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The information need Highways and Roads was identified as one of
thirteen original priority business information needs of the MetroGIS community
in late 1996. Click here to view the Business Object Framing Model Fragment for
this information need. Click here for further information about MetroGIS's
Business Information Needs initiative.
The MetroGIS Technical Advisory Team hosted a Peer Review Forum on October 24, 2002 to refine the desired data
specifications identified in the 1996 exercise. Click here for a summary of that
Forum. The summary identifies who attended, the processes used to refine the desired data specifications to address
this information need, and the results of the forum. This document was the starting place for a Highways and Roads
Technical Workgroup charged with formulating a recommendation(s) for a regional solution to address the Highways and
Roads common business information need.
The Technical Workgroup began monthly meetings in January 2003. On April 24th, the group heard a detailed
presentation about Mn/DOT's data content standard [see "Additional Information" below] from agency representatives. The
group concluded that this standard is well suited for addressing the complexities posed by the MetroGIS community at
the October Forum. For example, the standard allows seamless integration of roads data for the Metro Area and adjoining
areas in greater Minnesota and Wisconsin - regardless of scale. On June 18, the Coordinating Committee concurred and
endorsed a partnership proposed by Mn/DOT, whereby MetroGIS would provide a forum through which local and regional
government needs are effectively incorporated into the statewide standard. A
presentation was made by Dan Ross, Mn/DOT, at the June 18
meeting. On July 30, 2003, the Policy Board ratified this partnership with Mn/DOT.
In September 2003, the Technical Workgroup reached agreement on the project goals, expectations, and roles of
the major participating organizations involved in the partnership between MetroGIS and Mn/DOT, as endorsed by the
Policy Board on July 30. The objective of this partnership is to fully implement Mn/DOT's Location Data Manager (LDM)
project, which has the potential to create a truly scalable, sharable road network for the region and the state.
Click here to view a document which explains the agreed upon goals, expectations, and
participant roles that will guide this collaborative project. The immediate next step is to agree on demonstration /
pilot projects to refine work completed thus far by Mn/DOT.
Additional Information
CORE CONCEPTS AND BENEFITS -- PROPOSED HIGHWAYS AND ROADS DATA CONTENT STANDARD
The data content standard
under development at Mn/DOT is also known as the Location Data Manager (LDM) project. The LDM is based on Anchor
Points, or unique road intersections; and Anchor Segments, which are the sections of road between Anchor Points. The
key to making the LDM a truly sharable and scalable system is the ability to have multiple cartographic representations
of each Anchor Segment. As long as a data producer uses the Anchor Point ID's assigned by Mn/DOT, they can have
cartographic representations that are more or less accurate than other datasets. Attributes can be linked between
datasets, encouraging the sharing of a wide variety of datasets that are developed at various scales and for various
purposes.
EFFECT ON PREVIOUSLY ENDORSED REGIONAL SOLUTION FOR ADDRESS MATCHING
One example of a dataset that has the
potential to be linked to the LDM is the TLG Street Centerline dataset, part of MetroGIS's endorsed regional solution
for the "Street Addresses" information need. If The Lawrence Group (TLG) decides to put in the work necessary to link
their dataset to the LDM, then it is possible that a user could use the TLG dataset for address matching, and
seamlessly link in traffic information from the LDM, for example. This would be a very complicated task under existing
conditions. The amount and difficulty of work that a data provider must undertake to link up to the LDM is yet to be
determined - which is one reason why the Technical Workgroup believes it is in our best interest to participate in the
development of the LDM.
Related Links
- To be determined. MetroGIS has not as yet endorsed a dataset(s) to address this priority information
need.
A central part of MetroGIS's work is to identify common information needs of GIS users in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metropolitan Area and facilitate the policy and data specifications needed to address each of these common information needs.
An investigation to understand these common needs was conducted by MetroGIS from September 1996 to March 1997. The result of this study was the identification of thirteen priority common information needs of the MetroGIS community. Since that time, a priority function of MetroGIS has been to facilitate the development and/or assembly of regional datasets needed to address each of these common information needs.
Each information need is addressed through a replicable process. In general, the process begins by assembling a team of content experts and through a facilitated group process (Peer Review Forum), the team begins with the business object framing model fragment to identify dataset(s) required to meet the information need. In some cases, this process takes place in a forum of content experts and in other cases it is not such a formalized process because the dataset(s) that meet the information need are intuitively recognized.
Once the dataset(s) required to meet an information need is identified, a working group of content experts is created to:
- Refine the desired specifications identified at the Peer Review Forum,
- Identify desired data standards and guidelines,
- Identify desired roles and responsibilities for the custodian organization(s) - organizations responsible for data creation, maintenance, documentation, and distribution; and,
- Identify candidate custodial organizations that have a business need and appropriate expertise to carry out the desired roles and responsibilities.
The process is complete when the Policy Board has adopted, as policy for the MetroGIS community, parameters defined through the stated tasks. The parameters are posted on a Web page for each “MetroGIS endorsed regional dataset”. Once an endorsed dataset is operational, MetroGIS monitors user satisfaction to continually enhance it.
To learn more, please see the About Information Needs page and the pages for each endorsed regional dataset.
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