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The meeting began at 8:30 AM in at the Land Management Information Center (LMIC) in the Centennial Building.
Members Present: Clark Evans, Minnetonka Schools; Chris Cialek, LMIC; Paul Leegard, Anoka County; Bob Moulder,
Hennepin County; Ron Wencl, U.S. Geologic Survey; David Windle, City of Roseville; Lisa Skipton, Dakota County (sitting
in for Jay Wittstock).
Members Absent: The following people called to say they would not be able to attend the meeting: Dick
Carlstrom, TIES; Donajo Heikes, City of Farmington; Jim Hentges, Scott County; Scott Hovet, Washington County; Ernie
Petersen, City of St. Louis Park; Scott Renne, City of Minneapolis; Jay Wittstock, Dakota County.
Support Staff: Mark Kotz
Meeting Handouts:
- Governor's Council on Geographic Information (GCGI) overview sheet
- Overview of GCGI Standards Committee and data standards establishment process
- Project Plan; GIS Standards
- Geographic Information Systems Standards Used in Minnesota Government (draft)
1. Introductions and Modifications to Agenda and Meeting Notes
Team members made introductions. There were no modifications to the agenda or the meeting notes from the May
meeting.
2. Report on the Work of the Standards Committee of the Governor's Council on Geographic Information
Chris Cialek, chair of the Standards Committee of the Governor's Council on Geographic Information (GCGI),
gave a presentation describing the work of that committee (see attached presentation slides). Cialek described the
mission of the GCGI, the purpose of the Standards Committee (one of the five working committees of the GCGI), and the
projects upon which the Standards Committee has focused.
GCGI Standards Committee Purpose:
- Encourage sharing of geographical data among all GIS users in Minnesota;
- Reduce the costs of using geographical data; and
- Aid in development of more fully integrated GISs.
Since 1993, the GCGI Standards Committee has had six goals:
- Broad participation,
- Education and learning,
- Seeking to define terminology,
- Establishing a general policy for using standards,
- Design a process to develop, review & accept standards that benefit from widespread involvement,
and
- Recognition and acceptance of good standards based on need.
One of the important products of the GCGI Standards Committee is the Minnesota Geographic Metadata Guidelines.
These Guidelines are based on the Federal Digital Geospatial Metadata Standard and are intended to simplify the federal
standard. The Committee is also working on a software tool to help with entry of metadata. The Committee has conducted
a workshop on the draft guidelines and will be conducting another workshop on the final guidelines at the fall GIS/LIS
Conference (see note at bottom).
3. How can the MetroGIS Standards Team collaborate with the GCGI Standards Committee?
Cialek and Mark Kotz suggested a means by which the GCGI Standards Committee and the MetroGIS Standards Team
might collaborate. The two groups would work together to define needs related to standards, with MetroGIS focusing on
needs at the local level. The MetroGIS Standards Team would form working groups to satisfy those needs. Once defined,
the GCGI Standards Committee would promote the standards and guidelines; and, if appropriate, shepherd them through the
formal state standards acceptance process. This relieves the MetroGIS Standards Team of much of the administrative
effort required to accomplish such a task. MetroGIS Standards Team members present at the meeting agreed that this was
an appropriate and useful way for the two standards groups to work together.
4. Begin Identifying Workplan Items, Priorities and Goals
The purpose of the MetroGIS Standards Team is to "identify or develop standards that allow data sharing among
the participants of the MetroGIS." In order to do this, the Standards Team will need input from the MetroGIS Data
Content Team, whose task is to define the key datasets to be shared. Therefore, to some degree, our work and
priorities will be set by the findings of the Data Content Team. In the mean time, the committee defined two workplan
items.
- David Windle suggested that we develop a process that we can use to analyze the "standards" related needs
of any given dataset and then meet those needs. For example, we might: search for existing standards, develop
standards in the absence of any good existing standard, ask appropriate stakeholders how various standards meet their
needs, etc.
- Paul Leegard suggested that we could begin by focusing on address standards. Other committee members
agreed that this is certainly a key standards need in the metro area. Two potential standards were mentioned, the U.S.
Postal Service standard and the U.S. West standard. Committee members will bring documentation about these standards to
the next meeting.
5. Next Team Meeting
The next team meeting will be on Wednesday, July 10th; 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM in room 301, Centennial Building.
6. The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 AM.
Action Items: Leegard, Windle and Skipton/Wittstock will bring information about address standards to the next
meeting.
NOTE: The annual Minnesota GIS/LIS conference is scheduled for September 25-27. The conference will include
one day of workshops and two days of sessions related to GIS in Minnesota. For more information, contact The Management
Company at (612) 890-5312.
Prepared by Mark Kotz, GIS Specialist
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