Ten Recommendations in Support of Geospatial Data Sharing

Data sharing between government agencies is a growing part of the North Carolina GIS culture and a foundation principle for the NC OneMap program. To advance this objective the Geographic Information Coordinating Council adopted ten recommendations for geospatial data sharing at the November 7, 2007 meeting.

Recommendations at a Glance

Avoid formal agreements between agencies
Web access for data handling and distribution
Establish secure access sites when necessary
Free data exchange between government agencies
Publish single point of contact for data within each organization
Employ regional solutions for data collection and data sharing when appropriate
Acquire data only from original sources and official outlets
Establish archive and long term data access strategies
Display NC OneMap brand on collaborative websites
Outreach to local governments and state agencies

Click here for the full report.

The attachments referenced in the recommendations, include:

Attachment A: Requests by State Agencies for Geospatial Data Produced by Local Government
Attachment B: Guidelines for Providing Appropriate Access to Geospatial Data in Response to Security Concerns
Attachment C: NC OneMap Implementation: Initial Data Layers to Serve
Attachment D: Data Sharing Committee Business Case Summaries
Attachment D1: American Forests and CITYGreen, “Calculating the Value of Nature”
Attachment D2: Parcel Data and Hurricane Isabel: A Case Study

Background on the Data Sharing ad hoc Committee

At the August 16, 2006 meeting of the Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC), the chair of the Local Government Committee (LGC) presented a report describing issues related to state government agencies’ requests to local governments for local government data, such as land ownership (parcel) data and orthophotography. The LGC report documented the problems; described the burden that these requests place on local governments with limited staff and resources; and summarized the major issues involved, including:

Redistribution of Data by a State Agency—Local and state policies vary
Data Currency
Space Limitations
Documentation
Formal Agreements

The LGC initially recommended “…that the state designate a single state agency to serve as a clearinghouse for all data requests by state government agencies to local governments,” but acknowledged that “…a mix of policy, process, and technology solutions will be required to solve the problem.”

The GICC established an ad hoc committee on February 7, 2007 to study the problem and develop specific recommendations. The committee (Local/State/Regional/Federal ad hoc Committee for Data Sharing), which included representatives from all government sectors and others from the NC GIS community, first met on March 17. Chaired by GICC member Bill Holman the group presented a draft set of recommendations at the GICC’s August 8 meeting. These were extensively reviewed by the Local Government Committee and other user committees. A final version incorporating that feedback was presented and adopted as policy at the November 7, 2007 GICC meeting.