TECHnology
- Working on website policies and updating the Geoportal footer links
- Created a local gazeteer for counties, states, and nations
September 2024 Program Update
Monthly Highlight: Newly published article about ephemeral data
Section titled “Monthly Highlight: Newly published article about ephemeral data”A new article titled ”,” co-authored by four BTAA-GIN Team Members, was recently published in the Journal of Map & Geography Libraries. The authors explore a long-standing challenge for our program, framing the lack of public geodata archives as a “looming digital dark age.” This analysis is based on our experiences managing the BTAA Geoportal and GeoData@Wisconsin, as well as our roles as map librarians. This article not only highlights a widespread issue but also provides a compelling rationale for our new initiative, the BTAA-GIN Geodata Collection, which aims to address gaps in the availability and accessibility of geospatial resources.
Program Activities
Section titled “Program Activities”Program Management
Section titled “Program Management”- We welcomed a new Program Team Member from Purdue University, Dr. Innocensia Owuor, GIS Specialist and Clinical Assistant Professor.
- The September Program Team meeting featured a presentation from East View Geospatial about their Global Census Archive.
- We completed interviews for the new Program and Outreach Coordinator position.
Committees
Section titled “Committees”Community Engagement
- Updated blog with new posts
- Planning to update the Geoportal help pages next
Knowledge
Did not meet in September
Coordination
- Compiling plans for a Map Librarian summit
- Planned Program Team meeting topics
Workgroups
Section titled “Workgroups”
Geodata Pilot Workgroup
Section titled “Geodata Pilot Workgroup”- Determining what components to add to a Download Package (dataset, metadata, readme, thumbnails, etc.)
- Added a field for Provenance Statement and Reference System
FAST for Subject Terms Workgroup
Section titled “FAST for Subject Terms Workgroup”- Analyzing the map records for current adherence to a thesaurus.
- Reviewing Keywords field with the aim to organize the values into controlled Subjects
Service Model Collaboration Workgroup
Section titled “Service Model Collaboration Workgroup”- Held kickoff meeting in September
- Determining objectives
BTAA Geoportal
Section titled “BTAA Geoportal”Top internal search keywords
Section titled “Top internal search keywords”- salmon
- wildfire
- reef
- climate population
- cougar
- sanborn
- geology
- PLSS
- elevation
- Pennsylvania
- hurricane
- Mountain
Collections
Section titled “Collections”Total records as of October 1, 2024: 98,897
Harvesting Activities
Section titled “Harvesting Activities”| Task | Records added | Records retired |
|---|---|---|
| MN Geospatial Commons 05a-01 September 2024 | 5 | 0 |
| 2024-09-03 Scan ArcGIS Hubs | 378 | 133 |
| 2024-09-10 Scan ArcGIS Hubs | 119 | 192 |
| 2024-09-17 Scan ArcGIS Hubs | 114 | 0 |
| 2024-09-24 Scan ArcGIS Hubs | 101 | 24 |
| Auglaize County, Ohio GIS Open Data Downloads | 21 | 0 |
| New Wisconsin records | 100 | 0 |
Development
Section titled “Development”- Improved test coverage for GeoBlacklight Admin, identiying redundant or erroneous code
- Updated header and footer in development site for the TECH Committee to review
- Cleaned up the font decoration to be clearer while retaining accessibility
Next Steps
Section titled “Next Steps”Projects and tasks that are up next include:
- Review and publish policies and disclaimers for the Geoportal
- Kickoff the Scalable Approaches workgroup
Refer to our Priority Projects board for more details.