TECHnology
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Cities update zoning boundaries, building footprints, and parcel lines constantly — but earlier versions are rarely retained. For researchers studying neighborhood change, housing policy, environmental exposure, or urban development, those overwritten datasets create permanent gaps in the historical record. When past versions disappear, so does the ability to understand how places evolve.
Research libraries have long been responsible for preserving access to information, and geospatial data is no exception. BTAA-GIN is extending that stewardship to municipal geodata.
In March, GIN published its Geodata Collection Curation Plan, outlining how versioned municipal datasets will be identified, accessioned, documented, and made persistently accessible. The plan builds on BTAA-GIN's paper, "Ephemeral Geodata: An Impending Digital Dark Age," which received the Journal of Map & Geography Libraries Best Paper of the Year Award in 2024.
BTAA-GIN is now applying this approach through partnerships with several cities, including Minneapolis, Columbus, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. A recently published case study with Philadelphia's CityGeo division illustrates the model in practice and demonstrates how libraries and municipalities can collaborate to preserve geospatial history for future scholarship.
Read more: Read the case study
BTAA-GIN Geodata Collection Strategic Plan 2023-2027
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Total records as of March 2026: 116,498
| Title | Records added | Records retired |
|---|---|---|
| 05d-01 Maps from UMN University Archives | 233 | 0 |
| edu.wisc c05b2df and 790aef7 commits | 61 | 10 |
| edu.wisc Commit d596db2 | 107 | 10 |
| edu.wisc commits d596db2 and bb5579e | 114 | 0 |
| 05-13 Maps from Minnesota Iron Range Research Center | 99 | 0 |
| 05a-01 Minnesota Geospatial CommonsQ1 2026 | 5 | 11 |
| 02a-01 Illinois Geospatial Clearinghouse ISGS March 2026 | 5 | 5 |
| Socrata data portals reharvest March 2026 | 3 | 23 |
| 99-1400 Humanitarian Data Exchanges | 315 | 9 |
| 08f-01 Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center Open Data | 365 | 1 |
| totals | 1307 | 84 |