Dissolved Teams > Data Access Advisory Team

June 6, 1996 Minutes

The meeting began at 9:30 AM at the BRW, Inc. Offices in Downtown Minneapolis.

Present: Ben Ferguson, Coon Rapids; Lt. Gary Gary, Ramsey County Sheriff Department; Rick Gelbmann, Metropolitan Council; Allen Hoffman, Anoka County; Carol Kaszynski, Richfield; John Lunde, BRW Inc.; Susanne Maeder, LMIC; Tim Morehead, USWest Communications, Inc.; Julie Parshall, BRW Inc.; Jim Sydow, TIES; Jan Vanderwall, Roseville Area Schools (ISD 623); Ben Verbick, LOGIS.

Absent: Tom Bisch, Heritage Development; Pat Cooke, North Suburban Cable Commission; Lisa Freese, Eagan; Linda Tomaselli, OSM.

Support Staff: Tanya Mayer

1. Introductions Introductions of team members were made. No additions or modifications were made to the agenda.

2. May 16th Meeting Summary

The May 16th meeting summary was unanimously approved. Tim Morehead requested a change to his FAX number. Ben Ferguson provided his new office's new address, phone and FAX. John Lunde (BRW), requested that Julie Parshall replace Rick Peterson, who is no longer with BRW.

3. Purpose Statement and Name Change

Discussion began with a review of the May 16 discussion of security; and in particular, the suggestion to add the word "Security" to the Data Access team purpose statement. On May 20, 1996, the Community Development Committee of the Metropolitan Council, when considering the decision support structure of the MetroGIS, recommended approval and wanted to see the "Data Access Team" name changed to "Data Access and Security Team". Jan Vanderwall added that security is implied but it should be clearly stated as a priority of the Data Access team. It was unanimously recommended to the Coordinating Committee that "Data Access Team" name be changed to "Data Access and Security Team". Additionally the team unanimously recommends the purpose statement be changed to: "Identify the mechanisms for indexing, describing, and accessing current, accurate, secure and usable geographically referenced graphic and associated attribute data."

4. Meeting Norm Preferences and Procedures

Meeting Norm Preferences and Procedures for MetroGIS Strategic Issue Advisory Teams were handed out and reviewed. It was agreed that meetings should last 2 hours, preferably early morning or late afternoon, but with the flexibility as needed to accomplish the work. It is important to the team members that meetings be adjourned on time. Jim Sydow, TIES, was elected Team Leader at the previous meeting. Ben Ferguson, City of Coon Rapids, was elected Vice-Team Leader. Meeting will be held at volunteered member office sites. The host of each meeting will be responsible for meeting site coordination. Metropolitan Council support staff will be responsible for preparation of meeting summaries and agendas. Agenda item reports will be prepared by each subgroup or support staff. Additionally, Council staff will provide a consistent format for reports and documents. Subgroup or staff reports will frame the issue, present options and suggest recommendation. Memorandums and agenda materials shall be received 7 days prior to the next meeting, 3 hole punched, preferably 2-sided copies.

Discussion turned to the decision making process for the meeting structure. It was agreed that a balance between motions and consensus nods will foster good communication and a relaxed environment. Dissenting opinions will be incorporated into meeting summaries. For recommendations to the Coordinating Committee a full vote shall take place.

There was a request to create a time frame for the lifespan of the team. This item shall be discussed again after a full list of tasks for the team to address has been put together. Since it may be difficult to allocate several hours each month, everyone agreed to set a quorum of 2/3 of the team members. Nine members are needed for quorum based on the current numbers.

5. Identify Users

Before the mechanism can be defined, the team needs to make a statement of assumptions regarding who the "users" are. Discussion of who a "user" is varied from "current MetroGIS participants" to "anybody" to organizations and entities comprising the "first-users". (For example, a "user" may be a library; people accessing data at the library are customers of the library, not direct "users". The Policy Board will probably decide who the "users" are and until then, a broad definition should be used. Defining "users" as a policy statement is a necessary key for the Data Access Team to move forward in defining the mechanisms of access. Perhaps the Coordinating Committee needs to work on this issue soon. In the meantime, Jan Vanderwall suggested that there are 2 groups of users: 1. groups currently participating in MetroGIS and 2. others (receivers and contributors). The group agreed that since the current team is a cross-section of "users", defining current MetroGIS participants as "users" is a logical and manageable means of proceeding.

6. Work Program

The following sub-group topics were discussed, in order to verify that each one was an issue that needed to be addressed: index, physical infrastructure, security, interface, data transfer, and support. Interface and Data Transfer were combined. It was decided that Support, as a topic, should wait until the first four topics have been addressed. The Support sub-group will plan for the implementation and sustaining the mechanism topics and will be created at a later date.

Index discussion focused on a mechanism to allow indexing or cataloging the data identified by the Data Content Team. Physical Infrastructure discussion focused on the foundation of the access, for example, how the GIS platform is setup and is connected to the other data sites. This subgroup may make recommendations as to how we get to a working distributive system, from the data source to data delivery. Security discussion involved a whole set of issues from source security, to transfer security, to working with firewall software. This sub-group may provide general principles for security on a distributive system and specific security recommendations for any centralized functions. Interface and Data Transfer discussion focused on how data moves "in" and "around" the system. Sub-group volunteers were as follows:

7. Next Meeting

The next meeting date is July 11th, 1996, 8:30-10:30 at ISD 623 Offices in Roseville. Subgroups will meet on July 11, from 7:30-8:30, at ISD 623 Offices. Future meetings scheduled: August 1, 1996, 8:30-10:30 at the City of Coon Rapids, and September 5, 1996, 8:30-10:30 at LMIC.

8. The meeting was adjourned at 12:10 PM.

Prepared by Tanya Mayer, GIS Specialist