Collection and Preservation of At-Risk Digital Geospatial Data

NCSU Libraries and NCCGIA

National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program

NDIIPP Project Context

Partnership between NCSU Libraries and NC Center for Geographic Information & Analysis

Cooperative Agreement with Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP)

Three year project starting Oct. 2004 $520,000 funding One of eight projects in the first NDIIPP funding

round: “Building a Network of Partners”

Risk to Geospatial Data

Producer focus on current data– Need “permanent access” as well as digital preservation

Future support of data formats in question– Need to migrate formats or allow for emulation

Data failure– “Bit rot”, media failure

Preservation metadata requirements– Descriptive, administrative, technical, DRM

Shift to “streaming data” for access– Impact on development of secondary archives

Sanborn Fire Insurance MapDowntown Raleigh

1903

Land Parcel Boundary Change

in North Raleigh

2001-2004

NDIIPP Project “Phases”

Content Selection and Identification– Work from NC OneMap Inventory

Content Acquisition– Leverage NC OneMap data sharing agreements

Partnership Building– Work closely with local/state/federal agencies

Content Retention and Transfer– Digital repository (initially Dspace)– Formulate preservation metadata (using METS)– Digital rights management (DRM)

Project Summary

Identify available data resources through the NC OneMap data inventory

Acquire at-risk digital geospatial data from state, regional, local agencies (and others); build time series

Develop digital repository architecture for geospatial data, using open source software tools such as Dspace

Use METS records as a metadata wrapper for data files, descriptive/technical metadata, DRM, etc.

Investigate use of Open Geospatial Consortium technologies in data identification and capture processes

Development of a model for data archiving and time series development

Questions?

Contact:

Steve Morris

Head of Digital Library Initiatives

NCSU Libraries

Steven_Morris@ncsu.edu

Phone: (919) 515-1361

Sanborn Fire Insurance MapDowntown Raleigh

Key Challenges

Technical– Efficient methods for inventory and acquisition– Formulation of preservation metadata – Format choices– Encoding digital rights information (DRM)– Repository ingest and management

Organizational– Securing agreements for data access and transfer (including to

Library of Congress where possible); address concerns about misuse of older data

– Promote importance of time series development and long term preservation

– Learn from established experience and practice of data custodians