June 21, 2000

Attendees

Mr. Bill 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. Fred Limp, CAST
Mr. Duane Reel, City of Jacksonville
Mr. Phil Schoettlin, Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce 
Mr. Jubal Smith, Entergy Corporation, Inc.
Ms. Phyllis Smith, UALR
Mr. Jim Wells, Wellsco Graphics Solutions
Ms. Suzanne Wiley, UAM

Not Attending

 Ms. Shirley Sandlin, Benton County Assessor

Special Representatives

 Ms. Darla Chappell, State Land Information Coordinator's Office
Mr. Shelby Johnson, State Land Information Coordinator
Mr. Mike Mitchell, GIS Users Forum

Guests

 Mr. Stan Hoessler, Nortel

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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 May 12, 2000, meeting were unanimously approved.

Report from the State Land Information Coordinator

Project Main

Shelby Johnson explained that school is out for the summer and almost all the schools that have been participating in Project Main have returned their data to CAST in Fayetteville. CAST is working on reassembling and checking the data. He anticipates the data will be returned in August.

GIS Survey

Shelby explained that data has been arriving and Darla has been entering it into the database. Survey results are still arriving and the cutoff date will be the end of June. The response rate is 32 percent and he was aiming at a 30 percent response. He described how the responses are flagged by type of respondent, which will give good statistical information regarding users of GIS. He pointed out that many respondents were not aware of the Board and that it was very important to reach those people and educate them as to the projects and activites the Board is promoting or sponsoring.

Staff Position

Shelby announced that he is in the process of interviewing applicants to fill a staff position in his office and that everything is progressing smoothly regarding this. 

Old Business

Color Infrared Photography Project

Suzanne Wiley explained that she and Shelby met with Ray Fox and Pixxures at the Mid-America Conference in Missouri and that they had a very productive meeting. They identified what the LIB, the USGS, and what Pixxures needs to do to keep the project moving along. She and Shelby put together a letter to the NAPP committee in regard to the leaf-off/leaf-on situation, but there has been no response as yet. She explained that Pixxures will need to provide some data for the NAPP committee to examine in regards to the leaf-on/leaf-off issue, and Ray Fox has sent Pixxures some examples of NAPP agreements. Ray Fox has proposed a draft DOQ workshare agreement and that is going through DIS and the USGS for comments.

Shelby Johnson explained that the contract people at DIS have reviewed the workshare agreement and made some additions to reflect state requirements. He explained that the agreement is being reviewed in California where the DOQ project leader is located, which seems to be delaying the process. Shelby said that Pixxures is coming into his office to discuss project details on June 23. 

Shelby showed examples of the LIDAR photography that has come back and explained that it will generate a one-meter DEM, which is very, very good. Suzanne Wiley explained that one of the holdups in getting the data processed will be the QA/QC by USGS, but that Ray Fox was agreeable to the inclusion of one county in the workshare agreement that will serve as a pilot project for DOQQ AQ/AC. It will be processed before NAPP approval and will serve as an example for cooperators and legislators. She said it looks like the county that will be used will be Lafayette County, which is one that is completely photographed. Shelby commented that the selection of that county was a good strategic choice as Judge Frank Scroggins, county judge, has interests in GIS; Linda Sparrow, Lafayette County Assessor, is the chair of the Arkansas Assessor's Association; this area was photographed early and there should be no leaf-on issues; and this is also an area where three project cooperators have areas under management. Shelby said that Pixxures will do complete DOQ production for the whole county so that will be the first completed part of the entire project. He explained that as the data is processed, it will come to him and the cooperators in the project will get copies first. 

Shelby explained that the LIDAR flights for the Corps of Engineers part of the project have all been completed and the processing is underway. 

Department of Highway and Transportation

Suzanne Wiley said that she and Shelby have received response from Mr. Flowers of the Highway and Transportation Department and that he named a contact person, Mr. Bill Durham, to work with the Board. Shelby described some of the data that the Department will be contributing and stressed how valuable this information will be. Shelby has also supplied to the AHTD a list of other data that will be available in the data warehouse. He said that there will need to be a technical meeting to discuss details regarding the transfer of data, which is in a number of locations and in different formats.

Surveying Filing System

Randy Jones explained that he has tried to reach Mike Hart, the chair of the legislative committee for the Arkansas Surveyor's Association, but that he has been unsuccessful.

Advisory Panel

Suzanne Wiley recommended the Board assemble a large stakeholder's group to include in an introductory workshop, with the goal of educating them about the efforts of the Board and of obtaining letters of support for the Board's legislative efforts from major players with interests in GIS. She then suggested that groups of stakeholders who share areas of interest can then nominate a representative to form a ten-member Advisory Panel for the Board. Each of the panel members could report back and receive input from their interest groups. Discussion continued regarding who to include in various interest groups and how to contact them. A draft letter that was prepared by Jubal Smith was passed to members for comments. Shelby Johnson also passed around a sample brochure that he proposed to include with the letter to the prospective stakeholders. Each Board member will contact an interest group by mail and will follow up by phone. 

The members discussed the logistics of doing a presentation to a large group of invitees and it was decided that initially a presentation will be done for the GIS Users Forum to familiarize that group with the plans of the Board. The GIS Users Forum members will be asked to assist in identifying key stakeholders. Phyllis Smith will arrange this meeting. After the GIS Users Forum meeting, a large stakeholders meeting will be held in early September, after the next Land Information Meeting in August. Suzanne Wiley asked each member to plan to give a section of the presentation based on their special interests, current projects and completed projects. 

Suzanne Wiley said that Ray Fox of the USGS is interested in forming a federal interest group and would like to coordinate with the stakeholder's presentation meeting. An organization of federal partners could possibly bring additional funding into the state. Ray will attend the next LIB meeting in July to give an update on the changing status of the USGS.

Suzanne Wiley announced that Jubal Smith and Shelby Johnson will be representing the LIB at the Arkansas Economic Development Conference. Shelby Johnson will also be talking more to the Joint Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology in the future.

Elections

Suzanne Wiley reminded the members that elections were held at the last meeting with the reinstatement of current officers for the coming year. She explained that she is changing jobs, but that she will still be a representative from Higher Education and will still be based at U of A at Monticello. She has contacted the Governor's Office and informed them of the change. 

Susan Cromwell moved that the Board carry over the vote from the last meeting that Suzanne Wiley remain as chair and Jim Wells remain as vice chair. The motion was seconded by Phyllis Smith and the vote was unanimous.

It was also announced that Dwayne Reel is resigning from the Board and discussion followed on possible people to fill that vacancy.

Future Meetings

The next meeting was set for July 19, with a meeting location to be announced. The August 24th meeting will be held in Little Rock and the proposed visit to U of A at Monticello will be rescheduled.

Comments

Jubal Smith added that he, Shelby, and Shirley Sandlin will be presenting at the Vision 2010 Economic Development Seminar on July 14 in Fayetteville. They will cover SWAG, CAST, MAIN, EAST, and other GIS issues.

The business meeting was then adjourned.

Strategic Planning Session

Following the business meeting, a strategic planning session was facilitated by Stan Hoessler of Nortel. Ideas and documentation resulting from this session will be used in the support of legislation, as well as the development of stakeholder presentations.