Recommendations for a Geographic Information Infrastructure to Support Arctic Research: Outcomes of the Arctic GIS Workshop

In January 2001, the National Science Foundation sponsored the Arctic Geographic Information Systems Workshop, through the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS), to bring together academic and agency researchers, and private industry experts to discuss and develop recommendations to improve the use of GIS in arctic research. Participants represented an international cross section of arctic science, with interests ranging broadly across anthropology, ecology, earth sciences, oceanography, resource management, information science, climate change, and other fields. The primary workshop objective was to develop ideas to promote the flow of georeferenced information within the arctic research community and to the broader public

This document, the preliminary report from the workshop, summarizes the workshop process and results as a first step toward synthesizing and documenting the recommendations from the workshop and engaging the broader community in the discussion.