Geospatial Standards

Minnesota Geospatial Standards

Name of Standard	Additional Resources
Address Point Data	Domains and lookup tables (see section below)
Bikeways Data	Domains and lookup tables (see section below)
CTU ID (City, Township, Unorganized Territory)	Domains and lookup tables (see section below)
County ID	Domains and lookup tables (see section below)
Damage Assessment Data
Emergency Service Zone Data	Domains (see section below)
Parcel Data	Domains and lookup tables (see section below)
Positional Accuracy Measuring and Reporting	Positional Accuracy Handbook: Using the national standard for spatial data accuracy to measure and report geographic data quality
Road Centerline Data	Domains and lookup tables (see section below)
State ID
Stream ID (Codes Identifying Reaches and Watercourses)
U.S. National Grid	USNG pages: Federal Geographic Data Committee USNG pages: Emergency Preparedness Committee

Name of Standard	Additional Resources
Minnesota Geographic Metadata Guidelines	Detailed description of the guidelines Metadata help
Codes Identifying Watersheds
Codes Identifying Lakes and Wetland Basins

Name of Standard	Status
Digital Stormwater System Data Exchange	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	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.

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

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