TECHnology
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Shared progress report on new Geoportal rebuild and plans for ongoing feedback process
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Recapped retreat notes and discussed the draft of strategic priorities and potential next steps
November 2025 Program Update
Building on a Decade of Accomplishments
Section titled “Building on a Decade of Accomplishments”BTAA-GIN held its first in-person retreat in seven years, bringing together colleagues from across the Big Ten for two days of reflection, collaboration, and strategic visioning. Together, we celebrated a decade of accomplishments, rolled up our sleeves to explore major initiatives underway, and worked through a structured process that kept members on their feet, sketching, debating, and refining ideas for BTAA-GIN’s future.
That energy translated into clear alignment around three broad themes, which the full network has since discussed and ranked to highlight areas of greatest impact and interest:
- Collections: Opportunities to strengthen and expand shared geospatial collections.
- Learning & Research: Ways to support geospatial engagement across educational levels.
- Community Leadership: Growing our presence in open-source geospatial communities and standards conversations.
In the weeks ahead, we will continue refining these themes and begin shaping the multi-year roadmap to guide FY26–FY28.
Program Activities
Section titled “Program Activities”Committees
Section titled “Committees”Community Engagement
- Confirmed April 17, 2026 Big Ten GIS Conference date is live; discussed new awards, roles, and responsibilities; explored participation incentives such as viewing parties and promotion packets
- Planned fall and winter newsletters; considered future blog installments, shared writing sprints, and whether to continue or consolidate blog efforts
Knowledge
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Set 2026 meeting schedule
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Building on takeaways from the Nov Strategic Planning Retreat, the committee discussed broadening its focus beyond papers and presentations to include workflows, metadata
Coordination
- Did not meet in November due to Strategic Planning Retreat
Workgroups
Section titled “Workgroups”
Data Curation Workgroup
Section titled “Data Curation Workgroup”- Two additional cities expressed interest in joining: Baltimore and Philadelphia
- Created a draft working document to capture Data Curation Plan as it evolves
Data Citation Workgroup
Section titled “Data Citation Workgroup”- Reviewed the OGM Aardvark List as the foundation for BTAA‑GIN’s dataset list
- Identified documentation as the next step
BTAA Geoportal
Section titled “BTAA Geoportal”This month by the numbers
Section titled “This month by the numbers”Top internal search keywords
Section titled “Top internal search keywords”- ethiopia
- buildings Wisconsin 2025
- wildlife
- campus
- sanborn
- thailand
- metadata
- Pottstown
- Pennsylvania
- water quality
- Nebraska
Collections
Section titled “Collections”Total records as of December 1, 2025: 117,922
Harvesting Activities
Section titled “Harvesting Activities”| Task | Records added | Records retired |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-11 Scan ArcGIS Hubs | 50 | 55 |
| 2025-11-25 Scan ArcGIS Hubs | 134 | 180 |
| Humanitarian Data Exchange reharvest 11/25 | 375 | 7 |
| Illinois Geological Survey Q4 2025 | 1 | 0 |
| PASDA Q4 2025 | 289 | 1 |
| Socrata harvest November 2025 | 4 | 0 |
| Total | 853 | 243 |
Web Development
Section titled “Web Development”- Refining new Geoportal front end and fixing bugs