Return To Recommendations as Adopted April '97

WAGIC ‘97 Planning Process & Recommendations

Ellensburg Workshop Feb 6th & 7th, 1997

Attending: Tom Nolan - City of Seattle, Larry Sugarbaker - DNR, Richard Reis - Okanogan County, Randy Mills - Benton PUD, Jeff Holm - DIS, Ian Von Essen - Spokane County; Catherine Weisman - IAC; Tom Sturm - USGS; Nancy Tubbs - USGS; Robin Trenbeath - Snohomish County; Dave Steele - DNR

Workshop Objectives:

1. Develop recommendations for updating the project and activity focus for the council
2. Develop recommendations for a near term transitional funding strategy for council

Process:

1. Reviewed Purpose & Goals
2. Reviewed status of 1996 project and activities
3. Discussed what’s working with the council
4. Discussed opportunities to improve the council
5. List / brainstormed activities that support purpose and goals and address the above
6. Reviewed list from last year
7. Refined newly created list through a voting process - resulted in ‘top ten’
8. Developed WAGIC funding recommendations
9. Bring recommendations to Council

Recommendations:

Recommended Changes to WAGIC Purpose and Goals as stated in Council Bylaws.

Proposed Article II. The purpose of the Washington state Geographic Information Council (GIC) is to foster the advancement of the geospatial information infrastructure (data, people, technology and policy) and its use by federal, state, regional, local governments, tribal and private entities.

Rationale: to clarify what is meant by infrastructure.

Proposed Article III. Section 6. Maintain a leadership role to promote geospatial information sharing.

Rationale: we have moved beyond the develop phase

Article IV Membership

Suggestion was made to strike the second sentence in Section 1. Rationale: sounds overly formal and appears to be an artifact of previous bylaws.

(Recommendations on changes to wording of Article IV will be postponed until we determine changes needed to support funding recommendations.)

 

Large Project Candidates: These five project candidates will be presented to the Council - it is anticipated that the list will be priortized (by a balloting process) to identify the two major project to focus on.

1. Fund the development of a Strategic Plan (business plan) for Washington’s Geospatial Information

Description: Fund the development of a statewide strategic plan for the effective collection, maintenance and dissemination of Geospatial Information.

• Plan would address:
• Five to ten year planning horizon,
• Identify opportunities to reduce the cost of geospatial data collection, maintenance, and dissemination for state and local governments;
• Identify opportunities to work together;
• Identify appropriate role for council, and
• Lead to improved decision making and better services to the citizenry

Rationale: From a statewide perspective, we have not gone through a process of making business based strategic decision about how to best develop maintain and disseminate governmental geospatial information assets.

 

2. Continue to Support Framework Activities

This focus would involve exploring ways to implement FGDC’s Framework Data Initiate including new projects and support for existing activities through the Washington Framework Management Group.

• Initate new projects and support existing activities through the Washington Framework Management Group
• Seek special funding (grants) opportunities - assist projects exploring these opportunities
• Encourage organizations to participate in Washington Framework Management Group

3. Adopt Standard Data Model for: Cadastre, Hydrology, and Transportation Data Layers

4. Get Census Bureau to Adopt Local data layers for Tiger Line File

Work with Census Bureau to leverage their interest in partnering with Local Jurisdictions to prepare for Census 2000, specifically partner with Census to conduct a demonstration project that explores issues and solutions associated with:

• Census adoption of local street geometry for maintaining Tiger Line File
• Local Jurisdictions providing periodic maintenance and update of the street geometry

5. Education Project

• This project has six major components and contains elements of existing ‘Outreach Strategy’
• Educate People about the Council - what the Council is, what it’s currently doing, what it’s aspirations are - help them understand why it is important to them
• Help stakeholders (policy and decision makers) understand what GIS is and how it can help them, (help them understand what the business case is for GIS) perhaps use Case Studies, more Road Shows
• Develop a document that identifies ‘The 25 Most Asked Policy Questions’ and provides the appropriate answers. Intent is to create a resource that would be useful in orienting decision makers to the issues of implementing and maintaining GIS
• Importance of Standards and Guidelines (could be included in the 25 Most Asked....)
• How Jurisdictions can cooperate (provide case studies of existing examples of successful cooperative projects, sample data sharing agreements,
• Promote outreach to the tribes, increase efforts to involve tribes with the Council. As a result of outreach activities in‘96 some tribes(Yakama, Puyallup, and Makaha have requested information about the council (videos, faq sheets, website address) and a representative of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (Randy McIntosh) have expressed an interest in knowing more about the council

 

Smaller Project Recommendations:

1. Continue to Implement and Promote Metadata Clearinghouse concept

• Identify & implement Phase II activities that leverages ‘96 grant activity
• Disseminate Metadata tool and train in its use, maintain & upgrade as appropriate
• Create Clearinghouse
• Take an active role in populating Clearinghouse with members metadata

2. Enhance and maintain WAGIC Web Site

• provide resources to create/convert appropriate content and to keep site up to date(content examples: Resource List, 25 Questions, new guidelines/standards....)
• add additional links to the many GIS ‘how-to’ resources on the Web
• put examples of some of the existing (member’s) data sharing agreements on Web
• report at council meetings on existing and new GIS resources on Web

3. Promote use of WAGIC List Server

• brainstorm ways to use this existing tool to further WAGIC communications
• Potential uses include: share information about issues, concerns, legislative activities, send out WAGIC meeting notices, project promotion and coordination

4. Resolve Council Funding

• put in place a near-term transitional strategy for funding
• make recommendations (see below) and present to council for adoption
• identify long-term options

5. Increase Vendor participation in WAGIC

• as regular meeting attendees and presenters
• as potential funding source