Be cautious when getting data interpreted. When writing a contract for data interpretation, make sure you specify in the contract that you will get the actual data! Otherwise, you may get paper maps and original data but no massaged data, and others may have to redo your work (or pay your contractor again for the massaged data you had already paid for). Data sharing can reduce paying for the same data twice as well as duplicating effort; some private companies will try to sell data they've contracted for again and again.
Make sure you specify that data needs to be all in the same format, and make sure you can USE the format!! Be VERY specific about what you need, how you need it, etc. Even if it all seems obvious, put it into the contract and then put it into metadata.
Carefully evaluate all data before you use it (especially before you pay for it!), because it may well be useless to you. Be careful and skeptical - one firm tried to sell 1 to 100,000 maps as 7.5 minute maps - they just cut the maps to look like 7.5 maps but didn't change the accuracy.
State offices tend to provide excellent digital data, and it tends to come with good metadata. Metadata standards are crucial, because even if everything is documented, if you don't understand the definitions, it doesn't matter how good the documentation is.
(These notes were transcribed from one FY 1995 GIS Workshop attendee's notes. The speaker was Barb White, of the Mid-Continent Ecology Science Center, NBS. They are for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as official guidance.)
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Keywords=GIS, data, pitfall
Last Modified January 08, 2001 12:31 PM