National, Statewide, Local, and Vendor specific GIS Data Standards

National, Statewide, Local, and Vendor specific GIS Data Standards

Last Updated (Friday, 12 February 2010 14:17) Written by Brian Armstrong Tuesday, 29 December 2009 09:24

To: MN Counties GIS Association - MCGISA

Date: 12/28/09

Re: National, Statewide, Local, and Vendor specific GIS Data Standards

Data standardization seems to be one of the more popular discussion items at work lately. The need to adjust GIS data sets maintained locally to work more efficiently for the projects we are charged with has many GIS managers studying what makes most sense for our organizations and, as importantly, what can be accomplished with the time and resources we have available. The use of GIS is expanding and maturing across our nation requiring data standardization at all levels of government.

MnGeo ( the Minnesota Geospatial Information Office) was recently created through state legislation to coordinate GIS in Minnesota.  The Digital Cadastral Data Committee, previously known as Land Records Modernization provides recommendations to MnGeo regarding statewide standards.  DCDC’s Attribute Subcommittee is currently working on the development of a statewide standardized set of data fields for use with parcel mapping. Metro GIS- a regional group of seven counties -  has already developed, for their member counties, a standardized set of approximately 65 attributes. MnGeo’s DCDC committee is studying that list as a starting point for a possible Minnesota standard.

Nationwide, Next Generation 9-1-1 systems are being implemented resulting in the development of national map data standards for emergency response automatic location identification. The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) has a number of technical documents posted describing current recommendations. Link: http://www.nena.org/technical-standards   When studying our County’s 9-1-1 mapping software data specifications and the NENA standards, there were some differences.

It is my understanding that the United States Postal Service may soon become a more engaged participant to assist in the development of a more accurate Zip Code service area boundary dataset. The Zip Code number is a nationally recommended attribute for road centerlines used in emergency response applications.

Minnesota is currently implementing phase 1 of a Statewide Selective Routing Next Generation 9-1-1 Network project. This change for 9-1-1 involves 3 phases over the next three years; when completed GIS based mapping will serve as the backbone to route emergency 9-1-1 calls to the appropriate service centers throughout our state and eventually our nation. Once GIS mapping is routing the 9-1-1 calls, rather than routing by tabular databases, mapping data standards will become essential.

With Census 2010 about to commence, most county GIS departments have been inundated with data change and update requests. To satisfy the Census Bureau data requests, because their data standards were different than ours, it made sense for us to modify our current address point attribute fields. By adding a few new fields we can now more quickly answer questions regarding change. This is another national program that will require ongoing GIS based participation by counties in the future.

Road centerlines, address points, parcels, emergency service zones, etc. are all datasets being maintained by counties that in the near future, if not already, will be integrated into larger systems outside counties. The use of GIS is growing, with that comes more stringent data standards and often times necessary data restructuring. Consider participating on a committee or organization that is studying the changes that will be necessary for our Counties and Minnesota to stay on track with our nation.

For more information about GIS data standards already in place, visit: http://www.gis.state.mn.us/committee/stand/

Contact MnGeo and participate on one of the subcommittees working on the development of GIS standards.   Link: http://www.mngeo.state.mn.us/


Gloria Stevenson
President - MCGISA
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Gloria Stevenson
GIS Coordinator / Dept. Mgr.
347 Central Ave, Suite 1
Long Prairie, MN 56347
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Phone:   320-732-4248
Fax:        320-732-6345