National Park Service Core Spatial Data Standard - Template & Document
Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Department of the Interior, National Park Service, GIS Council (GISC), Department of the Interior, National Park Service, GISC Enterprise Data Management (EDM) Subcommittee, Southwould A, Shakarjian K, Barrow C. 2025. National Park Service Core Spatial Data Standard - Template & Document. National Park Service
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide the National Park Service (NPS) with a powerful tool to help manage all aspects of park operations. To make the best use of GIS, it is imperative that accurate and complete information about features is recorded and systematically managed by the National Park Service. Furthermore, it is essential that high-integrity geospatial information is accessible, retrievable, and updateable by NPS staff and readily available to the public. Geospatial data standards greatly reduce data redundancy (and duplication of effort), as well as data loss and misuse; and help ensure that we are using the most accurate, current data available. In addition, the subsequent aggregation of data on an enterprise level enables the NPS to make better data-driven decisions at the Park, Regional, and National levels and to accurately report on the status of NPS assets. The National Park Service Core Spatial Data Standard (Core Standard) was designed to facilitate the development of future standards and to serve as a starting point, and a minimum requirement, for all NPS spatial data. The Core Standard provides a framework for documenting the lineage, quality, and restrictions of geospatial data and will facilitate data integration and data sharing. It allows for the aggregation of data from multiple sources through inclusion of feature level metadata, stored in a subset of fields to clarify the origin, validity, and status of each record. Note that the feature level metadata included in the Core Standard is not intended to replace formal, XML based, dataset metadata. The formal metadata will be provided with the Core Standard geodatabase template. All future standards will be required to implement the Core Standard. Regarding existing spatial data standards, it is recommended to transition to the current Core Standard version when the standard is being reviewed and updated. This record includes an Esri file geodatabase template as well as an implementation document to assist users in utilizing this standard. For more information on NPS Spatial Data Standards, see https://doimspp.sharepoint.com/sites/nps-irm/SitePages/GIS-Data-Standards.aspx (internal only).
- Type
- Data Standard
- Authors
- Department of the Interior, National Park Service; Department of the Interior, National Park Service, GIS Council (GISC); Department of the Interior, National Park Service, GISC Enterprise Data Management (EDM) Subcommittee; Southwould, Angie; Shakarjian, Kerry; Barrow, Christopher
- Date of Issue
- 2025-10-01
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Keywords
- Core Standard, Data Standard, Database Template, Enterprise Data, GIS Data Standard, National Dataset, National Park Service, NPS, Spatial Data Standard