July 22, 1999

Attendees

Mr. William Bush, Arkansas Geological Commission
Mr. Cecil Davis, Alternate, Dept. of Arkansas Heritage
Mr. Shelby Johnson, State Land Information Coordinator
Mr. Randy Jones, First Electric Corporation
Ms. Shirley Sandlin, Benton County Assessor
Mr. Jubal Smith, Entergy Corporation
Ms. Phyllis Smith, UALR
Mr. Jim Wells, Wellsco Graphics Solution Center
Ms. Suzanne Wiley, U of A at Monticello

Not Attending

Dr. Robert Bennett, Arkansas State University
Ms. Susan Cromwell, Office of Information Technology
Mr. Duane Reel, City of Jacksonville
Mr. Phil Schoettlin, Chamber of Commerce, Fayetteville

Guests

Renata McDaniel, Intern for State Land Information Coordinator's Office

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The meeting was called to order.

Suzanne Wiley, Chairperson, called for approval of last month's minutes. A motion was made to accept the minutes, the motion was seconded, and the minutes from June 23, 1999, were unanimously approved as read.

Arkansas Technology Summit

The members then discussed the success of the Arkansas Technology Summit and agreed that there was a very favorable response from the attendees and legislators. Suzanne Wiley thanked Shelby Johnson for coordinating the GIS information room at the Summit and noted that there was a lot of traffic through the exhibit. Shelby Johnson pointed out that Representative Brenda Gullett is very interested in supporting GIS issues in the future.

State Land Information Coordinator Report

Shelby Johnson reported on his meeting with John Bethel at the PSC to talk about telecommunications in the state and described a meeting with the ARIES project people, who are defining an architecture for a GIS system to do client tracking. He also attended a meeting in Shreveport to meet with the GIS division of Arkla Gas and met with the Arkansas Telephone Association to look at their mapping needs. He also pointed out that the Telephone Association will meet in September and he will probably do a presentation at that meeting. Shelby went on to describe the Aurora Partnership, a public private collaboration group that is working on place-based decision making, which includes the USGS, federal agencies, private agencies, and businesses who do location siting. They will have a meeting in Fayettevillle to be hosted by CAST on September 28 and 29 and it will include panels, demonstrations and sessions. He pointed out this will be a good chance for the LIB to do a presentation.

Shelby Johnson then reported on the activities of the State Land Information Coordinator's Office. There have been meetings with EAST to look at strategic planning. Plans are that there will be an EAST school in every county in the state, which will bring the present number of 30 to approximately 60. He announced that CAST is spearheading a push for a statewide cooperative image purchase to do three seasons 1999 imagery and that they are seeking additional partners to go in on this project. The total cost will be about $88,000 for the data. This would entitled all those cooperating to a copy of the raw data which could be used for their own classification and analysis, with the ultimate goal of developing a 1999 land use/land cover statewide. This is a key piece of data that has been identified as being essential for the state. Shelby suggested that the LIB should somehow endorse this project and participate in any way possible. He continued with a brief update on the National Geodetic Survey, which is again looking at revisiting the HARN sites in Arkansas. There will be some kind of coordination meeting in August or September and the point of contact at this time is Mike Garner. Shelby suggested that the Board needs to consider playing a role in that project, as well.

Shelby then covered the meetings he will be attending, which include:

  • USGS State Mapping workshop - August 3-5

  • Arkansas Society of Professional Surveyors board meeting - August 7

  • Joint Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology - tentatively - August 17

  • Arkansas Association of Counties - August 18-20

  • National States Geographic Information Council - late August

  • Arkansas Society of Professional Surveyors Conference - September 23-24

  • Arkansas Telephone Association Conference - September

HARN Project

Suzanne Wiley discussed the fact that supporting the HARN project and the statewide land cover project would be worthy goals. Bill Bush moved that the LIB support the HARN project, Shirley Sandlin seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved. Next, Bill Bush moved that the LIB endorse the statewide spatial data infrastructure program and encourage agencies which have the money to participate. This was seconded by Jubal Smith and it was unanimously approved. It was agreed that Shelby Johnson will draw up the draft support letters and send them to project coordinators.

GIS Users Forum Conference

Phyllis Smith next gave an update on the GIS Users Forum Conference. More abstracts have been received and speakers are being scheduled. Representative Brenda Gullett will be a keynote speaker and EAST will be participating. Discussion followed regarding how to draw more cities and counties into involvement with the GIS Users Forum and general statewide GIS planning.

Old Business

Suzanne Wiley opened the topic of old business and pointed out that there were questions regarding the status of the DOQs. She pointed out that the cost of finishing the DOQs is needed prior to the next legislative session.

The subject of a steering committee or advisory group was discussed. Suzanne Wiley introduced a list of agency participants from the old steering committee and she asked for additions or changes from the members. She proposed that once members were recruited for this committee, the LIB should try to have one or two meetings a year with to get feedback from the members, to update them on what the LIB is doing, and to solicit support for legislative activities. Discussion followed regarding the potential membership of this proposed committee.

New Business

The members next discussed the LIB GIS presentation that will be given to the Joint Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology on August 17. Shelby Johnson pointed out that this will be a good opportunity to reach key people regarding the activities of the LIB and the need for supporting GIS development statewide.

Subcommittees have been formed to pursue special areas of study relating to LIB projects, as noted below.

Funding Committee This committee will work to identify funding mechanisms for accomplishing the directives of the Board as defined by the legislature. This work would include identifying funding sources such as grants from the state, federal or private foundations. Also could work to identify long term funding sources through the state. Make recommendations on long term funding

mechanisms to operate the Arkansas Spatial Data Infrastructure and develop a funding source to provide start-up grants for counties or cities.

Members: Suzanne Wiley, Phyllis Smith, Bob Bennett, Cathie Matthews (Cecil Davis), Jubal Smith

Communication Committee This committee will work to increase awareness about the State Land Information Board and its role. The initial work will be to identify the appropriate groups to carry the message to such as cities and counties and their professional associations. Identify dates of key meetings such as the Arkansas Associations of Counties, the Municipal League and etc. Also to develop content/material for the LIB web-site.

Members: Shirley Sandlin, Duane Reel, Phil Schoettlin, Jim Wells, Jubal Smith

Legislation Committee - This committee will begin to identify and define Board directives and programs, which may require legislation during the next session.

Members: Phil Schoettlin, Bill Bush, Cathie Matthews (Cecil Davis), Jim Wells, Susan Cromwell

Audit And Inventory Committee - This committee will establish the procedures and methods necessary to audit the GIS capacities within the state, counties and cities to provide an assessment of the potential duplication of GIS efforts within Arkansas for GIS applications and GIS data.

Members: Phyllis Smith, Duane Reel, Bob Bennett, Randy Jones, Shirley Sandlin

Strategic Planning Committee - This committee will complete the LIB strategic plan that was begun in 1998.

Members: Susan Cromwell, Randy Jones, Suzanne Wiley, Bill Bush

Next Meeting

The next meeting has been scheduled in Eureka Springs at 6 p.m. on September 7, in conjunction with the GIS Users Forum annual meeting from September 8-10. There will be a brief business meeting followed by a presentation by CAST on the SWAG project.  The location will be announced.

The meeting was adjourned.