Data sharing: The first step towards a spatial data warehouse
The integrated cadastral initiative (ICI)
In late 1999, a steering committee was formed to explore the concept of an integrated
solution to consolidate the various data sets from the Provincial Government, local
governments and the public utilities. The partners in this initiative will each contribute
specific data sets and regular updates to the 'warehouse'. Some of the partners will
contribute information and data; others will provide in kind services and financing. The
Steering Committee will provide overall direction for ICI. A Technical Committee was
formed to research and analyse the technical implications of this 'warehouse'. Other
technical committees will likely be formed in the near future to research and make
recommendations for data transfer and communication between the different ICI partners.
Fig 2. The ICI Partners
ICI Objectives
The three major objectives of ICI are:
- "Achieving Cost Benefits from Economies of Scale: The one central information
system should cost less than a larger number of small information systems maintained
by each of the partners.
- "Enhancing the Data: All data for the approximately 1 million parcels will be
converted from paper or from a digital format to an integrated province wide GIS
database with attribute information. Data would also be integrated in layers, with
partners in ICI getting access to specialised use data, such as Land Title Data,
Assessment Data, zoning and utility infrastructure.
- "Improving Services: Along with the improvements to the data itself, there are
potential improvements to the services offered with that data:
- Improvements to data access: municipalities and provincial agencies may, as a result of ICI, be able to more quickly respond to request for information.
- Improvements to associated services: partners may use ICI to improve their services; e.g. municipalities might be able to issue development permits more quickly.
ICI Organisational Issues:
There are several possible organizational structures that could be utilized or created to
meet the organizational needs of the ICI. The organizational structure under consideration
is a tripartite option involving the province, municipalities and the major utilities. Each
brings various "assets" to ICI in the form of information or data, in kind services and
financing.
There are two types of legal structure under consideration for ICI:
- A company incorporated under The Company Act:
The advantage is limited liability and the ability to undertake a broad range of
commercial activities. The disadvantages are that the share structure could be
complex given the different organizational structures of the partners, in particular the
"tiered" participation of the municipal and provincial agencies (i.e. UBCM and the
individual municipalities; province and individual agencies). Individual
municipalities and provincial agencies might also face difficulties in owning shares in
a company. Tax issues will be complex and the perception that ICI perhaps competes
with the private sector will have to be dealt with.
- A non-profit organization established under The Societies Act:
Relatively uncomplicated to establish, limited liability applies, no major tax issues
and there is less of a commercial perception problem. It is also easier for
municipalities and provincial entities to become a member of a non-profit
organization than shareholders of a for-profit entity. The disadvantages are that the
organization cannot dispose of surpluses to its members and if the organization
dissolves, assets cannot be liquidated and dispersed to its members, unless prescribed
in bylaws.
Given the balance of the advantages and disadvantages of each option, the Societies Act
non-profit organization appears to be the preferred route for the establishment of the ICI.
ICI Layer Model
ICI will be the common repository for data sets from various organisations and will
provide links to external data sets. The following layers of data are defined in ICI Layer
Model:
Fig 3. The ICI Layer Model
Each ICI data set will be a subset of its original source database, a combination of
different databases or link to an external data source. For example, the data set
"Administrative Boundaries" contains data from different governmental agencies and
municipalities; the "Gas" data set contains gas distribution mains and other major
facilities such as stations and valves. The "Assessment Attributes" data set links to an
external source.
