VIP meets GIS, other acronyms.

Last week, I attended the mid-year meeting for the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC). NSGIC focuses on all things related to geographic information systems (GIS) and geospatial by bringing together coordinators and analysts from each of the 50 states. Highlights included a presentation by NSGIC’s William Burgess on the state of GIS and NSGIC’s advocacy agenda across the country, as well as an update and summary presentation on the organization’s broadband mapping project.

Most relevant to VIP, however, is the use of geospatial data in state GIS offices to potentially improve and augment the coverage or accuracy of our polling place, candidate, and other lookup tools. GIS coordinators also have access to county or state-level address point files, what are essentially white pages of every conceivable address. Both of these data sets are invaluable not only to us in mapping addresses to polling places, but also to our friends designing, building, and running APIs that make VIP happen. Furthermore, some states need to build a statewide street index, and experts in these offices could offer essential expertise or the ability to act as a geodata clearinghouse.

In addition to the natural relationships between mapping and elections (redistricting, precinct mapping, etc.), I’m also personally interested in other applications of this data, even beyond elections. Thinking about the value that VIP has provided the public in the field of voting information, I’m extremely excited to see how a similar benefit could be provided for education, healthcare, and finance, for example, by blending topical information with geographic-based services.

Moving forward, we here at VIP hope to bring this cast of GIS characters into our conversations and meetings with election officials, although we understand each state is different. We have heard from a few GIS coordinators and analysts already, but we would love to hear from more. Hit us up in comments, e-mail, or tweet @votinginfo if there’s anyone we should be chatting with!

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