US: Alaska Governor Sean Parnell has signed a Memorandum of Agreement establishing the Alaska Geospatial Council (AGC). The Council will coordinate efforts involving geospatial data collection and mapping by government agencies.
The council will include representatives from government agencies, the University of Alaska, and Alaska Native corporations, and will work to improve communication, coordination and collaboration on digital mapping projects throughout Alaska. The council takes over and expands upon the work of the Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative (SDMI), which had begun this work on an ad hoc basis.
The purpose of the council is to integrate geospatial mapping efforts in Alaska, with the intent to eliminate unnecessary taxpayer expense and redundant staff activity across all agencies. The council will focus on modernising Alaska’s geospatial data holdings while enhancing data sharing and making the data holdings broadly available to the public.
Source: Juneau Empire
