Ministry of Environment

Data Standards

Survey Data

All submitted survey data must be in one of the survey data templates. When using the templates:

1. Do not alter column names
2. Yellow columns are required
3. Other than the yellow columns, you may delete any of the predefined columns that you do not want to use.
4. You may add any column that you want. Columns that you add will be stored in the archive version of the data. They will not be loaded into the BCGW spatial view.
5. If you add your own columns, fill out the New Field Definitions worksheet to describe the columns and any codes that you will use.

Spatial Data

Study area boundaries, block boundaries, transects, and flight lines are examples of information best presented as GIS spatial data. All submitted spatial data must be in the spatial data template. When using the spatial data template:

1. Spatial files must contain study area names in the attribute table. The study area names must match exactly the study area names in the survey data template.
2. Spatial files of blocks or transects (design components) must contain the unique labels of the blocks or transects. The unique labels must match exactly the labels used in the survey data templates.
3. Spatial files of point locations (e.g., Sample Stations) need not be submitted. Rather, point location data must be submitted as rows in the appropriate survey data template.
4. Additional requirements are described in section 3.2.5 of the Species Inventory Fundamentals Errata

Background

All of a project's submitted files, including MS Excel™ files, reports, spatial files and other files, are stored as individual files in the Species Inventory (SPI) database. These files are archival copies that can be downloaded from Species Inventory Web Explorer in exactly the form that they were submitted. Only data that are formatted in the predefined columns within the data templates are loaded into SPI tables and become part of the BC Geographic Warehouse spatial layers.