Announcing the Maine GeoLibrary's 2008 Planning Project Fifty States Initiative - Updating Maine's GIS Strategic Plan and Designing a Statewide Integrated Land Records System Sign Up to Participate Now! The GeoLibrary Board recently received a matching grant from the US Geological Survey in support of the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) Fifty States Initiative. The work to be completed includes 2 tasks. Task 1 will update and enhance the GeoLibrary Strategic Plan, our blueprint for GIS priorities in Maine. Task 2 will recommend a conceptual framework and functional specification for an Integrated Land Records Information System for the State of Maine. Maine GIS Strategic Plan The focus of the Strategic Plan update is; a) coordination of government, academia and the private sector b) developing sustainable funding sources for GIS data and activities; and c) community outreach - cultivating political champions to grow support for future geospatial initiatives. Help us set the course for Maine's GeoSpatial future. Integrated Land Records Research is being done to produce a conceptual framework and a functional specification for an Integrated Land Records System based on a sustainable political and technical architecture and user requirements to enable the capture and maintenance of property data to the parcel level statewide. For nearly two decades Maine counties, municipalities and the Office of GIS have worked piecemeal to standardize and assemble this essential resource. Digital parcel mapping still varies widely from town to town, and still does not exist in many towns. The GeoLibrary parcel grants have helped close the gap, but more remains to be done to achieve standardized complete coverage and to maintain it. This initiative will seek to codify standards and procedures in such a way that integrates; * Deed and plan records at the county level, * Municipal tax assessor parcel geometry at the municipal level, and * Attribute input from a variety of additional stakeholders On January 16, 2008 the Geolibrary Board voted to accept a proposal from the James W. Sewall Company <http://www.jws.com> to provide services in fulfillment of this grant. The Sewall Team includes: Reference Standard <http://www.restmap.net> , Somers-St. Claire, GIS Management <http://www.somers-stclaire.com/> Consultants and Fairview <http://www.fairview-industries.com/> Industries. The GeoLibrary Board has also hired Will Mitchell of Mitchell Geographics <http://www.mitchellgeo.com/> to serve as project manager. Please contact Will at 207.879.7769 or [log in to unmask] with project related questions. Schedule The majority of the work on the project will be research and input gathering and will occur between March and June of 2008. Data gathering will be followed by analysis and proposed solutions. Presentations will be made throughout the process. Input Needed The GeoLibrary Board is anxious to solicit input from the Maine GIS community, municipal, county, state and the federal government, county registries, the bar association, the real estate sector, the surveying community, and other impacted and interested stakeholders across the state of Maine. The project will include meetings, presentations, regional forums, surveys and interviews designed to capture each of these perspectives. Please register at: http://megis.maine.gov/stakeholder/stakeholder.asp to receive information on upcoming events. Feel free to comment on the project blog at any time during the project. Your input is vital! Survey Coming Soon! In early April, 2008, you will be receiving an invitation to an online survey. We'd ask that you take just a few minutes to fill it out as we will use the information gathered to help frame the direction of our project. In addition, we will provide each participant with the overall results from the survey. Regional Information Gathering Forums to be Held April 29th & May 6th-7th As part of this project, Regional Forums will be held to gather information from those wishing to provide input. We ask that all interested parties attend them to insure that their perspectives are heard. The first Forum will be held on April 29th in Auburn. On May 6th and May 7th Forums will be held in Bangor and Portland respectively. The Forums will run from 9-12 and refreshments will be served for participants. More details to follow, but please spread the word and save the dates! To register, please send an email indicating your interest in attending to [log in to unmask] Please Remember Remember that "your participation" is vital to the success of this project, but, more importantly, to the growth of GIS and the development of a framework that will improve the lands records system in our State! Find your GeoLibrary Board representative here: http://www.maine.gov/geolib/members.htm Let us know your thoughts and help us represent your interests! Sincerely, The Maine GeoLibrary Board and the Planning Project Team