New York State Office of Cyber Security
Geographic Information Systems Clearinghouse
GIS Partnership Summary:
Tug Hill Commision GIS Starter Kit Program
2003
GIS Partnership Award Winner
Partnership Purpose and Goal
The Tug Hill Commission GIS Starter Kit Program was developed for the purpose of sharing the Commission's relative wealth of GIS resources (hardware, software, data and staff) with local governments in the North Country region that lack the budget and/or personnel to implement GIS themselves. Because this a large and very rural portion of the state, local governments without GIS resources are common. The Tug Hill Commission GIS Starter Kit Program is intended to empower these governments and the communities they serve with GIS capacity.
Participants and Resource Contributions
- All government agencies that provide data relevant
to local governments in the Tug Hill Region (NYSDOT, NYSDEC, ORPS,
County Real Property Agencies, etc.)
- NYS Office for Technology- fostered "intermediary
GIS data custodian" concept which makes the partnership possible
- Tug Hill Region local governments - participating as of 9/02 - Towns of Camden*, Florence* Hastings* Lowville*, Martinsburg* Montague* Parish* Steuben* Trenton*
* NYSGIS Data Sharing Cooperative member
Time Frame
Date Partnership Began: Spring 2001
Completion Date: On-going
Deliverables
Participating local governments have designated the Commission as their "intermediary custodian" of GIS data. This allows the Commission to redistribute to them data it receives from other members of the Data Sharing Cooperative. Commission staffers perform the necessary decompression, importation and reprojection of the data. The Commission has produced GIS Starter Kits for many of these communities. These kits consists of all GIS data available for a community bundled with free viewer software on a compact disc. The Starter Kit program implements goal #9 of the NYS Quality Communities Task Force Report, which states:
Enhance the work of the State's Office for Technology to establish a statewide Geographic Information System (GIS) as a sound and efficient research and planning tool for municipalities, planners, businesses and other interested parties. All local governments should be encouraged to participate in the GIS Data Sharing Cooperative to increase the amount and quality of available data layers.
Less tangible products include the knowledge of GIS gained
by participants. The is the first exposure to GIS for many.
Brief Summary of Partnership
Participants have been very pleased, especially to receive so much value free of charge.
Participants have become a valuable source of information on data quality, identifying datasets that need updating and or corrections.
Additional Information Available On-line
None
Contact Information
Matthew Johnson
Planner
NYS Tug Hill Commission
317 Washington Street
Watertown, NY 13601
Phone: (315) 785-2380
Fax: (315) 785-2574
E-Mail: matt@tughill.org