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About the BTAA Geospatial Information Network (BTAA-GIN)

Overview

The Big Ten Academic Alliance Geospatial Information Network (BTAA-GIN) is a collaboration of library-affiliated staff from the Big Ten Academic Alliance universities. We support geospatial research, foster connections among library professionals, and advance the development of open-source geospatial tools and resources.

Our work

We focus on two key areas: technical infrastructure and social infrastructure, both of which contribute to supporting the geospatial research community and providing a collaborative environment.

Technical Infrastructure:

  • BTAA Geoportal: We build and maintain the BTAA Geoportal to improve discovery of geospatial resources.
  • Metadata Aggregation & Augmentation: We aggregate, enhance, and optimize metadata records for geospatial resources, enabling discoverability across platforms.
  • Open Source Contributions: We actively contribute to open-source geospatial communities, including GeoBlacklight, OpenGeoMetadata, and Geo4Lib.

Read more about our technical infrastructure on our Technology Projects page.

Social Infrastructure:

  • Collaboration: We create opportunities for geospatial library professionals to collaborate, share knowledge, and exchange best practices.
  • Annual GIS Conference: Our annual virtual conference brings together students, emerging professionals, and seasoned workers to present their research and foster networking in the geospatial information science community.
  • Reference Guides & Educational Resources: We develop and provide resources related to geospatial research and GIS to support academic and professional growth.

Looking Ahead

As of 2024, we are currently embarking on a new initiative to collect public geospatial data, particularly focusing on historical resources that are currently at risk of being lost.

Our Connection to the BTAA

BTAA-GIN is part of the broader Big Ten Academic Alliance Library Initiatives, which brings together the collective expertise and resources of Big Ten libraries to support the academic missions of member institutions.