Abstract

Show Me Your Data
Track: User Presentations - Research
Authors: Daniel Sward, Len Kne, Ryan Mattke

At the University of Minnesota (U of M) a blend of Geodatabase, GIS server, web portal, and digital preservation technologies are converging to enhance our spatial data discovery, access, storage, archiving, and preservation capabilities. Vast amounts of spatial data are produced by researchers, instructors, students, and administrative staff throughout the organization. These data are currently stored in a myriad of different formats and systems ranging from flash-drives to enterprise databases. This makes data storage inefficient and costly, while the discovery and sharing of data is difficult at best. A campus-wide initiative has defined an integrated approach which streamlines our data storage and provides better opportunities for discovery, access, and preservation of spatial data. This process strives for operational excellence by reducing cost and data redundancy, as well as providing a valuable service to our internal and external spatial data producers and consumers.