GIS Inventory 2.0 now available

The GIS Inventory received a major update on the night of October 13th. Most noticeable are some nicely-crafted cosmetic changes to the layout and status maps visible when you first visit the site, but the updates go much deeper.

According to an announcement yesterday from the GIS Inventory Team, more subtle changes built into the system will make life easier as you document your systems, policies, and data. Another major addition includes a more powerful search tool located on the "Data Layers" tab.

Some other highlights include:

• Improved system speed and responsiveness
• An improved help system
• Style changes to make data entry easier and more logical
• Information banners that can be inserted by state administrators for newsworthy items
  

The list of updates goes on, but hey, why don't you just check it out for yourself at http://gisinventory.net/!

Formerly known as "Ramona," the GIS Inventory is produced by the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) as a tool for states and their partners. Its primary purpose is to track the status of GIS in state and local government to aid the planning and building of spatial data infrastructures.

RAMONA 2.0 Released!

As we noted in January, the new and improved Version 2 of RAMONA has been released.

The latest version of NSGIC's GIS inventory tool includes a few upgrades and improvements, including faster and more dependable web-hosting, enhanced tools for both the users and the state-level administrators, and improved integration with the federal government's Geospatial One-Stop (GOS).

State GIS Coordinators interested in adding their states to the Ramona network should contact Jill Saligoe-Simmel.

Coming Soon: Ramona 2.0

NSGIC expects the release of Ramona Version 2.0 shortly. This update will include several enhancements for users and state-level Ramona administrators.

There are 1,180 users currently registered in Ramona, documenting their geospatial data policies and practices, and 4,237 data layers. This is just the tip of an iceberg whose full dimensions will become more apparent as more states roll-out their nodes on the network.

The NSGIC Ramona Working group plans to offer several Web-Ex remote training sessions to introduce state-level administrators to Ramona 2.0 features. These include, for users, better performance, auto-save on data layers, and more security for contact information. For administrators, the enhancements include advanced search capabilities, flexible report generation, the ability to add extra state-specific questions, and accessible metadata for users.

State GIS Coordinators interested in adding their states to the Ramona network should contact Jill Saligoe-Simmel.

2006 NSGIC Conference: Ramona Steering Workgroup

Ramona is an on-line GIS data inventory tool established by NSGIC to provide way for States to take a standardized inventory of the GIS data holdings of state agencies, local governments and other partners.

A Ramona Steering Workgroup is being established as part of the Technical Issues Committee to oversee the operation of Ramona. The idea is to keep the system simple and useful and moving forward. The first meeting of the NSGIC Conference is intended to be a kick-off of the Ramona oversight group.

It will be important to make sure that the needs of federal agencies -- to discover data, and work more closely with state and local governments -- are met. There was a discussion of whether the committee should include a federal representative or if their contact should be through the federal liaison that works for NSGIC.

There was discussion of how to make sure that the system interacts well with state geospatial data clearinghouse systems. There are ways, and will be more in the future, to allow state Ramona administrators to customize parts of the system to meet their own needs.

There was a discussion of the need to increase training among state members to increase usage of the Ramona system. Bill Burgess was asked to create a standard training presentation for Ramona that state coordinators can use locally.

There was a suggestion for a one-page handout on Ramona designed to present Ramona from the perspective of local government, rather than from the state or federal level.

There was discussion of starting to push Ramona through URISA and other organizations that speak to local and county governments.

Zsolt Nagy noted that the Ramona system has helped in North Carolina in identifying local government GIS users to reach out to. Jill Saligoe-Simmel, of Indiana, has found that the Ramona system has been of great value to many private sector people.

Learon Dalby, of Arkansas, will be the chair of the new Ramona Steering Workgroup. Membership will be filled out during the conference.