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BTAA-GIN Geodata Collection Strategic Roadmap

The BTAA-GIN Program has launched an initiative to collect, store, and distribute open geodata. This page tracks our progress. It is updated frequently as our work evolves.

Plan documents

Roadmap Key

Phase Completed

  • Task Done
  • Task in progress
  • Task not started

We are currently in Phase 3: Foundation.

✅ Phase 1: Blueprints

The Blueprints Phase represents the culmination of a lengthy period of time (beginning in 2015) that we put into researching geodata archiving. The research resulted in multiple scholarly articles1, reports2, and nascent proposals3. Finally, in 2023, we submitted the BTAA-GIN Geodata Collection Strategic Plan, which was approved by the BTAA-GIN Executive Committee.

✅ Phase 2: Groundwork

During the Groundwork Phase, we focus on exploring the potential for a Geodata Collection and conducting a pilot. This phase involves experimenting with a variety of datasets to test workflows, metadata, tools, and data curation strategies. The goal is to establish a Proof of Concept.

2A. Setup (Q1-Q2 2024)

Set up storage, basic ingest, and a pilot workgroup.

Working Group Activities

  • Establish the Geodata Collection Pilot Working Group.
  • Compile an environmental scan of existing geodata archiving practices across the BTAA region.

Recruitment and staffing

  • Assess current team capabilities and identify gaps in skill or resources.
  • Draft job description for a Program and Outreach Coordinator.
  • Advertise the position.

Technology

  • Establish Amazon cloud storage (S3) accounts for data storage.
  • Develop techniques within GBL Admin for basic ingest of datasets.

Curation Tests

  • Create a few sample datasets in a GitHub repository to serve as test objects.
  • Add the test datasets to Amazon S3.
  • Ingest sample data to GBL Admin.

Documentation

  • Create and publish a Geodata Collection Implementation Plan that expands on the Strategic Plan.

2B. Pilot (Q3 2024-Q1 2025)

Build the pilot collection, explore technology enhancements, and document the results.

Working Group Activities

  • Determine staging environment for sharing datasets.
  • Select a broader range of pilot datasets.
  • Test new GBL Admin features for data management.
  • Determine minimum metadata requirements.
  • Augment the GeoBTAA Metadata Application Profile as needed.
  • Determine Download package contents.

Curation Tests

  • Download pilot datasets to staging area
  • Add pilot datasets to GBL Admin.

Technology

Recruitment and staffing

  • Continue process for interviewing for new position
  • Finalize the hiring process and onboard new hire

Documentation

  • Document the setup and configuration processes for asset management tools.
  • Produce a final report of the working group activities.
  • Produce a report documenting the pilot collection and technology enhancements.

Phase 3: Foundation

During the Foundation Phase, we begin collaborating with select data providers. This phase emphasizes building relationships, refining curation techniques, and establishing the first official collections. This work informs the development of key protocols and processes that will serve as the foundation for the project moving forward.

3A. Partnerships & Technology (Q1-Q3 2025)

Communicate our newly developed capabilities and seek out data provider partnerships for our first collections.

Working Group Activities

  • Sunset the pilot workgroup.
  • Convene a data provider pilot working group. (name TBD)
  • Propose a dataset exchange workflow between data providers and the BTAA-GIN.
  • Determine data provider agreements
  • Outline a Curation Plan that includes initial scope, workflows, and criteria.

Coordination and Outreach

  • Present results of Groundwork Phase to key stakeholders
  • Establish partnership with at least two data providers

Geoportal Enhancements

3A. Collection & Curation Plan (Q3 2025-Q1 2026)

Work iteratively with our data providers to collect, document, and publish prior versions of their datasets.

Working Group Activities

  • Evaluate the data provider communications.
  • Review the initial collections

Curation Tests

  • Ingest datasets submitted by partners
  • Work with partners to refine the metadata and datasets for their original content as displayed in the Geoportal

Technology

  • Implement batch ingest functionality in GBL Admin.

Curation Plan

  • Publish a Curation Plan, Version 1 to document scope, metadata, and workflows.

🪟 Phase 4: Framework

In the Framework Phase, we will build up our collections with more data providers. This will require broader communication and more outreach. We will also be relying on more streamlined workflows by this phase. This phase will include gathering feedback from stakeholders, refining workflows, and assessing the long-term sustainability of the collection. Additionally, we will increase our outreach efforts, promoting the collection to a broader audience and building partnerships to ensure its growth and visibility in the geospatial and library communities.

4A. Expand (Q1–Q4 2026)

  • Expand partnerships and collections.
  • Incorporate additional and multipart formats

4B. Curate (Q1–Q4 2026)

  • Establish regular cycles for collection.
  • Implement additional batch processing techniques
  • Publish Curation Plan Version 2.

Phase 5: Outreach & Evaluation (2027)

  • Gather feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders.
  • Assess the project's impact on users and stakeholders.
  • Evaluate how well the first version of the curation plan functions.

  1. See Dyke, K. R., Mattke, R., Kne, L., & Rounds, S. (2016). Placing Data in the Land of 10,000 Lakes: Navigating the History and Future of Geospatial Data Production, Stewardship, and Archiving in Minnesota. Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 12(1), 52–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2015.1073655; Majewicz, K., J. Martindale, M. Kernik, and R. Mattke. 2024. Ephemeral geodata: An impending digital dark age. Journal of Map & Geography Libraries 20 (2):88–113. https://doi:10.1080/15420353.2024.2398542. ↩

  2. See the reports of the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Committee's Archiving Workgroup ↩

  3. See the partially realized proposal from 2019, A Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the BTAA ↩