Goodhue County GIS Users Group (GCUG)

To serve as a forum for Goodhue County area public and private entities to share information, ideas, and strategies utilizing geospatial data and to form strategic partnerships to better utilize this data to promote community and economic development throughout the region.

HISTORY:
Starting in November 2006, Goodhue County Geographic Information Systems (GIS) staff contacted representatives from each of the municipalities within Goodhue County as well as the Prairie Island Indian Community (PIIC) and Goodhue County Cooperative Electric.  Goodhue County proposed to form a county-wide GIS users group, which would include a cost-sharing agreement.  The group of representatives continued to meet and discuss the initiative until early summer in 2007.  County staff then presented to different councils and boards from August through October regarding the Users Group formation and the cost-sharing agreement. Agencies participating in the Users Group initiative have signed a two-year term of agreement.  The Users Group license agreement officially takes effect on January 2nd, 2008.

To view the license agreement for the users group, please click here

OBJECTIVES:

• To provide better service to the public by enabling elected officials and management the ability to make more informed decisions based on a wealth of public information which can be processed and displayed by GIS technology.
• To grant each participating agency access to Goodhue County GIS datasets in order to enhance services to its residents.
• To foster a stronger GIS relationship between Goodhue County and participating agencies.
• To assure uniformity and accuracy of data created and used throughout the county.
• To reduce the duplication of effort and expense related to GIS projects, including data collection and data maintenance.

CURRENT MEMBERS:

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS:
County Cost Sharing Survey
2009 User Group Membership Benefits Summary
2008 User Group Membership Benefits Summary
Survey January 2009
Survey May 2009

• Shared cost of current and future GIS data acquisition
• Better collaboration regarding future GIS projects and/or data acquisition
• More efficient distribution of updated Goodhue County GIS data, including parcels, orthophotos, 2ft contours, street centerlines, and others
• Access to County GIS personnel for special projects or online mapping site updates
• Shared cost of agency-specific online GIS mapping sites, maintained by Goodhue County
• Access to GIS data and/or functionality in addition to what is currently available on the Goodhue County's public online mapping site

MEETINGS:

The Goodhue County GIS users group meets on the last Friday of each month at the Goodhue County Government Center building.  For more information regarding the users group meetings, you may review the current and past meeting agendas and minutes.  (All documents are in pdf format)

Agendas/Minutes
2008/2009/2010/2011/2012/2013

UPDATES:
January 1, 2010: City of Lake City becomes a member with Goodhue County GIS Users Group.
February 6, 2009: Goodhue County Cooperative Electric Association approves the cost-sharing license agreement.
June 9, 2008: City of Wanamingo approves the cost-sharing license agreement.
May 19, 2008: Goodhue County SWCD approves the cost-sharing license agreement
April 15th, 2008: City of Goodhue and Goodhue Gas Company approves the cost-sharing license agreement
January 17th, 2008:  First official meeting of the Goodhue County GIS users group.
December 11th, 2007: City of Kenyon approves the cost-sharing license agreement.
December 5th, 2007:  Prairie Island Indian Community approves the cost-sharing license agreement.
November 6th, 2007: City of Red Wing approves the cost-sharing license agreement.
November 5th, 2007: City of Cannon Falls approves the cost-sharing license agreement.
November, 2006: Initial meeting with Goodhue County and representatives from municipalities and other agencies.

FORMS:
Data Use & Acceptance Agreement
Service Request Form
Data Distribution Approval Form

METADATA:
Below are links to metadata documents for some of Goodhue County’s main GIS data layers.  Metadata includes information about datasets such as their creation date, authoring agency, maintenance frequency, information about the data’s accuracy, and much more.

Links to other GIS Users Groups:
MN GIS/LIS Consortium Users Group Listing

For more information about the Goodhue County GIS Users Group, please contact Sarah Schrader, the Goodhue County GIS Specialist at:  651-385-3193 or by sending an email