May 13, 2002
Board Members Attending
Mr. Bill Bush, Arkansas Geological Commission
Ms. Susan Cromwell, Fayetteville Public School District
Mr. Earl Smith, Ark Soil & Water Conservation Commission
Ms. Phyllis Smith, U of A at Little Rock
Ms. Shirley Sandlin, Benton County Assessor
Ms. Suzanne Wiley, U of A Cooperative Extension Service
Board Members Not Present
Mr. Chris Boudreaux, Conway Corporation
Mr. Randy Jones, First Electric Cooperative Corporation
Dr. Fred Limp, CAST
Mr. Mike McGibbony, Department of Information Systems
Mr. Jubal Smith, Entergy
Jim Wells, Wellsco Graphic Solutions
LIB Advisory Panel
None Present
Arkansas Geographic Information Office
Mr. Shelby Johnson, State Geographic Information
Coordinator
Mr. Learon Dalby, GIS Program Manager
Ms. Leann Winston, GIS Intern
Guests
N/A
----------------
The meeting was called to order. The minutes of the last meeting of March 19, 2002 were approved with a minor correction and accepted unanimously.
Report of the State Geographic Information Coordinator
PCI Imaging Software Training
Shelby Johnson reported that they traveled to Fairfax, Virginia for training on the satellite imaging remote sensing software package that will be used in the office. It is the primary tool that handles all of the Raster functions on GeoStor in Fayetteville. He explained there were several things they learned in the training that will benefit the office and the board down the road. One of the features this software provides is a DOQQ Generation component so we would have the capacity to generate our own DOQQ’s if it was ever needed.
USGS State Mapping Workshop
The State Mapping Workshops are workshops that are held for the different regions of the USGS as it relates to the National Mapping Division. One of the things this workshop is designed to do is to allow the USGS to interact with the State and local Governments to get feedback, listen to concerns and suggestions about the mapping program and various activities that they undertake. Shelby attended the workshop representing the State of Arkansas and also representing the National States Geographic Information Council. One of the most significant things learned was that now under the National Map Program they are interested in taking advantage of higher resolution, higher quality local level data in the national map effort. Another significant thing learned was the “One Hundred Twenty Cities” effort. The list of cities was devised by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), the mapping arm of the U.S. Department of Defense. Their role in mapping has been to find and archive map information about places, usually on foreign soil, and supply mapping information to different branches of the Department of Defense for planning.
Shortly after September 11 the Department of Defense for the first time in many years looked internally at the quality of the mapping information inside the U. S. borders. They tasked NIMA with the role of developing map data sets for the U. S. that are strategic points. NIMA recognized that they did not have expertise in that area so they came to USGS National Mapping Division and asked USGS to help coordinate local, best-in-class data for these one hundred twenty cities. The purpose of this activity is to build best available data sets that are in the public domain for the use of first responders in the event of an attack or in response to a disaster or emergency. One of the things USGS has been doing is absorbing this high-level data development activity from within their existing budget. One of the things they are doing now is recognizing state boards, state councils, and state coordinators and asking their coordination and recruiting people to work on ensuring that we pull together the best local-level data. Initial activity has centered on contacting Chuck Baclawski and the Pulaski area GIS and begin to look at some of the high level data that they have available.
NIMA has built a draft of critical infrastructure feature types that will be included in this one hundred twenty cities project. Nationwide, for these one hundred twenty cities, they are looking for high quality location data which include things like banking and finance, government buildings, schools, hospitals, water treatment facilities, bridges, airports and typical things that a first responder would need to know. NIMA has placed four million dollars in funding for this effort and USGS has placed one million dollars for a total of five million dollars in the effort to focus on acquiring “best in class” data for these one hundred twenty cities. “Best in class data” is defined as most recent and best resolution or best scale.
National Map
Shelby reported that the National Map activity is moving forward. They just rolled out the state of Delaware and the state of Utah. We hope to also get Arkansas involved and on the agenda to be a national map site. We have in draft form a MOU between the state and USGS for the national map which effectively says both the USGS and the state of Arkansas are interested in working together on the national map.
America View Consortium
An example of a recent graphic utilizing data through the Arkansas America View method which utilizes GeoStor, along with a press release was sent out to all of the members of the Arkansas Press Association. To our knowledge we don’t know of anyone publishing it. More importantly the press release and the graphics were sent to the Congressional Delegation in D.C. with a cover letter that explained that these are the kinds of products and examples of things that we could do in Arkansas, if in the future Congress decided to put dollars in the program to expand the America View program. We have gotten positive responses from Senator Lincoln’s office and Congressman Barry’s office. They have put in letters of request to the chairman of the Interior Appropriations Committee. After speaking with the person working on this project in D.C. they do not anticipate the funding will come through in FY 03. There may be opportunity for funding in FY 04. .
AR Digital Ortho Program
Shelby passed out an email from Ralph Storey informing him that as of April 26, 2002 the USGS has completed the final inspection and acceptance for the Arkansas NAPP specification photography flown for the digital orthophotography program.
Arkansas Centerline Street File
Shelby reported that in his absence Learon lead the Centerline I Team meeting. He announced the addition of LeAnn Winston to the staff. She will be assisting with writing activities and will help in getting us published in different places. Shelby said out of all the data sets that we have studied in the I Team Plan, knowing what we know now with the huge shift in homeland security, the National Map, NIMA and the One Hundred and Twenty Cities effort we need to get our centerlines taken care of. This should be the most strategically important thing we tackle in the next couple of years.
Arkansas School District Boundary File
Shelby reported the redistricting office started this project and they have not been able to get this project pushed along as far as they would like due to lack of expertise and skill sets. They are going to actively be working with the GIS Applications Lab at UALR. Phyllis Smith will be leading this effort. A couple of people from Phyllis’s office will be assisting us in completing the Mosaics of the ADOP data which will assist them in completing the school district boundary update from the county mosaics. This accomplishes the objective of getting the school district boundary updated which is very much needed.
MIDAmerica GIS Consortium
Suzanne Wiley reported we had excellent representation. Shelby added we were third in attendance behind Kansas and Missouri. Arkansas was recognized as a leader and had more presenters than any other on the program.
GeoStor
Status of GeoStor Development and Usage
Shelby reported that the usage has continued to grow. He stated that the one thing that sets us apart is the format delivery. Delivery capability of other states is one or two formats and it is clear after looking at different software formats that are being downloaded that there are a number of people who use AutoCAD, MapInfo, and MicroStation that couldn’t get data otherwise.
Shelby announced that GeoStor will be down May 16 - 20 due to a construction project going on in Ozark Hall where the system resides.
Board Decisions and Old Business
I-Team Plan Update
Learon reported that the Arkansas Centerline File Team met and is continuing to move forward. There has not been anything done to the actual I Team Plan itself since the last meeting. Discussion followed concerning the Geodetic I Team recommendations to be included in the I Team Plan. Bill Bush commented that the ASPS does not have the authority to set surveying standards. He suggested they be developed by the land survey office since they have the legislative authority. Susan will let Mike Garner know of the changes.
Update on SR22 - Electronic Plat Filing Project
Suzanne Wiley reported there was meeting held at UAM to help define the cost of electronic plat filing. There were several members from the State Surveyor’s Office and the State Land Office attending. A document that the Legislative Committee of the Arkansas Professional Surveyors Association put together was handed out depicting what they think should happen and what laws need to be changed and how the data should be distributed.
ASDI Policies
Suzanne Wiley suggested a meeting date be set for the ASDI subcommittee.
Report on SDSFIE Efforts
Shelby reported the Arkansas GIS Users Forum met and gave a rollout on the SDSFIE and got a lot of people enthused about taking a look at this standard. A list serve was created and a website developed to survey people about the SDSFIE. Training is bottle necked at this time. In order to get a training class locally on the standard from the Corps of Engineers will cost $10,000.00. The other alternative would be to attend classes in Vicksburg. There is an initiative being taken to get someone from Vicksburg to come here and do a one morning or afternoon presentation on the standard.
GIS Certification
A new draft has been issued on the certification. The new draft is based more on experience rather than credentials.
New Business
Meeting Attendance Requirements
The Governor’s Policy Directive on State Boards & Commission Attendance was distributed to the group. It was decided the directive should be sent out to all members of the board. A letter will be sent to the Governor’s Office when anyone misses three consecutive meetings and the Governor will likely reappoint. This is no longer policy but Arkansas Code Annotated 25-16-804.
Homeland Security
Learon reported that Bud Harper, Director of the Department of Emergency Management who is also the head of the Homeland Security efforts in Arkansas, organized a meeting of all state agency executives. The State of Arkansas Homeland Security Overview and Initial Status Report was passed out to the group. Learon pointed out that GIS was not mentioned during the meeting or in the report. He did have a small opportunity to explain what GIS was. He said it did spark some interest and he had some questions after the meeting concerning GIS. Learon proposed to the board that a letter/formatted document be prepared that can be directly inserted into the initial Homeland Security document to describe the background and who the board is and what the Geographic Information Office is and list the strengths and weaknesses. The Department of Emergency Management will have an important role in how federal funds are distributed. Input to the initial document might ensure we would not miss out on potential funds that might come down through the Department of Emergency Management. There was no deadline but Learon indicated it should be done soon.
GIS Domain For State Strategic Plan
Susan announced that Susanne Wiley is chairing the Executive CIO Council. Suzanne reported that Randall Bradford and his staff are putting together a State IT Plan which identifies eight to ten domains. Suzanne has written a proposal to include a GIS Technologies domain in the state plan. The CIO Council, in a meeting last week, moved to accept this as a part of the state IT plan. Randall will take it before the Information Technology Oversight Committee for their input.
Legislative Issues
Shelby said he expected the surveyors will ask that we be involved in the plat filing activity. With that in mind he related the board needs to be knowledgeable about and plan to make a position on it. He also mentioned the Assessment Coordination Department has thirty one counties that will start their second cycle of reappraisal and as a part of that they are asking those counties to plan for special projects. One of the things they have listed as a special project is their mapping.
Shelby said they recently had an opportunity to present an hour presentation on mapping and the use of GeoStor to these counties. There is a plan to do a GeoStor workshop for assessors to show them how GeoStor works and show them what data is in GeoStor that they might be able to use. Shelby related that this is not a legislative activity but our law tells us that we are suppose to develop an implementation cost plan for statewide.
There was discussion concerning protocol on how to get legislative issues before the legislature.
May Joint Committee Meeting
Susan announced that the next meeting of the Joint Committee would be My 14, 2002 at 10:00 a.m. Room 151. Susan and Shelby will attend and give an update.
Future Meeting Dates
Regular Meeting Times
Tentative date for the next meeting is June 18 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Meeting adjourned at 4:25 p.m.
