LMIC Receives Grant to Improve Structures Data By John Hoshal, Land Management Information Center
The Minnesota Land Management Information Center (LMIC) and its project partners have received a 2008 National Spatial Data Infrastructure CAP grant to improve data available for four types of structures in Minnesota:
Schools (public and private)
Hospitals and clinics
Police stations
Fire stations
Funded by the Federal Geographic Data Committee, this project seeks to develop partnerships and the technical capacity for the statewide collection, publication and long term, sustainable maintenance of this data.
Minnesota Structures Collaborative – An Initiative to Support the National Map and NSDI is intended to:
Identify existing public/private GIS data resources in Minnesota for structures data.
Identify custodians of the most accurate and complete versions of schools, hospitals/clinics, police stations and fire station locations.
Determine minimum attribution requirements for each data type. Consideration will be given to attributes that may not be publicly available due to national security concerns.
Ensure that data is documented using FGDC and Minnesota metadata standards.
Harvest available data and assess its resolution, accuracy, completeness and currency.
Propose a stewardship program for each custodian of each structure type that will ensure its yearly update, long-term maintenance and availability. This program will emphasize engaging local government in the process.
Publish the structures data for public consumption through existing federal and state data clearinghouses, portals and web services.
