The Wisconsin Land Information Council (WLIC) held its inaugural meeting at the Wisconsin Land Information Association (WLIA) Fall Regional Meeting in Oshkosh on October 28, 2015.
The Council was created in the summer of 2015 to serve an advisory role to the Department of Administration (DOA) on matters relating to the Wisconsin Land Information Program (WLIP).
The Council consists of 12 members appointed by the DOA for three-year terms, with members drawn from various sectors that develop or utilize land information records. Current Council membership can be found here. All members except two were able to attend the Oshkosh meeting.
The state Geographic Information Officer (GIO) serves as the Council’s Secretary. The DOA Division of Intergovernmental Relations provides staff support for council meetings. More details on the Council including the Council charter, bylaws, and meeting agendas and minutes can be found here.
The first meeting in Oshkosh was fairly brief, and a second, more in-depth, meeting is planned for the WLIA Annual Meeting in February, 2016. Some highlights from the Oshkosh meeting include the following:
- Election of Don Dittmar, Waukesha County, as Council Chair.
- Election of Adam Derringer, Ayres Associates, as Vice-Chair.
- Agreement that meetings will be open to the public and that meeting notices, agendas, and minutes will be posted online on a publically accessible page.
- Summary of the current status of the Statewide Parcel Map Initiative by Peter Herreid (DOA), including details on the timetable for WLIP strategic grants.
- Summary of the status of LiDAR data in the state by Jim Giglierano (Wisconsin GIO), including a recent grant application to the federal 3DEP grant program.
The Council can play an important role helping shape the state’s strategy and priorities around land information and GIS. In my opinion, the success of the Council will depend on members’ abilities to think strategically about statewide goals. While each Council member represents a sector of the GIS/LIS community, we need to think as a team if we are going to be able to identify common interests and goals that have the maximum benefits for the state as a whole.
State tuned for more information about the Council and for the meeting notice for the WLIA Annual Conference in February, 2016.