The Integrated Data Management (IDM) Project established the Cowichan Valley Prototype Project to confirm the utility and to determine the operational viability of an Integrated Data Warehouse accessible through the Internet. The technical infrastructure and expertise developed here may serve as a framework for delivering similar applications throughout the province.

The business objective for the pilot is to protect environmentally sensitive areas through local government planning. A regional team identified the highest priority information sources to meet these objectives. With input from the Community Advisory Group, this prototype was developed to deliver the integrated information through internet mapping.

Products such as the Sensitive Habitat Atlas have been developed as a useful tool for local government planners to identify sensitive aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Production of these atlases is challenging due to difficulties in accessing appropriate data. These issues include:

• Technical difficulties transferring information from operational systems
• Incompatible formats
• Differing data custodians and data models for the same information
• Inappropriate scale
• Raw data as opposed to meaningful, interpreted information
• No linkage between spatial and attribute data sources
• Policy which limits data distribution

Some limitations of hard copy map products include:

• High cost of production
• Environmental data is often being updated on a continuous basis
• Limitations on how much information can be visually displayed in a meaningful way

A single window approach to delivering environmental information through the internet is a high priority for all levels of government, Stewardship groups and Community stakeholders.

The principle objective of this project is to develop a sustainable process to bring together data from multiple sources in a standard format, and develop procedures to distribute information to partnership agencies, including local governments and community groups. The Cowichan Valley Prototype will re-engineer the existing Cowichan Valley Environmental Planning atlas to assess and document the data requirements, develop and implement corporate data standards and data models, develop a process to update environmental layers, and deliver integrated information to partners and stakeholders. Water quality and quantity will be added and integrated this year. Decision-makers will be able to access the atlas via an FTP site and through an Internet map server.

There will be three key deliverables from this project:

• A standardized, sustainable and integrated data set, decision support products, access tools and delivery mechanisms for the Cowichan Valley area.
• Data models and standards that are developed during the construction of the Cowichan prototype that will subsequently be provided to headquarters for evaluation in IDM project.
• Documentation of inter-agency data management issues, and recommendations for ongoing data integration and input to data collection and data capture standards.

The following data layers were determined to be the highest priority for identifying sensitive areas.

• Water courses (including ditches vs. streams). Although TRIM 1:20,000 base mapping is available for the province, more detailed information is required for local planning. For this project, photogrammetry was used to produce watercourses closer to 1:5,000 base mapping specifications. Additionally, preliminary classification of riparian vegetation is in progress and will be delivered soon.
• Fish presence (confirmed vs. possible). The Fisheries Information Summary System presents fish distribution at a 1:50,000 scale. This is not detailed enough for local planning. For this project, 1:20,000 scale fish presence was completed referencing the TRIM watershed atlas. 1:5,000 scale fish presence is currently under development through capture of more detailed surveys in the area and linkage to the detailed watercourses above.
• Private cadastre - visual reference only. This allows users to reference sensitive habitat information in relation to property boundaries. Private cadastre is managed by local governments, and incorporated into the Integrated Cadastral Initiative (ICI) through protocol agreements. ICI data is displayed through permission from the local governments.
• Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory a joint federal / provincial initiative that identified and mapped as polygons seven sensitive ecosystems for East Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands. Two additional ecosystems were mapped, which although not considered sensitive or rare, were included for general biodiversity values. Each polygon has a primary ecosystem, and may contain a secondary ecosystem. The information was initially interpreted from air photos at 1:10,000-1:20,000 taken between 1984 and 1993. Approximately 30% of the polygons have been field checked, and have links to field data reports. For more information on the Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory (SEI), visit the web site at http://srmwww.gov.bc.ca/cdc/sei.
• Water Quality - The provincial Environmental Monitoring System database (EMS) was used to generate locations of discharge and ambient monitoring sites with links a database view. Positional accuracy of the locations is not verified, and may exceed 100 m.
• Water users - For surface water, the water licensing points of diversion (PODs) are represented spatially, with links to a database view. Each POD may have one or more database records associated with it. For ground water, aquifers are mapped with preliminary classifications. Both spatial data sets have an estimated positional accuracy of 20 m.
• Water quantity - The spatial coverage is hydrometric stations linked to summary statistics on Environment Canada’s web site.
• Orthophotography was also identified as a high priority for visual reference. Although it was not originally expected to be within the scope of phase I, it was delivered in this pilot. This was produced from aerial photography (1:40,000) taken of East Coast Vancouver Island in July and Aug of 1999. Orthos were produced at a 1 m resolution.

For more detailed information on each data source, links to the Data Registry are available through the mapping tool.