North Carolina Geospatial Data Archiving Project (NCGDAP) Project Overview

1. North Carolina Geospatial Data Archiving Project (NCGDAP)Project Overview • Partnership • University library (NCSU) and state agency (NCCGIA) • $520,000 funding, plus matching • Focus on state and local geospatial content in North Carolina • Tied to NC OneMap, which provides seamless access to data, metadata, data sharing agreements, and inventory processes • Engage existing spatial data infrastructures in digital preservation • Work Plan • Identification: work from ongoing NC OneMap data inventories • Acquisition: work from NC One Map data sharing agreements • Define metadata workflow: FGDC, METS, geoDRM, etc. • Use DSpace initially; repository-agnostic approach; explore interaction of geospatial content with available software • Explore use of Open Geospatial Consortium technologies in archive development process

2. North Carolina Geospatial Data Archiving Project (NCGDAP)Project Progress • Content Identification, Selection, and Acquisition • Completing survey analysis • Acquiring selected content (in earnest from Oct. 2005) • Pilot project focused on georegistering digital maps • Partnership Building • Completing sub-agreement with state government partners • Site visits with local and regional agencies planned • Other: NSGIC, NARA, EDINA (UK), ESRI, NPS, … • Technical Architecture Development • Completing metadata development workflow • Defining ingest workflow • Two 16 TB storage systems acquired and deployed; backup plan in place • Conducting test ingests and exports in DSpace • … Initial project focus on developing the “plumbing”

3. North Carolina Geospatial Data Archiving Project (NCGDAP)Emerging Issues • Preserving cartographic representation • The counterpart to the old map is the GIS data in addition to added intellectual work in the form of layer selection, symbology, annotation, etc. … Finished maps and projects form basis for policy decisions, etc. • Technical challenges associated with preserving this content, e.g. representation definitions stored in proprietary formats which do not even upwardly migrate within own software environment • Semantic issues: symbologies have particular meanings within particular contents at particular points in time • Preserving spatial databases • Increasingly, the “middle stage” geospatial information resource is stored in complex spatial databases • Some spatial database components not exportable into open file formats; quickly evolving technology and export options • ESRI Geodatabase format increasingly adopted by NC county and city agencies, especially for tax parcels and streets • Some agencies using Geodatabase as archival environment

4. North Carolina Geospatial Data Archiving Project (NCGDAP)Emerging Issues (continued) • Inserting preservation use cases into the GeoDRM initiative • GeoDRM driving content packaging discussion in the geospatial community; potential for focus on MPEG 21 as a solution • Partnering with EDINA in the UK • Content packaging approach: use METS initially, then follow geospatial industry direction • Engaging regional entities in the archive development process • Council of Governments active in cultivating regional spatial data infrastructure; testbeds for innovation and collaboration • COGs develop local practice for routinized data capture from county and city agencies • COGs develop scalable, intimate interagency relationships (typically 6 counties per COG vs. 100 counties in state) • NOTE: Legal cultures, translating into expectations regarding agreement language, vary at national, state, regional, local levels … consider experience of the FGDC Cooperative Agreements