Ministry of Environment Terrain

Terrain Information Program Updates

This page contains updates on the terrain information program at the Ministry of Environment. Feedback and comments may be sent to: soilterrain@victoria1.gov.bc.ca.

For e-mail notification of Terrain Information Program Updates please join our terrain list listserv.

Version 1.1 of the Standard for Digital Terrain Data Capture Errata-2006-1.1 Released

Version 1.1 of the Standard for Digital Terrain Data Capture Errata-2006-1.1 was published in March 2007. This latest version of the errata has only minor edits from version 1-LBIP as outlined in Appendix 1. Errata 2006-1.1 is available at: http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/risc/pubs/earthsci/terrain/Standard%20for%20Digita_Terrain_%20Data_%20Capture-Errata2006-1_1%20FINAL.pdf (PDF 243KB)

Online catalogue of Soil and Terrain Maps, Reports and Data

MoE has recently updated its Terrain Information web pages, including new pages containing a catalogue of sources of soils and terrain and related maps, reports and data, and links to terrain and soils related standards and guidelines. A ‘Resources’ page providing quick links to relevant information for terrain mappers, mapping clients/contract managers, and GIS analysts, will be added.

For Terrain information, visit: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/terrain/index.html
To access soils, terrain and related maps, reports and data, visit: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/terrain/terrain_files/access.html
To access the Standards and Guidelines page: visit: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/terrain/terrain_files/standards.html

Landslide Classification and Inventory System

The Landslide Classification and Inventory System for British Columbia with Digital Standards, -DRAFT 1, 2007 is now available for field testing. The classification system was compiled by Terry Rollerson, for the Ministry of Environment, in order to provide a consistent classification scheme and terminology for landslide inventory mapping.

This document will be used for field testing this fiscal (07/08) and will apply to all landslide inventories completed for projects funded by government and/or destined for the Land and Resource Data Warehouse (LRDW), including FIA-funded projects.

The Ministry plans to hold a workshop in late fall 2007 to solicit feedback, recommendations and suggested improvements from the terrain/landslide mapping community, project clients and the GIS community. All parties from mappers through users, previously, currently or anticipating involvement or use of landslide inventory data are invited to review the draft standards and provide feedback to soilterrain@victoria1.gov.bc.ca.

The document is available upon request by emailing soilterrain@victoria1.gov.bc.ca.

Terrain Digital Data Standards Workshops –January 2007

MoE and APEGBC hosted two 1/2-day workshops on the current Terrain Digital Data Standard in Richmond and Nelson on January 24th and 31st, respectively. In total, 33 participants attended, representing the terrain/bioterrain mapping community, GIS contractors, geological/engineering consultants, and government (MoE, MoFR, Parks Canada).

The objective of the workshops was to inform and engage the terrain mapping community and GIS vendors with regard to the current Terrain Digital Data Standard (Errata 2006-1). The participants’ feedback will help to guide the RISC Terrain Digital Data Capture Standard proposed for the next year.

Some topics of discussion included:

1) MoE Terrain Program background
2) Terrain Information/Inventory Workshop (February 2006) priorities
3) Digital Data Capture Standards (Errata 2006-1) review
4) Data capture tips and tools for Terrain Mappers and GIS analysts
5) Terrain/soils data access on Terrain website
6) Possible future changes to the terrain/bioterrain digital data capture standards

Future changes to the terrain/bioterrain digital data capture standards being considered include:
• changing the data submission file format from .e00 format with embedded attributes to .shp file format or to .gml format
• reducing the number of attributes in the database, by deleting rarely used fields and fields recently added, or removing these from the main database, but permitting submission in associated tables.
• permitting submission of only the data fields used.

During discussions with workshop attendees, support for the recently added data fields was varied (e.g., whether it was appropriate to collect particular attributes by component rather than by polygon), as were preferences for the .e00, .shp and/or .gml file formats for data delivery.

Participants were invited to indicate their interest in participating in further discussions regarding the evolution of the terrain digital data standards by providing their email contact information. MoE also plans to integrate the terrain, bioterrain, Terrestrial Ecosystem and Predictive Ecosystem mapping digital data standards.

Feel free to contact soilterrain@victoria1.gov.bc.ca to indicate your interest in participating in discussions regarding evolution of the terrain digital data standards. MoE will engage the terrain community in discussions as work progresses toward the planned publication of the terrain digital data standards as a RISC standard (by March 2008).

The Terrain Mapping Information System: Moving Forward
October 2006

An article summarizing the report: ‘The Terrain Mapping Information System: Moving Forward’ on the Terrain Inventory/Information Workshop held in February 2006 (see below) was published in the October 2006 issue of ASPECT (PDF 294KB). A copy of the summary report ‘The Terrain Mapping Information System: Moving Forward’ is available on our ftp site: ftp://fshftp.env.gov.bc.ca/pub/outgoing/Terrain_Data/WorkshopReport/

The current 2006/07 activities of the terrain information program include:

• Maintaining a listserv to support communication with and within the terrain community.

• Updating the Terrain web pages to provide information about terrain mapping, and improved access to maps and data, standards, guidelines and other documents.

• Gathering data from various sources (e.g., regional offices, potentially from professional mappers) to ensure this data is not lost and posting data to data repositories.

• Cataloguing data holdings and posting these indices to the Terrain web pages.

• Facilitating on-going discussions with the terrain community through the Terrain Working Group.

• Updating the terrain digital data capture standards, maintaining standards and developing new standards as required.

Terrain Inventory/Information Workshop
February 2006

The terrain custodian hosted a two-day terrain information workshop in Richmond, B.C. to engage the terrain community in discussions on topics including:

• definition of the BC terrain information system (or program)

• identification of trends

• identification of roles and responsibilities

• implementation system requirements

• priorities

The format of the workshop was interactive with the intent of encouraging involvement and collaboration of the errain mapping community in the terrain information program. The workshop was well attended with 30 participants representing terrain mapping professionals, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Forests and Range, the Integrated Land Management Bureau, GIS contractors, forest licensees, First Nations and other users of terrain data. A summary report by the workshop facilitator will be available summer/fall 2006.

The terrain information program has moved back to the Ministry of Environment
July 2005

As of July 17, 2005, the terrain information program is managed by terrain information specialists in the Environmental Stewardship Division of the Ministry of Environment. The Ecosystems Branch (formerly Biodiversity Branch) of the Environmental Stewardship Division is currently the custodian of provincial terrain mapping projects including terrain inventory, bioterrain, terrain stability and related legacy data sets, as well as soils mapping and data.

Modernizing the Terrain Information Program in BC
June 2005

An article outlining 2005/2006 initiatives that are being undertaken by the terrain information custodian was published in the June 2005 issue of ASPECT (PDF 294KB), the Division of Engineers and Geoscientists in the Forest Sector’s quarterly newsletter. The article identifies the custodian of terrain information as the Resource Information Branch of the Land Information BC, in the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management (MSRM). As of June 16th, 2005 government re-organization, MSRM ceased to exist and the majority of the responsibilities and functions of the ministry were reassigned to the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands - Integrated Land Management Bureau, with the resource information/inventory functions being transferred to the Ministry of Forests and Range or the Ministry of Environment (MoE). The ecosystem information functions, including the terrain and soils information programs, now reside in the Environmental Stewardship Division of MoE.