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2009 Governor's Commendation

A Minnesota Governor's Commendation award for GIS will be presented at the GIS/LIS Conference in Duluth, Minnesota, October 22, 2009 to:
 

Formation of a County-Wide GIS Alliance -- Goodhue County, MN

Alliance Mission Statement: To serve as a forum for Goodhue County area public and private entities to share information, ideas, and strategies utilizing geospatial data and to form strategic partnerships to better utilize this data to promote community and economic development throughout the region.

Goodhue County Survey and GIS staff initiated this alliance since they recognized a need for the local communities to have common digital geo-referenced datasets, and also to have reliable access to the power of GIS through an internet website.

Understanding that smaller agencies often cannot afford GIS software, staff, or the cost of creating and maintaining datasets, and understanding that larger agencies want to rely on seamless datasets outside their boundaries and regularly updated data such as imagery, it was important to find a way to form an alliance to address this range of issues.

Although the County is the source for many of the base GIS layers such as parcels, centerlines, contours, and imagery, it does not have a business need to provide, nor maintain, city-specific information on the online GIS mapping site. However, the county has made the investment in the hardware, software, maintenance, and staff to provide a robust GIS solution that would encompass many of the basic needs for the internal communities. As local elected officials look for ways to partner with their counterparts to reduce costs, this initiative provides an excellent example of collaboration and building upon existing resources through sharing data, technology, and expertise.
 

For more information, see:

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