Geographic Support System Initiative Plan

2012-2014 Geographic Support System Initiative (GSS-I)

The U.S. Census Bureau requests specific approval for the 2012-2014 Geographic Support System Initiative (GSS-I), which is covered under the generic clearance called the Geographic Partnership Programs (GPPs), OMB Control No. 0607-0795.

The GSS-I is an integrated program designed to improve address coverage, obtain continual spatial feature updates, and enhance the quality assessment and measurement for the Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing database (MTDB). The GSS-I builds on the accomplishments of the last decade’s MAF/TIGER Enhancement Program (the MTEP) which redesigned the MTDB, improved the positional accuracy of TIGER spatial features, and emphasized quality measurement. The Census Bureau plans an on-going research, testing, and maintenance process for the MTDB throughout the decade to support current surveys, including the American Community Survey.

The Census Bureau will contact the highest elected official for all functioning tribal, state, and local governments – totaling over 39,000 nationwide – to invite them to participate in the GSS-I. Our contact will start in Fiscal Year 2012 and continue through Fiscal Year 2014. We will ask each government to provide a file of their address and geographic data, or to provide that data through a web-based application sponsored by the Census Bureau. Governments can choose the format and medium to provide the data, and will provide their data at their convenience. The initial contacts for Fiscal Year 2012 will be governments who have volunteered or requested to participate in GSS-I pilot programs and testing activities. The Census Bureau has developed six (6) pilot programs and identified over 120 counties or census tracts to use for GSS-I testing. These pilot and test areas will meet multiple research needs. We will manage our contacts using a web-based control, tracking, and reporting system.

Following these initial contacts and a general, nationwide invitation to participate in FY12, the Census Bureau will select specific states for follow-up contact in each year. The Census Bureau estimates the total number of contacts at 12,000 for Fiscal Year 2012; 13,000 for Fiscal Year 2013; and 14,000 for Fiscal Year 2014. To provide more details on the GSS-I, we are including the GSS-I pre-notification letter, the GSS-I fact sheet, the GSS-I PowerPoint presentation, and the GSS-I telephone script. The burden for all fiscal years is 5 hours for each government. Therefore, the Fiscal Year 2012 estimate of respondent burden hours is 60,000 hours; the Fiscal Year 2013 estimate of burden is 65,000 hours and the Fiscal Year 2014 estimate of burden is 70,000 hours.

The contact person for questions regarding the GSS-I is:

Gregory Hanks

Assistant Division Chief, Geographic Partnerships

Geography Division

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, DC 20233

(301) 763-3093

Gregory.F.Hanks.Jr@census.gov