Minnesota Governors Council on Geographic Information GIS at Work.

Minnesota Governor’s Council on Geographic Information

GIS at Work

Who Are We?

• Council by executive order since 1991

• 18 voting members appointed by director of Minnesota Planning

• Represent various Minnesota stakeholders

• LMIC provides funding and administrative support

The Council’s Mission

Promotes the efficient and effective use of geographic information in Minnesota and makes recommendations that include• Policies encouraging:

- Data Access

- Data Development• Institutional Arrangements• Standards• Education• Stewardship

Council’s Focus

• Promote and Provide Resources

• Resources include: – Standards/Guidelines

• Facilitates Data Sharing

– Data Access• Creation

• Distribution methods

– Forum for discussion of key issues

Council’s Activities

• Advise executive and legislative branches of state government

• Represent state interests to the federal government

• Develop and promote statewide policies and standards

• Research critical issues and make policy recommendations

• Publish critical material

GIS At Work In Minnesota

• Dakota County Property

• St. Peter Disaster Recovery

• Clay County GIS

• Metro Mosquito Control

Dakota County Property

Introduction

• Dakota County has undergone a whirlwind of change from frontier land to farmland to suburban growth since 1849.

• Being the third most populated county in the state, the county government is faced with challenges of maintaining high quality service to an increasing population base.

• GIS has been the solution to managing their parcel data and serving the public.

Dakota County Property

Without GIS• Maps and updates were hand drawn

• Paper copies only

• 6 to 12 months out of date

• Multiple agencies doing updates

Dakota County Property

Dakota County Property

With GIS• Provide public with

24/7 access to property data

• Saved millions of dollars in land acquisition for new roadways (using info on comparable sales)

• Improved siting of new libraries (1/2 time, better decision)

Dakota County Property With GIS• Improved Paratransit for

Disabled• Map health hazards

such as mosquito and lead exposure

• More equitable financing of infrastructure (Burnsville calculations supported a new fee structure for new development)

What We Like About This Case Study• Their work encourages the council to promote land records

modernization efforts in other counties

• Shows us the value of GIS

• Encourages the use of standards

• Promotes data sharing

• The benefits justify the investment

St. Peter Tornado

St. Peter TornadoIntroductionIntroduction

On March 29, 1998, Fourteen tornadoes tore a path across southern Minnesota. One tornado was ranked F4.

This tornado cut a swath of 67 miles across Cottonwood, Brown, Nicollet County, far northern Watonwan and far northwestern Blue Earth Counties including the town of Comfrey.

Minutes later it touched down again and cut a path through St. Peter and LeSueur County doing F3 damage. Spotters were confused as this 1 mile plus wide swirling wall entered the west side of town looking more like a dust storm than a tornado.

• 2 Fatalities, 38 Injured

• Over 800 homes destroyed or damaged

• St. Peter alone – over 500 homes destroyed & 1,700 homes damaged

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

Without GIS

• Manual data collection from the ground or air takes hours to days to complete

• Data distribution to local, state and federal agencies is slow

* These images were actual maps developed and used by local agencies.

St. Peter Tornado

With GIS• Aerial GPS data collection

is very efficient

• GIS data (damage assessment) was emailed to local, state or federal agencies involved in disaster response

• Maps were produced and distributed to volunteer coordinators to help with clean-up effort

* A Minnesota DNR helicopter was used to conduct an aerial damage assessment in Brown County. GPS locations were recorded, downloaded and emailed to the MN DNR Region IV GIS Center for map production and data distribution to local, state and federal agencies.

St. Peter Tornado

Minnesota River

Red markers are tornado damaged farms or homes

What We Like About This Case Study

• Illustrates the use of geo-technology for emergency response

• Their work encourages the council to promote data access and sharing

Clay County GIS

Introduction• Located in northwestern Minnesota,

Clay County borders the Red River of the North and has Moorhead as its county seat.

• Shrinking farm populations have reduced the demand for the support services provided in small towns and relocated these services to larger cities. 

• GIS applications for law enforcement and social services help meet the needs of the public.

Clay County GIS

Without GIS• Information was often out of

date and duplicated

• Searching for specific information was either difficult or time consuming

• Data could only be viewed at the Courthouse

Clay County GIS

With GIS• Police can be dispatched

easily and know exactly where to go

• The online parcel application helps the public quickly get the answers they need without making a trip into the county seat

• Information is now available to all agencies and departments.

Clay County GIS

What We Like About This Case Study

• Their work is a great example for other rural counties and encouraged the council to promote land records modernization efforts in greater Minnesota

• They made a sound public investment with GIS to maximize on their available resources

• Promotes the benefits of access and data sharing

Metropolitan Mosquito Control kills 2 billion mosquitoes with one

stone using GIS

Introduction• The Metropolitan Mosquito

Control District (MMCD) provides a variety of services to 2.5 million people in the seven county metropolitan area.

• Their mission is to promote health and well being by protecting the public from disease and annoyance caused by mosquitoes, black flies and ticks, in an environmentally safe manner.

Metro Mosquito Control

Metro Mosquito Control

Without GIS• Field worker maps manually

took 4 to 8 hours per map

• There are 2500 maps in the 7-county Metro area

• Only one-fifth of the area was mapped each year, but this consumed about 356 person days

With GIS• Maps can be produced in

1/50 of the time

• Maps are now more current and accurate

• MetroGIS parcel maps aid in contacting residents about special issues,like encephalitis

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With GIS• MetroGIS air photos,

wetlands and roads provide background

• Worker time freed to focus on mosquitoes, instead of mechanics of mapping

Metro Mosquito Control

What We Like About This Case Study

• Their work encourages the Council to continue supporting data sharing and access

• The Mosquito district benefited directly from the Council’s involvement with Hydrography standards, Soils mapping, and data sharing

• Promotes data sharing through MetroGIS

The Governor’s Council On Geographic Information

Council’s Current Agenda

• Recognize and Promote successful applications

• Guidelines for data sharing• Promote state support for local land

records• Hydrography standards• High-resolution elevation data

development

THANKS• Dakota County GIS Randy Knippel

• Minnesota DNR, New Ulm Office Pete Knutson

• Metropolitan Mosquito Control District Nancy Read

• Clay County GIS Department Mark Sloan

The Endhttp://www.gis.state.mn.us