Ministry of Environment

General Information

What is a BCeID and why do I need one?

A BCeID stands for "British Columbia electronic identification". A BCeID is a user name and password that enables you to sign in securely to BCeID participating Government Online Services. Once you have a BCeID you will be able to use it to log in to the Wildlife Inventory Submission Site.

What can I submit to this site?

You can submit reports, datasets, spatial files, maps, and photos and virtually any supporting documentation to the Species Inventory Database.

What should a complete submission include?

A complete submission should include:

• a report
• data in a standard template
• a shape file of study area boundaries
• any additional shape files, maps, documents, digital photographs, or analysis spreadsheets that support or augment your project.

How do I submit information?

To submit files to us, first get a BCEID if you need one. Then enter the submissions area and request access. Once you enter the site:

1. Register yourself
2. Register your project
3. Describe your surveys
4. Select a template
5. Load your template with your data
6. Submit the loaded templates, reports, and other documents or files.

What happens to the files that I submit?

All files are loaded into the Species Inventory Database. Information contained within the data templates is uploaded from the database into the Land Resource Data Warehouse as a spatial layer. Government staff and other users have access to this layer. Terrestrial Ecosystem mapping based habitat models are forwarded to Ecocat. Anything that we receive is automatically forwarded to the Conservation Data Centre.

How can I retrieve information from the Species Inventory Database?

You can obtain reports and datasets over the internet via the search engine, the Species Inventory web Explorer.

Government employees can access spatial data directly via ArcMap as well as IMAP.

Members of the public can also access spatial data using IMAP.

The strength of the database is that locations associated with the project can be depicted in GIS mapping systems. This means that information pertinent to a specific location can be retrieved extremely quickly.

Report Standards

Is there a standard report format?

Adobe PDF is the preferred format for reports. MS Word documents will also be accepted.

What about the style and components of the report?

Inventory projects should follow a scientific format similar to the style and formats used in journals such as the Journal of Wildlife Management.

What if I have data but no report?

Older archival data may not have an associated report or you may be performing a standard census that is performed by the region each year. In these cases, the necessary minimum metadata is outlined during the submission process. It is impossible to complete data submission without it.

What if I have a report but no data?

Review articles, management summaries, and standard scientific research reports may all be submitted to the Species Inventory Database. The database can and should be used to archive such important works. These are not inventory projects however. For an inventory project (funded by FIA for example) to be considered complete, all components of the submission must be provided. (see Submission Requirements)

Data Standards

Can I submit any dataset to SPI?

You can submit any dataset that provides a date, a count, and spatial locations for wildlife to the Species Inventory Database.

Can I submit my raw data to SPI in any form?

No. To successfully load data into SPI, you need to use a template. Templates structure the data and use specific fields that can be mapped to the equivalent fields in the database. If you do not have the appropriate fields and exact field names template loading will fail.

What if I want to include fields that are not in the template?

You can add fields to the template worksheet. Only template fields will be loaded into SPI tables so that they can be portrayed spatially in the Data Warehouse. But we save the template itself in SPI as well. So all fields in your template will be archived and accessible for your future use.

What template should I use?

To pick the correct template decide whether your study is a census or if it is a reconnaissance inventory looking for locations or sign, documenting behaviours, or habitat features. You may be conducting telemetry work or summarizing your results by block or some other sample unit. You can select a template here.

GIS Data

What spatial format is required?

Study area boundaries, blocks, grids, transects, flight lines, and other important spatial design features can all be stored in the database. We will accept spatial files in the format specified in Section 3.2.5 (Spatial Data) of our Errata to Species Inventory Fundamentals.
These submitted spatial files are loaded into the SPI database. To use them, users must download them from SIWE and then view them with Arcmap. In the future we will store the spatial features (e.g. blocks, study areas and transect lines) in the LRDW.

What format should I use to submit graphics, photos, posters, and other figures?

Adobe PDF is the preferred format for any graphic.