Throughout the summer and fall this year, work has continued on the drafting of a statewide GIS strategic plan. As reported in the June 2006 issue of the Bulletin, this activity, which was initiated by the Wisconsin Land Information Association using federal grant funding, began with a large public meeting last April.
Over the summer, a core team of about 20 individuals representing a cross-section from both the public and private sectors met under the guidance of facilitator Steve West to identify and detail issues to be included in a strategic plan document. Following that series of meetings, a smaller group began to prepare a draft of the statewide plan.
A draft document suitable for public review was completed in early October. Since that time, the drafting team has been reviewing and incorporating comments into the final version. A public review and discussion of the draft plan will be held in December. A date and location for that for that event has not yet been selected.
The current draft plan identifies five broad GIS goals: improving coordination, establishing a robust data framework, providing GIS services, obtaining sustainable funding, and promoting education and awareness. The fundamental objective of the strategic plan is to identify several broad areas of GIS needs, and more specifically to show the need for creating a statewide GIS coordinating council within the next year. The council, which is envisioned to be a broadly representative advisory group, will have a charge to research, analyze and make recommendations on a wide variety of GIS-related problems.