Geographic Coordinating Council Update

Table of Contents:

Initial Meeting

On Monday, April 6, 1998, the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism's Office of Planning held a facilitated discussion session with 50 representatives of the Geographic Information System (GIS) community. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the establishment of a Hawaii Geographic Information Coordination Council (GICC). The meeting was held form 8:30 am to 12:30 pm in the Kahala Mandarin Hotel in the Waialae Ballroom.

Craig Tasaka, Planning Program Manager from the Office of Planning, organized the meeting as part of a Federal Geographic Data Committee grant that the state had received to establish a coordination council and facilitate the development of GIS in Hawaii. Craig opened the meeting by acknowledging the attendees and the work that had been done by many of them in helping to organize the state GIS community. He noted that the group was there to begin the establishment of the state's GICC and that they would be hearing from speakers on the Federal perspective, two different state perspectives and participate in a facilitated discussion on the potential issues goals and objectives that the Hawaiian GICC should have.

After the attendees introduced themselves, Kathy L. Covert, Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) Partnership Coordinator, made a presentation on the latest developments on the Federal level as well as her overview of the great progress that the Hawaiian GIS Program had been making recently.

Vicki Lukas, Regional Coordinator of the United States Geological Survey's National Mapping Division, then spoke on the California Geographic Information Association. She noted the value of the unique, participatory style of the group as well as the volunteerism required for the program. She also discussed the problems associated with the group's lack of endorsement/formal recognition by the state government and the lack of funding.

Bruce Oswald, Chair of the New York State GIS Coordinating Body, then discussed the development of that newly created state program. He provided details on the program and suggested that the commitment of state government as well as the entire GIS community was key to the success of the program. He also suggested that the participants look for small, short-term successes for the program to establish its momentum and acceptance.

Mr. Oswald then engaged the group in the development of issues that were key to the development of a GIS program in Hawaii. The highest priority issues identified by the group are as follows (a full listing of all issues is attached).

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blueball.gif (964 bytes)    Issues (high priority in bold type)

  1. Establish technical committee for data exchange (software, platform, and education)
  2. Survey of existing data
  3. Metadata standards
  4. Establish a clearinghouse
  5. (Avoid) Duplication of effort
  6. Cooperative Data sharing
  7. Survey of demand for data
  8. Establish data sharing framework
  9. Develop a legislative policy
  10. Establish sandbox rules
  11. Resolution of legal issues responsibility and liability
  12. Glossary of terms
  13. Role of private sector production of data sets
  14. Executive Branch Buy-in
  15. Compatibility issues
  16. State/county liaisons
  17. Expand GIS participation council and use of GIS
  18. Data standards for tax map catalog
  19. Redistribution guidance
  20. Marketing GIS success to stakeholders
  21. GIS Professional Certification
  22. Website of cost/benefit examples
  23. Certification of the data
  24. Official status of the committee
  25. Establish a datum
  26. Newsletter

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blueball.gif (964 bytes)   Short Term Goals

  1. Organize a GICC and working groups with it. (1)
  2. Data Inventory (2)
  3. Build a GICC strategic plan (mission, vision, goals, and objectives) (3)
  4. Website for GIC (4)
  5. Formalize structure of the committee. (5)
  6. Maximize the buy-in (5)
    7.
  7. A home/person a leader
  8. Communication committee 2 votes
  9. Free data
  10. Metadata clearinghouse
  11. Education how to get support
  12. Establish legislative committee to look for legislative needs
  13. Establish rules for data sharing 1 vote
  14. Identify all the players (agency contacts) (N.B. this fits into NSGIC plan)
  15. Set up county subcommittees (user groups as a start up) do this by legislative mandate
  16. Newsletter (both paper and internet) 1 vote
  17. GICC to solicit support from Agencies

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blueball.gif (964 bytes)  Long Term Goals (high priority in bold type)

  1. Establish a fully-FGDC compliant Clearinghouse node (1)
  2. Policy development to provide a framework for the GICC (2)
  3. Keep it simple, fun, quick, and cost-effective (3)
  4. Data sharing of certified databases (3)
  5. Process for development of quality data (4)
  6. Establish technical standards (4)
    7.
  7. Get enabling legislation passed
  8. Enable continued relationships/forum between data users/creators.
  9. GIS education
  10. Mechanism for maintaining data (keeping it up to date)

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blueball.gif (964 bytes)   GIS Community Subcommittee Participants

The group was asked to identify participants in the GIS community who would be the best individuals to work on the resolution of the GIS issues identified. They are listed below. (Individuals who were not participants in the session were also identified and are denoted by the term draft.)

Establish technical committee for data exchange (software, platform, and education)

Survey of existing data

Metadata standards

Establish a clearinghouse

(Avoid) Duplication of effort

Cooperative Data sharing

Survey of demand for data

Establish data sharing framework

Develop a legislative policy

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blueball.gif (964 bytes)   The GICC Draft Charter

This is the first draft of a GICC charter which was developed from the April 6th GICC meeting and the GISMAP 98 Conference.  Comments and suggested revisions are welcomed and can be submitted to Craig Tasaka.

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