BC Spatial Kicks Off CRD Beta

I am looking forward to meeting up with old friends and new colleagues alike at tomorrow's BC Spatial workshop, the official kick-off to the program's beta rollout in the CRD.

The whole team is very excited about the convergence of the AddressBC and BC Spatial data integration programs and at the level of interest and enthusiasm for collaboration that we've seen from all of our member segments. We hope that this session becomes a blueprint for meeting with all of our other members in the upcoming months.

For those of you who just can't wait, check out the slide deck for my slice of the agenda.

PM to G8 or ICIS?

I left yesterday's ICIS Board Planning Session inspired by some very good discussion around focused engagement among the members leading to improved data quality and currency. The stars seemed to be further aligning when I turned on the radio to hear the PM put forth his views regarding collaboration among nations.

What really perked my ears was his use of the phrase Enlightened Sovereignty, which he defined as:

An expanded view of mutual interest, in which there is room for all to grow and prosper ... the natural extension of enlightened self-interest.

The basic notion here is that efforts and contributions made outside of one's own immediate self-interest will, in the end, result in improvements for everyone. It's a doctrine that has equal application for global economic recovery, disaster relief, and integrated parcel and address databases!

Many of our members (and some non-members) have been individually demonstrating their support for these ideals for some time. Yesterday, I saw it flourishing among the ICIS executive and it's our task as operational support to be its ambassadors in our outreach with the membership at large.

City of Vancouver Gift Wraps Parcel and Address Data For ICIS

If you haven't already seen the City of Vancouver's Open Data Portal - their online distribution site for GIS data - now is a very good time as they've just launched version 2. This enhancement provides many more data layers in several common formats in a very intuitive, accessible and eye-pleasing format. Its sets a rich and impressive benchmark for municipal data sharing.

Vancouver has never claimed to be the first ones to embrace open data (they acknowledge trailblazing efforts by Kamloops and Nanaimo - and the District of North Vancouver has also released an excellent site), but they're certainly carrying the standard forward impressively. And here's the windfall for ICIS - a set of layers preconfigured to meet ICIS delivery requirements! Vancouver has pupose-built a number of data extraction scripts to provide ICIS with the parcel and address data that we require in the format and structure that best meets our needs. This level of service demonstrates real leadership in collaborative data sharing and contributes greatly to the goal of province-wide cadastral and address databases.

Vancouver Technical Presentation Announced

ICIS has just accepted a kind offer from Safe Software to present on our innovative and interesting use of FME at an upcoming regional user meeting in Vancouver (March 29).

Don and Dale's morning session will surely be served up with their patented blend of illumination and fun, and we have the pleasure of sharing podium time in the afternoon with the City of Vancouver to share some user experiences.

I'm pretty excited about this one-two punch, which should give attendees a nice full spectrum story about municipal data prep and sharing and then how some users (us) are leveraging that hard work and data... I think it can provide a compelling example of how the right technology combined with the right attitudes can redefine data sharing from chore to a purposeful benefit.

I encourage you to check out the agenda and I hope to see all of you data producers, consumers and FME fans there!

2010 Project Charter Released for Comment

Based on our findings from the 2009 pilot program and some implementation goals for the new year, we have updated the BC Spatial project charter for 2010. You can find it here. We will be reviewing the content at the upcoming ICIS Board Planning Session (January 28 in Victoria BC). Comments are encouraged at any time.

The pilot has landed... and is refueling for the next leg!

The BC Spatial pilot phase has officially concluded; a summary of the work performed to date was presented at the recent ICIS Board Planning Session (October 29, 2009 in Victoria). Further details are available in the Project Report.

We are actively planning next steps in the run-up to the holiday season and are expecting to provide a 2010 rollout plan soon. Highlights will include a beta phase of automated data transfer, assessment and integration concentrating on CRD municipalities and existing automated data transfer clients in the first quarter.

Thank you also to many of you who have been providing us with specific business requirements for data assessment and integration, which is helping to define priorities for automation and reporting.

Data Assessment Update

The data assessment program has continued its swing around the province and now includes the following regional districts:

• Greater Vancouver
• Capital Region
• Cowichan Valley
• Nanaimo Region
• Alberni Clayoquot

The program will continue North up Vancouver Island before sweeping back to the mainland. You can generally follow the progress of assessments by tracking the 'quick nav' links in the assessment portal.

FYI - there spatial correctness section remains thin due to the absence of evidence for this theme; however, an index of Integrated Survey Areas (ISAs) has been posted. New surveys conducted within an ISA area are required to contain explicit spatial referencing on the survey plan.