After a full year of fact-finding and deliberation, the Wisconsin Coordinate Systems Task Force under the Wisconsin Land Information Association (WLIA) is proceeding on a timeline to fund the development of interoperable Wisconsin County Coordinate System definitions that will both fit the surfaces of existing County Coordinate projections and better interoperate among software vendors and platforms.
Funding for the work has been made available through the Wisconsin Land Information Program strategic initiative grant process. As such, the beginning of the work will coincide with allocation of this funding. In the meantime, there are plenty of complementary issues to which the task force has devoted their attention. Since we last reported in December, the task force met twice, and twice presented at annual meetings. Presentations at the WLIA annual conference and the annual institute of the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors (WSLS) both helped illuminate the issues at hand and the task force’s approach. These same two meetings should provide ideal venues for seeing early results and information sessions by the task force in 2006.
The task force’s most notable continuing discussion and planning are related to three general areas: clarity in definition and naming of the new system; assembly of comprehensive technical documentation, educational materials and ‘best practices’ for users; and designation of a maintenance organization or group to provide a point of contact for feedback and future issues. The task force is also looking closely at the process of quality assurance and testing of the developed system parameters. A task force summary report is currently being outlined in order to accurately capture and record the full scope of work at least through 2005.
We continue to field questions and take feedback as this work progresses. You can find meeting minutes, presentations, and other background materials on the SCO website. The next meeting is May 11 in Madison.
If you have comments, question, or feedback for the task force, please contact Ted Koch at (608) 262-6852.