Goal 2: Effective delivery of integrated, science-based land, resource and geographic information

Core Business Area: Integrated Land and Resource Information

Objective 1: Integrated land and resource information

Considerable progress has been made this year on information integration, to improve the quality, relevance and management of and access to information.

Principal Strategies:

• Provide integrated registry information;
• Provide integrated resource information;
• Provide a geographic spatial reference for the province;
• Deliver an integrated data warehouse for access to resource and registry information; and
• Maintain an operational information management infrastructure.

The performance measures under this objective were designed to quantify the progress the ministry has made in integrating land and resource information. This progress will support the ministry outcomes of better support to decision-makers and improved access to information.

Accomplishments

• Established a production data infrastructure in the Land and Resource Data Warehouse (LRDW), which is the foundation for information access services, acting as a repository for client-ready data, analytical products and catalogues for information within the warehouse. This will provide easy access to the best available data and information, assisting decision-making by local communities, businesses, industry and national/international clients. Data population of the system is ahead of schedule, with 35 major collections (e.g., base mapping Crown cadastre, forest tenure, forest vegetation). This enabled the use of 21 viewing applications for Internet mapping to facilitate viewing of the resource data. Consolidation into the LRDW of five principal data warehouses in existence at the time of formation of the ministry is 76 per cent complete.
• The 92 per cent reduction in GIS computer sites and 55 per cent reduction in servers over the last two years have resulted in efficiencies throughout the organization. Further efficiencies are anticipated in the coming years.
• Obtained the support of seven ministries, several provincial agencies and the private sector for the vision and development of a single register of legal interests and encumbrances on Crown and private land, known as the Integrated Land and Resource Registry Project. This project will deliver a Web-based integrated Crown and private land registry, providing greater certainty of information around land ownership and existing land interests and designations. In addition, this project is on schedule to deploy an operational pilot of the registry in northeast B.C. by April 2005. For more information, see srmwww.gov.bc.ca/irp/.

Objective 2: Effective delivery of client services

This year has been a year of focusing — on what our clients want, what we can deliver, how we are organized and what will bring us closer to the vision of Land Information BC. We have instituted new management structures and processes to ensure that we are effectively addressing client needs, including a governance structure, service agreements, consolidation of information functions within the Land Information Services Division, and a partnership focus.

Significant efforts have been directed at the Land Information BC portal, launched in March 2004. The portal provides a single window to the province's land and resource information, products and electronic services for a broad range of clients. The portal currently provides access to more than 30 services, ranging from access to reports, documents, images and maps, to interactive mapping tools for land and resource information. The portal is available online 24 hours a day and is organized by subject area, allowing users to seek land and resource information services without having to know which part of the ministry is actually responsible for the information. These e-mapping services provide interactive access to such items as land-use plans, land ownership and tenure information (online Cadastre), air photo inventory, Trans Canada Trail, and the Conservation Data Centre. More information can be found at
www.gov.bc.ca/bvprd/bc/keyInitiativeHome.do?action=landInfoBCUser&navLd=NAVIDprovince

Principal Strategies:

• Provide access to information for government, industry and public clients;
• Provide decision support, information management services and products in support of economic development and land-use planning (supports Goal 1);
• Provide other government agencies and partners with decision support, information management services and products; and
• Provide land title and registry services.

These performance measures were chosen to gauge the level of support for clients who use the ministry's land and resource information through service agreements and to indicate the efficiency of the land title system.

Accomplishments

• Launched the Land Information BC portal in late March 2004, allowing a single-window access to more than 30 services, ranging from access to reports, documents, images and maps, to interactive mapping tools for land and resource information.
• Launched Online Cadastre in April 2003 in partnership with the Corporation of B.C. Land Surveyors to make maps of public land available online.
• Completed Stage 1 of the Corporate Watershed Base of heights of land and a fully connected network of rivers, lakes and streams for the province at 1:20 000 scale, and added toponyms (geographical names) associated with these rivers, lakes and streams.
• Launched the iTRIM project, which will result in a feature-based database in which to manage TRIM and its derived products, allowing for the increased accessibility and update capability of this data.
• Launched a Canada-wide Differential Global Positioning System service in October 2003. See further details under Objective 3 Accomplishments.
• Launched Government Access Tool for Online Retrieval Internet Payment Plan to provide Internet access to historic Crown grants and related documents.
• Developed products and tools to support more effective client access to resource information (e.g., Aqua-cat, Species and Ecosystems Explorer).
• Supported planning and operations for the Provincial Emergency Program, Office of Fire Commissioner, RCMP and Ministry of Forests for the 2003 fire season and state of emergency.
• The Air Photo Inventory online Internet tool was opened for use in November 2003. This initial release allows viewing of air photo coverage on a home computer, eliminating the need to use paper index maps to search for air photos.
• As the first step towards Digital Image Management, implemented a temporary system to manage and provide Internet access to ortho-imagery. When established in 2005, air photos, orthophotos and satellite images will be viewable from any home computer.
• Continued to provide leadership for the Corporate Base Mapping Advisory Committee with agency and industry clients, for delivery of base mapping products. Implemented standard operating procedures for acquiring and providing government with geographic data.
• Provided geographical names support and advice in the cultural component of treaty negotiations with Snuneymuxw, Te'mexw, Sliammon and Maa-nulth First Nations.
• Provided geographic information analysis and support for land-use planning across the province, including Land and Resource Management Plans (Sea-to-Sky, North Coast, Lillooet, Central Coast and Morice), Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands Land Use Plan, numerous Sustainable Resource Management Plans and Clayoquot Sound Watershed Plans.
• Provided the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection with geographic information analysis and support for the creation and designation of Wildlife Habitat Areas, Ungulate Winter Ranges and internal Protected Area zoning.
• Provided the Ministry of Forests with professional expertise and geographic information analysis and support for the Defined Forest Area Management initiative.
• Signed service agreements with the Ministry of Forests, Ministry of Transportation, and Treaty Negotiations Office to provide Land Information BC services.
• Established a governance framework for Land Information BC driven by value to clients, including client and executive councils, which promote inclusive decision-making.

Objective 3: Transformed business, including e-government, deregulation and alternative service delivery

Land Information BC was created as the driving force behind changing the way information services are delivered within the natural resource sector. This transformation includes business practices, electronic service delivery and partnerships.

The Land Information BC portal is the delivery agent for land and resource information e-services. Over 30 online services are now available.

An integral part of Land Information BC's responsibilities is to seek opportunities for alternative service delivery arrangements. Over the past year, several partnerships have been established that will leverage funding and technological advancement for the benefits of clients. The Integrated Cadastral Information Society, a partnership of local government, utility companies, and the provincial government to deliver an integrated cadastral fabric for B.C., is an example of new ways of doing business. For more details, see www.icisociety.ca/

Principal Strategies:

• Migrate to electronic service; and
• Develop and maintain partnerships with other governments, industry, academia and other organizations.

The rationale for choosing these performance measures stems from the ministry's desire to show the progress made in providing more effective and cost-efficient service delivery within the natural resource sector — including business practices, electronic service delivery and partnerships.

Accomplishments

A number of partnerships have been developed. Notable examples include:

• Integrated Cadastral Information Society — Partnership with six major utility companies and 108 local governments to produce a parcel mapping product that fills a gap in land information that the Auditor General identified as a prerequisite for the proper capitalization of provincial land inventories.
• Integrated Land and Resource Registry — See Objective 1: Accomplishments for details.
• Canada-B.C. Hydrometric Agreement — Cost sharing with BC Hydro, Environment Canada and resource industries to operate a provincial stream gauge network.
• Provincial Digital Base Mapping — Significant benefits from data exchange and cost-sharing agreements with resource industries to update aerial photography and topographic base mapping across British Columbia.
• Digital Road Atlas — Partnership with Emergency Communications Corp., Elections BC, the B.C. Ambulance Service, BC Stats and a private mapping company to keep this product up to date for accurate vehicle dispatching and people enumeration. The same product leverages federal funding for the National Road Atlas and ensures compatibility with the federal road model. This project will provide a single corporate data set for basic road data, for use by all government agencies and some key non-government agencies. This will remove duplication of effort and provide a common level of consistency and accuracy across government.
• Corporate Watershed Base — Partnership with Federal National Hydrographic Network to ensure compatibility with the federal hydrographic model, leveraging federal funding.
• Canada-wide Differential GPS service — Launched a new service in October 2003 to provide effective tools, utilizing GPS, for georeferencing of land and resource data. The service allows real-time, accurate geographic location of land and resource information in the field. Service development led by B.C. in partnership with all provinces, federal government and Nunavut. Partnership reduced B.C.'s costs in achieving national standards and in providing cost-effective tools for use in very challenging terrain in B.C.
• Treaty Negotiations — Partnered with the federal government in a spatial information sharing agreement.
• Government of Ontario — Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ontario government to share expertise and techniques for improving technology and information management; policies and legislation regulating the use and collection of geographic information; geographic information standards; and techniques for collecting scientific and technical information.
• National Forest Information System — Cost sharing with provinces and federal government to develop and maintain a Web-enabled reporting system on Canada's forest resources.
• Nature Conservancy of Canada — Cost sharing in the development of a provincial system for freshwater ecological classification.
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada — Continuation of the Fisheries Information Sharing Agreement working towards coordinating efforts in fisheries information collection, storage and access.
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) classification — Partnership with the Conservation Data Centre, forest industry and Ministry of Forests to create a national vegetation classification for B.C. that can be globally ranked to help meet SFI certification requirements.
• B.C. Center for Remote Sensing, Modeling and Simulation — A remote-sensing centre of excellence established at the University of Victoria through the joint efforts of the ministry and the university. The centre will link the research community with both industry and government in developing solutions to land and resource problems, using remotely sensed information.
• Cooperative Ocean Information Network (COIN) Pacific — A partnership between the provincial and federal governments, industry and the academic institutions to further the cooperative study of ocean resources.
• GeoConnections — Worked with GeoConnections supporting development of the Corporate Metadata Repository, the Digital Image Management system and the COINPacific portal application.
• Partnered with the Corporation of Land Surveyors, resulting in reduction of plans examination process by 90 per cent.
• Partnered with the Ministry of Energy and Mines on the Petroleum Titles Online and Mineral Titles Online projects.
• BC Active Control System — Continued work initiated in 2001 with the Greater Vancouver Regional District to establish a modern survey control system for member municipalities. BC Active Control Points are also used by the Pacific Geoscience Centre for monitoring and tracking "slow earthquakes" (slip events) along the Juan de Fuca plate.