Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia Recognized for GIS Innovation

ParcelMap BC delivers an authoritative, sustainable map of all active titled and surveyed Crown land parcels across the province

VICTORIA, Esri Canada User Conference – May 10, 2017 – Esri Canada today presented the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA) with an Award of Excellence in applying geographic information system (GIS) technology to develop ParcelMap BC, a survey-aware, electronic map of all active titled parcels and surveyed Crown land parcels in the province.

“ParcelMap BC is an outstanding example of how GIS technology can be used to develop and maintain an accurate, integrated cadastral map,” said Alex Miller, president, Esri Canada. “It serves as the authoritative source for BC parcel mapping data, significantly increasing the accuracy and speed of real property transactions and supporting more informed land-related research, planning and business decisions across government and industry.”

 The initial parcel fabric was created by stitching together existing parcel data from the Integrated Cadastral Information Society (ICI Society), which is provided by various local governments across BC as part of their data sharing agreement, plus the Integrated Cadastral Fabric (ICF) maintained by BC Government’s GeoBC Division of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. Missing parcels not found in the source data were compiled and integrated to complete the parcel fabric for the entire province. Attribute information is sourced from the LTSA’s land title records, the province’s Crown land registry system and BC Assessment.

The LTSA leveraged Esri’s ArcGIS platform to develop an operational model for maintaining a single, complete and contiguous parcel map of the entire province. The result is ParcelMap BC, which will include over two million active titled and Crown Land parcels when completed in June 2017.

To efficiently maintain data in ParcelMap BC, the LTSA uses Esri’s Parcel Editor, an application in ArcGIS Desktop, as well as an enterprise geodatabase. They also leveraged Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS to build applications that provide land surveyors and other LTSA customers access to the map. As well, the LTSA successfully implemented an electronic submission process for survey plan datasets which are provided by land surveyors. These datasets support the maintenance of the parcel fabric and are a requirement for nearly all new survey plans, as mandated by the Surveyor General of BC and with the support of the Association of BC Land Surveyors.

“Esri technology has allowed us to establish a sustainable system for maintaining, managing and distributing BC’s parcel mapping,” noted Brian Greening, Director, ParcelMap BC Operations. “ParcelMap BC builds on the Canadian Parcel Fabric Data Model, providing an effective way to organize parcel data. It also provides efficient mapping workflows for integrating electronic survey plan datasets and surveyed control points from land surveyors into ParcelMap BC, allowing for improved spatial accuracy of the fabric over time.”

 As for next steps, the LTSA is working with the ICI Society to help their members across the province efficiently adopt ParcelMap BC into their operations. The LTSA also expects to release a ParcelMap BC Search tool open to the public in July 2017. Additionally, an Open Government Licensed view of ParcelMap BC is available in the BC Data Catalogue.

 Learn more about ParcelMap BC. Read about Esri Canada’s parcel mapping approach.

 About the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia

The Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA) is a publicly accountable, statutory corporation formed in 2005 responsible for administering the land title and survey systems of BC. These systems provide the foundation for all real property business and ownership in the province. For more information, visit ltsa.ca.

 About Esri Canada
Founded in 1984, Esri Canada provides enterprise geographic information system (GIS) solutions that empower businesses, governments and educational institutions to make timely, informed and mission-critical decisions by leveraging the power of geography.  The company distributes the world’s leading GIS software from Esri, Schneider Electric, Cityworks–Azteca Systems, Inc. and other technology partners.  Headquartered in Toronto, the company serves over 10,000 customers from 16 regional offices across Canada. Esri Canada joined the elite rank of Canada’s Best Managed companies in 2012 and became a Gold Standard winner in 2015. The company has also been named to the Branham300 and Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures. More information can be found at esri.ca. Follow Esri Canada on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.