business modernization management program for the Department of Defense. He noted that the DISDI and IVT can become a model for a geospatially enabled, U.S. Government-wide, Federal real property asset management inventory. MAPPS has been a leader in promoting legislation in Congress, H.R. 1370, the Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform (FLAIR) Act, introduced by Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT), to provide a cadastre of Federal property. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that DOD lacks reliable information about the quantity, location, condition, and value of inventory and property and that “ineffective and inefficient asset management and accountability leave the department vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse” and that the environmental liability amounts presented in DOD’s financial statements were not reliable because the department did not have (1) sufficient guidance for identifying and categorizing cleanup activities whose costs must be included in the liability calculation, (2) complete inventories of the sites and weapons systems that will require cleanup or containment. Cullis called DISDI a significant tool in improvement in DoD business systems modernization.
The new MAPPS Washington Policy Forum is designed to provide a forum for MAPPS member firm principals based in the Washington, DC area, those from out of town who are visiting the Nation’s Capitol, as well as marketing and government affairs consultants to MAPPS member firms, was held at the City Club at Franklin Square. The next Forum will be on Thursday, February 9, also at the City Club, 1300 I (Eye) St, NW, Washington, DC. The speaker will be announced shortly. For the announcement and further information, see UPCOMING MEETINGS on the MAPPS web site, www.mapps.org.
MAPPS is the only U.S. trade and professional association of private geospatial firms. Formed in 1982, MAPPS has more than 150 private sector firms from all aspects of the geospatial profession. Its member firms are in the mapping, spatial data and geographic information systems field engaged in mapping, photogrammetry, satellite and airborne remote sensing, aerial photography, hydrography, aerial and satellite image processing, GPS and GIS data collection, integration and conversion services. For information, including membership application and registration for the Washington Policy Forum luncheon, visit the association’s website at www.mapps.org.
Photo caption: MAPPS President Kurt Allen thanks Col. Brian Cullis for his informative remarks before MAPPS first-ever Washington Policy Forum.