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Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://statescoop.com/gis-data-sharing-central-disease-outbreak-containment/
Bird flu outbreak shows importance of GIS data sharing ? panelists
By Jake Williams ? Wednesday, October 07, 2015 ? 3:07 pm
Minnesota's Dan Ross speaks on how the state GIS office handled an outbreak of avian flu earlier this year. (Jake Williams/StateScoop)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. ? Better data sharing could have improved states? response to the bird flu outbreak earlier this year, officials said Tuesday.
After news of the outbreak broke, geographic information systems officials across the Midwest, South and Pacific Coast pieced together maps to help identify infected areas and buffer zones in their states. But generally, states weren?t collaborating with each other. In Minnesota alone, officials created more than 1,700 maps during the five-month outbreak, but local laws prevented them from sharing their data across state lines, said Dan Ross, the state?s chief geospatial information officer.
?Data sharing was easy [but] there are statutes against it ? so we didn?t share it,? Ross said during a panel at the National States Geographic Information Council?s annual conference Tuesday. ?Sharing would?ve made it easier.?
In some cases, states will have to work within their legislatures to overturn old statutes on data sharing. In others, states will need to turn to groups like NSGIC to share best practices, even if they can?t share specific data...
Bird flu outbreak shows importance of GIS data sharing ? panelists
By Jake Williams ? Wednesday, October 07, 2015 ? 3:07 pm
Minnesota's Dan Ross speaks on how the state GIS office handled an outbreak of avian flu earlier this year. (Jake Williams/StateScoop)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. ? Better data sharing could have improved states? response to the bird flu outbreak earlier this year, officials said Tuesday.
After news of the outbreak broke, geographic information systems officials across the Midwest, South and Pacific Coast pieced together maps to help identify infected areas and buffer zones in their states. But generally, states weren?t collaborating with each other. In Minnesota alone, officials created more than 1,700 maps during the five-month outbreak, but local laws prevented them from sharing their data across state lines, said Dan Ross, the state?s chief geospatial information officer.
?Data sharing was easy [but] there are statutes against it ? so we didn?t share it,? Ross said during a panel at the National States Geographic Information Council?s annual conference Tuesday. ?Sharing would?ve made it easier.?
In some cases, states will have to work within their legislatures to overturn old statutes on data sharing. In others, states will need to turn to groups like NSGIC to share best practices, even if they can?t share specific data...