Indiana Asks County to Apply for GIS Grant; County Tables It

There may be far more going on than is revealed in the article in the Greencastle Banner-Graphic, but essentially the story goes: the state of Indiana has asked Putnam County to apply for a $14,000 Homeland Security grant to get a GIS up and running that can be part of the state’s IndianaMap (a state spatial data infrastructure). The County decided to make a list of every group that might use the GIS before taking any action.

We talk about unfunded mandates and grass roots all the time in building up an NSDI, but clearly there is still work to do at the local level. Can NACo (National Association of Counties) help? Or NSGIC (National States Geographic Information Council)? Or URISA or GITA or ...? Why is this not a “no brainer?” Should it not be? Is it not enough money to do the work? What’s the holdup?