Minnesota Governor's Council on Geographic Information
MSDI Committee Meeting
December 22, 2003 10:30 to Noon Room 304 Centennial Building Attending: David Arbeit, Fred Logman, Randy Johnson, Sonia DickersonAnnouncements
Arbeit reported he had made revisions to Minnesota’s Spatial Data Infrastructure: A Foundation for Coordinated GIS, version 2.1 based upon discussion at the November 5 meeting as described in notes from that meeting and subsequent feedback. The draft replacement for section 5, “Next Steps” prepared by Logman was not merged with the document, but retained for discussion at this meeting.Arbeit also reported that he had presented the draft template for thematic I-Plans discussed on November 5th to the Land Records Modernization Committee, which agreed to use it as a basis for its work plan.
MSDI Report
Before the committee discussed changes made in Version 2.2, Logman asked for a discussion of the document’s target audience and purpose. There was general agreement that the document’s principal audience should be policy makers and those responsible for implementing GIS programs, notably managers. Its purpose should be to envision a GIS infrastructure that supports the effective and efficient implementation of GIS within the state, identify the gap between the existing reality and that vision, and recommend investments, policies, organizational changes and other steps required to achieve that vision. Logman agreed to prepare a draft for review by the committee.Arbeit noted several additions to Version 2.2 of the MSDI to address issues identified since the last meeting:
Appendix A: Template for MSDI Data Plans
Section 1: Overview. Added subsection 1.2 to clarify purpose of data plan. A purpose section had been included in previous templates and used by several of the teams. Subsequent subsections were renumbered.Section 2: Importance of Theme. Section title changed as discussed in previous meeting to “Importance of Theme.” Subsections revised as discussed in previous meeting.
Section 6: Data Management and Distribution. Added subsections on “Data Updates” and “Data Integration” as previously discussed.Section 7: Organizational Relationships. Amended narrative to address issue of impacts on other organizations, as previously discussed.
Section 8: Implementation Strategy. Expanded narrative to clarify intent of short-term, mid-term, and long-term time horizons.Members endorsed the changes and discussed several other issues that need attention:
- Johnson noted that section 3.4 “Data Distribution” focused too much on web based solutions and needed to place more emphasis on other issues, especially roles and responsibilities. Members observed that these issues are addressed in the section but that more detail is needed. Arbeit suggested expanding the second paragraph of the section to clarify and cover the issues. He suggested that the web solutions be discussed as a separate paragraph and agreed to draft the change.
- Arbeit suggested that Section 4 “Guidelines for Framework Data Plans” be removed from the body and included as part of Appendix A, which contains the plans.
- Arbeit suggested adding several new sections: Section 4 that uses Logman’s draft on “Constraints and Limiting Factors” as its basis, Section 5 to summarize the current status of the MSDI, and Section 6 that identifies “next steps” and recommendations. The committee agreed with the suggestion. Arbeit agreed to draft the changes.
- Logman suggested that Section 8 of the theme template should include information about the legislative funding cycle as a guide to data teams as they develop their implementation strategies. Arbeit will draft the suggested change.