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The meeting began at 1:10 p.m. at the City of St. Louis Park City Hall.
Members present: State: Don Yeager (LMIC); Cities: Chairperson Rick Person (City of St. Paul), Roger Carlson
(City of Minneapolis), Judie Erickson (City of St. Louis Park); Private Research: Kent Treichel (Wilder Foundation);
Counties: Tim Zimmerman (Hennepin County); Metropolitan: Kathy Johnson (Metropolitan Council), Marcel Jouseau
(Metropolitan Council Environmental), Marcia Broman, (Metropolitan 911 Board); Nancy Pollock, (Metropolitan 911 Board);
Utilities: Dale Nikkola (Anoka Electric Cooperative).
Members absent: Business Geographics: Joe Ryan (Oppidan Investment Co.); Cities: Maria D'Andrea (City of
Robbinsdale); Utilities: Mike Wood (Waypoint Technologies); Public Safety: Mark Tente (Lake Johanna Fire Dept), Dave
Schroeder (Police Support LOGIS); Private Consultants: Rebbecca Blue (SEH, Inc.);. Metropolitan: Michael Munson
(Metropolitan Council); Academic: Will Craig (UM CURA); Counties: David Claypool (Ramsey County). Jane Harper,
(Washington County), John Connelly (St. Paul & Ramsey County Charter Commissions); School Districts: Robert D.
Nelson (Richfield Public Schools); State: Tom Eiber (DNR Forestry),
Visitors: Patrick St. John, Metropolitan Council Research Intern
Support Staff: David Vessel, Heidi Welsch
1. Acceptance of the agenda and meeting summary.
The agenda and meeting summary from August 14, 1996 were accepted by consensus.
2. Focus Group Forum
David Vessel explained that two pre-forum meetings were held on August 29 and September 5. A group of
volunteers from the Data Content Team including: Rick Person, Roger Carlson, John Connelly, and Will Craig participated
in these meetings.
Vessel gave an overview of the process of creating an object model for MetroGIS.
Following the focus groups forum on Thursday, September 19, a JDA session will be conducted on October 30-31.
JDA is a technique developed by the consultant (Advanced Strategies, Inc.) to aid consensual decision making. Two
representatives from each of the 6 September 19 focus groups will attend the JDA session. This session will culminate
in a final object model. The final object model will then go to a data modeling process.The data modeling process has
not been defined or planned yet. The team agreed that it may be appropriate to reconstitute the Data Content Advisory
Team following the JDA session. This will allow new participants to join and original participants to leave the group.
Additionally, the Team will re-examine their mission, purpose and goals at this time. It will be important for some
original members of the Data Content Team to confirm the final data model.
Vessel described the process and plan for the September 19th forum. It will be object modeling as opposed to
data modeling. The session will determine what types of information (objects) are needed instead of the type of data or
dataset that are needed. For example, roads is an object whose location may be needed by many people their job
function. There may be particular characteristics of the roads in which they are interested. For example, the location
of the center of the road; the width of the road; the interceptors of the road; location of bus stops; etc may be
important to a specific job function. Roads is the object and bus stops, etc. associated with the road are the
characteristics to be identified for informational needs. "Centerlines," by contrast is a data type and as such will
not be recorded on the object model. Both Vessel and Chairperson Person, reflecting on the pre-forum meetings,
expressed confidence in the process and the consultants.
Vessel explained the schedule planned for the forum. Training for the Data Analysts and Recording Analysts and
Facilitators will occur in the morning. Participants will arrive at noon and a joint group overview will be conducted
by Richard Branton (ASI). The participants will break into the six focus groups where they will identify important
objects and select 2 or 3 members to represent the focus group in the next stages of the data modeling process.
Finally, a joint group wrap-up session will be conducted.
Nancy Pollock asked what participants will be required to prepare. Vessel and Person explained that the
consultant prefers no specific preparation by the participants. Participants have been selected on the basis of their
knowledge and professional expertise; the sessions will be brainstorming.
There was some concern that if the groups begin prioritizing information needs, important thoughts may be
lost. Vessel explained that no information will be lost. Long lists will be created and carried through to the next
step of the process.
The team agreed that the next meeting of the Data Content Team should be used to critique the forum and to
review any compilation work which has been completed by that date.
3. Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Data Content Team will be October 9, 1996 at 1:00 PM at Hennepin County Offices.
The meeting adjourned at 2:10 p.m.
Prepared by Heidi Welsch, GIS Administrative Intern
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