NCGIA's Initiative 1 focused on the accuracy of spatial databases. The specialist meeting for this first initiative was held at the Casa de Maria in Montecito, CA from December 13 through 16, 1988. Participants were drawn from the three Center sites, from universities in North America and Europe, and fromnumerous federal agencies and companies active in the GIS field. Disciplines represented included Geography, Mathematics, Statistics and several branches of Engineering. The purpose of this report is to summarize the goals of the initiative and the results of the meeting’s discussion of research issues and strategies. Included are a list of feasible research topics, along with abstracts of 32 papers presented at the meeting.