Where are we headed?

Building from a survey distributed earlier this year, and a full-day strategic planning session held on February 21, 2006 with Committee on State Cartography (CSC) members, the State Cartographer’s Office recently finished work on a plan designed to guide the strategic directions of the office over the next three years.

Adhering to a “traditional” strategic planning process, we crafted a mission and vision statement, operating principles, and details of the vision within a three-year timeframe. After much discussion, we developed our strategic directions around five key areas: relationships, responsive leadership, proactive outreach, information dissemination and education, and internal management. 

• Work to clarify roles and responsibilities of the State Cartographer and Geographic Information Officer.
• Work cooperatively to establish a statewide GIS advisory council.
• Continually maintain and promote WiscLINC as the statewide portal to Wisconsin geospatial data and information.
• Lead the development and maintenance of a re-designed annual land information survey.
• Visit all 72 county Land Information Officers and all Regional Planning Commissions a minimum of once every four years to learn about issues, trends, and concerns of local and regional government organizations. 
• Seek to improve our information delivery through the Mapping Bulletin by working to get news out faster, and in a format that is most effective to readers.

Thanks go out to everyone who participated in our survey, and provided input along the way. We intend to make adjustments to the strategic over the next two years as necessary, with a major re-evaluation planned for 2009. We always encourage your feedback, and welcome any comments on the new strategic plan.