In 2010 the US National Park Service (NPS) approved cultural resource spatial data transfer standards to help document the lineage of their cultural resource spatial data, used in geographic information system (GIS) applications throughout the NPS and for the public. The standards also help integrate the numerous cultural resource databases maintained by the NPS for cultural resource management. In 2014 the Cultural Resource GIS Facility (CRGIS) implemented these standards with the Cultural Landscapes Inventory and List of Classified Structures databases.
Working with NPS regional GIS coordinators as well as regional cultural resource managers, the project automates legacy data contained within these databases, creating enhanced GIS data and forming a base for an authoritative NPS-wide cultural resource data set. The purpose of these spatial data transfer standards is to facilitate updating, transforming and integrating digital experiences within the US National Park Service to enhance public understanding as well as internal NPS resource management.
