5.0 What Inventory Information is Needed?
Chapters 2,3 and 4 of this report deal with the issues of "what inventory information exists..., who uses it..., and why do they use it?" In fact, a key focus of this research is to determine "What inventory information is needed?"
The following analysis deals with a series of issues relating to this topic. Addressed in this section are issues dealing with:
This question generated a range of suggestions from survey respondents. In fact, virtually all respondents had at least one, and sometimes several, suggestions for improving existing inventories. Generally, the comments centered around the theme of standards, integration, coordination, and consistency.
An illustration of the range of comments and suggestions follows: (These are in generally descending order of their frequency of mention.)
Generally, the user groups are the most concerned about access to information, compiling the information in a centralized agency, and maintaining "neutrality". Private sector user groups tend to be the most interested in user or demand information citing the usefulness of this information in facilitating investment decisions. Another issue of particular importance to user groups is the ability to access information on the future development plans of resource agencies (again, to help in making investment decisions).
Due to the diversity of the topic (i.e., culture, recreation and tourism) a broad range of inventory information was identified by respondents as being the most useful to their agency. The information preferences identified fall into two categories - general features of an inventory and specific information requirements for their agency.
Information regarding resource capacity and demand were the data needs most frequently cited although biophysical resources/physical features information is also considered important. In addition, information which could be used for evaluation and ranking or which provides information on economic performance, is also rated highly.
The range of suggested kinds of inventory information (in descending order of importance or frequency of mention) follows. The first category lists general information requirements and the second lists specific information requirements.
Generally, it is tourism related users that require information on facility use and market demand. These users are also the most likely to require economic information and information on occupancy, attendance, etc. This information is required in order to make investment decisions. Managers and/or users of cultural resources require information on all aspects of heritage, native issues, and archaeology. In particular, several respondents indicated the need for more information on the cultural and/or historic context of these resource features. Managers and/or users of recreation resources most frequently identified data on carrying capacity, resource attributes, and user demand as key information requirements.
The overwhelming preference (cited by over 95% of survey respondents) is for inventory information to be available in map form. This preference holds for those persons primarily interested in tourism, recreation or culture.
Maps have been the traditional way to record and interpret spatial, physical information, and strong preference is given to maintaining this capability. Given the advancement in mapping technology, there is also a widely held recognition that computer based mapping provides an improvement over traditionally drafted maps.
Also ranking high in terms of preference or suitability are reports and databases. These inventory formats were stated as preferable by approximately two-thirds of respondents. In fact, most respondents also mentioned that both maps and reports/databases are preferable.
Those agency representatives who deal with inventory issues on a daily basis suggested that computer mapping which allows overlays of other agency's material would be ideal. This would allow for graphic, or three dimensional depictions of data, and would also allow the retrieval of inventory data in the most suitable map scale.
There is a very strong preference for inventory information to be available at the "local" level. Virtually all resource managers and inventory users feel they need detailed information at the local level. For some uses, such as heritage site mapping or planning for a tourism development, site specific information is required. The requirements for local detail cross the boundaries of culture, recreation and tourism.
Regional levels of detail are considered to be almost as important as local level information. Only a few respondents did not specifically mention regional detail as being important. This could be because it actually is not important, or because regional information can be created from local information by aggregating up. Again, there is no apparent difference among the tourism, recreation or culture representatives regarding preference for this level of detail.
Less than one-third of agency representatives specifically mentioned that inventory information is required at the provincial level. However, comments were made that this overview level of detail could be produced for agencies who require it by aggregating regional information.
The map scales required are directly related to project/study focus and the level of detail needed. The most frequently mentioned map scale was 1:50,000, cited by approximately one-half of respondents who actually specified a map scale. Only about one-quarter of respondents mentioned the 1:250,000 scale.
About one-half of the agencies contacted indicated that their work needs to be done at a more detailed scale. The most common scale requirement was 1:20,000, although several agencies doing site specific work require even more detail.
Generally, local planning departments, heritage organizations, and developers tend to need the more detailed, site-specific information. The resource management agencies tend to need a range of scales, depending on their topic and the issues to resolve. It appears that map scales that allow both local planning and the ability to see the "big picture" are important.
Respondents were asked to rank a number of inventory features in terms of their importance. Ranking was done on a 1 (of no importance) to 5 (very important) scale.
Most of the features ranked were deemed to be of significant importance (i.e., a score of 4 or 5). In terms of overall importance, common standards scored the highest (combined 4s and 5s) at 96%, followed by timeliness of data (94%), user friendliness (88%), ease of access (86%), and GIS based (85%).
The distribution of responses are tallied on the following Exhibit.
Degree of Importance | ||||||
Features |
Least |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Most |
DK |
Complete BC Coverage |
2% |
14% |
10% |
27% |
43% |
6% |
Timeliness of Data |
2% |
6% |
35% |
59% |
2% | |
Public Access |
2% |
20% |
18% |
51% |
8% | |
Ease of access |
2% |
8% |
19% |
67% |
4% | |
User friendliness |
2% |
2% |
6% |
25% |
63% |
2% |
GIS based |
4% |
2% |
10% |
20% |
65% |
8% |
Common Standards |
2% |
2% |
32% |
64% |
2% | |
Training availability |
4% |
6% |
28% |
28% |
30% |
4% |
Modem Access |
6% |
15% |
27% |
23% |
23% |
6% |
Map output |
2% |
4% |
8% |
22% |
61% |
2% |
Report output |
2% |
4% |
15% |
31% |
48% |
-- |
The vast majority of respondents (over 90%) indicated that their future requirements for inventory information are going to change or are in the process of changing. Those agency representatives not expecting their requirements to change are typically agencies for which inventories are only a small part of their mandate. A few other agency spokesmen indicated that they were unsure of their future requirements.
A consistent theme regarding future changes dealt with the issue of being able to integrate or overlay other features or attributes information onto their inventories. This requirement was felt to be important for culture, recreation and tourism inventory purposes and infers that computer based and GIS oriented information will be required. This requirement is also based on the fact that more people are requiring more land for more reasons. It is expected that this demand will continue to increase, as will resource conflicts.
Another issue requiring change in the way inventory information is collected and used, is the public's increasing demand to be informed. The involvement of the public in land use issues will likely continue to increase, thereby producing a requirement for more information that is easier to understand.
Another anticipated change is the need to be able to relate user (or demand) information to resource (or supply) information. This also includes requirements for socio-economic or benefit-cost information. In terms of private sector investment and public sector resource management decisions, this issue will likely increase in importance.
One of RIC's two overall objectives is to answer the question about what information is vital for effective land management. Consequently, respondents to the Culture, Recreation and Tourism questionnaire were asked the same question (as it relates to Culture, Recreation and Tourism).
Responses to this question fall into two basic categories. One category outlines the overall features or characteristics of the inventory. This relates to the uses to which the inventory can be put. The second category outlines the specific elements of the inventory. This relates to what information is actually collected.
The first category contains three elements or considerations.