USACE GIS standards: geodatabase, metadata, submittals & QAPs

If you deliver GIS data to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), including the Honolulu District (POH), these are the published standards for geodatabase schema, metadata, submittals and quality. Your contract always governs: the scope of work (SOW), the installation, and the District Geospatial Coordinator set the exact version and format.

Governing USACE documents

Geodatabase format: SDSFIE Army Adaptation 4.0.2

• Use SDSFIE-V Army Adaptation 4.0.2 (physical schema/geodatabase often named SDSFIE_4.0.2_ARMY_ADAPTATION). That is the Army HQ Adaptation listed in official SDSFIE training materials. ECB 2018-7 (para 6i) requires GIS deliverables on Army projects to use the Army Adaptation.
• Accepted formats (ECB 2018-7): Esri File Geodatabase, Bentley DGN, or Intergraph GeoMedia MDB. In practice, most SOWs ask for an Esri File Geodatabase populated to this adaptation.
• Getting the schema: the Army IGI&S Program Office provides the Army Adaptation 4.0.2 schema on request. The installation may also furnish its current adaptation through the contracting officer (UFGS 01 33 16.00 10)—confirm it is 4.0.2 before loading data.
• Coordinates: document the coordinate system, datum and units in the metadata. Datums follow ER 1110-2-8160. The installation specifies the State Plane system. GPS work follows EM 1110-1-1003. See Hawaiʻi coordinate systems.

If your SOW names a different adaptation, follow the contract. This page documents Army Adaptation 4.0.2 as the standard geodatabase for these deliverables.

Metadata format

• USACE policy (EM 1110-1-2909, para 8-8): metadata must be ISO 19115-compliant. The EM calls the older FGDC CSDGM outdated. Records go to, or are harvested by, the USACE Metadata Catalog.
• Project deliverables (ECB 2018-7): metadata in the DoD Geospatial Metadata Profile (DGMP), delivered as XML that validates against the DGMP ISO 19139 schema, with one file per dataset.
• SDSFIE-M Version 2.0: the current conceptual schema is SDSFIE-M Version 2.0, Revision 4 (10 Jun 2020). It profiles the NSG Metadata Foundation (itself a profile of ISO 19115:2003). The XML implementation schemas (SMIS) follow ISO/TS 19115-3. Implementation guidance is also Version 2.0 (same date). (The Standards page still mentions an older 1.0.2 entry in DISR “emerging” status; the published conceptual schema to use is 2.0 R4.)

Some older SOWs, such as the 2010 sample in EM 1110-1-2909 Appendix M, still ask for an FGDC record per feature class. Use the format your contract names.

Typical submittal requirements

A GIS data specification (EM 1110-1-2909, para 9-4) covers: scope, applicable documents, database description (SDSFIE or A/E/C CAD Standard), metadata (FGDC or ISO), data format and software version, accuracy, symbology, and data dictionary. ECB 2018-7 also asks for:

• A populated geodatabase in the adaptation schema
• One metadata XML file per dataset
• Raw data
• QA documentation showing the data meets the applicable QAP

The UFGS-based submittal templates, the PxP template and the Submittal Review Checklist are hosted by the CAD/BIM Technology Center. Districts also publish A-E guides; one example is Sacramento District's A-E Guide, General Requirements.

Quality: SDSFIE-Q and QAPs

SDSFIE-Q (Rev 4, 3 Sep 2025) is the DoD data quality standard, based on ISO 19157. It requires components to write Data Content Specifications, also called Quality Assurance Plans (QAPs), for their data layers. See also the SDSFIE-Q implementation guidance.

Getting the QAPs: the Army IGI&S QAPs are not on a public, official download page. Ask your contracting officer or the installation's GIS office for the QAPs that apply to your deliverables, or request them through the Army IGI&S Program Office along with the Army Adaptation schema.

Honolulu District (POH)

The Honolulu District's Technical Integration Branch handles GIS data, CADD and BIM. Its page links Honolulu CAD Standards data and a Contractor and A/E Check-List for As-Built Submittals. Contact: (808) 835-4314, [email protected].

Sources checked Oct 27, 2026 ~10:16 AM HST. Geodatabase standard set to Army Adaptation 4.0.2 per site owner. This page summarizes public documents. It doesn't replace your contract or the District's direction.