News
Land Cover: Users Have Their Say
May 23, 2008
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is supporting a study of the needs of Land Cover data users. The study is being conducted by the Land Cover Community of Practice (LC-CoP) of the Inter-Agency Committee on Geomatics with a view to adding Land Cover as a new GeoBase theme.
An NRCan Earth Sciences Sector (ESS) representative accompanied a team to meetings held recently in Ottawa, Peterborough, Halifax, Quebec City, Victoria, Edmonton and Regina. At the meetings, the ESS representative had an opportunity to listen to and understand participants' needs, and at the same time to explain the nature of the proposed product and the overall GeoBase context.
More than 300 questionnaires had been completed in advance by various Land Cover stakeholders. The final report on the study will be available this summer.
GeoBase and the LC-CoP have embarked on the National Land Cover Project. The main objective is to create a single Land Cover product for Canadians based on mapping data provided by provincial and federal organizations.
For example, the project will integrate existing information from two national sources:
- the Earth Observation for Sustainable Development of Forests initiative led by NRCan's Canadian Forest Service;
- the National Land and Water Information Service of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
The project will then produce a harmonized database that is consistent with international standards, in order to meet the broadest range of user needs.
GeoBase is a federal, provincial and territorial government initiative that provides users with access to quality geospatial information at no cost and with unrestricted use.