Present were (authorized to vote *):
| Mahendra Bansal
Rose Braun Jim Brown Dennis Burling Dick Genrich Val Goodman Erik Hubl Ed Kelley Jim Langtry Bob Lewis Jim Merchant Yvonne Norton-Leung Jon Ogden Sandy Powell Ethel Skinner Chris Staton Jerry Steinke Duane Stott Stu Sutherland Boyd Ready Scott Richert Dennis Wilson Paul Yamamoto Larry K. Zink |
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Natural Resources Commission
Nebraska Department of Roads State Surveyor Department of Environmental Quality Department of Roads Legislative Research Lancaster County Assessor's Office Nebraska Department of Roads Lancaster County Engineer's Office Milestone Solutions Conservation and Survey Divsion - UNL Policy Research Department of Roads City of Hastings, Engineering Dept. Property Tax Division USGS Central NE Public Power and Irrigation District Scotts Bluff County Surveyor Professional Surveyor's Association Central NE Public Power and Irrigation District Lancaster County Assessor's Office City of Omaha Department of Environmental Quality Coordinator, GIS Steering Committee |
NOTICE OF MEETING: A public notice of the meeting, pursuant to Section 84-1411 R.R. S. 1943, was published in the Lincoln Journal-Star on March 5, 1998.
ROLL CALL: Chairperson Jim Brown called the meeting to order at approximately 1:20 p.m. and requested a call of the roll. Ten duly authorized representatives were present at the time of the roll call. Therefore, a quorum was present to conduct business.
MINUTES: Chairperson Jim Brown requested approval for the February minutes. Yvonne Norton-Leung moved for the minutes of the February 19, 1998 Steering Committee meeting to be approved as distributed. Dennis Burling seconded the motion. As no discussion was desired, Larry Zink called roll and the motion passed unanimously (see vote #1 on attached Voting Record sheet).
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS FOR MULTI-PURPOSE LAND INFORMATION SYSTEMS: Erik Hubl reported that the Advisory Committee had met again and that they try to meet every time the Steering Committee meets. He expressed concern about asking out of town Committee members to drive in to Lincoln without compensation and indicated they were exploring the option of telephone conferencing. He stated that the Advisory Committee was deep into the base map section but that they were not yet ready to present to the Steering Committee what they want to do with it. He explained that what it essentially comes down is a question of whether the base map will be a land base map or a DOQQ. Larry Zink added that the Committee has begun a dialogue with the Property Tax division in an attempt to discover what they might be interested in selecting from the broader list of guidelines and standards to propose for regulations. Cathy Lang had offered earlier to look at updating their regulations in this area. Larry hopes that some of what the Advisory Committee is doing can be incorporated into their standards. Erik explained that the Property Tax Division had set a tentative goal of having new regulations determined by the end of the year. Further, they had accepted an additional burden of working with several counties, and the Advisory Committee has chosen to assist by addressing some basic principles and ideas in property tax regulations. He finished by requesting feedback regarding the standards posted on the website. Larry Zink added that Ethel Skinner had specifically requested input from the county assessors and other efforts are underway to solicit feedback from the professional surveyors regarding the first two parts, particularly for the geodetic control section.
PLSS PILOT PROJECT UPDATE: Chairperson Jim Brown reported that the project has not moved forward much. The data entry to be done by the Games and Parks Commission and the Natural Resources District has not been completed. Merrick County seems to be more responsive, with some data now entered. Adams County continues to be ahead, but they suffered some setbacks. First, Adams County borrowed some equipment, which was blown over by the wind twice and required repairs. The second problem was a hard drive crash with no backup. They lost some data, but Adams County has observed much more than was intended. The project is still on target for a spring completion.
NEBRASKA TECHNOLOGY COORDINATION INITIATIVE AND GIS RELATED LEGISLATION: Yvonne Norton-Leung stated that LB 924 is moving along briskly. There was some intense discussion by several senators. Regarding the GIS sections of the bill, only a portion of the money requested was retained. Funding for moving the state surveyor's package forward is included but the additional money that provides for the support system for the Committee and for Larry Zink's operation was not. It is the recommendation that LB924 will continue moving through and that the remaining money, if it is to be available, will come as part of a budget package in the next year. Larry Zink commented that, it was his understanding, that the removal of the funding for the GIS Steering Committee was part of an attempt to pare down the 3 million-dollar price tag associated with the LB 924 and not anything specific related to the Committee. Yvonne noted that one of the drawbacks of being included in a larger package is that your concerns become part of the compromise effort. The cost has been dropped to 1.2 million dollars. Part of the problem is an educational gap. The people who are aware of the value of GIS technology are involved in the effort while those making the decisions regarding allocation of resources do not have the necessary knowledge. Larry observed that when the Legislative committee had been searching for places to cut, there had been no one available with the necessary knowledge to act as an advocate. Yvonne stated that in the goals and objectives, the Steering Committee had recognized that information about what GIS is and its potential uses was not reaching the broader audience. She commented that the discussion regarding information sharing between agencies and different levels of government had been brutal. There is a question as to the necessity of technology and loss of local control over decision making.
Jim Merchant recalled a briefing for state senators held at Platte River State Park several years ago. He wondered if this might be an opportunity to do something similar. Yvonne believes it is not just an opportunity but an imperative. Jim could not initially remember how it had gotten started. Val Goodman said it was an issues symposium and had occurred in 1991. Two people from Kentucky were brought in prior to the legislative session to talk about GIS and redistricting. Yvonne noted that we are going into a redistricting right after the census. She feels that this December is a perfect time to set up something similar to the '91 symposium, particularly considering that there will be a new legislature. Val observed that it would be more likely to take place in the year 2000. In that year, there will be a large number of new senators who will need educating on GIS. Yvonne pointed out that because it is a budget issue, educational efforts cannot wait that long. The most effective form of communication when dealing with technical issues would seem to be a one-on-one demonstration, tailored to each senator's individual interests.
Larry Zink noted that he found himself in a difficult situation. Because he is a state employee, he cannot lobby for GIS issues in the legislature. If the Steering Committee wants to be actively involved in the legislative decision making process, someone else will need to spearhead the effort. Yvonne commented that many of the other Committee members also had conflicts.
ORGANIZING OURSELVES TO ACHIEVE OUR LONG-RANGE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: Chairperson Jim Brown stated that Tom Lamberson, Yvonne Norton-Leung, and Jon Ogden had agreed to serve on a subcommittee related to the Organizational Processes and Structures goal. Jim suggested that the subcommittee did not need to meet very often and proposed email and phone conversations as alternatives. This subcommittee is a method of recognizing where the Steering Committee is and where it is going as well as keeping track of the long-term goals. Yvonne expressed her understanding of this subcommittee as an action committee, which is charged with developing an operational action plan. Larry pointed out that the Interim Planning Committee recommended the subcommittee lead the Steering Committee through the process of refining its structure and processes. Jim Brown added that in the past the Steering Committee has had a tendency to create subcommittees without testing and tracking to make sure that the objectives were being accomplished and ensuring adherence to completing long-term goals should be a function of this subcommittee. Yvonne commented that many other active groups are now making periodic reports to the Information Resources Council. She suggested that perhaps the Steering Committee needs to become more proactive by putting GIS information up on the IRC website and making the Steering Committee a project that provides a monthly report to the IRC. These steps will create a higher profile for the group and will reach higher political levels.
Larry said that for discussion purposes he had put together a list of 18 potential committees that seemed to naturally fall out of the goals adopted by the Steering Committee and other currently endorsed projects. The next question is whether there is enough energy and willingness available from the Steering Committee to make the committees work or does the subcommittee need to step back and reevaluate the approach.
A decision needs to be made as to whether these potential committees have enough support from the Steering Committee to be staffed. Larry explained that his time is committed to standards work for local governments, working with Jim on the PLSS Pilot Project, the Mid American Symposium and the Nebraska GIS Symposium. Unless the Steering Committee decides to redirect Larry's time, he would only have the time available to help facilitate committees. Jim Merchant wanted to know if a decision had been made to hire an intern. Larry responded that it was still on the table, but that interns took a great deal of time and effort to initially train. As a long-term goal, Larry agreed that an intern should be hired, but he does not believe it will be a major net gain, particularly not in the next three months. Yvonne pointed out that with respect to recruiting committee members, the pool of potential candidates is much larger than just the Steering Committee, although the committees certainly would require coordination. She expressed concern that putting together 18 committees was a daunting task. Larry indicated that he anticipated the number of committees would be pared down and that the initial list was for discussion purposes only.
Jon Ogden presented his view of seven standing subcommittees that would oversee particular projects and would appoint working groups to be in charge. The question in his mind is where to find the workers and how to encourage them to join in the effort. A base group needs to be selected that possesses the right expertise and interests to oversee the working groups. Because the Steering Committee does not have the time and manpower to serve on these additional subcommittees, he proposed one major question was how to expand the Steering Committee to provide a larger pool of candidates. Duane Stott advocated having members of the Steering Committee serve as the chair or liaison on each of the subcommittees and reporting on the groups' activities each month. The remainder of the subcommittee could be drawn from the general public as there are a large number of people in the community involved in GIS activities who would be anxious to help.
Yvonne explained that her view of the division of the subcommittees consists of three parts; technical database component, education and longer term planning, and operational. The greatest difficulty she can see is finding people to serve on the operational committee, since the technical subcommittee is most likely to attract volunteers.
Jim Merchant commented that he did not believe the Steering Committee has made enough of a proactive effort to involve people from outside of Lincoln. He advocated the use of electronic tools to create virtual committees. The committees could then convene once or twice a year in person. Jim Brown stated his concern that the members of the Steering Committee would not be able to take on this additional responsibility and that the subcommittees would have to be created from outside people. There is still money granted from PSAN, which could be used to hire a graduate assistant to organize these committees and locate volunteers to serve. Jim Merchant suggested setting up list servers for the committees. Someone would still have to take the initiative to recruit committee members and get things going, but setting up and maintaining a list server is not very expensive or time consuming.
Jon Ogden noted that the reformation of the IRC as well as the creation of the Education and Community Councils offered the Steering Committee an opportunity to draw from the constituency of those groups by requesting a place on their agenda. Yvonne said that the Community Council has met once and the Education Council is meeting for the first time today. The IRC has met twice and is more likely to move more than the other two. She believes this is a good direction to head in, partly because it promotes awareness of GIS issues and invites participation. She suggested that perhaps the Organizational Subcommittee had enough information to work with and could come up with some proposals for the Steering Committee to look at. Jim Brown pointed out that the subcommittees would be expected to operate semi-autonomously because the Steering Committee could not divert any resources from current projects. Yvonne explained that the IRC uses that format already. If there is anything to report, the project leaders are given a five-minute time spot on the agenda for the next meeting. Jim Merchant proposed asking some of the professional organizations such as NACO, the League, the professional surveyors, the American Planning Association to nominate people to serve on some of these committees.
Stu Sutherland suggested that if the Committee did recruit outside people to serve that elected officials be avoided because they do not deal with the day to day problems that can be solved by GIS within their respective offices. The elected officials would be ideal to recommend persons within their offices who are cognizant of the real world problems. Jim Merchant pointed out that in some cases it would be very useful to have elected officials on the committee due to the inherently political nature of some of the proposed committees. Yvonne observed that she had never had the opportunity to turn down an elected official in this type of situation and that she did not believe there would be much interest from that direction.
Mahendra Bansal said that he thought the subcommittees should consist of five members instead of three so they could make more informed decisions. Jim Brown agreed, but pointed out that the committees needed to remain small in order to retain effectiveness. More input could be given via email. He reiterated his hope that a suitable intern could be located to organize the subcommittees because the Steering Committee does not have the resources to move forward with this project otherwise. Yvonne proposed actively seeking an intern who possesses suitable background knowledge and skills to effectively work with GIS issues. She stated that the Organizational Subcommittee would meet to discuss the options and would present their recommendations via email prior to the next Steering Committee meeting. Jim Brown added that the governor's initiative will solve the problem of lack of connectivity with the counties. Two of the PLSS pilot counties added email connections specifically for the project. Up until now, electronic access has been limited.
EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS:
FUTURE STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING DATES: Larry Zink had emailed a list of the proposed meeting dates for the next twelve months. They are all Thursdays and follow last year's dates fairly closely. Currently, May 21st is the only meeting date set. He is strongly recommending the July 23rd date because it is all he has available and there is an ESRI Conference, a URISA Conference, and many GIS related meetings in July. If the LB924 legislation passes, there will potentially be three new members at the table. The dates could be adjusted later if there is conflict, but Larry has confirmed the availability of the East Campus Union for these dates. Dennis Burling asked why no meeting was scheduled for the week of the 1999 Nebraska Symposium. Holding the meeting at the Cornhusker immediately following the symposium would facilitate education efforts and potentially reach a broader audience. Jim Merchant agreed, stating that one of the main values of having this conference is trying to get greater involvement with people outside of Lincoln. He can see no better way to involve them than to hold the Steering Committee meeting in conjunction with the 1999 Nebraska GIS Symposium. Jim Brown stated that these dates were the ones they were going to work with and if the May meeting could be arranged to coincide with the symposium, it could be changed later. He has been involved with that sort of thing before and conference demands tend to pull away people who generally attend the meeting. The meeting scheduled adopted by the Steering Committee for 1998-99 is as follows:
| 1998
Jul. 23 Sep. 24 Nov. 12 |
1999
Jan. 14 Mar. 11 May 20 |
Yvonne commented that a governor, who is ultimately responsible for the appointment, is occasionally not responsive to suggestions. He would normally make contact with some elected federal officials to determine the suitability of the potential candidate. Her suggestion would be to make a list of candidates for the governor to choose from. Larry asked if everyone was comfortable with the approach of informing the federal agencies that the Committee would like for them to organize themselves and draw up a list of names. Yvonne observed that this was an operational way of getting a group of federal agencies, who regularly work with the Committee to talk to each other when they otherwise might not. Further, this is a good way to invite participation with the Steering Committee at the federal level. Larry pointed out that in his experience, the federal agencies were also seeking ways to establish communication between the state and federal levels. Larry noted that he presumed the lack of any stated opposition to this suggested approach to federal agencies indicated a general support for the idea.
NEBRASKA CULTURAL RESOURCES GIS PROJECT - NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Larry Zink said that he did not have much to offer regarding this proposal other than the attached document. He explained that he had received this request from the Nebraska State Historical Society for a letter of support. Larry noted that about two years ago, the Steering Committee endorsed a pilot project aimed at developing an archeological data layer. Dick Genrich from the Department of Roads had some concerns regarding the proposal. The Department of Roads was named twice in the proposal as being cosponsors and Dick had never been contacted. He spoke with Jim Pearson, DOR, but he was only involved as a source of funding should the project be selected. Dick called around to see if there were other divisions who had been contacted regarding the project and could find no one. The end users of this project have no hardware of software to either help them jointly create the database or to use it and no money budgeted to acquire it. He has no problem with the project itself, but he does think it is strange that they are using the Department of Roads to help get it through.
Jim Merchant was the one who suggested the State Historical Society contact Larry. The Society asked Jim for a letter of recommendation but he did not feel he was the appropriate person to handle the request. He thought that it was an issue that should be brought before the Steering Committee for discussion. His impression in speaking with Teresa Jacobs was that the Society was planning on making a presentation to the Steering Committee. The project is a reasonable one, but he would like more information and suggested inviting them to come to brief the Committee. Larry asked how that related to the time line in terms of the grant money. Dick thought the deadline for the first presentation was in mid April. Larry said that if the Committee believes the project is worthwhile that they could support the concept while urging closer coordination with the Department of Roads and other involved agencies. Jim Merchant explained that as he understood it, the proposal was an attempt to automate the records of the Historical Society. Dick pointed out that they were using the Department of Roads to get the money from the enhancement fund and had not even spoken with them.
Yvonne expressed some concern about allowing the GIS Steering Committee's name to be invoked without thorough discussion about what they were endorsing. She feels that the Committee needs questions such as do they have the equipment, does the Committee have a conflict of interest because the Society is looking at using a certain type of funding for a different kind of purpose answered before supporting such a proposal. There is not enough information contained in the written proposal to offer approval. As GIS activities become more widely known, the Steering Committee's endorsement will come to mean something more and Yvonne would like for the Committee to develop a reputation for thoroughness and care in their recommendations.
Dick Genrich said that Jim Pearson expressed concern that the Historical Society was trying to do an in kind match. That issue was not addressed, nor was the hardware acquisition question discussed. He does not believe that there is enough information to move forward on this. It is a good project but they have not gone about setting it up in the most effective manner. Jim Merchant pointed out that this was a good example of an agency wanting to do something in the GIS arena that the Steering Committee has had almost no contact with. This is another pressing reason to invite outside agencies to participate more actively in the Steering Committee in some fashion.
Dick Genrich believes they will submit the proposal anyway, with or without the endorsement. The real question remains is the Committee going to provide endorsements on so little information. Yvonne offered to make a motion if there was a desire to vote on the issue, but she questioned whether the Committee wanted to go forward with a vote. Jim Merchant said that if he had to vote he would vote against supporting it because they did not make a presentation. He recommended they do so which is what he thought they were contacting Larry about. He proposed asking them to come make a presentation later to explain their project. Jim Langtry said that the Historical Society should work with the Steering Committee to coordinate the databases throughout the state. Yvonne stated that such an action would make it easier to obtain further funding down the road. She likes the idea of offering support and encouragement. Larry indicated that perhaps he should have been more proactive in encouraging them to attend the March Str. Cmte. meeting, and asked if he should invite them to appear in May. Yvonne suggested sending them a letter explaining that the Steering Committee took no action regarding their proposal due to lack of information and further, to invite them to come and make a presentation. Jim Brown volunteered to draft such a letter.
STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS UPDATES AND AGENCY GIS ACTIVITIES:
Larry attended the 9th Platte River Echo Symposium in Kearney last weekend. There does seem to be a lot of research and geospatial data development along the Platte River. One of his concerns was whether the people doing this research talking to one another or should he as coordinator be doing something. He believes they are talking to one another but it does not seem particularly organized or deliberate. However, he was not prepared to step forward and offer to coordinate efforts because he does not have the time. He did speak with the USGS and offered them the use of the listserve to coordinate Platte River data if they are interested. He has not received much response on that, but would like to offer it as a possibility. The question remains how to get the word out that it exists. With the tri-state cooperative agreement, there will be more coordination and leadership regarding the Platte River information. Larry noted that there is a Land Committee that is attempting to encourage or coordinate the development of several GIS data layers relative to the Platte. Larry Wells from the Land Committee called to alert Larry Zink of the meeting he attended. Larry Zink felt that Larry Wells wanted to make sure that the connection between the Land Committee and the GIS Steering Committee. One of the Land Committee members, who was present in the meeting, noted that he has also been pushing for greater involvement with the Steering Committee because he believes in the importance of everyone working together and sharing information. There are a number of studies being done in various parts of the Platte. As the higher resolution data gets developed, the importance of standards and guidelines in the hydrology arena are going to become more important.
Jim Merchant gave an update on the land cover mapping. Most of the group has already seen the original LANSAT mosaic that was done a year ago. As a result of that, they have been able to create a map of the state's land cover. This is the first one done in around twenty years but it has not been very thoroughly field checked as yet. Urban areas have not been covered yet. The intention is to put out a similar map this summer in both digital and paper format. This is a generalized picture of the land cover. It will be registered to all of the more common spatial data sets that are available through the state, the DLG's, the 100,000 DLG's, the 250,000 DEM's etc. Jim noted that it probably should not be used at scales greater than 1:100,000. For regional and statewide applications, this should perform fairly well, but for local studies it probably would not be appropriate. It does reflect 1992 data. There is already interest in updating the data for certain areas of the state. This map will be undergoing constant revision. They will be doing some enhancement along the Platte and the Niobrara. The resolution is ¼ acre but the classification does not warrant usage beyond 100,000 scale.
Jim Merchant also had another map available. It is a picture of Nebraska, which they have subset by county. It is available from the virtual Nebraska website.
Dennis Burling reported the DEQ homepage is now online as of nine days ago.
Larry Zink said that the GIS Str. Cmte. homepage had been updated to include links to the minutes and other reports that he is creating. He welcomes suggestions. Jim Merchant added that the newsletter will be available on the web this month. Yvonne suggested taking the NITC link to check in on the three councils and their activities. The agendas and reports can be accessed through the lieutenant governor's site or via the DAS site. She added that the IRC was attempting to become a paperless entity so all pertinent reports would be available a week in advance. Larry Zink asked if it would be beneficial for the Steering Committee to submit a formal communication to the IRC regarding the Committees goals and objectives. Yvonne said that was one of the reasons she wanted GIS linked through to their site. She believes it is important for the Steering Committee to make some sort of report as to how the Committee is moving forward and what projects they are involved in.
OTHER BUSINESS:
Duane Stott mentioned that in discussing the NACO annual meeting it
occurred to him that 'lidville' would be going into effect this year and
that any constructive suggestions regarding funding alternatives would
probably be appreciated by county officials. Yvonne suggested that consolidating
and using other data would be a constructive alternative. The other option
is to be proactive. The more people can be educated regarding the uses
and benefits of GIS solutions, the easier it will be to acquire funding.
The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be Thursday May 21, 1998 at 1:00 PM.
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| DAS - Rod Armstrong
. |
A | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| DEQ - Tom Lamberson
Dennis Burling |
P | + | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| CSD - Jim Merchant
Les Howard |
P | + | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| NRC - Dayle Williamson
Mahendra Bansal |
P | + | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| PRO - Yvonne Norton-
. |
P | + | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| DOR - Dick Genrich
Jon Ogden |
P | + | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| St.Surv - Jim Brown
. |
P | + | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| LRD - Val Goodman
. |
P | + | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| John Miyoshi
. |
A | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| Blaine Dinwiddie
. |
A | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| Cliff Welsh
. |
A | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| Larry Worrell
Jim Langtry |
P | + | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| Lash Chaffin
. |
A | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| Duane Stott
. |
P | + | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| Dennis Wilson
. |
P | + | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| TOTALS | 10 - P | 10 + | . | . | . | . | .
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