Welcome to the North Carolina Geographic Information Coordinating Council

The Archival and Long Term Access ad hoc Committee was established by the Council in 2007. It was a direct outcome to one of the “Ten Recommendations in Support of Geospatial Data Sharing” adopted by the Council at its November 7, 2007 meeting. That recommendation stipulated that “data producers should evaluate and publish their long term access, retention, and archival strategies for historic data.”

Chaired by GICC member Anne Payne, the ad hoc committee, representing all government sectors, framed the issue. While key feature data layers such as land records, street centerlines, jurisdictional boundaries, and zoning are constantly changing, current data management practices commonly involve overwriting of older versions of data which are then no longer available. If retained, the data could serve several business purposes, such as, historical/cultural interests, support of legal proceedings, enforcement of environmental regulations, and aid in analysis of trends. Retention and preservation requirements and schedules, if they exist, are not considered nor included in up-front data life-cycle planning, budgeting, nor in work flow development, by local and state agencies. To the extent that data snapshots are retained, the archived data does not tolerate neglect: Long-term preservation will involve migration of data to supported data formats, media refresh, and retention of critical documentation.

The ad hoc committee considered numerous aspects of this community-wide problem and suggested guidelines, and made three recommendations involving records retention. Archiving geospatial public information should become part of an agency’s records retention plan.

The Final Report was accepted by the Council at its November 19, 2008 meeting.

To augment the work of the Archival and Long-Term Access ad hoc Committee, a collaboration between the Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, NC State University Libraries, and Library of Congress National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) focuses on the actual collection and preservation of digital geospatial data. Learn more about the NDIIPP project. Local governments are instrumental to this effort. They were surveyed about their archiving habits and processes in 2008. The fascinating report can be read here.


Committee Meeting Agendas, Presentations, and Handouts
Meeting February 29, 2008

• Handout: Data Sharing Recommendation No. 10: Long Term Retention and Preservation of Records
• Handout: Summary of the Ten Data Sharing Recommendations for Geospatial Data Sharing adopted by the GICC 11/07/2007
• Presentation: Archiving State and Local Geospatial Data: An Overview of the Problem Area
• Presentation on electronic records from NC State Archives: Why Bother? Strategic Repurposing for Sustainable Access

Meeting March 26, 2008

• Handout: (DRAFT) Guiding Principles for Developing Best Practices for Archival and Long Term Access
  

Meeting May 2, 2008

• Handout: (DRAFT) GICC Archival and Long Term Access Committee Final Report Outline
• Presentation: Geo-Archival Frequency of Capture Survey: 2006 Results and Next Steps in ‘08
• Presentation: Business Case Documentation for Geospatial Preservation

Other Resources

• Government Records Branch of North Carolina
• NC State Archives: “Archival Process for Data and Image Preservation: The Management and Preservation of Digital Media"
• Frequency of Geospatial Data Capture: Survey of Local Government GIS Contacts
• Library of Congress Geospatial Multistate Archive and Preservation Partnership