Wisconsin Geographic Information Coordination Council (WIGICC)

A Wisconsin Geographic Information Coordination Council

March, 2008 Update

The Wisconsin Dept. of Administration has notified the WIGICC Working Group that it encourages and supports the proposed formation of an interim Geographic Information Coordination Council (WIGICC). This support is expressed in a March 10 letter to the Working Group from Curtis Pulford, State Geographic Information Officer (GIO). A link to the letter is below.

The Working Group is now developing the process to be used to appoint members to the Council, and to begin forming the stakeholder network that is to be the main conduit for bringing issues before the Council. The next meeting of the Working Group is scheduled for March 25, 2008 in Madison.

Prospects and Process

Overview

As geographic information technologies become more important in our lives, there is a growing need and demand for improved coordination of geographic data and services in Wisconsin. The state, however, has lacked a statewide coordination body since the termination of the Wisconsin Land Information Board (WLIB) in 2005. Through a joint effort led by the Wisconsin Land Information Association (WLIA), a statewide strategic plan - Wisconsin Location Matters - A Statewide Geographic Information Strategy - was published earlier this year. It identifies the creation of a Wisconsin Geographic Information Coordination Council
(WIGICC) as the number one goal.

Goals

It is envisioned that a Wisconsin Geographic Information Coordination Council, once established, will:

Represent the state's geographic information stakeholder groups;

Be modeled on the successful aspects of coordination councils in other states;

Communicate statewide goals and programs to stakeholder groups;

Recommend policies for data standards, exchange, security, funding and services;

Serve as an advisory body to the State's Geographic Information Officer, Chief Information Officer, Governor, and Legislature; and

Serve as a central point-of-contact for federal agencies.

Towards this goal, Wisconsin's Geographic Information Officer (GIO) assembled an ad hoc working group to facilitate the creation of a council. Based on an evaluation of statewide geographic information coordination councils in eight other states and on past experience with the WLIB, the WIGICC working group developed a set of draft criteria to guide the evaluation of potential models for a coordination council. To serve as a starting point for discussion, two initial approaches are presented, but these are NOT proposed models at this time. Five facilitated Listening Sessions were held around the state to solicit ideas and feedback toward developing the scope, composition and structure of WIGICC. A “summit meeting” was held on September 6th, 2007 to develop a draft WIGICC proposal. Another comment period and a final hearing on the proposal will be conducted by early fall 2007, leading to WIGICC implementation recommendations for the Governor.