Coordinating Statewide and Regional GIS Policy: The Role of CGIA and BAR-GC

Mike Skowronek• GIS Coordinator, Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)• Board Member, California Geographic Information Association (CGIA)• Vice-Chair, Bay Area Regional GIS Council (BAR-GC)

Who’s Who?• CGC = California GIS Council

(aka “State GIS Council” or “the Council”)

• RGC = Regional GIS Council• BAR-GC = Bay Area Regional GIS Council• CGIA = California Geographic Information

Association

• BAAMA = Bay Area Automated Mapping Association

• URISA = Urban & Regional Information Systems Association

• Formed to collaborate on the planning, implementation and maintenance of a California GIS infrastructure

• Participation of local collaboratives (Regional GIS Councils) is a key element

• Input from local government and private sector is seen as essential to council success

California GIS Council

http://gis.ca.gov/council/index.epl

California GIS Council Members(as of August 2003)

• 7 reps from State Government• 7 reps from Federal Government• 11 reps from Regional Groups and Associations

(including RGCs)

• Chair: Secretary of State Resources Agency– Secretary Chrisman (formerly Secretary Nichols)

• 2 Vice-Chairs: 1 Federal Government rep and 1 Regional Group rep– Donna Hansen (City of Modesto)– Alan Mikuni (USGS)

http://www.cgia.org

CGIA

The Purpose of CGIA is to promote the effective use of Geographic Information in California

CGIA Board Members• 2 City Government reps • 2 County Government reps • 2 Education reps • 2 Federal Government reps • 2 Private Business reps• 2 Professional Societies or Non-Profit reps• 2 Public Utility reps• 2 Regional Government reps• 2 State Government reps

• Chair: Joe Concannon, SACOG• Vice-Chair: Craig Gooch, Psomas

• Fosters regional GIS coordination• Identifies and encourages data

sharing opportunities• Provides input to the California

GIS Council

• Jurisdiction is the nine-county Bay Area

http://www.baama.org/bargc

BAR-GC

BAR-GC Members

14 "Standing" Seats• ABAG• BAAMA• MTC• City/County of San Francisco• City of Oakland (vacant)• City of San Jose

• County of Alameda (vacant)

• County of Contra Costa

• County of Marin

• County of Napa

• County of San Mateo

• County of Santa Clara

• County of Solano (vacant)

• County of Sonoma

25 seats, but everyone is welcome to participate in all meetings

11 “At Large" Seats• CA Office of Emergency Services, Coastal Region

• Union Sanitary District

• CA Regional Water Quality Control Bd, SF Bay Region

• MarinMap

• City of Berkeley

• City of Concord

• City of Santa Rosa

• San Francisco Estuary Institute

• 3 vacant seats

• Chair: Elizabeth (Lis) Klute, Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff

• Vice-Chair: Mike Skowronek, Metropolitan Transportation Commission

CGIA Forms

93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04

GIS Coordination: It’s About Time

BAR-GC Forms &Begins Project Work

Geogr.Info.Task

ForceRepor

t

LosesSup-port

FGDC Grant for Metadata Catalog (CERES)

State-wide GIS Council Effort Begins

Governor Vetoes

Strategic Info.

Investment Act

CGIA Sponsors Strategic

Info. Investme

nt Act

DOIT Closes& State

GIO Position Vacated

CGIA Offers Suppor

t to State GIS

Council

GovernorWilson

GovernorDavis

GovernorSchwarzenegger

CGIA Starts

Regional GIS

Council Work-shops

State GIS

Council Updates Charter

State GIS Council CGIA BAR-GCKEY:

State GIS

Council Forms

CGIA Policy Initiatives

CGIA’s First MajorSuccess

• 1995 grant from Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)– CGIA partnered with the California

Resources Agency – Create the California Environmental

Information Catalog– The catalog has grown to over 4,000

metadata entries of state, federal and local governments

California Environmental Information Catalog

http://ceres.ca.gov/catalog

• 1996 – 1997: CGIA Sponsored the Strategic Geographic Information Investment Act under AB3431 and AB1293– Develop State GIS Advisory Board under the

Dept. of Information Technology– Develop a Grant Program for maintenance of GIS

Infrastructure Layers across California– Set standards for development of these data

• Governor’s Veto in 1998

CGIA’s Attempt to Legislate GIS Coordination

CGIA Becomes a Resource for the GIS Community

• Peer Resources Database: http://www.cgia.org/experts

• Legislation Watch: http://www.cgia.org/legislation

• Annual Awards Program

• Stay tuned: Web site and Listservs will be redesigned and improved soon

http://www.cgia.org

CGIA launches programs and web site to serve as a resource for the GIS community

CGIA Facilitates RGCs• California GIS Council

(CGC) fosters the development of Regional GIS Councils (RGCs)

• CGC develops an RGC application form

• Several RGCs form and apply for CGC recognition

• CGIA initiates a series of RGC Formation Workshops via teleconference

CGIA Recommends Policies to California GIS Council

http://www.cgia.org/news/news.asp

Adopt the CERES Environmental Information Catalog as the state’s official metadata catalog and maintain it

Promote cooperative data acquisition among agencies and seek funding for collaborative GIS programs

Develop a priority list of infrastructure layers and adopt a funding program to collect/maintain these data

Fund a central authority in State government to coordinate and be accountable for spatial data

CGIA asked the State Council to adopt these policies

CGIA Lobbies for GIS in the Wake of Budget Cuts

• Budget constraints remove most of the Resources Agency budget for GIS Coordination

• The new Administration’s key-advisors are not aware of past coordination initiatives

• CGIA is attempting to educate decision makers• CGIA is lobbying for the continuation of the State

Council and Metadata Catalog• CGIA is fishing for funding sources to support

statewide GIS initiatives

BAR-GC Projects and their Effect on Policy

2002-2003BAR-GC Projects

• Regional Street Centerline Stitching: 27 votes• Regional Homeland Security Data Server: 27 votes• MOU for Data Distribution: 14 votes• Regional Watershed Layer Development: 12 votes

• Regional Projects/Development Standards for BAR-GC Projects: 9 votes

• Regional Parcel Stitching: 9 votes

• Regional Habitat Conservation Plan: 7 votes

• Regional Storm Drain Project: 6 votes

• MOU for Projects: 4 votes

• Regional Grid (i.e. Tiling) Standard: 1 vote

Let your “Dots” do your Talking

In August 2002, the BAR-GC prioritized the following projects by having each person in attendance place 5 dots next to the project(s) they felt were most important

Regional Street Centerline Stitching

• Sponsor– Metropolitan Transportation

Commission (M. Skowronek)

• Major Steps:– Flag Streets– Edit Streets– Merge Attributes– Merge Spatial Data– Provide Data back to Counties– Share Data (hopefully)

• Current Status:– 6 of 9 Counties Complete

Bay Area Regional Homeland Security Data Server (BAR-HSDS)

• Sponsor– Contra Costa County (E. Klute, J.

Huie)

• Make basemap and critical infrastructure data available to first responders at time of major disasters/incidents

• Establish network of servers in the region

• Partner with Open GIS Consortium (OGC)

• Implement OGC standards/specs• Current Status:

– Completed White Paper / Proposal– Applying for funding from

Department of Homeland Security

MOU for Data Distribution

• Working Group:– A. Lodge, B. Joffe, F. Vogler, E.

Seamon, J. Kapellas

• Framework for Data Distribution amongst BAR-GC Constituents

• Fist use will be for BAR-HSDS

• Current Status:– Draft completed– Workshop planned to get input

from County reps (first week of March?)

Regional Watershed Layer Development

• Sponsor– Regional Water Quality Control Board (J.

Kapellas)

• Facilitate Updating the Bay Area portion of CalWater/Watershed Boundary Data

• Watershed Delineation Workshops in August 2003

– Taught standards for watershed delineation– Got input and data from local constituents – Updated the watershed data– 43 participants achieved consensus on the

delineation of watersheds to the 6th level

• Next Steps:– USBR will work to compile the data and submit

a draft for public review/comment

2004 BAR-GC Projects

• Matrix of GIS Applications and GIS Data (document GIS benefits): 18 votes• Formalize BAR-GC Governance as a Legal Entity: 14 votes• Stitch City/County Boundaries: 12 votes• Regional Data Repository: 10 votes

• Regional Cadastral Dataset: 8 votes• Strategy to Update HAZUS Layers: 7 votes• Regional Photography (project initiated): 6 votes• Plan for National Map Implementation: 6 votes• GIS Road Show Presentations to Constituent Groups (i.e. Assessors Conference): 6 votes• Regional Contours (5 to 10 foot): 6 votes

• White Paper of Best Practices on Data Development & Regional Sharing: 4 votes• Solicit Data from Public Agencies (wetlands, ecology, soils, geology, vegetation): 3 votes• Standardize Street Centerline Attributes across Counties: 2 votes• Building Footprints for Major Public Facilities: 2 votes• 3D Regional Model: 2 votes• Regional Storm Drain Layer: 1 vote• Participate in ODC Phase II (data distribution policy implementation): 1 vote• Research Tools to Clean Data & “Recycle” data: 1 vote• Regional Grid (cross-county map tiling): 0 votes• Metadata Promotion: 0 votes• HAZMAT Facilities: 0 votes

January 2004 “Dot Voting” Results

How Can You Help?It’s Easy to Get Involved!!!

• Participate in and Support BAAMA• Join CGIA: http://www.cgia.org/members/join_cgia.html

• Consider a Position on the CGIA Board• Attend the next BAR-GC meeting

– Thursday April 8, 2004– 10AM to Noon– 101 Eighth St. (tentative location)

• Volunteer for a BAR-GC Project Team

• Ask not what GIS can do for you, but what you can do for GIS