Steps to Becoming a Publisher

The Minnesota Geospatial Information Office (MnGeo) will work with interested partners to make their Minnesota geospatial resources available on the Minnesota Geospatial Commons. Becoming a publisher starts with the following steps:

Contact MnGeo

If you are interested in becoming a publisher, contact MnGeo at gisinfo.mngeo@state.mn.us. MnGeo staff will respond to discuss your options. We encourage potential publishers to let us know in advance of their intentions so that we can jointly explore best publication methods for their organization. Staff will review with potential publishers the expectations for Commons publishers, discuss metadata creation processes, and outline the methods and process for publication.

Methods of Publication

There are currently at least two methods of publication, which are outlined in the Publishing Resources section. It is important for MnGeo to know which approach you are going to take in order to determine the next steps for your participation. Please read that section and select your approach before continuing below.

Prepare an Organizational Profile

To become an organization on the Commons, you must provide the following to MnGeo: Organization Name, Organization Description, an Organization Logo, and Contact Information. See Creating an Organization Profile for more specifics on these requirements. Once MnGeo has this information, staff will begin the process of registering your organization on the Commons.

Organization Registration Confirmation

Once MnGeo has the Organizational Profile information, staff will proceed with registration. You will receive an e-mail confirming your registration and providing an overview of your next steps. Your organization logo should appear on the Commons within a few business days. At this point your organization will not have any resources listed on the organizations page, but that will automatically update as soon as you have resources published.

Staff will share information on how to set up publishing your resources. Once you have a publishing method in place, your organization can follow the process outlined in "Publishing Resources on the Commons."