Howe Sound Terrestrial Atlas
To make informed and holistic decisions around land use management and conservation efforts, baseline information is required to understand an area’s context. Inspired by the Howe Sound Marine Reference Guide, this project aims to create an online mapping application, which will include open-access data related to biodiversity conservation and land use in the Biosphere Region. Data compiled in the Atlas supports evidence-based decision making and helps identify knowledge gaps and areas where conservation and restoration efforts could be focused.
Watch this tutorial on navigating and finding data layers, narrated by Sam Wing, OECM Projects Manager
The Biosphere Region has an extensive history of anthropogenic effects on the environment, including resource extraction, recreation, cultural uses, conservation, and restoration efforts. Although many of these activities are well documented, the data and information are spread over various databases, formats, and names. This creates a barrier to those looking to find information specific to this region and delays decision making as the information required to make land management decisions must be compiled.
The Marine Reference Guide (MRG), created by the Marine Stewardship Initiative, inspired this project. The MRG is a “centralized interactive map that pulls together information about the Sound’s ocean to support informed decision-making, collaborative management, marine spatial planning, and community education”. The creation of the MRG further highlighted the importance of visualization tools and the need to develop something complementary for the terrestrial environment of Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound.
Planning and development began in April 2023, with research on best practices and database design undertaken to inform the application’s development. By August 2023, the Project Team completed a data dictionary collating the datasets, which will be displayed in the Terrestrial Atlas. In February 2024, the Project Team collaborated with application developers at ESRI to develop the web mapping application that will be the Terrestrial Atlas. The first iteration of the Terrestrial Atlas was completed, and the Project Team and ESRI were underway with user acceptance testing of the web application in April/May 2024 -
In June 2024, the first version of the Atlas went live. New data layers will be added to the Atlas as they are identified. If you have relevant biodiversity, land use, or conservation data that you would like to see hosted by this application, please contact Samantha Wing, OECM Projects Manager at OECMprojects@howesoundbri.org
This project was made possible with funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada. The HSBRIS team contracted ESRI Canada, and the application was created using Experience Builder. All data sources are linked to the original source, and updates are in real time.