Placing Data in the Land of 10,000 Lakes: Navigating the History and Future of Geospatial Data Production, Stewardship, and Archiving in Minnesota

Abstract

The goal in this article is to provide background and offer a framework for developing a program to archive the state of Minnesota’s spatial data at the University of Minnesota. It begins with a review of the literature on geospatial data archiving, preservation, and curation, and goes on to make a business case for archiving geospatial data. It next provides a brief history of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Minnesota, beginning in the late 1960s with the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs’ (CURA) Minnesota Land Management Information System (MLMIS) project through the establishment of the Minnesota Geospatial Information Office (MnGeo) in 2009. After providing this historical context, this article builds upon existing organizational infrastructure in Minnesota to sketch a preliminary framework for archiving the state’s spatial data.