American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) – The mission of the ASPRS is to advance knowledge and improve understanding of mapping sciences and to promote the responsible applications of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and supporting technologies. ASPRS executes this mission in a wide variety of ways, often through regional chapters.

Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) – The premier global nonprofit geospatial education association serving the oil and gas, utility, infrastructure, and emergency response communities and their millions of end users. In 2012, SharedGeo became GITA’s first Bronze sponsor.

Illinois GIS Association (ILGISA) – The only statewide organization of GIS/geospatial professionals in Illinois. It advances the understanding, communication, and effectiveness of geospatial technology in Illinois by connecting over 500 members working in local, regional, state and federal government, higher educational institutions, and private industries through a wide-variety of high-quality, low-cost programs that educate and inform its members.

Iowa Geographic Information Council (IGIC) – A member driven nonprofit organization that works to foster an efficient GIS environment through cooperation and coordination with public and private entities that access, collect, provide, and share data, metadata, applications and educational opportunities.

Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) – An acclaimed national leader in promoting operational best practices for the nonprofit community. Extensive web resources, on-going program of events, and a dedicated professional staff ensure the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits is able to fufill its mission to inform, promote, connect and strengthen individual nonprofits and the nonprofit sector.

The Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) – A not-for-profit organization whose mission is to foster global adoption of open geospatial technology by being an inclusive software foundation devoted to an open philosophy and participatory community driven development.  The foundation provides financial, organizational and legal support to the broader open source geospatial community. It also serves as an independent legal entity to which community members can contribute code, funding and other resources, secure in the knowledge that their contributions will be maintained for public benefit.

The Minnesota Geographic Information Systems/Land Information Systems Consortium (MN GIS/LIS) – A nonprofit organization that serves as a forum for communicating information to, and improving cooperation among, those interested in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Land Information Systems (LIS) in the State of Minnesota. MN GIS/LIS’s formal mission statement is: “To develop and support the GIS professional in Minnesota for the benefit of our state and its citizens.”

Wisconsin Land Information Association (WLIA) – An organization that exists to foster the understanding, development, and use of integrated land information systems to benefit the citizens of Wisconsin. Similar to MN GIS/LIS, WLIA executes its mission through a combination of committee activities, conferences and events, on-going community collaboration and a scholarship program.

For a long running example of this process in action, please visit the web site of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Core values that guide SharedGeo’s everyday operations as a nonprofit:

• Transparency,
• Accountability,
• Support of the public good, and
• Excellence in the performance of corporate duties.

 Core values that guide SharedGeo’s technical development efforts:

• Those who create the data and know it best should be the data sources; enable them to share their knowledge while still being responsible for maintenance.
• Build flexible solutions that can be used to address specific problems, but that also contribute to a re-usable toolkit that others can use free of charge.
• Use Open Source software whenever it provides the best solution.

Formation DocumentsSharedGeo

• Articles of Incorporation
• State of Minnesota Certificate of Incorporation
• Bylaws

Determinations

• IRS Tax Exempt Determination Letter
• State of Minnesota Secretary of State Certificate of Good Standing 
• State of Minnesota Attorney General Charitible Organization Determination

IRS Tax Filings

Donations and income from operations during the start up period of September 2008 through December 2009 did not meet the IRS income requirements for filing Form 990.  As such, a “postcard” filing was completed for that period.  The first Form 990 IRS tax return available for review using the GuideStar system link below is for calendar year 2010.

• SharedGeo Tax Filings at GuideStar

2008: Republican National Convention Common Operating Picture and Civil Air Patrol (CAP) ARCHER Imagery

Faced with the need to support security efforts involving multiple cities, counties, and levels of government for the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, and with only limited access to Federal geospatial systems, members of the Emergency Preparedness Committee (EPC) of the MN Governor’s Council on Geographic Information undertook development of their own a Common Operating Picture. Built on an open source software platform called GeoMOOSE, the system was unique in its ability to display geospatial information as maintained and controlled by the original data providers. This product, produced by what would later become SharedGeo’s development team, was used by EPC members at the U.S. Secret Service Multi Agency Communication Center, State Emergency Operations Center, and several metro-area county and city Emergency Operations Centers. In addition, the developmental team also worked closely with the Minnesota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol to put in place high speed download and WMS distribution of CAP ARCHER imagery on an as needed basis. This was believed to have been a first in the nation effort.

After this RNC experience, on Sept. 30, 2008, SharedGeo was established as a nonprofit corporation to support collaborative projects and advance system design/implementations which increase the exchange of geospatial information for the common good.

2009/2010: Red RiverValley Flooding

When the Red River Valley flooded in April 2009, MnGeo’s Emergency Preparedness Committee used software, web services and hosting donated by SharedGeo, as well as services provided by other units of government, to create an online node for downloading highly accurate and current maps for disaster response workers and the general public. This product is believed to have been a first in the nation effort. The site was briefly re-activated in the spring of 2010 in preparation for anticipated renewed flooding.

SharedGeo subsequently provided assistance to open-source mapping initiatives for the Haiti Earthquake Response based on techniques developed for Red River flooding (efficient handling of large volumes of image files).

2009/2010: Minnesota Structures Collaborative

In 2009/2010, SharedGeo developed a prototype platform for the statewide collection, publication and long term sustainable maintenance of data related to structures such as police and fire stations, hospitals, and schools. This project was completed under a contract with the Minnesota Geographic Information Office (MnGeo), as funded by the Federal Geographic Data Committee. This was a first in the nation effort outside of commercial efforts (e.g. Boeing Corp.) sponsored by DHS.

2010: MetroGIS Government Services Proximity Finder

SharedGeo worked under a contract with the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council’s MetroGIS program to develop a web service lists all jurisdictions that apply to a particular point, and find the nearest government service based on a particular location. This project also involved loading and/or accessing data from many local government sources and using it in a standardized way to provide a unified service to users. SharedGeo’s project team included Houston Engineering, Inc.

2010 – continuing: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

This open-source, online geospatial viewing system is being developed for habitat imagery/data file cataloging, access, integration and distribution in support of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Companion grants for the first phase of project were awarded to the University of Minnesota –Twin Cities, St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, Michigan Tech Research Institute, and Ducks Unlimited. During the second phase of this project, efforts have focused on developing geospatial technologies to do location specific high-fidelity environmental change detection across the entire Great Lakes basin. At times this effort is processing petabytes of data on the Blue Waters Super Computer.

2010 – continuing: USNG Emergency Location Markers

SharedGeo personnel are actively involved in nationally ground breaking efforts to install standardized U.S. National Grid (USNG) Emergency Location Markers along major trail systems across the United States.  Watch a short video about an award winning system installed in Cobb County, GA.