ICIS' BCSpatial project has a few simple New Year's resolutions: begin to rollout the tools, processes and products that we developed in the Capital Region in 2010, and build solutions to deal with the lessons that we learned.  

The principal achievements in 2010 were all about parcel data - getting it often, presenting it in a uniform way, and understanding its quality. We deployed a series of robust data sharing tools that plug into operational environments with a very small footprint using existing local technologies (ArcGIS and FME). In many cases, these tools have become templates for our members to support other data sharing processes and burgeoning Open Data initiatives. Cumulatively, our distributed implementation produces a standardized cadastre in the Capital Region of 130,000+ parcels refreshed every week.

We struck a balance on the standards front, achieving a lot and leaving some work yet to do. We established some common-sense parcel specifications that most data providers have been able to meet with little or no disruption to their existing models. GeoBC and LTSA have provided a master attribute reference for survey parcels, allowing us to attach a great deal of valuable standardized attribution to municipally-contributed parcels, and providing valuable quality commentary on parcels that are missing from the cadastre. We formally separated the address from the parcel, emphasizing AddressBC's point-based model as the solution for both simple and complex addressing requirements.
 

Some standards challenges remain ahead of us; we will try to synchronize the rollout of BCSpatial's parcel automation effort with AddressBC so that users can access highly current parcel and address information. We have also identified a number of data quality issues through our data assembly processes that require ongoing management, communications and tracking. Finally, we recognized a major need to develop community best practices around managing both the legal and tax perspectives on the cadastre with the data models that are developed, used and promoted among all our government members.
 

Our collaborative experience with the CRD was so fruitful that we're retaining the working group as an incubator environment for enhancements and developments to the program. We have kicked off several initiatives that we'll be reporting on throughout the year, including web mapping services for direct access to the ICIS database and notification protocols (RSS, Twitter) for broadcasting data updates and statistics to interested users.
 

Geographically, we're heading North, up Vancouver Island to Cowichan Valley, Alberni-Clayoquot and Nanaimo regional districts in the first half of 2011. We kicked-off this phase of the project in an early December workshop hosted by the Regional District of Nanaimo, to plan for automated member data delivery and the adoption of AddressBC. We will also reach out to users of legacy auto-delivery tools to upgrade their installations to the latest toolset and to benefit from the quality reporting that BCSpatial provides. As a member-driven organization, we are also highly receptive to volunteers, so your enthusiasm is always welcome if you interested in getting on board!
 

For program inquiries, please contact me directly. Check out the BCSpatial Blog and follow me on Twitter (CartoSmart) for periodic updates.
 

I can't believe it has already been six months since I started here at ICIS.So far it has been an excellent experience. I am very lucky to be working with such a great team. Since I started here, in the position as Technical Coordinator, I have been busy familiarizing myself with the business and the role that ICIS plays in the collaboration and distribution of spatial data within our province. I have been working on a variety of tasks including data loading, creating new data submission and directory structure standards, cleaning out archived data, working on a data dictionary, performing QA/QC procedures on all datasets, supporting the implementation of the new BCSpatial initiative and supporting ICIS member requests. In a short time, I have already had a chance to meet many of our members from local governments, utilities and the Province.
 

As we start 2011 and the implementation of the BCSpatial initiative is well underway I have received several inquiries regarding the difference between the parcel fabrics that are currently available from ICIS. Below is a brief description of the three fabrics.
 

Local Government Cadastre: The Local Government Cadastre (As-Is-Casdastre) is a parcel fabric assembled entirely from local government data. Submissions are typically provided manually on an ad hoc basis although several are received through an automated delivery process that will be phased out in favor of BC Spatial's more integrated process. Whatever datasets have been received within the last 30 days are manually loaded into the Local Government Cadastre once a month.This layer does not contain standardized attribution, although we attempt to reconcile fields with similar content as best as we can. The positional accuracy and attribution varies from local government to local government. 
 

ICF: The Integrated Cadastral Fabric is produced by GeoBC's Parcel Fabric Section (PFS) on behalf of ICIS. The ICF layer includes many jurisdictions that are maintained on a bi-weekly basis by the PFS to published attribute and currency standards; in other jurisdictions where the data is not actively maintained by GeoBC, the ICF includes local government parcel shapes with standardized Provincial attribution. An attribute on the fabric distinguishes between parcels that have been maintained by GeoBC and parcels that have been integrated from other ICIS members. More information about the ICF compilation program can be found at http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pip. GeoBC's ICF Status Map provides a visual index to the current state of completion and maintenance of the ICF.
 

ICIS Cadastre: The ICIS Cadastre is ICIS' answer to the challenge of providing a single source parcel layer for its members. The data in this layer includes the best available parcel data from both Provincial and local government sources with standardized and uniform attribution. All ICIS Cadastre data is delivered via automated delivery mechanisms and is refreshed on a weekly basis. Initially, the ICIS Cadastre extends throughout the Capital Regional District - BCSpatial's pilot area. The data for each jurisdiction comes from either the local government or GeoBC, and is joined to standardized attribution provided by GeoBC to create a uniform cadastre across boundaries and to verify that all registered parcels are included in the fabric. In 2011, the ICIS Cadastre will expand according to BCSpatial's rollout plan; as additional jurisdictions are included in this layer, they will be removed from the other parcel layers to avoid confusion.