Advancing Statewide Spatial Data Infrastructures in Support of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) - Strategic Plan Guidelines - Revised May 2009

Sep 11, 2026

Strategic Plan Guidelines provide an organized, iterative planning approach for building statewide spatial data infrastructure efforts in support of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Produced for the FGDC Cooperative Agreements Program (CAP) Category 3: Fifty States Initiative, the document emphasizes identifying shared geospatial business needs, forming statewide coordination councils, and using effective strategic and business planning to advance collaborative programs. It outlines how to structure major plan sections, apply relevant questions, and use results to guide decision-making and performance measurement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time9 min

AccessFree to download

Foreword

Strategic planning purpose

Goals and planning guidance

Strategic Plan Guidelines

Core elements of a strategic plan

How to use these guidelines

Iterative facilitated process

Advancing Statewide Spatial Data Infrastructures in Support of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Strategic Plan Guidelines For use by all stakeholders in the Geospatial Community Produced for the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) to Support the Cooperative Agreements Program (CAP), Category 3: Fifty States Initiative Revised: May 2009 This page intentionally left blank. USGS Contract \#: 08HQCN0024 May 2009 2 Applied Geographics, Inc. Advancing Statewide Spatial Data Infrastructures in Support of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Strategic Plan Guidelines For use by all Stakeholders in the Geospatial Community This document replaces the “Strategic Plan Template”(March 2006) that was produced by the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) under contract (05HQCN0034) to the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) . This replacement version was produced under a contract: issued by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), FGDC Secretariat Contract Number: 08HQCN0024 Prime Contractor: Subcontractors: USGS Contract \#: 08HQCN0024 May 2009 3 Applied Geographics, Inc. This page intentionally left blank. USGS Contract \#: 08HQCN0024 May 2009 4 Applied Geographics, Inc. Foreword Strategic planning is a critical process for articulating a shared vision, and for building the partnerships that are necessary for disparate organizations to work together on common goals. The key is to identify the business needs for geospatial data and services that are shared by many stakeholder groups. For instance, it is easy to envision that statewide orthoimagery acquired on a routine basis would be useful to almost all stakeholders in the geospatial community, as might be a widely accessible geocoding service. Effective planning is essential for moving collaborative programs forward and for gaining the required support for investments in your statewide spatial data infrastructure (SSDI) . This project is part of the Fifty States initiative from the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), in close cooperation with the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) and other stakeholders in the geospatial community. A core component of this Initiative is establishing more formal statewide geospatial coordination councils that will help to govern and complete the NSDI by enabling all stakeholders. The principal goals of this project are to: • Encourage implementation of statewide spatial data infrastructures through effective strategic and business planning efforts • Provide guidance on planning activities • Encourage the formation of partnerships and alliances that will improve planning process • Provide a uniform national framework for strategic and business plans, for comparative analysis to reveal national trends Several documents have been created to support the geospatial community in these planning efforts, including: • Strategic Plan Guidelines that provides a structure for “mapping” a clear path from present conditions to a vision for the future into a plan document. • Strategic Planning Process Map that divides the process of creating the strategic plan into five simple steps or phases that are each characterized by certain activities, tasks, and accomplishments. • Business Plan Guidelines that provides a detailed description of how goals and objectives will be achieved, along with the necessary justification for action. The Strategic and Business Plan Guidelines each include major section headings with key information and a series of questions that should be considered. Your planning team will determine which questions are applicable for their activities and use the answers to these questions to help draft an effective plan. This approach was developed, because “one size does not fit all” for these plans. However, the organizational structure of the main sections can and should be consistent with the Guidelines, even though the

FAQs

What is the purpose of these Strategic Plan Guidelines?

They provide a structured, iterative approach to create strategic plans that explain how strategic goals will be achieved through specific strategies, programmatic goals, risk analysis, and performance measurement.

Who are the intended users of the guidelines?

The guidelines are intended for all stakeholders in the geospatial community supporting statewide spatial data infrastructure efforts under the FGDC Fifty States initiative.

How should stakeholders use the questions included in the plan sections?

Planning teams should determine which questions apply to their activities, use the answers to draft an effective plan, and maintain a consistent organizational structure while tailoring section content to each organization.

Sep 11, 2026

Uploaded by Caleb Sterling