Key Results

Wherever your state is in the development and operation of its GIS program, it is our experience that a GIS strategic plan is an essential tool for growth, funding and enrichment of the program. These detailed key results from AppGeo strategic planning with four different states exemplify the different ways that a strategic plan can be responsive to the needs and circumstances of each state.

Georgia Geospatial Information Office

Georgia was able to move towards four key goals and recommendations within a five-year timeline in their GIS statewide strategic plan:

1. Lead geospatial coordination and outreach by understanding the needs of constituents, identifying common needs, developing a communication plan, communicating the purpose and work of the GIO, sharing value through GIO success stories, establishing partnerships, serving as a liaison between federal government and other states on GIS matters, providing communication channels, making effective use of regional councils to provide a bridge between locals and state, and defining and activating workgroups to work on these recommendations.
2. Facilitate and promote the creation of high-quality framework data by actively pursuing the creation of high-quality framework data, while promoting successes and building credibility.
3. Re-establish the Georgia Geospatial Clearinghouse to improve data discovery and access by redefining the clearinghouse, establishing a geospatial clearinghouse committee, planning for and executing ongoing maintenance of the clearinghouse, arranging appropriate data-sharing agreements, considering partnerships, and constructing a pilot project that gains support from the geospatial community.
4. Lead the development of policies, standards, and best practices by leveraging lessons learned in the NG911 standards development process, leading the creation of formal data governance policies for geospatial data, forming working groups, and collaborating with the Georgia Technology Authority.

Indiana Geographic Information Office (IGIO)

IGIO was able to move towards four key goals and recommendations within a five-year timeline in their strategic plan:

1. Lead Indiana’s state government geospatial data community by creating an advisory workgroup as a governance structure to address the complex policies and logistics inherent in the GIO’s mission, finding ways to articulate the business value and problem-solving capabilities of geospatial data and solutions to decision-makers and policy leaders, finding stable funding for the IGIO, leading data governance for enterprise geospatial data, and finding opportunities to assert national leadership on geospatial data issues.
2. Strengthen IGIO partnerships and collaboration with stakeholders by developing a sustainable communication and outreach strategy that conveys the GIO’s purpose, establishing an ecosystem of engaged and enthusiastic partners to extend the IGIO’s reach, preparing for the cost of emerging challenges, using partnerships to build federated data frameworks, establishing continuous funding programs for local governments to support their geospatial capabilities, and developing ideas for evolving Data Harvest over time.
3. Improve IGIO delivery by improving data discovery and access, making web services a primary mechanism for data access, developing and implementing business plans for framework layers and enterprise data themes, creating and publishing guidance on GIO services, and considering the varying needs of a given group of stakeholders with different technical capabilities.
4. Increase IGIO operational efficiency and sustainability by aligning areas of responsibility and roles to support recommendations made in the plan, adopting time management, project management, and project/initiative prioritization framework/processes, and reducing reliance on a “fee for a service” or “service bureau” project model.

Montana State Library

Montana was able to move towards five key goals and recommendations within the 5-year strategic planning project:

1. Improve GIS Coordination within the Montana State Library by clarifying roles and responsibilities for MSL Work Group Areas as they pertain to geospatial activities
2. Improve Communication with Geospatial Stakeholders by creating and executing a formal communications plan for GIS activities within the library, reorganizing the library GIS web content to make it easier to discover and use, and defining incoming communication pathways for support requests and public inquiries.
3. Develop policies and best practices for geospatial data by leading the creation of formal data governance policies for state geospatial data, coalescing policy and practice-specific working groups with partners and peers, publicizing GIS best practices while educating the geospatial community on them, and promoting policies that foster the use of authoritative datasets to ensure efficiency and cost savings.
4. Expand on the collection, maintenance, and dissemination of authoritative land information by defining and implementing a state agency archive for geospatial data, improving data collection by defining and/or documenting existing update processes, improving data maintenance by making it easy for users to report issues with services and data, and improving data dissemination as a whole.
5. Strengthen partnerships by creating a business plan defining how to assist other government entities to become GIS-enabled through enhanced coordination services, exploring models for regional collaboration, demonstrating leadership and expertise to national peers using national and statewide initiatives, and defining partnerships that are easy for the Library to maintain.

Utah Geospatial Resource Center (UGRC)

Utah is focusing on three key goals and recommendations within a five-year timeline in their GIS statewide strategic plan:

1. Continue to serve Utah by providing representation for all constituents, introducing portfolio management techniques to manage inefficiencies and discontinue outdated offerings, developing geospatial planning and facilitation skills with UGRC, evolving and streamlining data workflow support, best practices, and guidance, and focusing on education/training to elevate the capabilities of the entire Utah GIS community.
2. Prepare for change by developing models that do not rely on project-based Fee-For-Service (FFS) funding, implementing a web services model for organizing UGRC data and service offerings, developing ongoing process feedback mechanisms that refine constituent needs, exploring and adopting new technology for applicability to UGRC offerings and goals, applying a continuous improvement approach for all UGRC processes, and encouraging all UGRC to continuously learn and explore new technologies.
3. Engage constituents by unifying the UGRC brand to further unite the organization and its offering, using the Council to assist and drive the outreach planning process, and building feedback analysis mechanisms into every UGRC constituent process.