logo ICIS Newsletter
What's New at ICIS
March 2009
 
ICIS (Integrated Cadastral Information Society) is a not for profit organization whose membership is comprised of provincial government ministries and & crown corporations, local & regional governments and the major utilities in BC. All support the ICIS vision of "collaborative sharing and integration of spatial data for the economic and social benefit of British Columbia.
 
The ICIS newsletter is intended to keep members current on ICIS happenings. Feedback about this newsletter is welcome.  Drop us a line at
[email protected]
In This Issue
ICIS Plans for 2009
AddressBC Launches Blog
Kamloops Offers Free Orthophotos
CivicSpatial Grants Awarded
Quick Links

 ICIS Plans for 2009 

 

By Barry Logan, ICIS General Manager
All ICIS strategic objectives are in alignment with the ICIS vision of "Collaborative sharing and integration of spatial data for the economic and social benefit of British Columbia".
 
These strategic objectives are based on:
1. DEMONSTRATING VALUE (Value Proposition)
2. SUSTAINING THE SOCIETY
3. GROWING COLLABORATION (Membership & Governance)
4. COMMUNICATING
 
All ICIS projects support these strategic objectives.

1. DEMONSTRATING VALUE:
 
AddressBC:
 
Recognized as a top opportunity for ICIS.
The value of a geo-referenced point based address system provides high value to existent and emerging member segments like emergency planning and response. Throughout 2008 AddressBC went through a metamorphosis from an original complex project to a manageable product build project with ongoing operations integrated into a new ICIS department. 2009 starts with the build project being awarded to ESRI Canada with a February kickoff.  ICIS operations will focus on marketing, training and implementation, synchronizing with the expected build milestones.  AddressBC  is being managed internally by Steven Garner.
 
BCSpatial: Project priority #1
BCSpatial is the project name for the single cadastral parcel fabric. The first Stage of BCSpatial focuses on the cadastral parcel layer as this layer serves as the foundation and core of the ICIS product. The focus in 2009 is satisfying all member-segment business requirements, revisiting and revamping the existent data model and working with certain regional districts to assess the integrated cadastre model. The project benefits are:
� The build of a standardized cadastral parcel fabric for the province
� Satisfying the cadastral business requirements for each member segment
� Reduction in costs for administering and maintaining cadastral data going forward
� Edge matching the cadastre between local government areas
� Improvement in the overall quality of the cadastral data and associated attribute data
� Establishment of best practices and a data model for maintaining the cadastral fabric.

2. SUSTAINING THE SOCIETY:
 
Membership initiatives:
a. Local Government: The end of 2008 realized 193 signed DSLA's reflecting an approximate 25% annual increase. The drive to achieve 100% participation of all local governments and regional districts is nearing completion with a committed land coverage exceeding 93%. The inaugural First Nations membership drive achieved some success with approximately 10% of the First Nations bands joining ICIS. 2009 will see the continuation of these efforts thru conferences, workshops and 1-2-1 communication. Efforts will also continue in 2009 to welcome the small number of remaining local governments as ICIS members.
b. Provincial Government:  Ongoing collaboration with the Provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Lands expands the ICIS relationship and the sharing of data. In addition, the ICIS reach extends to the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Community Development and the Provincial Emergency Program (PEP). BC Assessment 's use of ICIS derived data is an important part of their geospatial business model.
c. Utilities: Ongoing support focuses on tailored group and individual workshops for the Utilities. The 2009 session focused on the potential value ICIS may offer in economizing "dial before you dig" programs.
d. Associated Members: 2008 saw the addition of 11 new associate members with specific attention received from land surveyor contractors. Similar efforts will continue in 2009 to attract organizations that will benefit from and contribute to ICIS member spatial data. 
 
ICIS Operations:
ICIS operations relocated in May 2008 to its own office space. Investments are being made in equipment, hardware and software to streamline and modernize operational processes. These efforts will continue in 2009 with a focus on supporting internal IT and product application performance and delivery.
 
3. GROWING COLLABORATION:
 
Civic Spatial grant program:
The CivicSpatial grant program is fundamental to supporting the interest and value of improved cadastral data from local government and regional districts. Program enhancement for 2009 will make the program even more attractive and comprehensible. Civic Spatial not only assists the local governments in improving their special data but adds value to the data that is shared back for all members and. Communicating the successes achieved with the assistance of the funding are communicated in member profile stories.
 
4. COMMUNICATING:
 
Tradeshows, conferences and workshops:
ICIS was very busy in 2008 with involvement in 37 events throughout BC. These events served many purposes from presenting the ICIS product to different member segments, attracting new members via workshops and industry conferences in addition to supporting various member related organizations in the true spirit of collaboration. These events attract new members and educate members on the ICIS product furthering membership value. The efforts put forth in this area continue with enhancements in 2009 by showcasing product advancements, promoting AddressBC and BCSpatial and procuring more speaking opportunities.  Focused presentations have proven to be more effective in communicating with different interest groups such as financial officers, planners and emergency responders.
 
ICIS GIS Community:
This community supports the ICIS members with a "Technical notice" and "Forum" infrastructure and improves communications to the ICIS technical members. Some of the benefits are:
a. Extend collaborative thinking by
     i. sharing knowledge
    ii. providing links to specific expertise and support
   iii. sharing technology expertise
b. Embrace the community to expedite the release of new product/services
c. Leverage the community to assist in validating business requirements and standards for ICIS projects like AddressBC and BCSpatial.

Marketing:
The ICIS image received a makeover in 2008 with the launch of:
    i. Member profiles: The creation of member profiles was initiated with success stories of board member organizations. They now include all new recipients of Civic Spatial funding. The library is goaled to grow by one member profile per month to showcase ICIS members overcoming a spatial challenge with ICIS support.
   ii.  Newsletters & News releases: The newsletter legacy continues to be supported with a mandate of 6 issues per year.  With so much happening at ICIS, it has been determined that newsworthy communications be issued more frequently with the intent that at least one release is issued every month.
  iii. Web site: Early in the year, the legacy web site was deemed to be inadequate and dated with obsolete content and imagery. The new site launched in September with very positive feedback. Continuing to keep the web site current, fresh, relevant and valuable is an ongoing initiative. Going forward, ICIS will embrace more web enabled tools to better and more economically facilitate ongoing education and training.

The ICIS team is excited about the prospects for 2009 and look forward to delivering additional benefits to enhance ICIS membership.
Visiting Victoria?
Come visit us 
at the ICIS Office:
Suite 16
1537 Hillside Ave
Victoria, B.C.  V8T 4Y2
 
250.381.9295
1.866.403.0095
 
AddressBC Launches Blog
 
By Steven Garner, Manager, AddressBC
ICIS has launched an AddressBC blog to keep everyone up to date on the progress of this exciting project. 
 
The blog will be used to provide news, issues, views and features of AddressBC in real-time.  It will be the best way to stay apprised of what's happening.
 
AddressBC is an ICIS initiative sponsored directly by the Province of BC, TELUS and Shaw Cable Systems with advisory input from the RCMP, ECOMM and BC local government. 
 
The AddressBC vision is to develop a central, reliable and authoritative point address database for BC capable of supporting emergency planning and response. 
 
AddressBC is expected to be operational by late Fall 2009.
 
For more information see www.addressbc.ca and follow the News link for access to the blog or click here for direct access.  
Kamloops Offers Free Orthophotos!
   
By Steffan Chmuryk, Technical Services Coordinator 
Kamloops is now permitting free access to all of their 2008 Orthophotography at www.kamloops.ca/gis/. Any member of the public may download this information.
 
As an example of open data sharing in government, Kamloops stands out for the extent of free data which they have made available to the wider community. By allowing free download and distribution of aerial imagery, this municipality has ensured that their data will be distributed to the individuals who need it; permitting the wider community, industry, and environmental groups, to access up to date spatial information, and to support a wide range of activities within their regions.
 
ICIS has long held the position that the sale of GIS data is without significant reward; as such, this offers an example of the alternative, where data is free for the use of the entire community without restrictions. ICIS congratulates Kamloops for this decision, and encourages all local governments to adopt this approach in the future.
CivicSpatial Grants Awarded
 
by Ann Archibald
  
The following grants have been awarded:
 
$1,500 Whistler
$1,500 Revelstoke
$1,500 Rossland
$10,000 RD Okanagan Similkameen
$10,000 Powell River RD
 
For additional information on the CivicSpatial grant program, please contact Ann Archibald.
ICIS Events 2009
 
March 26: Shaw Workshop
 
March 30:
Geomatics and Public Security, Public Safety and Emergency Planning Conference, SFU Harbour Centre, Vancouver BC More+
 
April 22: ICIS Workshop, Cranbrook BC
 
April 23-25:
AKBLG Conference, Cranbrook BC
 
May 29:
GFOA Conference, Kelowna BC
 
May 31 - Apr 1:
BCFCA Conference, Nanaimo BC
 
June 2 - 4:
GeoTech Conference, Vancouver Conference Centre, Vancouver BC
 
June 2 :
BCFCA Conference, Nanaimo BC
 
June 9 - 11:
LGMA Conference, Nanaimo BC
 
Sept 30 - Oct 1:
UBCM Conference, Vancouver BC
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