New council for Alaska geospatial data

Gov. Sean Parnell has signed a memorandum of agreement, establishing the Alaska Geospatial Council, to coordinate Alaska digital mapping and the collection of geospatial data relating to the state. The council, with co-chairs from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, and with representation from several government agencies, the University of Alaska and Alaska Native corporations, will take over an existing statewide digital mapping initiative and expand that initiative to integrate geospatial data into the mapping effort.

“The purpose of the council is to integrate geospatial efforts in Alaska, with the intent to eliminate unnecessary taxpayer expense and redundant staff activity across all agencies,” according to a news release from the Department of Natural Resources. “The council will focus on modernizing Alaska’s geospatial data holdings while enhancing data sharing and making the data holdings broadly available to the public.”

According to information on the new council’s website, the current map of Alaska is 50 years old, does not meet modern accuracy standards and does not support modern electronic information management practices. The existing initiative, an ad-hoc program known as the Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative, which the new council replaces, has been on track to complete a base digital map of Alaska, the memorandum of agreement for the new council says.

- Alan Bailey