Minnesota Structures Collaborative (MSC)
In partnership with the Emergency Preparedness Committee (EPC),
MnGeo received a grant to improve the availability and quality of geospatial data
and maps for four types of structures in Minnesota:
- Fire stations
- Hospitals
- Police stations
- Schools (public and private)
Overview
Funded by the Federal Geographic Data Committee
via a National Spatial Data Infrastructure Cooperative
Agreements Program (CAP) grant in early 2008, the Minnesota Structures Collaborative (MSC) project sought to
develop state and local partnerships and the technical capacity for the
statewide collection, publication and long term, sustainable maintenance of
this data. Local organizations have the most detailed, current knowledge about their
communities and potentially have the
greatest capacity to provide the needed data. Local organizations also
understand the importance of providing accurate and current data about their
communities to state and federal agencies during emergencies to help ensure
the responses from those organizations will be beneficial and timely.
Accomplishments
Accomplishments included:
- Assessment and standardization of existing structures data (national and state), including minimum attribution, with capacity to add new structures data and integrate with The National Map and other geospatial efforts of national, state and local importance.
- Development of a prototype web-based map interface ("MSC Online
System"), that included:
- Editing and geospatial data entry tools
- Access to U.S. National Grid referenced general orientation maps for the entire state
- Extensive online and downloadable help
- Flash tutorial demonstrating system functionality
- Creation of FGDC and Minnesota compliant metadata records
- Significant effort to build relationships with state and local data
contributors and stewards, including:
- Presenting information about the effort at emergency preparedness and response meetings and events
- Publishing a promotional brochure (2 p., 180K, PDF)
- Developing promotional presentations supporting Phase 2 efforts
See the
final report, submitted to FGDC on February 26, 2010, for more detail.
Reference Maps
Stand-alone Map Library based on the 10K U.S. National Grid. PDF-format maps include structure locations (fire stations, hospitals, police stations, and schools), reference information and air photos. Use the map library index to manually search for maps by county name. Click on picture to the right to see a sample map.
(New to the U.S. National Grid? Click
here to find out more.)
Contact Us
- Email questions or comments on the MSC to
gisinfo.mngeo@state.mn.us
Project Contacts
MnGeo
gisinfo.mngeo@state.mn.us
Steve Swazee
Chair, MnGeo Emergency Preparedness Committee
sdswazee@sharedgeo.org