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Indiana’s Statewide GIS Coordination Best in Nation

[12/18/2019]

The National States Geographic Information Council, 28-year-old organization founded to advance state-led geospatial coordination across the nation, has released its Geospatial Maturity Assessment for 2019. The GMA grades the ability of states to successfully organize and coordinate effective geospatial programs that result in the creation and maintenance of critical state and federal framework GIS data layers. These layers include addresses, cadastre, elevation, orthoimagery, governmental units, hydrography and others.

Indiana was one of only two states in the country to earn an “A+” for statewide GIS coordination. While members of the Indiana GIS community knew this intuitively, the GMA demonstrated empirically how remarkable we are by evaluating such factors as:

  • State GIS leadership (GIO or equivalent) and coordinating council. Indiana has both.
  • Authority of leadership. Indiana recognizes both GIO and the Indiana Geographic Information Council in state statute – the highest level of authorization acknowledged in the GMA.
  • Level of influence. Indiana GIS leadership has demonstrated its influence on state and federal policies, budgets, state technology, GIS data standards, and the ability to coordinate across all levels of government.
  • Funding sources. While we would love to see a higher level of state line item funding, Indiana GIS has been consistently funded by general funds through the Indiana Office of Technology, license fees, grants, state agency funds, and local government participation in the statewide ortho/LiDAR projects.
  • Strategic planning. Both the GIO and IGIC have strategic plans that have been updated in the last five years.
  • Involvement of relevant stakeholders. Our GIO has been very deliberate about involving stakeholders from many sectors and across the state, and the composition and membership of IGIC’s board of directors is equally diverse.

Indiana’s coordination success underscores the important role that we all have as members of the statewide GIS community! Congrats to all who contribute through participation in GIS conferences and special events, serve on committees and workgroups, are members and board directors of IGIC, and help coordinate the GIS efforts of your organization. For everyone else, it is never too late to get involved. A great first step is to join IGIC (or renew your membership) and learn more about the upcoming IGIC Conference.