ASLIB Minutes - April 19, 2000

April 19, 2000

Attendees

Mr. William Bush, Arkansas Geological Commission
Ms. Susan Cromwell, Department of Information Systems Mr. Cecil Davis, Department of Arkansas Heritage
Mr. Randy Jones, First Electric Cooperative Corporation
Mr. Duane Reel, City of Jacksonville
Ms. Shirley Sandlin, Benton County
Mr. Phil Schoettlin, Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce
Ms. Phyllis Smith, UALR
Ms. Suzanne Wiley, UAM

Not Attending

Mr. Fred Limp, CAST
Mr. Jubal Smith, Entergy Corporation, Inc.
Mr. Jim Wells, Wellsco Graphics Solutions

Special Representatives

Mr. Shelby Johnson, State Land Information Coordinator
Mike Mitchell, GIS Users Forum

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The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. in the 17th Floor Conference Room, Union Building, in Little Rock. Minutes from the last meeting of the March 23, 2000, meeting were unanimously approved.

Report from the State Land Information Coordinator

NAPP Project

Shelby Johnson explained that since the last meeting, the State Land Information Coordinator's office has had a continuing focus on coordinating the NAPP project and that he would go into detail later in the meeting.

County Judge and Assessor GIS Workshop

Shelby said that the workshop was a great victory for the Board. He said that there were 82 elected officials attending from 35 counties and that five of the eight planning development district directors attended. The director of the Association of Counties, David Morris, and Lucretia Norris, County/Local Liaison from the Governor's Office, also attended. He explained that it was a very successful workshop and there were excellent presentations on GIS in Arkansas, from very basic information up to some pretty high technology examples of parcel-based systems on the web. Shelby explained that on the last day there was a wrap-up session where he gave a summary of the Land Information Board, its activities of the past year, and its efforts to promote legislation and plans to go to the next session with the proposal for the Geostor. He said the floor was then opened for discussion and suggestions and that there was a very good response. One major suggestion that came out of the meeting was the possibility of obtaining funding by increasing the Arkansas Real Property Reappraisal Fund, Act 1185, and earmarking a specific amount for mapping and GIS for the counties. He said he passed this information along to the LIB Funding Committee for further consideration. A second positive outcome from the meeting was a request by the counties for the development of some kind of system for counties seeking basic GIS information. Shelby also asked that if the counties agreed with the initiatives of the LIB, if they would support the LIB in the next legislative session. Following the meeting, he said that he had positive feedback regarding this. Shelby explained that in approach of the next legislative session, that the timing is excellent and the education level is increasing regarding the activities of the Board. He pointed out that if the LIB does not capitalize on this groundswell of support, then it may never happen.

Action Items:

letters of acknowledgment to Planning & Development directors, the GIS Users Forum, and Judge Bodenhamer regarding their support of the workshop
Information in county newsletter regarding the meeting
Meet with Assessment Coordination Department regarding Act 1185 and management of county GIS systems

Shelby Johnson explained that this project is ongoing and he hopes that it will be wrapped up by the end of the school year. There is a press release planned on this project in the near future. This project includes mapping all government offices around the state and there are plans to overlay on this map the communications circuits that the Department of Information Systems currently maintains. There is also the possibility of adding layers of private telecommunications circuits.

GIS Audit

Shelby Johnson said that at the last meeting the Board requested a change in the programming for the survey and it has taken a couple of weeks to accomplish that. The audit survey will be rolled out very soon.

Old Business

GTI Planning

Susan Cromwell talked about the change in the Director position at DIS. Don Melton from the Governor's Office is now interim director of the agency. She explained that this joins DIS more closely with what will become the Governor's Technology Initiatives (GTI) in the future. Work is continuing on these efforts, and one major effort will continue to be the development in communities. The current nine community pilot projects will be wrapped up and Economic Development, DIS, and strategic partners around the state will create a strategy for continuing to propogate community work as started through the ICN process. She added that there will be one last Community of Interest facilitated session.

Color Infrared Photography, NAPP, and DOQ Projects

Shelby Johnson explained that since the last meeting, there have been only three days of good weather which allowed for further photography flights and 60 percent coverage of the state has been reached. An independent test of the results is planned. He said that the decision facing the Board at this time is whether to halt flying and start again at the next earliest possible date as trees are leafed out fully. Shelby said that the areas planned for LIDAR have all been flown and the vendor is into the processing of that film.

Shirley Sandlin made a motion that flying of the CIR photography be halted at this time and pick up again as soon as possible after the trees are bare. Bill Bush seconded the motion. A question was raised as to when the photography could be resumed and Shelby said the USGS suggested that the optimal next starting time would be January 15, 2001, but that both he and the contractor think it would be possible to start flying again in September or October of 2000. Discussion followed regarding these issues. A vote was taken and it was unanimously approved to terminate flying and study a continuation date for the CIR photography.

Suzanne Wiley suggested that the Board draft a letter to all the cooperators of this project and let them know what the current status is and what the plans are to continue in the future, and also seek their funding now in anticipation of completion of the project. She also recommended that a letter be sent to the Corps of Engineers thanking them for assisting with the project.

Society of Professional Surveyors

Randy Jones updated the members on the web-based land surveyor filing system. He explained that he and Shelby Johnson had met with Mike Hart of the ASPS. He explained that they are enthusiastic about pursuing this project and a meeting is planned on May 2 to discuss preparing legislation for funding of this project. Randy said that Dr. Weih at U of A at Monticello is working on the projected costs involved in setting up of the system. He explained that the ASPS is ready to seriously pursue this project. Susan Cromwell mentioned the importance of digital signature issues in relating to filing verification and that this project will be a pilot project to demonstrate the use of digital signatures for the state. She recommended that she and Shelby meet with Don Melton, Clarence Durand, and Doug Elkins from DIS to meet and talk about commitment to this project.

Suzanne Wiley brought up the possibility of the Board receiving a portion of a filing fee received by DIS for physically supporting the project. Randy Jones said the ASPS is willing to bring in a representative from a state that is doing a similar project if it will be of benefit and they are also willing to have Mr. Mullinex to work on lobbying the legislature.

LIB Web Page/Publicity

Suzanne Wiley asked members to consider submitting good information for inclusion to the LIB web pages and suggested the inclusion of the CIR photography graphic . She also suggested a press release regarding the County Judge and Assessor GIS Workshop

Steering Committee

Suzanne Wiley suggested that the Board needs to write a statement regarding objectives that might be presented to potential members when forming a steering committee.

New Business

Geostor Planning

Suzanne Wiley explained that there is a meeting being planned which will involve CAST, DIS, LIB, and possibly some vendor representatives to talk about what is needed when SWAG is completed and it is time to implement Geostor. Some plans need to be made regarding transition from Fayetteville to Little Rock. Shelby Johnson explained that he had discussed this some with Suzanne but that no organizational or logistic aspects had been started yet. Suzanne commented that this needs to happen before legislation can be completed. Susan Cromwell said that this topic should also be covered when she and Shelby meet with Don Melton, Clarence Durand, and Doug Elkins from DIS to discuss the digital signature project with the ASPS.

Data Acquisition for Geostor

Suzanne Wiley explained that there is a need for cooperation and coordination with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department in developing the transportation framework data for GeoStor. Fred Limp drafted a letter to send to AHTD requesting their participation in the project. The draft was reviewed by Board members and suggestions were made. Suzanne will revise the letter and attachment and it will then be sent to Don Melton for his review and input.

Shelby suggested that the next meeting be held at CAST in Fayetteville in order to get an update on the SWAG project. The members thought this was an excellent idea and agreed that CAST should be contacted regarding this.

Joint Committee for Advanced Communication & Information Technology

Suzanne Wiley recommended that the Board improve communications with the Committee regarding what the LIB is doing. Susan Cromwell pointed out that they would be meeting on May 5th and she said she would check with Mark Hudson to see if any time would be available for a Board presentation before the Committee. Susan also encouraged LIB members to attend the meeting.

Draft of 2001 SLIB Legislation

Board members discussed the possibility of changes in Act 914 that might be submitted along with DIS changes to strengthen our legislation. Priorities were also discussed for SLIB projects and staffing that will require legislative funding. A first draft was put together of items to be presented in our legislative package. Details will be worked out in future meetings.

Next Meeting

Suzanne Wiley brought up the subject of having Tom Webb from the Board of Registration for Surveyors give a presentation to the Board on the interaction between surveying, GIS, and future legislation issues. It was suggested that if the next meeting could be set up at the CAST facility for an update on the SWAG project, perhaps Tom Webb could do a presentation at the same meeting. Suzanne said she would contact CAST and Tom Webb and would get back to the members regarding scheduling the next meeting.

Comments

Suzanne Wiley invited comments from the guests, and Mike Mitchell said that he feels the Board direction is very good. He also brought up the possibility of some kind of GIS certification process for the state, such as graduating from an approved program or taking some type of standard test to ensure that everyone's knowledge base is at an even level. He said this would also give the LIB a database of GIS participants throughout the state. The members agreed that this might be a good idea and Suzanne Wiley recommended that this be kept in mind for future consideration.

The meeting was then adjourned.