Below is our terms of reference for the LGGA, if you are interested in the original document it is located here (CC BY)

 

Purpose 

 

The purpose of the Local Government Geospatial Alliance Group (LGGA) is:

• To identify and promote opportunities for more effective and efficient service delivery within local government through the use of geospatial data and its associated Spatial Data Infrastructure; 

• To be the geospatial representatives for all New Zealand councils acting as the linking group between all local authorities and the National Geospatial Strategy committee structures; 

• To escalate local government geospatial issues and ideas to the National Geospatial Strategy committees as required;

• To be a central point of local government geospatial contact for external agencies including government agencies; 

• To actively support, influence, advise and be involved in the development of geospatial projects and initiatives undertaken by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and the New Zealand Geospatial Office (NZGO); 

• To initiate and promote suggestions for development of local government geospatial projects and initiatives;

• Set up Local Government Geospatial Project Groups for endorsed, prioritised projects; 

• To promote the development of geospatial standards and guidelines for councils in alignment with the New Zealand Geospatial Strategy.

 

Responsibilities

 

• The key responsibilities of the Local Government Geospatial Alliance Group (LGGA) are:

• Represent and communicate with authorities in their region on matters relating to the group. This will be done through Regional Advisory Groups;

• Champion geospatial projects in the work programme within their councils and regions;

• Actively develop a culture of collaboration, flexibility, cross-functional and integrated working between represented organisations and other stakeholders;

• Share best practice geospatial information and management approaches across their regions and the group;

• Ensure national geospatial priorities are aligned to the local government priorities and that key risks are being addressed;

• Review and provide input (and initiate where appropriate) to all national geospatial projects;

• Setup and monitor Regional Advisory Groups to govern and manage projects endorsed by the LGGA;

• Review the progress of projects endorsed by the LGGA, with particular emphasis on tracking against the:

  • Anticipated scope and benefits;

  • Additional opportunities to local government;

  • Planned timing.

 

Membership

 

The LGGA is comprised of members of councils who have an informed interest in the geospatial field and who have knowledge of policies and initiatives in their own agencies and region.  The representatives will be managers rather than technicians.  

 

Each region will be represented by one person who will manage the communications to the geospatial management through the Regional Advisory Groups across all councils in their region (one member could represent a number of regions). Each type of council (Regional Council, District Council, City Council and Unitary Authority) needs to be represented on the LGGA.

 
The two roles of Chair and Secretary will be appointed from amongst the representatives.  An updated list of representatives will be maintained on the LGGA website.

Members are expected to:

• Carry out the duties of, and / or represent the area identified as their Regional Advisory Group role;

• Align their advice to the broader sector strategy and to the NZ Geospatial Strategy, actively supporting an integrated approach to managing geospatial across the sector and country;

• Devote sufficient time needed to prepare for LGGA meetings by reading papers and other materials.

 

At the request of the Chair, and with the support of Members, the LGGA will, from time to time, be augmented with staff to support its work as required. The Group will not delegate their tasks to others.

A quorum will be met by the attendance of the Chair and at least 50% of the filled LGGA positions.  

 

Regional Advisory Groups 

To support the LGGA Regional Advisory Groups will be set up. These groups will be made up of representatives from each council in regional clusters.  They will nominate a representative to attend the LGGA.  The representatives will be managers rather than technicians.

 

The functions of the Regional Advisory Groups will be to:

• Be a communication gateway both receiving and delivering information to the LGGA and to the member councils in their region.  Examples of the this would be key outputs and decisions from the LGGA, project ideas and written updates placed on the chosen Local Government Geospatial shared workspace; 

• Contribute ideas  and project suggestions as required;

• To collaborate in the best interests of the region and the geospatial sector;

• To co-ordinate supplementary regional meetings to further develop this collaborative model (some of these regional groups already exist such as BOPLASS GIS Advisory Group, WAGIS, WAGGIS).

 

Accountabilities

 

• The Chair will provide regular updates, including relevant management information, about the work of the LGGA to appropriate National Geospatial Strategy committee structures;

• Reports back to the Regional Advisory Groups.

 

Meetings

The LGGA will normally meet quarterly (the Chair will consider requests to call special additional meetings, for example to consider priority projects), be led by the Chair with the support of the Secretary and will consider initially at least the following:

• Minutes and actions of the previous meeting;

• Review the progress of in-progress projects;

• Consider new projects for endorsement;

• Review and consider recommendations to National Geospatial Strategy committees;

• Other business as agreed with the Chair, with a particular emphasis on supporting the purpose of the LGGA;

• Communication matters (See below).

• It is anticipated that there will be four meetings per year, two of which will be held in person and two via video conferencing.

 

Secretary will ensure that:

• A calendar for the following is maintained:

  • LGGA Meetings;

  • Expected timings for presentation of project documentation to the LGGA;

  • Key dates for completion and review of projects.

• A Meeting Agenda along with associated papers are agreed with the Chair and circulated to LGGA Members in advance of each meeting (at least five working days in advance);

• Short, action & decision orientated minutes are recorded for each LGGA Meeting.

 

Administrative support will be made available to the Secretary to ensure that the above items are made available to the Members in a timely manner.

 

With the agreement of the Chair, other staff may be asked to attend LGGA Meetings as may be required from time-to-time.

 

Communications

It is expected that the LGGA will provide two way communications.  The Chair will provide regular updates following each quarterly meeting, including relevant management information, updates on the work and projects of the LGGA to National Geospatial Strategy committees.

 

Each LGGA Meeting will conclude with a discussion and agreement about what information should be proactively shared on the chosen shared workspace.

Review

The Purpose and Responsibilities of the LGGA, along with these Terms of Reference will be reviewed within the first twelve months of the first LGGA Meeting and every year following, with an update and recommendations provided to National Geospatial Strategy committees.

 

Representation on the LGGA will be:

• for an initial term of two years

• representation will be reviewed by the LGGA to ensure that there is balanced representation across each type of council within the group

 

Expected costs of the LGGA

 

Annual expenditure is expected to be $5000 including costs for catering for 2 meetings, venue hire and the annual cost of hosting the SharePoint site. 

 

Sponsorship has been sought to reduce the expected administration costs. Each representative is expected to have travel and accommodation costs paid for by their council.