August 2025 Program Status Update
Welcome to Our New GIN Members!
We’re excited to welcome three new members to the Big Ten Academic Alliance Geospatial Information Network.
2025¶
July 2025 Program Status Update
Introducing Our New Strategic Technology Plan
As the BTAA Geoportal continues to grow, so do the demands on our technology. With the recent expansion of the Big Ten and the addition of new geospatial resources from the West Coast, we saw an opportunity to explore more modern and flexible ways to manage our collections. The result is a new Strategic Technology Plan: a roadmap for building a technology stack that is modular, resilient, and future-ready.
June 2025 Program Status Update
Geo4LibCamp 2025: Reimagining Community and Technology in Geospatial Libraries
Held in May at the University of Minnesota, Geo4LibCamp 2025 convened over 20 software developers, librarians, curators, researchers, and administrators to share strategies and tools shaping the future of geospatial data services. This year marked a turning point—not just in technology, but in redefining the community’s scope, structure, and identity.
May 2025 Program Status Update
BTAA-GIN Poster Presented at ACRL 2025: Sustaining a Spatial Collaboration
At the 2025 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference in Minneapolis, BTAA-GIN members Ryan Mattke, Karen Majewicz, and Amanda Tickner presented a poster highlighting the program’s evolution and the social infrastructure that underpins its long-term success.
April 2025 Program Status Update
Monthly Highlight: Big Ten GIS Conference 2025 Sees Strong Growth
The fifth annual Big Ten GIS Conference, held virtually on April 11, 2025, marked a milestone for BTAA-GIN. With 664 registrants from 230+ institutions, the event tripled registration from the previous year and drew participants from academia, libraries, government, and research communities.
March 2025 Program Status Update
Monthly Highlight: BTAA-GIN FAST Subject Terms Workgroup Update
The BTAA-GIN FAST for Subject Terms Workgroup explored using FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) to improve search and discovery in the BTAA Geoportal. FAST, adapted from Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), offers a more streamlined and accessible way to tag metadata.
February 2025 Program Status Update
Building a Sustainable Geodata Repository: BTAA-GIN Pilot Phase Complete
The BTAA-GIN Geodata Pilot Workgroup has successfully completed its current phase, establishing the technical and metadata infrastructure for a scalable geospatial repository. Over the past year (Q1 2024–Q1 2025), the workgroup focused on building a framework for data curation, refining metadata standards, and improving workflow automation.
January 2025 Program Status Update
Big Ten GIS Conference 2025!
📍SAVE THE DATE: The virtual Big Ten GIS Conference takes place April 11, 2025
We are excited to announce the Big Ten GIS Conference, a free virtual conference happening on April 11, 2025! This annual event brings together researchers, educators, students, and GIS professionals to present their work, exchange ideas, and explore the latest advancements in geospatial research and tools.
Call for Proposals is Open!
Are you working on an exciting geospatial project? Have insights to share about GIS applications, research, or tools? We invite presentations, lightning talks, and map gallery submissions from any discipline using geospatial information. You do not need to be affiliated with a Big Ten university to present—submissions from all institutions and industries are welcome!
December 2024 Program Status Update
BTAA-GIN is Now 17 Members Strong!
We are thrilled to welcome the University of Oregon and the University of Washington to the Big Ten Academic Alliance Geospatial Information Network (BTAA-GIN). Their addition marks an exciting step forward in our mission to enhance the resources and expertise available to our members and the broader geospatial research community.