The Federal Geographic Data Committee of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) published guidelines intended to set standard procedures for governing the dissemination of geospatial imagery.

The guidelines “are directed at organizations that originate geospatial data and are interested in disseminating data publicly but are concerned that such actions may pose a risk to security.” Services such as Google Earth, which offers free satellite imagery, among other things, via the Web, would fall under these guidelines.

According to the committee document, “dissemination is essential to the mission of many organizations and the majority of these data are appropriate for public release. However a small portion of these data could pose risks to security and may therefore require safeguarding.”

A copy of the guidelines can be found on the committee’s Web site at http://www.fgdc.gov/fgdc/homeland/access_guidelines.pdf.