by Cameron Cook
The Rebecca J. Holz series in Research Data Management is a monthly lecture series hosted during the spring and fall academic semesters. Research Data Services invites speakers from a variety of disciplines to talk about their research or involvement with data.
This December, Jaime Martindale, Map & GIS Data Librarian at the Arthur Robinson Map Library, and AJ Wortley of the State Cartographer’s Office, shared their talk “Geospatial Data Preservation & Management”. You can find their archived slides here.
Jaime and AJ’s talk focused on the work they have done over the past year archiving and releasing data through a UW-Madison campus geoportal, as well as the work they will be doing over the next year to help a CIC wide geoportal get off the ground. During their talk they introduced what geospatial data is in terms of raster data and vector data, how geospatial data is used in educational contexts through the geoportal they have built, as well as the process of collecting and archiving the data for use in the geoportal databases. They also noted, as they gave a brief view into the process of starting the new CIC wide geoportal, that they are weighing choices similar to ones faced through the research data lifecycle – i.e. decisions on file formats, software, standards, etc.