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Annex A

(Informative)

Implementation Resources

For this standard to be beneficial to the spatial data community, it must be widely implemented. To assist in this effort, explanatory material, reference software, and sample datasets are available from the secretariat for this standard.

Secretariat Point of Contact:

	USGS
	Standards Team [Attn: SDTS Facilitator]
	1400 Independence Road
	Rolla, MO  65401
	Earth Sciences Information Center: 573-308-3500
	SDTS Web site: http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/sdts
	SDTS e-mail:  sdts@usgs.gov  [General inquiries]

A.1 Online Resources

The secretariat for this standard, U.S. Geological Survey, maintains a set of Internet World Wide Web pages which provide information about the Spatial Data Transfer Standard. The USGS also maintains a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site which contains many SDTS related documents, sample datasets, and software available for download. The Web pages and FTP site are integrated so that all information available through FTP is referenced on a Web page.

The SDTS Web Pages are located at Uniform Resource Locator (URL) http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/sdts. This site is managed by the USGS Mid-Continent Mapping Center, 1400 Independence Road, Rolla, Missouri, 65401. The USGS Earth Sciences Information Center in Rolla can be reached at 573-308-3500 or 573-341-2716. [Contact information as of November 1, 1997.]

The SDTS FTP site is reachable through anonymous login at sdts.er.usgs.gov. Once connected, change directory to "sdts" (that is cd sdts) to find the SDTS related files. This FTP site contains articles, software, sample datasets, presentation materials, etc. which are all available at no cost.

A.2 Reference Software

The USGS has coordinated the developement of software libraries that will aid programmers in building SDTS applications such as importers, exporters, viewing utilities, and other various utilities. Use of these libraries can greatly reduce developement time because much of the file formatting details (involving Part 3 and ISO 8211) are encapsulated, hence, taken care of automatically. For information about these software libraries, consult the SDTS Web pages, and follow the links pertaining to software.

A.3 SDTS Transfer Data Sets

Sample datasets are available from the SDTS Web pages. They can be located by following the links to sample datasets. The National Mapping Division of the USGS has performed mass conversions of many of their products to SDTS profiles. (For example, full country coverage at a scale of 1:100,000 for categories of transportation and hydrography is available as SDTS/Topological Vector Profile (TVP) transfer data sets.) From the SDTS Web Pages, follow the links to USGS data in SDTS to find online locations and availability of data sets.

A.4 Case Studies

The USGS has made extensive use of SDTS as a Federal Information Processing Standard Publication (FIPSPUB) 173-1. The product mappings from native structures and internal environments to SDTS structures and files are available to others to use as examples and case studies. From the SDTS Web Pages, follow the links to training materials, and then product mappings or case studies. From the FTP site directly, look under the /pub/sdts/datasets directory tree to find product mapping documentation and sample datasets.

Any agency or individual wishing to contribute materials to be used as self-guiding examples and case studies is encouraged to contact the secretariat.