Mapping Standards: A Directory

A few months ago I wrote a post regarding mapping standards and highlighted a few links. Personally I find this a critical topic in the mapping industry due to the massive growth of available data. While the quantity of available data is growing daily, there are naturally questions regarding data quality and lineage. How many geospatial professionals know the true accuracy of their data?

The importance of accuracy depends on the particular use case geospatial data is developed for. For example, being several few meters off might be ok for a local urban planning department that only needs to know the relative position of buildings and roads but could result in costly errors for, say, a Department of Transportation that requires engineering-grade accuracy.

Since I wrote the last post I've had a hard time finding a single place where I can find information about mapping/accuracy standards. So, I thought it might be helpful to start a simple directory of relevant sites. Please feel free to check it out and let me know if you're aware of any other sites that belong on the list. I know I'm only scraping the surface, so additional state, national, or private specifications and standards additions would be appreciated.

For those interested in production-level mapping, be sure to check out the "GeoBC Crown Registry and Geographic Base" (that is a mouthful) standards and specifications page. It has a wealth of content, from digital camera specifications (e.g. down to the nuts and bolts of camera calibration specs) to aerial triangulation, DEM, orthophoto specs and more. They've done a great job of putting it together all on one cohesive site.