What is the Clearinghouse?

The NCGDC is an ever expanding index of source agencies and organizations in North Carolina that support spatial data. Another way of describing the NCGDC is a World Wide Web application that uses hypertext links to enable a user to search a series of servers which list spatial data for North Carolina. In addition to providing a useful directory, the Clearinghouse links the user to the data behind the data, the metadata.

Who Participates?

The Center for Geographic Information & Analysis (CGIA), the lead coordinating agency for GIS in state government, manages the NCGDC. CGIA developed and supports many of the data layers that are described. Other state and local government agencies are also listing their spatial data in the Clearinghouse.

Other groups are encouraged to participate. Anyone with spatial data for North Carolina can become a participant and list their data resources, whether or not you are currently on the Internet. The only commitment is that the metadata must conform to the Federal Geographic Data Committee's Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata. For information on how to participate, contact Database Management at CGIA (919-733-2090) or email dataq@cgia.state.nc.us.