Geographic Information Council (WAGIC)

October 18, 2001

Teleconference originating from

DIS Interactive Technologies, Spokane, WA

 

Introductions – Ian Von Essen, WAGIC Chair – From Spokane, Ian opened the meeting and welcomed council members in Tri-Cities, Bellingham, Vancouver, Seattle, and Lacey. 

 

Meeting Theme: GIS in support of Cadastral Activities

 

1.      WA State Department of Natural Resources

·        Update on Washington State Cadastral Framework Activities – Carrie Wolfe and Greg Tudor

2.      City of Seattle Public Utility

·        Update on the Washington State Surveyors’ Web-based Survey Control Data Base – Gavin Schrock

·        Lessons Learned from the Seattle Public Utility’s Cadastral Mapping Project – Glenn Brooks

3.      Spokane County Assessor’s Office

·        Problems with converting Assessor Land Records to GPS-based control – Bob Folsom 

 

Ellensburg Strategic Planning Update – Jeff Holm

The Strategic Planning Committee is meeting regularly to look at the current strategic plan and find appropriate ways to update the plan to reflect both the Council’s accomplishments and to indicate areas for future efforts.  The planning committee is also looking at ways to formalize the Council's connection to its authorizing environment.   The need to find an appropriate way to formalize WAGIC has been a prominent theme in the past two strategic planning sessions.

 

The planning group is focusing on the development of a proposal that would help address governance issues by creating formal relationships with the various authorizing environments.  In the past, WAGIC has been able to accomplish much by drawing on the resources of various participating state and local agencies, but larger projects require more than what these voluntary resources can address. The Council needs a way to bring organizations executives to the table to help provide direction and commitment to WAGIC programs. The planning committee is also looking to formalize relationships with other information technology organizations, in particular the Information Services Board (ISB).  The ISB is the information technology policy and standard setting body for the state.  A number of other IT 'communities of interests' have established formal relationships with the ISB wherein the Board looks to those communities to propose IT related standards for their area of interest and expertise.  In drafting the proposal, the planning committee is mindful of the restrictive budget environment of the coming legislative session and is looking at developing a phased approach over several legislative sessions. 

 

Update on LandSat 7 Data Consortium – Jeff Holm

The Consortium has recently received ten (of seventeen total) terrain corrected LandSat7 scenes as part of its initial data purchase.  Each scene is going through the consortium’s quality assurance process. The December 13th council meeting will include a review from the Washington State Remote Sensing Consortium.

 

Annual NSGIC Meeting Report – Ian Von Essen

Ian and Jeff Holm attended the annual National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) meeting in September.  This annual meeting is attended by approximately 40 - 45 participating states and several federal agencies.  This year, the USGS reported on their National Map Initiative.  In the next five to ten years, the USGS will be working towards having current products updated on a more regular basis and will be looking to state and local government to help maintain the digital versions of their quads.  The USGS will be conducting seven National Map pilot projects through out the United States, one being conducted in the inland Northwest (four counties in Idaho and Washington).  The status of federal funding for these pilot projects is unclear until the Department of Interior's budget is approved.

 

The GeoData Alliance (GDA) annual meeting was also discussed at the NSGIC conference.  This upcoming November meeting brings together various levels of government with the private sector to develop a new forum to deal with spatial data infrastructure issues.  Ian will be representing WAGIC at this meeting and will report back to the Council at the December meeting.

 

Announcement of (3 State) Framework Related Meeting in Portland, OR 

A multi-state framework coordinating meeting between Oregon, Idaho, and Washington has been rescheduled for November 14^th.  The purpose of this meeting is to look at framework coordination opportunities that might exist between the three states.   An update will be provided on the results this meeting at the WAGIC December 13th meeting.

 

Closing Site Roundtable – Ian Von Essen

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Next meeting – December 13th at 10:00 a.m.

PLEASE NOTE: The Council will be meeting on the second Thursday in December (the 13^th) due to the holiday season.