Aurora,
Colo. -
The Geospatial Information and Technology Association
(GITA) has announced the release of the Twin Cities GECCo Workshop After Action
Report/Improvement Plan.
This
report is the result of extensive dialogue among community geospatial
stakeholders following a Geospatial Enabling Community Collaboration (GECCo)
workshop held in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in October 2011. The Twin Cities
GECCo is part of a series of workshops jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security and GITA.
The report will be used to create an ongoing
process for the metro region that improves geospatial data collaboration
and cooperation among the business, emergency services, infrastructure and
geospatial communities. MetroGIS, a voluntary collaboration of local and regional governments,
academic institutions, nonprofit organizations and businesses in the Twin
Cities, will coordinate efforts to pursue plan recommendations.
The 96-page
document is unique in several ways, according to Steve Swazee, a member of the
GITA Board of Directors and local GECCo workshop leader. “It represents the
first time that the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)
format has been employed to document GECCo results against a standardized
national methodology and terminology for exercise design, development, conduct,
evaluation and improvement planning,” he said. “This is significant in that it
directly links GECCo findings to fundable objectives of DHS grant programs.”
Swazee also serves as executive director of SharedGeo, a non-profit association
headquartered in the Minneapolis
area, as well as chair of the Minnesota Geospatial Information Office’s
Emergency Preparedness Committee.
GITA Executive Director Bob Samborski said, “The
GECCo program has become one of the association’s most ambitious efforts. The
workshops held in the Twin
Cities and earlier this
year in the Bay Area and Charlotte are the culmination of a multi-year effort
to promote better geospatial data sharing among public and private stakeholders
in specific geographic areas around the country. The support of DHS has been
instrumental in this effort.”
The Twin Cities GECCo report is
available from the Twin Cities GECCoweb site “Post Event” page.
GITA Issues Twin Cities GECCo Report on Geospatial Data Collaboration
June 26, 2012
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