Georgia’s GIS Coordinating Committee (GISCC) spent 2008-2009 engaged in statewide Geospatial Strategic Planning, funded by the FGDC/USGS and in synch with the Fifty States Initiative and Georgia’s Policy Initiatives.

Georgia’s 2009 Geospatial Strategic Plan represents concensus from a large, talented community of practitioners from all industries, united by a commitment to enhancing decision-making and delivery of services through geospatial approaches.

Per the Georgia 2009 Geospatial Strategic Plan, the following elements are critical to the success of an enterprise Geospatial Program, our ultimate goal for Georgia: 

1.       Find a mechanism for collaboratively maintaining existing statewide investments/resources that support interagency data discovery and access (i.e., the Georgia GIS Clearinghouse) and to meet future interagency/stakeholder needs for geospatial resources.
Aligns with Best Managed state goals “Deliver state services, faster, friendlier and easier,” “Strategically manage the state’s infrastructure and be stewards of its assets,” and “Improve decision makers access to quality enterprise data through integrated enterprise systems.”

2.       Establish clearly defined authority and responsibility for Geospatial coordination in Georgia, with a lead coordinator or GIO (Geospatial Information Officer), so that a Program exists to secure and equitably manage federal dollars across geography and geospatially-related projects, streamline multi-agency efforts/needs, and realize savings for Georgia government.
Aligns with Safe, Growing and Best Managed state goals “Increase quality jobs and promote innovation and investment in Georgia,” “Promote homeland security and emergency preparedness for natural and man-made disasters or acts of terrorism,” “Strategically manage the state’s infrastructure and be stewards of its assets.”

3.       Develop a mechanism for assessing the Geospatial Health of Georgia, to outline statewide geospatial components, to evaluate each component’s maturity, to establish a baseline of understanding, to track progress over time and to create a framework from which to build score cards and the current and future strategic/business plans for the GISCC and the state of Georgia.
Aligns with Educated and Growing Georgia state goals “Improve workforce readiness skills,” “Increase quality jobs and promote innovation and investment in Georgia.”

4.       Execute an Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) for geospatial software acquisition throughout Georgia state agencies (#37, Appendix A) to reduce replicate administrative procurement burden and to expand software access, currently limited by budget.
Aligns with Best Managed goals  “Employ an enterprise approach and best practices in Georgia’s financial management.”

5.       Endorse the use of appropriate national geospatial standards.
Aligns with state Best Managed goals “Strategically manage the state’s infrastructure and be stewards of its assets.”

The GISCC engaged as many industries and interests in the 2008-09 Strategic Planning effort as possible to increase the awareness, use and benefit of geospatial technologies/practices in today’s world. Participating groups include the following (individuals are identified in the Strategic Plan acknowledgements):

The Georgia Legislature, The Office of Planning & Budget (OPB), Georgia’s CIO Council, Georgia Association of Regional Development Centers (GARDC), Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG), Georgia State Properties Commission (GSPC) Georgia Municipal Association (GMA), Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC), Society for Information Management (SIM), Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), special thanks to former 2-term Governor of WY, Jim Geringer; ESRI Georgia User Group, Georgia Economic Developer’s Association (GEDA), Georgia Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (GACCE), Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), Government Management Information Sciences, Utility Economic Development Association (UEDA), Georgia Transmission Corporation, Georgia Management Information Sciences (GMIS), The Surveying and Mapping Society of Georgia (SAMSOG), the Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS), Georgia Urban & Regional Information Systems of America (URISA), Bentley, and the Georgia Chapter of the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).