NSGIC Member David Arbeit Named CGIO in Minnesota

In a move that surprised some in the state by its speed, Minnesota Commissioner of Administration Sheila Reger yesterday named David Arbeit as the state's first-ever Chief Geospatial Information Officer (CGIO). Mr. Arbeit had served as the director of the Office of Geographic and Demographic Analysis until this week.

His job change came on Wednesday morning, June 24, at a public meeting -- named "Point of Beginning" (PDF) -- called to introduce the new Minnesota Geospatial Information Office. The legislation (PDF) that created the office that was developed and passed just this year.

NSGIC President-Elect Will Craig, Associate Director at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, and long a leader in GIS in Minnesota, was there.

"The Commissioner of Administration was invited to say a few words, invited David forward, and anointed him before us all," reports Mr. Craig. "I don't think anyone expected it at yesterday's gathering. We had expected David to be anointed, but nothing official had happened or been announced until this public meeting."

The appointment, the second announcement of a GIO this year, was noted yesterday on the web site of Government Technology News, which took the opportunity to further explain the idea of a Geospatial Information officer (GIO):

Modeled after a chief information officer (CIO), the GIO position -- instituted in some federal agencies and this March in California -- has served to acknowledge the importance of geospatial data and its coordination.

Will Craig was pleased with the appointment and proud of his state's approach to GIS coordination.

"I think we've got something unique here," he explained. "Michael Terner, from Applied Geographics, says were are the only place that has a GIO that reports to a state-level advisory body composed of the all state agencies with significant GIS interests, such as the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture. It's a real federation, trying to find efficiencies by coordinating activities."

Mr. Terner and his company assisted the state in the drafting of A Program for Transformed GIS in the State of Minnesota (PDF) that called for the creation of the Minnesota Geospatial Information Office and the creation of the CGIO position.