WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:18.740 Emily Ruetz: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending. Today's gis 101 webinar about the national address. Database my name is Emily reits. And I'm the senior manager of Applications and technology at the National State's Geographic Information Council. 2 00:00:18.910 --> 00:00:33.560 Emily Ruetz: If you are unfamiliar with our organization, district exists to advance effective national coordination of geospatial information by supporting State level cooperation, we serve as a national forum for the development of capable and future oriented geospatial leadership. 3 00:00:33.650 --> 00:00:44.600 Emily Ruetz: If you'd like more information on how to get involved with us. Please visit our web site. mistric.org just some reminders for a call today. All attendees have been needed on entrance. 4 00:00:45.060 --> 00:00:55.199 Emily Ruetz: and there will be time at the end of the presentation for Q. And a. So please, if you have any questions put those in the chat box. they'll be read aloud and answered at the end of the presentation. 5 00:00:55.610 --> 00:01:07.980 Emily Ruetz: Additionally, a recorded version of this webinar will be made available afterwards. So please be on the look out for an email with that information, and with that I will turn it over to Frank Winters. Thank you so much for joining us. 6 00:01:08.810 --> 00:01:13.040 Frank Winters: Thanks, Emily. Boy, I'm really happy to be here. 7 00:01:13.340 --> 00:01:28.900 Frank Winters: 2 of my old friends. Not that they're old, but friends. I've had for a long time. Bill Johnson and Steve Lewis. Are here to talk about the national address, database and I'll introduce each before some questions that I have. But first bill 8 00:01:29.100 --> 00:01:46.799 Frank Winters: hats off to your body of work. The first Gio for New York State position. You paved the way for me for past president of Nizg. You worked at the Universal Service Administrative Administrative Company, and then in the private sector with App Geo. That's a pretty broad sector. 9 00:01:46.800 --> 00:02:00.619 Frank Winters: Span that you that you have there, and and I'm really thrilled to be kind of on this side for those that don't know. Bill and I have been teaming up on presentations and conversations for 3 decades. 10 00:02:00.620 --> 00:02:29.719 Frank Winters: This seems like a long time for somebody in their twenties. But you know that's the way it goes. So it's really a pleasure to be on this side. and with the opportunity to ask you some some questions about something I know you're super passionate about, and really, for all the participants, I love the idea that this is just pull up a chair at the table. It's it's the 4 of us right and and for those who are gonna watch this online afterward. It's just a conversation that you're you're invited to. So 11 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:41.399 Frank Winters: with that, I'm really really happy about that. But, Bill, I've got just kind of a a start up question for you, and that really is what is the nature of an address and what makes them so challenging? What's the big deal? 12 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:55.129 William Johnson: Yeah, that's a great question Frank. And and for everybody else to to know. Frank and I work so closely together. I've I've joked that Frank is like my brother. Actually, I've probably spent more time with Frank than I have with my brother. 13 00:02:55.290 --> 00:03:05.580 William Johnson: So yeah, so addresses. First of all, the the Us. Has messier addresses than a lot of other places in the world. Addresses have evolved 14 00:03:05.700 --> 00:03:10.650 William Johnson: under a lot of different local circumstances, and the standards that have 15 00:03:11.370 --> 00:03:28.359 William Johnson: been embraced of late around addresses are really attempts to incorporate all the different variations in the way people have expressed addresses in the Us. Because nobody wants to have to change their address. But if you compare the way addresses, look in the Us. With the way addresses look in Canada or in Europe. 16 00:03:28.420 --> 00:03:40.419 William Johnson: Ours are. There's just more variations, more complications. But when we talk about an address database, what we're really talking about here is the combination of 17 00:03:40.930 --> 00:03:46.180 William Johnson: that address string, you know, 34 Maple Street, Holden, Massachusetts, in the Zip code. 18 00:03:46.390 --> 00:04:16.239 William Johnson: and a coordinate pair attached to it. And this is the magic that converts it into a Gis data file. That's that latitude longitude coordinate appended onto it. And then we usually have some other information attached to each record as well. So we know where it came from when it was updated, generally to make it more useful and maintainable. So that's what a that's what an address record is. And you? Asked Frank, where they came, where they came from, or what makes them complicated. Well, part of that is. 19 00:04:16.589 --> 00:04:28.539 William Johnson: they are a local responsibility. There is no State or Federal agency, that is, the authority for addresses in every jurisdiction in the Us. They are maintained, established 20 00:04:28.840 --> 00:04:46.390 William Johnson: and approved at the at the local government level. So any effort to create a nationwide database of these means that you gotta get cooperation, voluntary cooperation from from everybody. So generally, it's a 2 step process states roll them up 21 00:04:46.420 --> 00:04:52.770 William Johnson: to get a statewide file, and then they contribute that to a national collection. And that's what we're talking about today with the Nad. 22 00:04:53.580 --> 00:05:16.379 Frank Winters: That's great. Thanks that that put some clarity around that. And, to make matters worse, you've got the confusion over postal versus location address. And for this conversation. We're talking about the location, you know, and you and your location bill. You wouldn't use your mailing address to order pizza or make a 9 1 one call right. That would be, you know. Both would be cold by the time they got to the po box right? 23 00:05:16.380 --> 00:05:28.279 Frank Winters: Right? So that's great. So what about the other collections? You know, we're we're gonna focus on the national address database. But why, if there's other collections out there. 24 00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:41.470 William Johnson: Yeah, well, that's that's another good question. So you know. there are Federal agencies that gather up addresses as part of their mission. The 2 that most people identify pretty quickly are the census bureau 25 00:05:41.710 --> 00:05:48.880 William Johnson: that has the the responsibility right out of the Constitution to count all the residents of the United States 26 00:05:48.920 --> 00:06:07.239 William Johnson: and and the Us. Postal service and but neither of those are responsible for the creation or approval of this is an official address. So you don't you know the the the postal services use case is mail delivery. If you write some 27 00:06:07.350 --> 00:06:23.240 William Johnson: funky address enough times on an envelope, it'll end up in their database because they wanna be able to deliver the mail and and they have triggers to to add all these variations of addresses in there which one's the official one. They don't know. They have a they just know that they're able to deliver the mail 28 00:06:23.460 --> 00:06:25.949 William Johnson: and the census bureau. 29 00:06:26.230 --> 00:06:51.030 William Johnson: they are protect actually, both the Postal Service and the Census Bureau under Federal law are unable to release those databases over privacy protections. So we have these collections that you and I have paid for but they can't be shared. So that's part of why, this Nad exists. It's an effort to create a freely shareable restriction, free 30 00:06:51.150 --> 00:06:57.939 William Johnson: data file of the whole Us. Of all the addresses in the Us. So that so it is shareable because nobody has one. 31 00:06:59.260 --> 00:07:23.309 Frank Winters: That's great. So you just sparked a thought that you know other programs are outside the scope of today's conversation about advocacy and the legislation that we want to influence to gain that efficiency. But for now the national address, database is really, that's really the only game in town for freely shareable addresses nationwide. That's fantastic. So in your opinion, why does it matter so much? 32 00:07:23.880 --> 00:07:33.140 William Johnson: Well, addresses, I think perhaps the most useful geospatial data set? If you wanna be able to 33 00:07:33.620 --> 00:07:47.279 William Johnson: take data that's traditionally, not geospatial and deal with it in the geospatial world. An address database is it's it that is the key to open that vault of all this data, their databases. There's estimates that 34 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:55.959 William Johnson: you know, up to 80% of databases contain addresses in them. And so if you want to be able to put it on the map. 35 00:07:56.190 --> 00:08:10.959 William Johnson: you want to be able to join those addresses records by address. And then with this Nad. Having a coordinate pair, a latitude longitude attached to the address, you suddenly can put them on the map. That's the magic of this thing. 36 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:24.539 William Johnson: and that's that opens up the use of these addresses to all kinds of analyses about how close our addresses, and where are they clustered, and are they along the same route. And 37 00:08:24.550 --> 00:08:32.589 how can I optimize my travel between them and all all kinds of other things that you can't do without the goodness of geospatial. 38 00:08:33.549 --> 00:08:51.309 Frank Winters: that's great. And and all those things have societal impacts, you know. That's so by by building addresses and making them available, it seems like we're able to do things like reduce carbon emissions, you know, making transportation more efficient and all sorts of things. But with all the use cases that come to mind. 39 00:08:51.900 --> 00:09:05.320 William Johnson: What do you think are the are the big ones? What are the big Brocks in that jar for use cases? Well, there are. There are so many attached to service delivery at an address. But I think the most important one to consider is 9, 1 1, 40 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:22.909 William Johnson: and particularly, there's something called next generation 9, 1 one that is being implemented across the Us. And it is for the first time entirely based on Gis data like this address data we're talking about. So every jurisdiction is going to be creating very high quality 41 00:09:23.020 --> 00:09:48.730 William Johnson: address records that have a really accurate coordinate not to somewhere close, but to the building or to the door, or to the driveway entrance, or different ways to represent the location of that address. But the next Gen. 9, 1 one use case is a literally a life and death use case. You want that fire truck or that ambulance, or that police car to to get to that address quickly and efficiently, with no confusion. 42 00:09:49.100 --> 00:09:56.400 William Johnson: And so it's a really really great use case. And if you build your address data to support that use case 43 00:09:56.470 --> 00:10:02.169 William Johnson: by default. It supports everything else, because that's the highest and most difficult use case to to build to. 44 00:10:03.090 --> 00:10:25.510 Frank Winters: I love that idea that we exercise data with lots of uses, so that it's ready to go when the most critical use happens. You know, if if you only used your cell phone when you made a 9 1 one call. I wouldn't know where it was, and I wouldn't know how to use it right. But you know so that idea that these addresses have a myriad uses, but the most critical one we built to that standard. I'd I'd love that cause. That's really, most 45 00:10:25.540 --> 00:10:32.119 Frank Winters: most critically, the role of government, you know, like the most important thing government does is help people in their worst day. 46 00:10:32.280 --> 00:10:50.780 Frank Winters: Alright, so yeah. So you know, we we talk about. The density of addresses and whatnot. But there's a special consideration in rural areas. And, like your take on addressing in rural locations around the country. Yeah. And that's that's a that's another really good question, because 47 00:10:50.850 --> 00:10:53.610 William Johnson: the things that trigger 48 00:10:53.760 --> 00:11:09.700 William Johnson: fixing and improving address data are transactions that use the data, and those are naturally concentrated in areas where more people live. And so you get much fewer of these in sparsely settled rural areas. And 49 00:11:09.770 --> 00:11:21.720 William Johnson: So address data. I don't care who which source you're looking for tends to be weaker in rural areas. It tends to be the the coordinates may not be as accurate addresses or 50 00:11:22.210 --> 00:11:47.219 William Johnson: spread further apart. And so the the errors from the kinds of things geocoding, for example, that you can use to determine where an address might be located are not as good in rural areas. And so it's a it's a it's a more expensive proposition, a more difficult, more challenging proposition to get addresses right in rural areas. And that's why you know all the commercial firms that that have address data. 51 00:11:47.260 --> 00:11:57.370 William Johnson: You know, their return on investment is much lower in a rural area. So they're not gonna invest as much effort there either. So it really is the role of government, and particularly 9, 1 1 52 00:11:57.380 --> 00:12:09.449 William Johnson: to get every one of these addresses right, including the most difficult ones out in the most rural areas. So that's another reason why doing this work around the next Gen. 9. 1. One use case is so important. 53 00:12:10.170 --> 00:12:29.360 Frank Winters: Oh, that's great. That brings a story to mind, and you'll recall in 2,015 couple of guests of the prison system decided to check out before their stay was was really over, and they were off in the woods and in the most remote places in in northern New York. 54 00:12:29.550 --> 00:12:34.039 Frank Winters: and the first person that was allowed into the command center 55 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:52.629 Frank Winters: after several days who was a civilian. Was Jerry on our team, and he came with Leifa photography and and parcel data. But he came with the addresses, a dot on the map of every dwelling, every hunting camp, every house that there was a record of in the 9, 1 one data, and it was on the rooftop. 56 00:12:52.650 --> 00:13:07.830 Frank Winters: And that was the use case that explained to so many people why we do the things we do the way we do them. That's absolutely true. Yeah, that escape from Danamora. Terrific proof of the value of these addresses. 57 00:13:08.110 --> 00:13:09.470 Frank Winters: Yeah, absolutely. 58 00:13:09.590 --> 00:13:15.820 Frank Winters: Well, that's great. Thanks, Bill. I'm gonna I'm gonna switch and throw some questions towards Steve. And first 59 00:13:15.870 --> 00:13:30.229 Frank Winters: Steve also hats off on your body of work. And you know, until recently, being the Chief Geospatial Information Officer for the Us. Department of Transportation. Our conversations go 20 years back into the days of both 60 00:13:30.230 --> 00:14:00.010 Frank Winters: sitting around the table at GIST and now welcome! Welcome to the to the side of the retired Geogee. Soon. So happy to have you here and really hats off to the mark you left, and you left your fingerprints on our country, because I believe that the National address database, was it? It exists because you made it happen right in 2,015. So we owe a debt of gratitude to you for for that work. 61 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:03.960 Frank Winters: So 62 00:14:04.160 --> 00:14:20.169 Frank Winters: we've been on the same page within that with the National Address database for years, and this is just a great opportunity to to have that conversation. So II really wanna get kind of in in your head a little bit. And and what excites you the most about the national address. Database. 63 00:14:21.450 --> 00:14:37.649 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Thanks, Frank, and what really excites me most is is the true partnership effort that this is. Yes, I have been the primary federal partner, but in in actuality this would not have happened without 64 00:14:37.800 --> 00:14:46.110 Steve Lewis - USDOT: partners from State government, local government, and even tribal governments. So 65 00:14:46.420 --> 00:15:02.589 Steve Lewis - USDOT: I can say, for sure I can't speak for other Federal governments. But this is the First National Level geospatial data set that Dot has compiled. That has been 100 built through these partnerships with authoritative partners. 66 00:15:02.920 --> 00:15:18.789 Steve Lewis - USDOT: And just just to to dive a little deeper into the the partnerships. I wanna start with a little history of the National Address database as Bill stated before the creation of the database, there was no nationwide public domain dataset 67 00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:32.999 Steve Lewis - USDOT: because those census and postal service data sets were protected. So I know for years that mystic as an organization advocated for the National Address database, and they, they quite frankly 68 00:15:33.230 --> 00:16:02.800 Steve Lewis - USDOT: were in a recruit recruitment, recruitment mode, looking for a Federal agency, willing to step up and lead this effort. and after quite a bit of of gentle and then not so gentle arm twisting do. T. Stepped up to the plate and agreed to be the primary federal partner in this effort, and and that's not without good reason. The Usdot houses, the National 9, 1 one program A, and that's where a addresses are very important to that. 69 00:16:02.800 --> 00:16:17.089 Steve Lewis - USDOT: And and from a geospatial standpoint we also have a a database, a complete database of roads, and you can't really have an address without a road. So do. T was the logical primary federal partner. 70 00:16:17.830 --> 00:16:28.260 Steve Lewis - USDOT: and what we did to start and in the spirit of the partnerships we we held what we called the Nad. Nad. Summit, back in the spring of 2,015, 71 00:16:28.350 --> 00:16:52.390 Steve Lewis - USDOT: and we ran it like a advisory committee. We only had invited participants, and when we met there were 58 of those invited participants, and we went very heavily on authoritative address providers. So of the 58 participants, 35 of them were from State, local and tribal address programs 72 00:16:52.640 --> 00:17:01.440 Steve Lewis - USDOT: not surprisingly there was unanimous support for building a national address database by compiling authoritative data 73 00:17:01.450 --> 00:17:05.640 Steve Lewis - USDOT: and and and bringing it to a national level dataset. 74 00:17:06.250 --> 00:17:26.830 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So we immediately followed up on that summit with a pilot program we initially took on 3 partners for the pilot. We had the State of Arkansas, the State of Arizona and Boone County, Missouri. There was no State address program in Missouri. So Boone County was selected as a local partner 75 00:17:27.213 --> 00:17:48.299 Steve Lewis - USDOT: as part of the pilot. We work with these these 3 partners and developed a a minimum content schema primarily based on the nina standard for addresses. And the reason behind the minimum content was to provide a low bar of participation for our authoritative partners to submit their data. 76 00:17:48.760 --> 00:18:13.450 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So as we progressed, we took Arizona, Arkansas, and Boone County, Missouri, and compiled it into a national database and started spreading it around almost immediately after. After showing this soft and other organizations, we got 4 additional States, the District of Columbia and 9 additional Missouri counties. 77 00:18:13.770 --> 00:18:23.090 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So by the time the pilot ended in July of 16 we had released one of the national address database, and it was 16.8 million records. 78 00:18:23.370 --> 00:18:33.840 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Admittedly, there was a little bit of a downtime after that, as we spent almost a year looking for resources to continue this development. And 79 00:18:34.170 --> 00:19:00.880 Steve Lewis - USDOT: the Nash, the National 9, 1 one program stepped up to the plate. After a year they came up with consistent funding. And in July 17 we began full time development of the national address database. There was some fits and starts along the way, but we've been pretty much rock solid since march of 2020. And we publish the data quarterly. 80 00:19:01.020 --> 00:19:04.610 Steve Lewis - USDOT: and our most current version is release 15. 81 00:19:04.690 --> 00:19:24.809 Steve Lewis - USDOT: That version recall. The first version was only 16.8 million records. We now have data from 35 state partners, 42 local government partners and 2 tribal government partners, and we are up to 76.8 million records, all of this done with no carrot, no stick, just partnerships. 82 00:19:26.050 --> 00:19:45.099 Frank Winters: Oh, that's that's a great story. I mean, that's a story that's like, what's what's right with government. Right? That's that's great. So about these partnerships, you know. Can you shed a little light on on the roles? And what governance means to you, and maybe the challenges there, and 83 00:19:45.190 --> 00:19:56.579 Steve Lewis - USDOT: start with the governance? We went into this, and it was affirmed through that summit, way back in 2,015. We went into this with no intention of owning this data. 84 00:19:56.870 --> 00:19:59.550 Steve Lewis - USDOT: so we 85 00:19:59.830 --> 00:20:22.619 Steve Lewis - USDOT: don't edit the data. We don't move the data. It's we. We are providing a partnership role. And and that leads into the partnership roles the most important partners are the state, local and tribal government address programs that provide us our data and because they are the most important partners, we don't to be@the.don't own that data. 86 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:30.070 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So what does.do? Well, as the primary federal partner, we take each data submission. 87 00:20:30.170 --> 00:20:41.889 Steve Lewis - USDOT: and if the address provider has not already done the transformation into our minimum content schema. We transform the data into the minimum content schema. 88 00:20:41.990 --> 00:21:04.930 Steve Lewis - USDOT: We, we then do some very high level Qaqc. And that includes checking for duplicate points. And also, if if an attribute has a published domain such as street type we check the values and submission against the published domain. And then for each of those submissions we provide a customized feedback report for the partner and provide that back 89 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:28.640 Steve Lewis - USDOT: if we found partners, or if we found errors in that partner data, or we think their errors we don't correct them. We send it back to the partner. If they agree, it's an error and correct. It'll go into the database if if it's not resolved for time for publication. Those particular records just don't make it into that into the most current publication. But 90 00:21:28.850 --> 00:21:38.800 Steve Lewis - USDOT: after we've provided the partner with the feedback worked with them to to reconcile the differences. We compiled the national data set 91 00:21:38.930 --> 00:21:44.939 Steve Lewis - USDOT: and we distribute it to anyone who wants it via bulk, download and a web feature service. 92 00:21:45.470 --> 00:22:00.520 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So we also have a couple of other Federal Government partners the Census Bureau takes each release, and before we make it public they do some some final quality checks just to get a second set of eyes on it. 93 00:22:00.580 --> 00:22:16.699 Steve Lewis - USDOT: And our newest partner is the Us. Postal service A lot of our authoritative data providers have mentioned. They would like to get zip codes from from the postal service. So now the postal service ingests each release on the Nad. 94 00:22:16.830 --> 00:22:50.979 Steve Lewis - USDOT: For records that they can match. They append their Zip code to those records. And then we will provide that data in the public release. It's always gonna be a a one release behind, because we're appending data from a from a previous release to the current release. But the next release of the nav will be the first one that contains the Zip Code information. And of the 76.8 million points I mentioned. They matched over 66 million points to their data. So we'll have zip code information. There. 95 00:22:51.820 --> 00:23:05.659 William Johnson: Steve. Hello! So zip plus 4, or is it just a 5 digit Zip. you know I haven't looked by my developer did the matching, and I haven't looked. I hope it's plus 4, but it might only be the 5 digits 96 00:23:06.380 --> 00:23:22.810 Steve Lewis - USDOT: some of our partners don't even submit, and some are looking for a a validation of it. So this will go into the feedback reports that we give to the partners? How many of theirs have code records matched? And and 97 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:40.579 William Johnson: you know, things like that for for their feedback reports? Yeah. And if I could interrupt Frank, I know you got questions here, but a pet peeve of mine is zip codes. You know. People think zip codes are polygons. Zip codes are not polygons. Zip codes are address lists groupings of addresses from the 98 00:23:40.580 --> 00:23:58.660 William Johnson: from the postal service. So any polygon file you see of zip codes. Somebody made it up. There is no such thing as an official Zip code polygon, which makes it tough to know exactly if you're out in a rural area, and you're not sure where those lists switched. You can. You can easily attach the wrong zip code to a file and not know it. 99 00:24:00.210 --> 00:24:09.439 Frank Winters: Yeah, that's great. And what did what an advance? And and the thing that comes to my mind is for those folks trying to manage addresses at a local for State level. 100 00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:34.779 Frank Winters: You can't win if you don't play right. I mean, there's a value that comes back, and that's really A a great snapshot of what a partnership really is. We're not talking about a Federal data set. We're talking about a national data set with value. Add along the whole supply chain right? Instead, I think about the flow of data like we think about a commercial supply chain. So that is, that's something I just learned so thanks very much for that. 101 00:24:35.060 --> 00:24:41.469 Frank Winters: Steve, can you shed a little light on the status? Maybe the where we stand with 102 00:24:41.510 --> 00:24:45.699 Frank Winters: state partners and their programs, and how they contribute. 103 00:24:46.290 --> 00:24:52.669 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Sure Frank, let me bring up some graphics, because, it's easier to to go through it that way 104 00:24:53.090 --> 00:24:57.299 Frank Winters: you have anticipated my question. That's good. 105 00:24:57.340 --> 00:25:25.480 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Okay? So I hope everybody can. See my screen. I'm in in adobe acrobat. So I apologize for the the the frame around it. But this is our latest partnership map, and this is by State, because our preferred partnership level is at the State, because that's obviously much fewer submission than if we if we had the every county or or or city submitting to us 106 00:25:25.740 --> 00:25:37.200 Steve Lewis - USDOT: so you can see here on this map. And this is for release 15. We we have the States in green are our official partners who have submitted data 107 00:25:37.270 --> 00:25:45.279 Steve Lewis - USDOT: in some cases they aren't able to submit complete data, but they have submitted at least some data towards the National address database 108 00:25:45.570 --> 00:26:02.640 Steve Lewis - USDOT: the States in yellow and and the 2 Territories you see there. Down in the in the lower right corner they are committed partners to the National address database, but they have still yet to submit data, although I expect to get data from Idaho 109 00:26:02.940 --> 00:26:14.730 Steve Lewis - USDOT: and for release 16. And actually, we do have a brand new submission from West Virginia. We're processing, and hopefully it will go into release. 16. So 110 00:26:15.450 --> 00:26:25.549 Steve Lewis - USDOT: the next level are the light purple states, and and those are just states that don't currently have a address program at the State level sort of there's no roll up. 111 00:26:25.820 --> 00:26:42.260 Steve Lewis - USDOT: And then, my most lease, or my least favorite color. On this map are the dark purple States. They have complete rolled up address information, but they have, policies or or laws prohibiting them from sharing the data. 112 00:26:42.750 --> 00:26:57.659 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So we're working to to change that as well. And, in fact I just heard from Minnesota this week, they are in the final stages of of getting that policy changed. And hopefully we'll have Minnesota represented soon. 113 00:26:57.730 --> 00:27:12.330 Steve Lewis - USDOT: But a a part of this map that really illustrates the partnership and the true desire to have this be a success, are the light purple, and the dark purple states that have hash marks in these States. 114 00:27:12.450 --> 00:27:27.520 Steve Lewis - USDOT: local, regional, or tribal governments have decided they want their data in the national address database, even if it's not coming from the state level. So you can see there. We have, have local 115 00:27:27.520 --> 00:27:44.389 Steve Lewis - USDOT: regional tribal governments in the dark purple States and the light purple states that are submitting data directly to the Nad, and they are treated as full partners. They get the same feedback reports as the state levels. And again, to me it really illustrates the the true partnerships here. 116 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:51.369 Frank Winters: Well, that's great. And and I can. I suggest a a 117 00:27:51.450 --> 00:27:54.019 Steve Lewis - USDOT: new title for that map. 118 00:27:54.360 --> 00:28:10.750 Frank Winters: the race to not be last, and also call it the map of shame, right? And and the thing that comes to mind is there's value to the people of the country by participating when Google picked up 119 00:28:10.910 --> 00:28:21.829 Frank Winters: the New York State addresses. Once we got the licensing all figured out for the for the Nad. So thanks for the work on that they found a huge number of addresses in New York that they didn't know about. 120 00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:45.179 Frank Winters: and the number of calls the Gis program office got from our people saying, Hey, can you do something about these addresses? Because, my, my guests aren't able to find me, or I can't get my packages. Or you know, it's and I'm not picking on Google. It's it's all of the the companies that need the addresses to to really play in the information economy. They're pull. They're pulling up the map. That's the way to get 121 00:28:45.590 --> 00:29:05.950 Frank Winters: the the data to those companies. And our people don't experience our work by coming to our state websites and downloading 9 million address points. They experience our work on their phones or in their commerce. Right? So that tipping point, I think, is is really that Netmap gave me a lot of a lot of courage. So thanks for sharing that. 122 00:29:07.220 --> 00:29:08.290 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Thank you. 123 00:29:09.020 --> 00:29:27.970 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So so this current map on the screen I had mentioned. Not every state partner could do complete submissions at this time, so the green on this one gives you the the idea or gives you a good idea of where the data actually exists where it's coming from. So the green on this map represents the 76.8 million points. 124 00:29:30.140 --> 00:29:38.360 Steve Lewis - USDOT: And let's see. just wanted to to highlight some of the growth and how it's been consistent. 125 00:29:39.980 --> 00:29:48.650 Steve Lewis - USDOT: And you can see here I went back to March 2020 I mentioned. That's when we really got funding, and and there were no more 126 00:29:53.190 --> 00:29:55.609 Steve Lewis - USDOT: you still hear me? I got a message Zoom stopped. 127 00:29:56.220 --> 00:29:57.719 William Johnson: I didn't hear you, Steve. 128 00:29:58.340 --> 00:29:59.580 Yep. 129 00:30:00.360 --> 00:30:05.150 Steve Lewis - USDOT: and the the message keeps coming up. But 130 00:30:16.710 --> 00:30:17.799 Frank Winters: Now you're muted 131 00:30:22.310 --> 00:30:25.180 Steve Lewis - USDOT: sorry about that. I did get kicked out. So 132 00:30:27.690 --> 00:30:34.930 Steve Lewis - USDOT: let me show one more slide when, with the hopes of not getting kicked out, kicked out again. But 133 00:30:36.680 --> 00:30:38.090 Frank Winters: it's a fast recovery. 134 00:30:38.260 --> 00:30:58.400 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Let's see. So this one I'm very, very pleased with, because what good is having a public database of addresses if it's not being used? So I mentioned earlier that one of our partnership roles at.is to produce and maintain a web feature service that accompanies each release of the data set 135 00:30:58.540 --> 00:31:25.710 Steve Lewis - USDOT: we we host that on the dot instance of Rgis online. So I'm able to go in and look at usage statistics every month. Ii didn't get a chance to do November before we we started this. So this is for the month of October, and you can see for the month we had 1,093,000 requests for that red web feature service, and that equates to over 36,000 requests per day 136 00:31:25.740 --> 00:31:28.850 Steve Lewis - USDOT: for for 137 00:31:28.950 --> 00:31:41.780 Steve Lewis - USDOT: a data set that probably still isn't marketed to the extent that it should be. I think that's just incredible usage, and it's something that all of the partners involved in this should be proud of. 138 00:31:43.860 --> 00:31:55.890 Frank Winters: Absolutely, Steve. Thanks. Thanks so much for sharing that. And I mentioned in the introduction, as as we were just getting started, that congratulated you on your body of work, and that you're about to retire. And 139 00:31:56.260 --> 00:32:12.920 Frank Winters: to me the strength of a mature organization and a mature program is those that outlive the contributions of the individuals that are really the driving force. So maybe you could allay some fears and talk about. You know what's the future. And what's the secession plan here? 140 00:32:13.620 --> 00:32:15.080 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Certainly have 141 00:32:15.210 --> 00:32:28.319 Steve Lewis - USDOT: that that is a very good intro for me to say that the national address database is by far the most rewarding project I've worked on, and II have been doing this for 36 years now. 142 00:32:28.500 --> 00:32:48.800 Steve Lewis - USDOT: so it's very near and dear to my heart, and I wanted to make sure that it would continue to get the the support of the ot that it deserves. So II actually stepped aside as as geospatial information officer back in October, so that my replacement could come in, and I could could help 143 00:32:48.860 --> 00:32:59.730 Steve Lewis - USDOT: guide her in the first few months, and part of that is ensuring that the that the the Nad. Continues its support. It's been decided that 144 00:32:59.840 --> 00:33:09.980 Steve Lewis - USDOT: the new deputy Gio as my deputy was promoted to take my job. The new deputy, Gio will be the Federal caretaker for the Nad. 145 00:33:10.310 --> 00:33:17.409 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So in the meantime, I've let everybody know that I will be available 146 00:33:17.410 --> 00:33:46.309 Steve Lewis - USDOT: to to help mentor that person when he or she is hired, and I also requested that Brian Tegmeyer, who is the the head of the National 9, 1 one program@the.and he is the one that provides the funding for the mad developer. I've asked him to step in and take over my responsibilities on the Fgd. C. Address subcommittee, and he has agreed to do so. So II think I am leaving a good framework and a 147 00:33:46.310 --> 00:34:05.749 Steve Lewis - USDOT: a good support network. If there is any downtime there is a good Ned Web page and an email address, an Ad. Gov, and it'll always be answered. So II will not. I will not let this program retire with me. 148 00:34:07.260 --> 00:34:11.669 Frank Winters: It is good news and and thanks so much for all of that. 149 00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:18.549 Frank Winters: Yeah. And I love the idea that we're playing the long game right? We're just gonna we're just gonna keep at it. That's that's so good. Thank you. 150 00:34:19.230 --> 00:34:35.230 Frank Winters: Well, I haven't paid any attention to the chat, because I've been engaged. This has been such a fun conversation so far. But let's hear from our participants those that have pulled up a chair and and are at the table with us here, Emily, do you have any questions for any of the bill or or Steve? 151 00:34:35.570 --> 00:34:42.260 Emily Ruetz: I do not. The chat's been very quiet, so I definitely encourage everybody turning into 152 00:34:42.540 --> 00:34:45.500 Emily Ruetz: any questions you may have absolutely 153 00:34:45.690 --> 00:34:47.239 Emily Ruetz: get him in the chat. Aye. 154 00:34:47.580 --> 00:35:02.930 Frank Winters: alright! Let's let's fire it up. So, Steve? Ii really am pleased to hear, while we're waiting for that that you you've done a really nice job with succession planning and how how long have you been? 155 00:35:02.940 --> 00:35:14.970 Frank Winters: How long have you been thinking about that? And th? The thing that comes to mind is, you know. The first rule of first role of a leader is to make more leaders, you know. So how long has that been on your mind? 156 00:35:16.750 --> 00:35:32.899 Steve Lewis - USDOT: I I've known my retirement target for many years now, so I've made sure that the ut leadership was aware of that timeline and and they have been supportive throughout the. 157 00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:39.449 Steve Lewis - USDOT: I was very much in favor of my deputies taking my job because she's 158 00:35:39.930 --> 00:35:44.479 Steve Lewis - USDOT: she's a a great choice and has all the institutional knowledge. 159 00:35:44.600 --> 00:35:51.160 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So I I've been hopefully training her for the last 5 years. And 160 00:35:51.490 --> 00:36:08.379 Steve Lewis - USDOT: I actually requested to step down from Gio position as early as last May and they they weren't willing to let me step down that early. So I it's been. It's been on my mind, and I hope I have prepared 161 00:36:08.560 --> 00:36:10.539 Steve Lewis - USDOT: everyone at DOT. Correctly. 162 00:36:11.310 --> 00:36:28.759 Frank Winters: That's that's great. That's so necessary. And not that common that people put that much thought and effort into the secession and bringing people along and having people on the journey with you. So again hats off to you for for all that rigor. 163 00:36:28.980 --> 00:36:30.190 Frank Winters: What do you have Emily. 164 00:36:30.330 --> 00:36:31.440 Emily Ruetz: Yeah? 165 00:36:31.800 --> 00:36:46.090 Emily Ruetz: We asked, and the audience delivered. We've got lots of questions in here now. So first one is from Adam Mars from South Carolina. Like to know how long is the turnaround time? With respect to the reporting 166 00:36:48.980 --> 00:36:50.290 Steve Lewis - USDOT: we. 167 00:36:50.600 --> 00:37:03.169 Steve Lewis - USDOT: we publish the data every calendar quarter. So, Adam, for for South Carolina. It would be a first time submission. So we probably want to get it early in in the 3 months 168 00:37:03.190 --> 00:37:26.329 Steve Lewis - USDOT: windows so that we could process your data and and make sure we who don't find any show stoppers in there. But for long established mad customers or partners, they submit data towards the end of the of the 3 month period, and we usually process them and get them in Frank, Frank, and Bill's 169 00:37:26.410 --> 00:37:38.950 Steve Lewis - USDOT: New York State. They have such long time partners, and they do the the transformation into the Nat Schema themselves. They just drop it there for us once a quarter, and it's an easy process. So 170 00:37:38.980 --> 00:37:52.960 Steve Lewis - USDOT: II hope that answers your question. If you're ready to submit from South Carolina, we'd like to get it early in in the process. But as we become more familiar with each other, we'll we can probably take it later in the process. 171 00:37:53.520 --> 00:38:06.340 William Johnson: And let me let me just add a little bit about how this works at the State level, too. In New York. The address work is done in cooperation with the county 9, 1 one function 172 00:38:06.390 --> 00:38:10.839 William Johnson: and the Gis Program office. The State Gis Office 173 00:38:10.930 --> 00:38:17.499 William Johnson: has sets up and manages an enterprise database of the addresses. Many of the 174 00:38:17.700 --> 00:38:24.089 William Johnson: counties have direct access to, to read and write and do their own edits on the database. 175 00:38:24.180 --> 00:38:30.919 William Johnson: but there's a lot of the more rural counties where they just don't have the people, the the resources to do this, that the program office 176 00:38:31.080 --> 00:38:38.770 William Johnson: forms the edits on their behalf. They are still responsible for the address data. They still the owners of it. But they don't have Gis people to do the work. 177 00:38:38.800 --> 00:38:58.360 William Johnson: So the Gis Program office takes on that responsibility. The database is actually published every night. So for next Gen. 9, 1, one, those county 9, 1. One offices can download daily if they want to, the most current version of the data. And then the program office publishes for 178 00:38:58.420 --> 00:39:01.919 William Johnson: for open release on the state website every quarter. 179 00:39:01.970 --> 00:39:08.700 William Johnson: and as part of that quarterly release, they also do the transformation to the Nad. And and give it to to you, Steve. 180 00:39:09.730 --> 00:39:20.789 Frank Winters: What a great question, Adam, and and that just brings up one factoid. I'll throw in and it's the volume of those edits in New York alone. And there's 7 to 10,000 edits every week. 181 00:39:20.850 --> 00:39:40.450 Frank Winters: So that's where the last, just in time submission. So you get the freshest stuff comes in and like you say, it took a while to get us there. And Steve one other quick. Addition to Adam's question may be, what's the turnaround time on the feedback so they can see the error reporting and and the changes 182 00:39:41.040 --> 00:39:43.110 Frank Winters: with your value. Add. 183 00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:54.250 Steve Lewis - USDOT: it's it's very quick for established customers. Because the process is is so. Customers, not customers, partners very quick for established partners 184 00:39:54.800 --> 00:40:06.549 Steve Lewis - USDOT: the only the only outlier there is Texas. They they are by far our our largest partner they submit to just once a year because of the volume. 185 00:40:06.630 --> 00:40:16.480 Steve Lewis - USDOT: and it takes quite a while to run the QA. Qc. And do the transformation on 9.8 9.8 million records. So it's 186 00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:23.760 Steve Lewis - USDOT: but for for for most of the established partners, the turnaround is gonna be less than a week for the report. 187 00:40:24.170 --> 00:40:26.670 Frank Winters: That's great. Alright! What else do we have? Emily? 188 00:40:27.070 --> 00:40:39.330 Emily Ruetz: Lots more. So Mike Dalbot asks for the states of policies, restricting, sharing. How optimistic are you about overturning those? Are there some arguments that are more successful than others 189 00:40:40.340 --> 00:40:53.949 Steve Lewis - USDOT: right now I'm very optimistic, because, as I said, Minnesota is about to overturn it, and Adam in the chat says that South Carolina is about to change it. So we we are dwindling down to a few 190 00:40:54.600 --> 00:41:11.399 Steve Lewis - USDOT: not to name names and and point figures. But the the one I'm least optimistic with right now is New Hampshire, because their their state, 9 1 one director adamantly believes that he has a public trust responsibility not to share the data. 191 00:41:11.500 --> 00:41:14.660 Steve Lewis - USDOT: But I think 192 00:41:14.900 --> 00:41:18.800 Steve Lewis - USDOT: in the long run we're going to be turning those purple states into green. 193 00:41:20.580 --> 00:41:25.929 Frank Winters: It's great. It's the. And the argument that sticks in my mind is that 194 00:41:25.980 --> 00:41:44.189 Frank Winters: our economy is information based. And if your data is behind a password, you're leaving your constituents out of a segment of the economy. But with that it's full respect for those people that own that data, and they have their purposes. And and they're they're trying to be good stewards as well. So it's it's good. I'm glad you're optimistic. So am I. 195 00:41:45.590 --> 00:41:47.050 Frank Winters: What else do you have, Emily? 196 00:41:47.260 --> 00:42:01.869 Emily Ruetz: Yeah. Megan Wheatley, I'd like to know, in terms of collaboration, what does that look like for sharing data? Have other states ask for for permission from counties and other local governments to share? Have they just shared the addresses? 197 00:42:02.100 --> 00:42:03.269 Emily Ruetz: What does that look like 198 00:42:04.360 --> 00:42:10.770 William Johnson: I'll I'll start with with this one. So the way the pro program works in New York, and I think it's 199 00:42:10.880 --> 00:42:21.629 William Johnson: probably similar to the way, a lot of the other state programs work is that there are formal agreements in place between the State and the counties generally, or whatever locals are contributing 200 00:42:21.690 --> 00:42:34.229 William Johnson: that make clear how the sharing is working. Who's responsible for what? Indemnifying the parties from responsibility for errors? All those sorts of things go into an agreement. 201 00:42:34.230 --> 00:42:54.460 William Johnson: I know a lot of Gs people try to avoid dealing with attorneys, but the attorneys are there to there protect you and support you, and in my experience having a good relationship with the attorneys in your agency goes a very long way to getting these things done correctly and and avoiding problems in the long term. So yeah, you do. You do want those agreements in place 202 00:42:54.470 --> 00:43:04.660 William Johnson: and and that that's kind of the lubricant for the sharing to happen. It's a it's actually a part of the trust that that that works 203 00:43:04.820 --> 00:43:10.229 William Johnson: between the partners. You know, you're codifying it in writing and getting signatures. 204 00:43:11.310 --> 00:43:26.359 Frank Winters: and and putting 1,000 miles or thousands of miles on Rummel cars. And I think of Cheryl Benjamin Road trips all around the State, buying donuts, buying coffee, sitting down, talking to people. It's it's real work, but it's work you do once, and you keep that trust. 205 00:43:26.710 --> 00:43:28.369 Frank Winters: As long as you're around, it's great. 206 00:43:30.050 --> 00:43:34.039 Emily Ruetz: all right. What else do you have? 207 00:43:34.500 --> 00:43:39.989 Emily Ruetz: See here, Charlene would like to know? Will there be a similar program for center line data sets. 208 00:43:41.550 --> 00:43:43.820 Steve Lewis - USDOT: They're actually 209 00:43:44.100 --> 00:43:52.979 Steve Lewis - USDOT: is in a way already, except it's not really tied to addresses, because it's 2 different programs 210 00:43:53.050 --> 00:44:07.139 Steve Lewis - USDOT: at the Federal Highway administration, which is a part of usdot. They collect complete road Center line datasets from each State, VOT. But unfortunately, that program 211 00:44:07.260 --> 00:44:25.709 Steve Lewis - USDOT: doesn't have an interest in addresses at this time, and what they tell me is that most of the State viewts don't have an interest in addressing. So here at the Ot. We are getting complete road networks from authoritative sources and complete address information from authoritative sources. But they're not tied together at this point in time. 212 00:44:29.460 --> 00:44:30.410 Frank Winters: Thank you. 213 00:44:30.950 --> 00:44:32.350 Emily Ruetz: You are, Emily. 214 00:44:32.400 --> 00:44:43.979 Emily Ruetz: Yes, they're coming, and faster than I could read them. Yeah, Elizabeth would like to know, how does the nad compare to the Usps address checking database. 215 00:44:47.250 --> 00:45:06.360 Steve Lewis - USDOT: That is not a database I'm familiar with. Bill doesn't have an answer. I will say that I've mentioned earlier. The usps was able to match, 76 million of the 76.8 million, I mean 66 million of the 76.8 million records. 216 00:45:07.110 --> 00:45:22.929 William Johnson: II will just say generally that what the postal service is trying to do is ensure that mail can get delivered. So what they have for addresses is lots of variations on how they've seen that address represented on pieces of mail over the over time. 217 00:45:23.010 --> 00:45:44.439 William Johnson: So for your particular address, they probably have multiple records for that same address that represent different spellings, different abbreviations, and all these kinds of combinations of things that you you see on pieces of mail what the postal service does not have our latitude longitude attached to it. So it's not if you're 218 00:45:44.520 --> 00:45:53.169 William Johnson: depending on what your comparison is between Nad and and the postal service. You know, it's really an apples and oranges got thing in my mind. 219 00:45:55.370 --> 00:46:02.710 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Also build the the national address. Database goes beyond the postal service, and that we allow 220 00:46:03.220 --> 00:46:14.519 Steve Lewis - USDOT: address points for places that mail isn't delivered some of our partners submit landmarks even even longitude and latitude 221 00:46:15.160 --> 00:46:27.939 Steve Lewis - USDOT: logic location for bridges. These are in the national address database, and attributed as landmarks and not not not something that would have a postal service style. Address. 222 00:46:28.780 --> 00:46:31.390 William Johnson: Yeah. Well, in in. go ahead, Frank. 223 00:46:31.510 --> 00:46:59.290 Frank Winters: Oh, yeah. Just one of the value adds, that makes the government activity in this local government particular. So valuable is the crystal wall, right, that the addresses assigned well before anything happens on the ground. So if there's a 9, 1 one call when folks are building. They're digging a foundation for a house. Well, before any mail ever gets delivered there. That's that should be in there right? So it's it's the early notification that is a big part of the value. Add. So go ahead, Bill. 224 00:46:59.660 --> 00:47:06.940 William Johnson: I was just gonna say that one of the reasons for landmarks being in an address. Database is for 9 1 1 225 00:47:07.010 --> 00:47:15.770 William Johnson: incidents happen at those kinds of locations, and those are so to be able to get somebody to that point immediately is, that's the goal. 226 00:47:17.100 --> 00:47:17.910 Frank Winters: It's great. 227 00:47:19.150 --> 00:47:22.070 Frank Winters: Alright, Emily, what else we have? We have few more minutes. 228 00:47:22.320 --> 00:47:36.249 Emily Ruetz: Yeah. So Jenny is curious about confidence and reliability of the database. You've mentioned that there are some high level Qa. Qc. Steps, and that this information is useful for 9 1 1. 229 00:47:36.310 --> 00:47:44.010 Emily Ruetz: So is there a recommendation? Of what kinds of implementations are wise, and what's the likelihood of encountering errors in geocoding? 230 00:47:45.770 --> 00:47:57.809 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Oh, I I'd like to say that at the lowest level. This data is being corrected, collected by local governments. In almost every case it's being collected for emergency response. 231 00:47:58.020 --> 00:48:16.080 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So, in in my opinion, a in this way. I've always felt since we started this. It's good location data from the start. So that's that's why our Qaqc. Is more along the lines of looking for duplicates, duplicates, and checking and enumerated domains. 232 00:48:16.130 --> 00:48:25.040 Steve Lewis - USDOT: So II truly believe it's the the finest level of accuracy in any geospatial data set that's available. 233 00:48:26.230 --> 00:48:50.270 Frank Winters: Yeah. And to to add to that, Steve. You, you might recall the Nizjik webinar that we did with one of the early Nizg presidents who's an attorney and a gisp? Bill Holland, and through that we talked about licensing and and liability, and we sort of settled in on creative commons. 0, as the way to 234 00:48:50.270 --> 00:49:06.839 Frank Winters: to allow our data to be out there, but not guarantee it for any particular use, and and give ourselves some some kind of consistent protection. The more consistent our licensing is, the easier it is to understand. And in here, too, we don't have a thousand different agreements. We have one. 235 00:49:10.840 --> 00:49:12.359 Frank Winters: Okay, Emily, what do you have? 236 00:49:12.540 --> 00:49:27.060 Emily Ruetz: Yep, next person would like to know? How can we get the Post Office to respect the authoritative addressing from the local governments rather than addresses from mail senders. That may or may not be accurate question of the century, isn't it? 237 00:49:28.650 --> 00:49:36.569 William Johnson: I don't. I don't think there's much that the Nad. You know, people behind the Nad can do to influence how the Post Office 238 00:49:36.700 --> 00:49:39.820 William Johnson: respects their data sources. You know, they're 239 00:49:40.510 --> 00:49:47.950 William Johnson: again, they have a, they have a specific use case, and their systems are all engineered for efficiency around that use case. 240 00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:51.420 William Johnson: And so it is what it is. 241 00:49:52.430 --> 00:50:02.850 Frank Winters: Yeah, I'm just grateful that they are contributing those zip codes back. And that's you know, that's a huge step forward. But I agree. It's a tough one. Good question. 242 00:50:04.540 --> 00:50:10.749 Emily Ruetz: Yeah, to go a little bit more general here. Could you please describe the an ad partnership process? 243 00:50:11.870 --> 00:50:20.410 Steve Lewis - USDOT: It's it's very loose. There is no official memo of agreement or memo of understanding. It's just 244 00:50:20.670 --> 00:50:33.490 Steve Lewis - USDOT: prospective partners contact me or my replacement, or that generic email address and A. D at Theot Gov, and just tell us you wanna be a partner. 245 00:50:33.530 --> 00:50:57.370 Steve Lewis - USDOT: We'll set up a a A quick teams or zoom call to go over the the process and also ensure that you're 100% comfortable that this data is going into public domain. From there we we work out how to receive your data, we transform it. We send you the report and it gets included in the next release. So this goes to the prospective state partners 246 00:50:57.410 --> 00:51:03.669 Steve Lewis - USDOT: county tribal regional government partners that process is the same 247 00:51:04.790 --> 00:51:16.530 Steve Lewis - USDOT: and part of the reason it's the partner contacting us instead of the other way around is that as a Federal employee, I'm very much subject to rules against 248 00:51:17.410 --> 00:51:18.840 Steve Lewis - USDOT: doing 249 00:51:18.990 --> 00:51:28.509 Steve Lewis - USDOT: that kind of outreach. So partners come to me. It makes it very much better all the way around. 250 00:51:29.390 --> 00:51:32.009 Frank Winters: Well, and I think this is a this 251 00:51:32.410 --> 00:51:49.330 Frank Winters: session we have going on right here right now is a really good example or Federal agency with an initiative. But it's Nisjick that's also playing a role in convening the the form of the States, you know. So that's really a good model. That's one of the reasons we're here. 252 00:51:49.860 --> 00:51:50.790 Frank Winters: It's great. 253 00:51:52.630 --> 00:51:55.769 Emily Ruetz: Alright, Emily. Yeah. 254 00:51:55.830 --> 00:52:01.109 Emily Ruetz: Next question, is is there any schedule for States to resubmit or update their data. 255 00:52:03.180 --> 00:52:30.719 Steve Lewis - USDOT: We are there. There's another published schedule. We are in the process now of closing out release 16. It should be published by the end of this month, or or very early in January, so we really can't take any new submissions for release. 16. But beginning January first, we we are ready to begin taking submissions for for release. 17, which will be published by the end of March. 256 00:52:35.160 --> 00:52:43.799 Emily Ruetz: Another question of the day here. What is it gonna take to have the data that the broadband program needs? 257 00:52:43.930 --> 00:53:13.599 William Johnson: Oh, somebody must have known I was on this webinar. Yeah. So for those of you. maybe less familiar with the issue. The activity that's happening right now, with massive new Federal funding to extend broadband to everybody in the Us. This 42 billion that was in the Infrastructure Act that is being routed out through the States to to build broadband to unserved and underserved locations 258 00:53:13.770 --> 00:53:18.979 William Johnson: and the basis for doing that is a map that the Fcc. Has published. 259 00:53:19.360 --> 00:53:34.259 William Johnson: and it's at the location level of granularity for the first time, which is great. But what the Fcc chose to do is license, a commercial data set of those locations. They call them broadband, serviceable locations. This is essentially an address point, data set 260 00:53:34.710 --> 00:53:35.910 William Johnson: and 261 00:53:36.290 --> 00:53:48.429 William Johnson: so we have. We have a major federal program going on right now, that's based on a commercial data set that cannot be freely shared. I think that's that's a public policy mistake. 262 00:53:48.890 --> 00:53:58.189 William Johnson: And one of the goals I have is to is to see that we can do a replacement of that commercial data set with public data. 263 00:53:58.210 --> 00:54:15.949 William Johnson: And I think it's achievable. I think it's an achievable goal. It's it's not ready to happen instantly, but I think the the motivation for it to happen is there, and the willingness of of states is improving every day. I think it's I think it's a dream that we could realize. 264 00:54:15.990 --> 00:54:19.089 William Johnson: anyway. Thank you for asking that. By the way. 265 00:54:19.850 --> 00:54:29.560 Frank Winters: yeah, that's another reason to be optimistic, too, and and that lines up with the motivation for States to get involved. And the and the States turning green on Steve's map, too. 266 00:54:30.710 --> 00:54:34.940 Frank Winters: we're in better shape than we were when that decision was made. So that's great. 267 00:54:36.020 --> 00:54:47.470 Emily Ruetz: Some. I guess, to kind of set back a little bit again. Can you expand on what open source means in this context. And is it possible to access open source data from anywhere? 268 00:54:50.220 --> 00:55:00.620 William Johnson: That's a that's a tough one. Open source is a different thing than the Nad. The Nad. Attempts to establish partnerships 269 00:55:00.700 --> 00:55:12.020 William Johnson: at the source, at the authoritative source of the addresses, whereas the you know open source projects, open address, project and open street map. And those things allow anyone to contribute. 270 00:55:12.320 --> 00:55:28.720 William Johnson: And so you get a mix of of different quality of data that that all coexist together in a collection and open source collection. So that's that's something different than what the Nad is is trying to do here. I don't know, Steve. Do you want to elaborate it at all on that? Or, Frank? 271 00:55:29.810 --> 00:55:51.810 Frank Winters: Yeah, I think that's absolutely hitting the head on the the nail on the head. With one addition, the national address database is welcome to be used for any level purpose, so it can play in that environment. It's just not a crowd sourced data set. All you know. Maybe the crowd is small and authoritative, you know, in the way it comes together. 272 00:55:52.870 --> 00:55:54.349 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Yeah, I 273 00:55:54.570 --> 00:56:08.070 Steve Lewis - USDOT: characterize it as open data that is compiled from authoritative sources. So there, there's no volunteer geographic information in there. There's it's all authoritative data, but it is fully open. 274 00:56:09.640 --> 00:56:10.730 Frank Winters: Good question. 275 00:56:11.490 --> 00:56:16.400 Emily Ruetz: Alright! It looks like we've got just one more here so far. 276 00:56:16.550 --> 00:56:26.029 Emily Ruetz: And I believe it might have already been addressed. But just in case what were this? What were slash? Are the submital dates to get into version 16 of the Nand. 277 00:56:27.540 --> 00:56:48.660 Steve Lewis - USDOT: I mean. yeah, I think that both already sailed release 16 is gonna be published in just a couple of weeks. So we we won't. We won't be able to include any updates or new data for release 16 at this point. But beginning, January first, we'll we're ready to take updates from existing partners and new submissions from new partners. 278 00:56:51.360 --> 00:57:01.869 Emily Ruetz: Oh, alright we. I think I've reached the end of the questions as I've been scrolling through. I see lots of great conversation and 279 00:57:02.240 --> 00:57:10.499 Emily Ruetz: answering each other's questions in the chat. Love to see it? If people do have more questions, where can they send them? 280 00:57:12.700 --> 00:57:21.840 Steve Lewis - USDOT: Or well, you can, but I think the Nad. 281 00:57:21.900 --> 00:57:30.850 William Johnson: Address would probably the logical place. Yes, an Ad. Gov. And I will drop that in the chat for everybody. 282 00:57:32.540 --> 00:57:39.669 Frank Winters: And just one comment. The audience here is fantastic. We sort of have the choir. 283 00:57:39.700 --> 00:58:02.310 Frank Winters: The recording of this might be a useful tool once it's published so that the people who don't have the same lens on this that are making some of the policies or or deciding whether they're gonna participate or not. This is intended to be a tool for for those folks just to to gain some some different perspective. 284 00:58:04.510 --> 00:58:05.210 William Johnson: Yeah. 285 00:58:06.540 --> 00:58:10.920 Emily Ruetz: yeah. The recording of this will definitely be available. 286 00:58:11.050 --> 00:58:18.800 Emily Ruetz: on the district knowledge base and it will also be in Youtube as well. So 287 00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:23.320 Emily Ruetz: can look for that. There. I'll send email out to all the registrants. 288 00:58:23.380 --> 00:58:32.209 Emily Ruetz: with those links, once the recording's been processed and uploaded, and all that good stuff. So thank you so much. Everyone. This is been amazing. 289 00:58:32.870 --> 00:58:37.920 Frank Winters: No, thank you. Thanks. Bill and Steve, this has been certainly a highlight of 290 00:58:38.080 --> 00:58:42.819 William Johnson: of my week. And we'll charge ahead. Yeah. Great to be among friends. 291 00:58:42.850 --> 00:58:45.630 Frank Winters: See ya. 292 00:58:45.930 --> 00:58:46.690 Frank Winters: yep.