It is the mission of MAGIP to "foster technical cooperation and promote the development of sound policy and practices that will support the efficient and effective use of geographic information systems." The Technical Committee recognizes that a set of formalized best practices will not only encourage the use of standards but will make it easier to share data and save GIS practitioners work and time.

It is important to note that the adoption of a best practice by MAGIP is not a mandate for its use nor is a best practices applicable to every situation. Best practices simply represent efficient and effective ways to accomplish many common tasks that have been tested and proven by a community. Only in the instance where a best practices is a standard (e.g. metadata in the Montana GIS Portal) is it required and enforced. However, by committing to using best practices one acknowledges the benefits of standards to one's organization and the larger GIS user community.

Best Practice Documentation

• Metadata Standard for the Montana GIS Portal
• Persistent Identifier