August 29, 2001
Attendees
Mr. Chris Boudreaux, Conway Corporation
Mr. Bill Bush, Arkansas Geological Commission
Ms. Susan Cromwell, Department of Information Systems
Mr. Randy Jones, First Electric Cooperative Corporation
Dr. Fred Limp, CAST
Ms. Shirley Sandlin, Benton County Assessor
Mr. Cecil Smith, Department of Arkansas Heritage
Mr. Jubal Smith, Entergy Corporation, Inc.
Ms. Phyllis Smith, UALR
Mr. Jim Wells, Wellsco Graphics Solutions
Ms. Suzanne Wiley, U of A Cooperative Extension Service
Arkansas Geographic Information Office
Mr. Shelby Johnson, State Geographic Information
Coordinator
Mr. Learon Dalby, GIS Program Manager
Tammy Rea, Intern
Guests
State Senator Brenda Gullett
Dorothy Rhodes, Arkansas Highway and Transportation
Department
Jack Cothren, Wellsco Inc.
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The meeting was called to order in the Ragland Building 2nd Floor Conference Room.
The minutes from June 6, 2001, were unanimously approved.
Report of the State Geographic Information Coordinator
Annual Report
Learon Dalby advised the Board that the Arkansas Geographic Information Office has released an Annual Report which covers the activities of the past year. This report is available in .pdf format on the AGIO web site.
AmericaView
Shelby Johnson explained that the RAPID project was moving forward. This is the process of moving satellite images from the EROS data center to CAST for autoprocessing and web presentation and web presentation in less than 24 hours of satellite acquisition.. This will get essential data out to the community very quickly as compared to current processes. Shelby explained that he had attended an AmericaView conference recently and that Arkansas is currently the number one state in regards to the quality of the GeoStor architecture. He said that on September 18th CAST would be testing some new processes which may move the time down to six hours.
Shelby talked about the AmericaView conference and explained that there is a wish to increase education about the initiative. He said that for Arkansas it will be necessary to figure out how to fund the acquisition of this satellite data, perhaps with a standing order with the EROS center and cooperators to pay for the images. He informed the group that he would be meeting with the Cooperative Extension Service and members of the agricultural community who are very interested in the project.
I-Team Initiative
Shelby announced that the I-Team Initiative for Arkansas would get a kickoff at the upcoming GIS Users Forum Conference in October. He explained that a business plan needs to be developed for data layers and the possiiblity of obtaining some Federal funding needs to be explored.
Senate Resolution 22
Shelby Johnson updated the Board on the status of the appointment of members for the committee that will be studying electronic plat filing for the state. He said that no one has been appointed yet, but that it might be a feasible for the Board to form a subcommittee to make recommendations for those appointments.
Bureau of Land Management
Shelby next talked about how the Bureau of Land Management is taking the initiative in regards to the development of a cadastral framework layer for the United States. They have done this in Western states and would like to see the Eastern states gather data. Arkansas is on the list as a pilot state for 2002 funding, along with North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, and others.
State Chief Information Officer
Shelby updated the Board on the status of the recruitment of the State CIO. He explained that the process was down to eight applicants who will be interviewed, of which three will be chosen to pass along to the Governoer for final consideration. The plan is to make an announcement in mid-September. The Board discussed the possibility of hosting an introduction meeting with the new CIO.
USGS
Shelby informed the Board that Ray Fox of the USGS had visited to introduce the new Arkansas representative, Mark Coppersmith, who will also represent Kansas and Iowa. Mark will also attend the GIS Users Forum meeting.
NAPP / DOQQ
Learon Dalby went over the flight status for next season in which the areas that have not been flown will be covered and the NAPP rejected areas will be reflown. Flights are projects to begin on January 15th, 2002. He explained that cooperators in the project who have received CDs are very pleased with the quality.
Accuracy assessments are being carried out on the data and the results are very good. Learon explained that he will be giving demonstrations at the upcoming GIS Users Forum Conference in October on how to do accuracy assessments following the NSSDA.
Corps of Engineers River Project
Learon said that the only update on this project is that it is 80% complete. The LIDAR data is all in and the Corps of Engineers has that data. DOQQs are not in-house yet but a number are complete. The Corps decided to wait until some formatting issues are worked out by the vendor.
Special Business
Suzanne Wiley introduced Senator Brenda Gullett, who expressed her support of the efforts of the Board. Discussion followed regarding the appropriation bill and ways to lobby the Governor's Office for funding.
Old Business
GeoStor
Fred Limp discussed the status of GeoStor, pointing out that user hits had increased to approximately 2000 per month. He explained that raster data is now being downloaded and that 200 downloads had been made of the RAPID data sets, which is the LandSat 7 data. He noted that some of the top data sets are Arkansas Highway and Transportation data and added that it may be possible to automatically update GeoStor from the AHTD database.
Fred said that he will be meeting with representatives from USGS regarding the national map project and moving to an electronic approach. They are looking at updating changes in seven days, are looking at a system like GeoStor, and are interested in having state level data automatically update federal-level data. Fred is hoping to enter into an agreement with the USGS to let Arkansas be the first state in the national map pilot project.
Fred explained that the next major update for GeoStor will be the '90s DOQQs, which will be in soon. 2000-2001 DOQQs will not be added until there are more resources available as funding ended in July. He said thatCAST just completed a 1999 agriculture land use product for the entire state which contains three seasons, agriculture inventories, pastures, etc., and is very accurate. That data will be in GeoStor very soon and Soil and Water is supporting this.
Next he described an FGDC grant that was received to develop an on-line economic development mapping system. For all communities of over 5,000 people, CAST has created maps of commuter sheds of 30 and 60 minutes. Another project has been the population of the American Economic Development Association's Standard Economic Development Data Matrix by using GIS datasets from GeoStor and other sources. Fred explained that this group is collecting data elements from communities and this relates to the commuter shed data, DINA, and other sources. He commented that there will be about 220 major datasets that will be put into GeoStor and that FGDC is funding this effort.
Fred said that CAST has received a grant from FGDC to add web mapping and web service functions to GeoStor, which will provide increased funcationality.
Fred discussed the RAPID project and said that there has been a great response. There will be another test on September 18th, weather permitting, and they are aiming at a six-hour turnaround following satellite acquisition. He said that it is important now to find out whether the community needs data, when do they need data, what kind of data they need, etc. Fred explained that USGS has said that sometime in November or December they will want to formalize some kind of agreement and it will be necessary to decide what kind of relationship the state users wish to create.
Fred emphasized that further funding for GeoStor is becoming critical at this point or he could lose the GeoStor team. Discussion followed regarding funding possibilities. Shirley Sandlin made a motion that the Board pursue developing a collaborative effort to support the RAPID AmericaView acquisition of LandSat data. The motion was seconded by Jim Wells and was passed unanimously.
GeoBEAR Project
Fred Limp discussed the Geographic Baseline Environmental Assessment Reporting system, which was a proposal to NASA for $600,000 for two years. This would be the creation of a web-based system so that a user can draw a potential project boundary on a map and they would get back a report of environmental information such as wetlands, hydric soils, endangered species, archeological sites, etc., that meet federal mandates. Fred explained that CAST and Shelby Johnson worked closely with twelve collaborators to develop the proposal. They have not heard back and Fred said he does not expect to be funded during this cycle, but there is some interest in proceeding locally.
GIS Users Forum Conference
Suzanne Wiley reminded the Board of the GIS Users Forum Conference starting on October 10th and encouraged all to attend. After some discussion it was decided that the next Board meeting will be held on the evening of October 9th, the night prior to the Conference and following the pre-conference workshops. Phyllis Smith explained that Secretary of State Sharon Priest will speak twice; Shelby Johnson, the State Geographic Information Coordinator, will speak on Wednesday; and Ron Matzner will speak to the Forum on Thursday regarding the I-Team Initiative.
Board Appointments
Suzanne Wiley informed the members that it is not sure at this point what the terms will be for current members. She explained that Steve Gunthrop of the Governor's office has taken over the effort to sort out board terms and appointments, and that the members will need to just wait and see what is decided. In the meantime, everyone will serve until replaced or reappointed.
GPS Standards
Learon Dalby reviewed changes in the GPS Standards document. He explained that to follow Arkansas Code, the LIB will need to approve the document in its final form and there will need to be a 30-day period of comment and review. After that period of review, a questionnaire form and a financial impact statement must be submitted to the Bureau of Legislative Research. They review the documentation and it is eventually forwarded to the Secretary of State's Office and State Library for review. Ultimately it goes before the Arkansas Legislative Council, which makes a decision whether this will become a Rule and gain official status. Learon pointed out that sometime in mid-October it would actually become a Rule if everything falls into place.
Susan Cromwell made the motion that the Board adopt the GPS Standards Version 3 and proceed with the Rules and Regulations process. Shirley Sandlin seconded the motion, a vote was taken, and the motion was unanimously approved.
GeoStor Metadata Standards
Learon Dalby explained that progress on Metadata Standards has been held up because of other GeoStor issues. Shelby Johnson said that these standards will be revisited soon.
Suzanne Wiley commented that it is important for the ASDI Policies Committee of the Board to begin to meet to develop recommendations. She pointed out that the Electronic Plat Filing and Parcel Mapping Committee needs to meet, and the Strategic Planning Committee needs to meet before the Board can move ahead with regards to the I-Team Initiative. She said that the Communications and Public Relations Committee needs to get to work promoting the Board's efforts and the Funding Committee really needs to come up with some ideas. Suzanne encouraged all the subcommittees to meet as soon as practical and move ahead with their areas of interest.
SmartMoves
Suzanne Wiley said that she has had no response regarding the Governor's SmartMoves. However, a response from Robert Chandler of INA indicated that the INA Board was waiting until the State CIO was in place, but that it might be time to move ahead with awards as there had been several nomimations filed recently. Suzanne asked Shelby to go ahead and get in on the INA Board meeting to do a presentation about GeoStor.
New Business
NAPP / NDOP Steering Committee Meeting
Suzanne Wiley announced that the next NAPP / NDOP Steering Committee Meeting will be held here in Arkansas from October 15-18. She invited Shelby Johnson to share the details.
Shelby explained that the Arkansas Geographic Information Office will host the meeting and that this is a group of Federal agencies, including one representative from the National States Geographic Information Council. He described this group as the people who set the policy and direction for the National Aerial Photography Program and the National Digital Ortho Program. Shelby said that they are interested in learning about the ADOP project and GeoStor and some of the applications of the data. He said that he will have a four-hour block of time to present to this steering committee some examples of key projects that are going on in Arkansas. Shelby described the committee as being made of members from the Farm Services Agency, USGS, NRCS, FEMA, EPA, and NGSC. They bring in people who run projects from the NSGS to share information. Suzanne Wiley suggested that Shelby invite Pixxures to participate in his demonstration of the ADOP and Shelby agreed that this might be possible.
I-Team Initiative
Suzanne Wiley revisited the I-Team Initiative which Ron Matzner presented at the last meeting. She said she feels the Board needs to be on the list with that Initiative and that there are good possiblities in the project. Shelby explained that he has a contact name with the Stephens Company as someone to possibly help with the nationwide Financing Solutions Team. Suzanne described how representatives need to be appointed from each Federal agency to be on the Federal partners team. She added that the members need to define the Board's I-Team direction, and that the Board needs to move forward on the strategic plan.
NSGIC Meeting
Shelby Johnson reminded the membersthat the next NSGIC conference will be in St. Louis on September 7-12 and that he and Learon Dalby will be attending. Shelby announced that he has been nominated to serve on the board of the NSGIC and elections will be held at the conference.
Future Meetings
The members decided to have the subcommittees meet during September and that the next regular meeting will be at a dinner meeting on October 9th, prior to the GIS Users Forum Conference.
Discussion was held regarding the organization of an introduction luncheon meeting between the Board and Advisory Panel and the new State CIO. This will be scheduled as soon as possible following the appointment of the CIO.
The meeting was then adjourned.
