News

User needs assessment endorses Land Cover

August 21, 2008

There is a high level of interest in the planned GeoBase Land Cover layer filled with benefits foreseen for a large number of users.

This was a major finding in the newly released GeoBase Land Cover Product User Needs Assessment (pdf, 2.37 MB) report.

The User Needs Assessment (UNA), prepared for the National Land Cover Project Team by DB Geoservices Inc., was based on more than 300 responses - far more than expected - to a detailed questionnaire, plus seven discussion groups organized across the country to confirm and flesh out the questionnaire's findings.

Other major findings include:

  • The GeoBase principles, program and products are appreciated. At the same time, continuing coordination with the provinces is required to integrate datasets and conduct validation and maintenance.
  • The Northern Land Cover product is important and stakeholders are waiting for it. However, Land Cover classification in the North has been found to be challenging.
  • Users are concerned about consistency, accuracy and other aspects of product quality.
  • Product documentation and metadata are important; they should tell users about the data sources, class definitions, accuracies, and how the product can and cannot be used.
  • Users do not want the other GeoBase layers superposed on the Land Cover product. Nor do they want the water layer in the Land Cover product to match exactly the water boundaries of the National Hydro Network.
  • The question of whether future Land Cover products should re-map Land Cover, monitor Land Cover or show change detection remains unclear. Now that the users' views have been collected, the Product Definition team should study this question, and clearly document their approach with rationale.
  • More expert users would use the raw data to recreate maps in more specific ways. Less expert users would need to have the integration done for them, but they would need to know how the integration had been done i.e. how the product can and cannot be used.

The team members and their roles in the National Land Cover Project are:

  • Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
    • Project leadership
    • Agricultural mapping
  • Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) - Canadian Forest Service
    • Forest mapping
    • Project coordination and logistical support (Land Cover Community of Practice Secretariat)
  • NRCan - Centre for Topographic Information
    • Geospatial data product definition and product development
  • Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
    • Provincial Coordination Advisor
  • Canadian Space Agency
    • GRIP Funding for map product development
  • NRCan - GeoConnections
    • Funding of the User Needs Assessment

The project team established the objectives of the UNA to:

  • Present to end users current capabilities and product plans.
  • Understand short-term Land Cover needs to optimize product development to respond to the extent feasible within budget and schedule constraints.
  • Understand long-term Land Cover needs to plan accordingly.

Full results of the questionnaire and discussion groups, featuring a representative sample of the responses, are provided in the report along with all major findings and 17 key recommendations.