Geospatial Standards

Minnesota geospatial standards seek to improve data sharing by reducing incompatibility during data acquisition, processing, and dissemination. These standards are not intended to define internal data capture or storage specifications for producers, and their use is not mandated by the State of Minnesota. However, organizations within Minnesota are encouraged to adopt these standards to facilitate data exchange and aggregation. 

Standards and Resources

  • Standards Approved by the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council (GAC)

    The GAC is in the process of reviewing and approving standards earlier approved by the former GCGI. As each of the earlier standards is approved by the GAC, it will be moved to the GAC table below and removed from the GCGI table.
    Name of Standard Description Additional Resources
    Address Point Data Address points are a core geospatial infrastructure dataset for Minnesota. They are used for many types of analysis, mapping, and application development in areas such as emergency response, health and human services, planning and zoning, permit tracking, and more. The purpose of this standard is to provide a single, commonly accepted set of attribute specifications (field name, type, length, and order) for transferring and aggregating address point data for a wide variety of purposes.  Domains and lookup tables
    Bikeways Data Bikeways data are a key component of mapping, planning, measuring, and engineering for multimodal transportation and recreation infrastructure. This standard establishes a common set of attributes and field definitions for local, regional, and state governments, and other partner organizations to use for bikeways data sharing. Domains and lookup tables
    CTU ID (City, Township, Unorganized Territory) This standard provides a set of codes that uniquely identify more than 2,700 cities, townships, and unorganized territories (CTUs) within the state of Minnesota. These codes originate from the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and are recognized as a formal federal standard.  Domains and lookup tables
    County ID This standard provides a set of codes that uniquely identify each of the 87 counties within the state of Minnesota. These codes originate from the InterNational Committee for Information Standards (INCITS) and are recognized as a formal national standard by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Domains and lookup tables
    Damage Assessment Data Damage assessment is a key component of recovering from disasters. Having standardized methods of collecting and aggregating damage information makes the recovery process more efficient while providing decision-makers with the information they need to do their jobs effectively. This standard establishes a common set of attributes and field definitions for local government to utilize for damage assessment data collection in Minnesota.
    Emergency Service Zone Data Emergency service zone polygon boundaries are an important element of 9-1-1 and other public safety GIS datasets. The intent of the standard is to allow data authorities to create and maintain the data independently for their individual jurisdictional area while also permitting a data aggregator to collect and merge the data into a single dataset through a commonly accepted set of attribute specifications (field name, type, length, and order). Domains
    Parcel Data Digital parcel data is a core geospatial infrastructure dataset containing a wealth of valuable information about land division, land value, and numerous other locational and descriptive attributes related to land parcels. The purpose of this standard is to provide a single, commonly accepted set of attribute specifications (field name, type, length, and order) for transferring and aggregating parcel data in Minnesota for a wide variety of purposes. Domains and lookup tables
    Positional Accuracy Measuring and Reporting This standard provides a single, uniform statistical methodology for evaluating the positional accuracy of points on maps and in digital geospatial data and for reporting the results of that evaluation. Positional Accuracy Handbook: Using the national standard for spatial data accuracy to measure and report geographic data quality
    Road Centerline Data The digital representations of roads known as road centerlines are a core geospatial infrastructure dataset for Minnesota. They are useful for many types of analysis, mapping, and application development in areas as diverse as emergency response, transportation planning, and geolocation. The purpose of this standard is to provide a single, commonly accepted set of attribute specifications (field name, type, length, and order) for transferring and aggregating road centerline data in Minnesota for a wide variety of purposes.  Domains and lookup tables
    State ID This standard provides a set of codes that uniquely identify states and the District of Columbia within the United States. These codes originate from the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) and are recognized as a formal national standard by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). 
    Stream ID (Codes Identifying Reaches and Watercourses) This standard provides a common convention and coding scheme for identifying streams in Minnesota. A stream includes any flowing body of water like a river or ditch. This standard has been developed to improve the exchange of data about streams. It provides common coding schemes for identifying watercourses (the entirety of a stream) and reaches (a portion of a stream).
    U.S. National Grid This standard describes a method for presenting the United States National Grid (USNG) in cartographic products. The USNG provides an efficient way to specify location information at different levels of detail anywhere in the United States. It is based on a universally defined geographic coordinate and grid system. USNG pages: Federal Geographic Data Committee
    USNG pages: Emergency Preparedness Committee
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  • Standards Approved by the Minnesota Governor's Council on Geographic Information (GCGI)

    Name of Standard Additional Resources
    Minnesota Geographic Metadata Guidelines The purpose of this guideline is to provide a common approach for documenting all types of geospatial data. The guidelines are based on a standard developed by the Federal Geographic Data Committee in 1993: The Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata. The Minnesota Geographic Metadata Guidelines are designed to create a streamlined implementation of the federal standard, while retaining the essence of its original content. Detailed description of the guidelines 
    Metadata help
    Codes Identifying Watersheds (soon to be renamed: Lake and Wetland Basin ID) This standard provides a common convention for identifying watersheds in Minnesota. It enables the transfer of data among agencies and external customers, provides consistency between state practices and federal identification and naming conventions for watersheds (referred to as hydrologic units), and promotes data integration across state lines and with national datasets.
    Codes Identifying Lakes and Wetland Basins This standard provides a common convention and coding scheme for identifying lake and wetland basins in Minnesota. The term basin includes lakes, ponds, reservoirs, and depressional wetlands. A unique basin ID enables differentiation between basins with the same name and facilitates coordination and sharing of data from multiple sources for a single basin.
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  • Standards Under Development by the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council (GAC)

    Name of Standard Status
    Digital Stormwater System Data Exchange Many cities, townships, and other entities collect data on geographic features that comprise their stormwater system. This standard defines a set of specifications for the exchange of digital stormwater system data. The standard was created to increase the ease and efficiency with which stormwater system data can be compiled for multiple organizations into a single system, or shared by adjacent owners of stormwater systems.  Draft standard developed by the Metro Stormwater Geodata Project, building on earlier work by the GAC Standards Committee, was open for public review through September 3, 2021.
    PLSS Point Data Standard The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) established corners which form the framework for many geospatial datasets. This standard is intended to give surveyors and cadastral data managers a tool to ensure that as PLSS corners are restored, maintained, and updated, all associated geospatial data can be easily shared and aggregated through a single, commonly accepted set of attribute specifications (field name, type, length, and order). Draft standard originally developed by the Arrowhead Geospatial Collaborative and submitted for consideration by the GAC Parcels and Land Records Committee. The GAC Standards Committee has reviewed the standard and the public review period closed February 27, 2026.
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  • Domains, Lookup Tables and Schema Templates for GAC Standards

    Resource Description
    Domains (xlsx), updated 02/11/2026
     - used especially in address point, parcel, and road centerline standards    		 An Excel file with a separate tab for each of the more than 80 domain tables used in all of the GAC approved standards. Also included is an index tab showing which standard(s) each domain is used in and a changes tab showing the last time each domain was modified.
    Lookup Tables (xlsx), updated 8/12/2025 County; State; U.S. Postal Service Default City (5 worksheet tabs)
    GAC Standards Schema Templates (fgdb and xml formats), updated 02/11/2026 Includes the domains and lookup tables
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  • Adopted National Standards

    Federal Information Processing Standards
    Federal Geographic Data Committee Standards
    Name of Standard
    Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
    Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata: Part 1, Biological Data Profile
    Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata: Part 2, Metadata Profile for Shoreline Data
    Spatial Data Transfer Standard - SDTS
    Cadastral Data Content Standard
    Classification of Wetlands and Deep Water Habitats
    National Vegetation Classification Standard
    Soil Geographic Data Standard
    Geospatial Positioning Accuracy Standards
    • Reporting Methodology
    • Geodetic Control Networks
    • National Standard for Spatial Data Accuracy
    • Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facilities Management
    • Nautical Charting Hydrographic Surveys
    Content Standard for Digital Orthoimagery
    Content Standard for Remote Sensing Swath Data
    Utilities Data Content Standard
    Standard for a U.S. National Grid
    Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata: Extensions for Remote Sensing Metadata
    Digital Cartographic Standard for Geologic Map Symbolization
    Geographic Information Framework Data
    Wetlands Mapping
    U.S. Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data
    Federal Trails Data
    Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification
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  • FGDC Standards Under Development

    Name of Standard
    Earth Cover Classification Standard
    Geologic Data Model
    Shoreline Data Content
    Content Standards for Framework Land Elevation Data
    Cultural Resources Geospatial Data Content Standard
    Federal Buildings and Facilities Geospatial Data Content
    Maintenance and Review of the National Wetland Classification
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