The Sound to Summit Regional GIS Project is preparing to initiate one on one discussions within the King County region soon.

Regional GIS Project Goals
The strategic objective of the Sound to Summit Regional GIS Study Project is to determine the best feasible way to organize and operate geographic information system (GIS) services within the region to enable enhanced use and business effectiveness from GIS, increase ROI, and decreased cost.

Regional GIS 1-1 Discussion Sessions
The Sound to Summit Regional GIS Steering Committee, comprised of volunteer representatives from a variety of representative agencies, has been conducting planning and research for the next phase of this project.
The next phase of the project involves sharing a summary of our initial research finding and discussing possible future regional GIS coordination, collaboration, and resource sharing scenarios. Most importantly, we want to hear from stakeholders in each individual agency. What is the state of GIS capability for your agency? What kind of ROI and other benefits are you achieving with GIS now?

What are the key priorities for your agency? What is your vision for GIS overall and how do you hope it will help with your key priorities?
These sessions will be conducted at your convenience and in your agency work location.

As part of the individual Regional GIS 1-1 sessions, we will work with you to:
• Understand the current capability and maturity level of your GIS
• Understand the quantifiable ROI that you are achieving with your GIS
• Understand any GIS-related issues or limitations
• Share your long-term GIS goals and vision
• Consider viable options for enhanced regional GIS collaboration and resource sharing
• Explore your interest in possibly pursuing and viable options for future regional GIS

After the agency Regional GIS 1-1 session, we will provide a written summary report that will provide a high-level assessment of your GIS and discuss possible regional GIS options for future collaboration.

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Strategic Objectives
The strategic objective of the Sound to Summit Regional GIS Study Steering Committee is to determine the best feasible way to organize and operate geographic information system (GIS) services within the region to enable enhanced use and business effectiveness from GIS, increase ROI, and decreased cost.

We aspire to develop uniform GIS policies and procedures, to minimize technical differences and share technical expertise, to enable smart communities across jurisdictional boundaries, to standardized, store, and share high-quality data, to enable GIS mutual aid and 24×7 support, to build capacity through economies of scale, to facilitate buy-in for large collaborative priority initiatives that support the entire region.

We will work with technical staff and leadership within each individual agency to analyze the potential for future GIS organization and operations.

To facilitate regional collaboration, we aspire to develop uniform external GIS policies and procedures to minimize technical differences. Collaborative GIS policies and procedures will help us to share technical expertise, to enable smart communities across jurisdictional boundaries, to standardize, store, and share high-quality data, to enable GIS mutual aid and 24×7 support, to build capacity through economies of scale, and to facilitate buy-in for large collaborative priority initiatives that support the entire region.

No agency will be excluded. Once implemented every agency will be able to enhance their use and business effectiveness from GIS, increase GIS ROI, and decrease cost. Value will extend beyond jurisdictional boundaries. Citizens, businesses, academia, and non-profits will benefit from an enhanced, sustainable GIS platform for our shared Sound to Summit region.

Next steps and to learn more
Look for an email and a phone call from the Sound to Summit Regional GIS study chair, Greg Babinski. Contact Greg (greg.babinski@kingcounty.gov / 206-477-4402) with any questions or comments. Also contact Greg if there are specific people in your agency who should be included in your session.

The Sound to Summit Regional GIS Steering Committee is represented by these agencies:
• City of Bellevue
• City of Covington
• City of Enumclaw
• City of Kent
• City of Kirkland
• City of Mercer Island
• City of Renton
• City of Seattle
• Sammamish Plateau Water
• Snoqualmie Tribe
• King County