Work Zone Data Working Group Charter

PURPOSE

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Transportation Subcommittee (TSC) Work Zone Data Working Group (WZDWG) extends the United States Road Specification (USRS) to accommodate work zones. The WZDWG defines explicit, comprehensive, and consistent definitions of the features, attributes, and vocabulary needed to model work zone activity data.

AUTHORITIES

The WZDWG is chartered under the Transportation Subcommittee. The Transportation Subcommittee is chartered under the FGDC Steering Committee and supported by the FGDC Secretariat which are granted authority through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-16, Executive Order 12906, the E-Gov Act of 2002, and the Geospatial Data Act of 2018. In addition, other OMB guidance or policies may apply including Circulars A-11, A-119 or A- 130, the Digital Government Strategy, the Open Data Policy, the Evidence Act, and the Federal Data Strategy, as appropriate.

SCOPE

The WZDWG is accountable to and provides recommendations to the FGDC Transportation Subcommittee, which provides leadership and direction in the use and development of transportation geospatial data and information across Federal geospatial programs and in conjunction with public and private sector partners/stakeholders. The scope of the Working Group comprises extending the U.S. Road Specification with a Work Zone Data Specification, incorporating information on work zone activity in planning, real-time, and historical operational contexts. This effort builds on the operational data framework established through the United States Department of Transportation’s Work Zone Data Initiative (WZDI), and further advanced through the functional open-data sharing platform facilitated by the Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx). The WZDWG will establish an independent, sustainable Work Zone Data governance organization that will eventually lead the work of maintaining the work zone data standard, soliciting representative involvement from the broad spectrum of work zone data stakeholders.

OBJECTIVES

The Work Zone Data Working Group shall:

1. Facilitate, promote, and develop a Work Zone Data Specification.
2. Ensure the Work Zone Data Specification is scalable and accommodates multiple missions by employing objectoriented development strategies.
3. Employ an agile development strategy – and observe market influences – to ensure relevant content.
4. Use open development methods to foster community involvement and support.
5. Engage a diverse membership from all levels of government and industry.
6. Consider available resources and existing standards.
7. Establish vendor and application independent standards.
8. Develop simple and easily adopted standards.
9. Encourage, facilitate, promote, and establish an independent and sustainable Work Zone Data governance organization.
10. The Work Zone Data governance organization shall identify and promote the best practices for creating, publishing, consuming, mapping, and analyzing work zone activity data and the Work Zone Data Specification.
11. The WZDWG shall model the adopted Work Zone Data Specification in the Road Event Extension of the U.S. Road Specification.

ACTIVITIES

Work Zone Data Working Group activities support the objectives presented above by:

1. Elect a working group chair.
2. Establish working group procedures.
3. Investigating the best method of establishing an independent Work Zone Data governance organization. 3.1. Identify similar governance structures for open specifications/standards, 3.2. Understand why they are successful, 3.3. Author a strategic plan for establishing the Work Zone Data governance organization, and 3.4. Author an implementation plan for establishing the Work Zone Data governance organization.
4. Defining the features and attributes needed to model work zone events.
5. Defining an explicit, comprehensive, and consistent vocabulary related to work zone activity data.
6. Managing the FGDC standards adoption process.
7. Publishing the Work Zone Data Specification as an extension of the U.S. Road Specification.
8. Frequently reviewing and updating the Work Zone Data Specification to keep it relevant and useful.

MEMBERSHIP

The Work Zone Data Working Group is open to Federal, State, Local, Tribal, Academic, and Private agencies, organizations, and institutions. Members are expected to be active in the development and application of policies related to the creation, publication, consumption, mapping, and analysis of work zone activity data within their community. Each member agency, subcommittee, or working group may designate its representative, an alternate if desired, and changes thereto, to the WZDWG Chair.

CHAIR

The Chair shall be from a Federal Agency active in the development and application of policies related to the creation, publication, consumption, mapping, and analysis of road event information within their community.

SUBGROUPS

The Chair may establish ad hoc subgroups to accomplish the objectives outlined in the planned activities, as needed.

PROCEDURES

1. The Work Zone Data Working Group meetings shall be held at the call of the Working Group Chair and conducted at least bi-annually.
2. Meetings may be held virtually or in person.
3. Agenda items will be coordinated with other Working Group members and will be available at least five days in advance of proposed meeting dates.
4. This charter shall be reviewed and updated, if needed, yearly.
5. Decisions shall be based on consensus agreement.
6. Issues to be resolved will be referred promptly to the Transportation Subcommittee Chair for schedule and resolution.
7. The Work Zone Data Working Group may establish additional rules and procedures for conducting WZDWG related business.

COORDINATION RESPONSIBILITIES

The WZDWG will employ tools best suited to meet its responsibilities, such as online webinars, teleconferences, national user forums, annual research initiatives, and cooperative venues, pursuant to the availability of resources. The Working Group Chair will coordinate working group activities with other Working Groups and Subcommittees, FGDC Coordination Group, and other appropriate venues relevant to accomplish key activities and effectively growing the geospatial community.

REPORTS

The Working Group shall develop an annual summary of accomplishments and planned activities and present it to the Transportation Subcommittee Chair for acceptance. The Transportation Subcommittee Chair may request the WZDWG to prepare special reports, white papers, technical papers, briefings and the like to address pertinent issues, crosscutting activities, and/or matters of urgency consistent with the larger FGDC community needs. These requests may come from FGDC Office of the Secretariat, FGDC Coordination Group, or FGDC Member Agencies. The WZDWG, through the Chair, will submit content for the FGDC Annual Report each year, as requested by the FGDC Secretariat. The WZDWG will maintain information about its activities on the GeoPlatform Communities web site at https://www.geoplatform.gov/resources/communities/. A reference to the WZDWG Website shall be established on fgdc.gov

APPROVALS

This Charter will remain in effect until amended or replaced or until terminated by the Transportation Subcommittee Chair, the FGDC Steering Committee, or FGDC Coordination Group. This Charter will be posted on the GeoPlatform Communities web site at https://www.geoplatform.gov/resources/communities/.

Voting Members

Members are expected to be active in the development and application of policies related to the creation, publication, consumption, mapping, and analysis of road work zone activity data within their community. Decisions shall be based on consensus agreement. Voting members must publish or consume work zone activity data. In addition to two meetings a year, the voting members may be placed in subgroups and have monthly touch base virtual meetings to monitor progress and provide update on their activities. The ideal participant from each organization is a senior leader with direct or delegated decision-making authority who is intimately familiar with their organization’s work zone-related data assets, needs, and challenges. They should be able to have a relatively deep level of technical depth, at the level of specific data sets. They will ideally be in a position to drive adoption (e.g. data feeds, standards, etc.) within their organization.

Non-Voting Members

The Work Zone Data Working Group is open to Federal, State, Local, Tribal, Academic, and Private agencies, organizations, and institutions. Those organizations that are not deemed voting members are categorized as observers and will receive a general invitation to the working group. These organizations will not be able to be selected as WZDWG Chair and will not have voting rights. However, their feedback and inputs are documented as part of the summary report.