Call to Order – 10:01am

Attendees

Ex-Officio Members

MSDIS – Thomas Vought – p
OA ITSD/NSGIC – Tracy Schloss – p

State Members

MDA – Jacque Walters – p
DNR – Zackary Becker – p
MDC – Tim Bixler – p
MOARNG – Wiley Howell – pp (Kaleb)

Cooperating Agencies

All State Consultants – Katilin Belk – p
BCFPD – Jason Warzinik – p
Boone County – Matt Smith – p
City of Columbia – Calvin Patterson – p
City of Jefferson – Buster Schrage – p
Cole County – Melissa Johnson – p
Mid-MO RPC – Jennifer Bowden – p
MO 911 Board – Brian Maydwell – p
MU Extension/CARES – Chris Barnett – p
Northwest Missouri State – Ming-Chuh Hung – p
Sanborn – Brad Arshat – p
Surdex – Steve Kasten – p
GISCI – Tony Spicci – pp (Tim)
US ACE St Louis – Jennifer Backer – p
USDA-NRCS – Katie Philbrick – p
Washington University – Mollie Webb – p
Wilson & Co – Derek Smith – p
City of Springfield – Nathan Huggins – p
City of Branson – Curtis Copeland – p

Other Attendees

Dustin Goodwin
Matt Hill
Dan R
Rick Staudiger
Joe Eckman
Navjot
Ryan Rhee
Amanda Bybee
Jack King
Jeff
Shawn Penman

Administration

OGI Report – Qualified vendor Imagery contracts waiting on compliance documents. GIS consultants list ha moved forward to procurement people. This will be for state agencies and sub-governmental units. ESRI master purchase agreement expires this year. Product list prices up. Some products up 10% because GSA rates went up. Will be removing ArcMap off all computers at OA to ArcPro in July.

MSDIS Report – April

Updated Data
MO County Boundaries
MO State Boundary
MO Townships Boundaries
MO Public Land Survey System

MSDIS General News
There is a lot of news to share this month, so I’m going to sub-divide this section up to make it easier for everyone to skip to the part(s) they are interested in…

The Genuinely Important News
Much to my own great surprise, we’ve somehow already made it to the end of the Spring 2024 semester. I’d like to thank Dr Aida Guhlincozzi, Katilin Belk, Ryan Holladay, Tony Spicci, Chris Dunn, Josh Jacomb, Wiley Howell, Kaleb Bauer, and Seth Fredrickson for generously donating some of their time to speak to my GEOG 1800 students about what GIS is like in the real world. I cannot fully describe how important I think it is that students hear from current geospatial professionals about what day-to-day work is like to better understand they depth and breadth of the careers they might eventually end up in. I can teach them all about what buttons to push, how to organize their data, and how to think about the technology as it applies to things they are interested in, but that is only a small part of what they need to be aware of before they graduate. Hearing about the current state of the industry from people currently active in the industry is a truly invaluable opportunity and I am grateful to everyone who gave up some of their day to help prepare these students for what comes next.
I would also like to thank my two MSDIS interns, Brennan Meyerhoff and Rachel Riley, for their outstanding work this semester. Brennan and Rachel spent the semester learning the ins-and-outs of ArcGIS Online to build story maps (which you can find HERE and HERE) in fulfillment of MSDIS’ contract with the Missouri Census Data Center. In both cases, their work was truly outstanding, and I am very excited to work with them again next semester. I’d also like to congratulate Brennan for earning the 2024 MSDIS Excellence in GIS award. When I originally conceived of hijacking the Department of Geography’s annual award ceremony to acknowledge my own interns, I only had one eligible recipient, so it was a pretty easy, guilty-free process. This year, with multiple eligible students, the decision was a lot tougher. So that backfired in a hurry.
Congratulations are also owed to Niko Tapia, for successfully defending his master’s thesis in the Department of Anthropology. For those who have not yet had the pleasure of meeting him, Niko has provided critical administrative support to MSDIS (and to the MGISAC) over the past few years. I quite literally could not do this job without Niko’s expert help, so it was a real treat to be able to watch his defense in-person.

The News About Data
Following a brief comment made last month, I am absolutely delighted to confirm that we have established a working, AGOL-based data exchange with our colleagues at OGI. The four datasets that were updated this month were delivered via an AGOL collaboration group and, other than needing to reimport the correct metadata before posting the layers to MSDIS, the process worked very well. I don’t even mind the extra metadata step since that is the first part of the data that I inspect before posting anyway. I’d like to give a big thanks to Thomas Moore for spearheading this effort to restore the important connection between MSDIS and OGI.

The News About Money
I am extremely pleased to announce that I can finally confirm that the imagery server expansion funds that were secured for MSDIS by the Missouri 911 Service Board via the American Rescue Plan have made their way to the University of Missouri system. The funds are currently being funneled through what I imagine is a labyrinthine web of red tape and needles bureaucracy before being deposited into a MSDIS-accessible account. These funds will be used to set up a second server specifically designed to host the 6-inch resolution state imagery.
Before anyone asks, no, there is no timeline for completion of this project, and I will not speculate on one.

MSDIS Downtime
No downtime was reported in April 2024.

Image Server Statistics
Since the replacement of the MSDIS Image Server, we have struggled to find a software to provide a comprehensive breakdown of server and service usage. We had hoped that the statistics pulled directly from ArcGIS Server Manager would be a suitable substitute, but the very bare-bones records were significantly less than what we wanted.
Moving forward, we will no longer publish these numbers in our monthly reports. We will remain on the lookout for a reliable option for parsing the server usage in the hope that we can publish these numbers again. The raw server logs are still being saved if anyone requires them. Should anyone need a rough estimate of usage for certain specific services, we are more than happy to run those numbers via Server Manager.

Treasurer’s Report – Katilin was reimbursed for NSGIC trip. Ending balance of $35,144.36 total. Our spending is on track with normal years.

Membership Report – No change. Meeting next week with CIO, Tracy, Tim and Brian to get the CIO up to speed on the council and renewal letters he needs to sign.

By-Laws Report – No changes

Discussion Topic – Elections – Jennifer has agreed to stay on as Secretary. Chris has agreed to stay on as Treasurer. Brain Maydwell is current chair elect. He will become chair at end of meeting. Tim becomes past chair. Zac Becker has been nominated as this rounds chair elect. Zac gave his platform speech. He wants to further network and collaborate with others.

VOTE* Motion to accept Zackary Becker’s nomination for chair elect through a vote of acclimation. Motion passed unanimously.

Elected positions: Jennifer Bowden-Secretary, Chris Barnett-Treasurer’s, Zackary Becker-Chair Elect, Brian Maydwell-Chair, Tim Bixler-Past Chair

Committee Reports

Data Development – Workgroup discussed getting data sharing between state and local government. Data Dev will meet in June to set date for kickoff a coalition for imagery in MO. Trying to bring awareness for the need for imagery. Reach out to Tim or Buster to take part. Looking for decision makers as well as tech people. Trying to get ahead of budget cycles. 1st Thursday of each month. Application for 3DHP has been recommended for funding. This was one of 2 applications submitted to USGS. Kentucky got statewide 3” oblique imagery that cost $18 million. NAIP is every 2 years nationwide. This year resolution was bumped up.

911 – Aggregation portal is up. Next Friday to announce portal and how to access. Next couple months should get some data. Sanborn has given access to pilot project imagery around Springfield. Late summer looking for QA/QC volunteers.

Legislative – MGISAC bill is dead. Got bundled with a bunch of other stuff that stalled. Maybe try again next year. We need a strong argument for being codified. Need to start with OA backing.

Outreach – Accessibility requirements coming for our website. Must be ADA compliant in 2026. ESRI has been working on their apps for maps. Screen readers help with basic text. Maps have always been the struggle. Looking into data retention possible policy. Looking for original copy of logo. Can’t scale up current versions of logo. Sponsored a booth at MAGIC.

Education – No Report

Conference – Site selection has begun. Had a meeting to go over all the submissions. Event rooms and food minimums have been high at some places. Looking to get student population up at conference. Will be finalizing site location at next meeting.

Liaison Reports

MAGIC – Several attended conference in Omaha.

NSGIC – Workgroup meetings at Federal level were sent out. MO leading elevation hydrography. If anyone tries to sign up and it doesn’t let you tell Tracy. NSDI documents coming that define elevation specs and other layers pecs. GIO academy meeting in June.

Adjourned – 11:51am