The Department Needs to Improve Its Metadata Processes Under the Geospatial Data Act

For our final report on our audit of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (the Department’s) collection, production, acquisition, maintenance, distribution, use, and preservation of geospatial data, our objective was to assess the Department’s progress toward compliance with Geospatial Data Act requirements under 43 U.S.C. § 2808(a). We found the Department has generally made progress toward complying with 10 of the 13 requirements under this section. However: I. The Department’s geospatial metadata is inconsistent with best practices from FGDC Technical Guidance: Data.gov and The GeoPlatform Metadata Recommendations Including Guidelines for National Geospatial Data Assets (NGDA); and II. Technical challenges on GeoPlatform are still causing metadata harvesting issues.