Region 5 GIS Coordination Team Meeting Minutes


U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Office - Hadley, MA



The seventh meeting of the Region 5 GIS Coordination Team was held on June 1 at the Regional
Office.  Linda Shaffer organized and chaired the meeting, which was attended by the following
members:
Realty/Cartography and Spatial Data Services   Linda Shaffer
Ecological Services Field Offices   Kimber Sprankle
Atlantic Coast Joint Venture   Chuck Hayes
Coastal Ecosystems Programs   Andrew MacLachlan
Fisheries   Michelle Babione

Representatives from the Regional Directorate, National Wetlands Inventory, Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, Refuge Field Offices, the Refuge Planning/CCP Group, and Realty/Acquisition Planning were unable to attend, along with one of the Fisheries representatives.

RDT Presentation

The RDT presentation on May 12 "went fabulously well" and was a "rousing success", according to Linda Shaffer, who helped out with the demonstration part of the presentation. She reported that the RDT was excited and impressed by the work that had been accomplished, and urged the GIS Team to continue with briefings to other groups, such as Ecoteams.

Jump Start GIS Schedule

The Team discussed the time frame for distributing the Jump Start GIS. The original planned release date was August, four months before the January R5 GIS Workshop. Since the workshop is intended to be a follow-up to the Jump Start GIS, it was decided that the final product should be released on the first of November. To address the concern that some people are expecting to see a product in August, the Team decided to release a near-final beta version at that time. This will also extend the test period for the product. The team decided to have a near-final product done by July 1, and a final beta version complete by July 15.

Jump Start GIS Manual--Data Sources

The Team decided to refer users to a web site of data links and the R5 GIS workshop for more information. A statement will be added that says these sites may vary in terms of ease-of-use, cost, types of data, and resolution of data. Chuck will send the links to Linda, who will place them on the R5GIS site. A limited list of data sources will be provided in the manual to get people started.

Jump Start GIS Manual--Tech Support

The Team discussed how to fill in the "How to Get Help" part of the Jump Start GIS manual, and determined that technical support is needed for three categories:

1. Jump Start GIS
2. Regional Spatial Data Library
3. GIS in general (ArcExplorer, ArcView, etc.)

It was decided that general GIS questions (# 3) would be referred to existing technical support structures, such as the per-incident options available through the GIS contract with ESRI. The following persons will serve as points of contact for resources and references regarding the Jump Start GIS and the Spatial Data Library:

Refuges North   Rick Schauffler
Refuges South   (vacant)
ES Field Offices   Kimber Sprankle
Coastal Ecosystems Programs   Andrew MacLachlan
Fisheries   Michelle Babione
RW Planning/CCP   Chuck Hayes

Jump Start GIS Manual--Library Order Form

The Team brainstormed some questions that could be included in the Spatial Data Library order form:
Do you have any interest in getting regular orthophoto updates for your study area?
Are there other data you are interested in that you don't see on the list?
Do you have suggestions for data development through the A-16 process?

Jump Start GIS--Additional Assignments Kimber will draft the tech support page, Linda will add to the data sources page, Andrew will write a draft appendix explaining projections, and Michelle will write an Appendix explaining map scale and will draft a better library order form. Chuck will explore the availability of a "re-project" script as a potential solution for combining data that are in different projections. Andrew will develop an ArcExplorer project based on the demo used for the RDT presentation. Michelle will looking into the use of JumpStart as a word, and will investigate the potential use of the UMass GIS Lab for the January workshop.