System design and organization, access to data
coastal geomorphological and textural data in a geographic information system, facilitates user-specific queries and data analysis, and integrates these coastal data with other applications to enhance coastal
interpretations and coastal mapping. The Coastal Information System
is described in detail in Sherin & Edwardson (199b).
Our Experience
The Issues
In the development of the Nova Scotia Coastal Series (NSCS), variability in the representation and accuracy of coastlines was encountered
in the ENC data. Data from the ENCs other than shorelines was therefore reconciled to the shoreline from the topographic data which was at
a consistent scale and covered the whole province of Nova Scotia. Since
the NSCS conforms to the standard 1:50,000 National Topographic
System map sheet layout, chart limits had to be included for the creation
of the polygon boundaries between ENCs of differing scales.
The development of the NSCS required the merging of 1:10,000 topographic and forestry data sets into seamless 1:50,000 data sets. The
process revealed data quality problems at the map boundaries of the
1:10,000 maps which had to be rectified. The process provided a previously unexplored avenue for quality control and enhancement of both
the forestry and topographic databases.
Confidential information in the forestry database used for the NSCS was
generalized so that information on forest stands of an individual owner
could not be identified.
Topographic data for the NSCS was converted from the ATS77 horizontal datum used by provincial mapping agencies in Atlantic Canada
to the NAD83 horizontal datum to match the requirements of the user
community and the datum of the ENCs.
In the Atlantic Region Sensitivity Mapping Program (ARSMP), traditional ecological knowledge of nearshore fisheries and other coastal
resources were incorporated. Manipulation of the data structures was
necessary to make this data compatible with the ARSMP structure.
Incompatibilities related to definitions and semantics may be insurmountable. Bishr (1998) gives two examples of semantic incompatibility. Naming semantic incompatibility (e.g. watercourse versus river)
can normally be corrected using tools like a thesaurus. Bishr (1998)
suggests that cognitive semantic incompatibility (e.g. the differing
view and purpose of streets held by pavement managers and marketing
analysts) requires a more complex system of rules and constraints to
map between the roles and definitions different disciplines may attribute
to the same real world object.
These types of incompatibilities were avoided in the ARSMP and the
CIS by using geomorphological classifications which share a common
origin. They are both refinements of the system developed for the
Government of the Province of British Columbia (Howes et al., 1994;
87
coastal geomorphological and textural data in a geographic information system, facilitates user-specific queries and data analysis, and integrates these coastal data with other applications to enhance coastal
interpretations and coastal mapping. The Coastal Information System
is described in detail in Sherin & Edwardson (199b).
Our Experience
The Issues
In the development of the Nova Scotia Coastal Series (NSCS), variability in the representation and accuracy of coastlines was encountered
in the ENC data. Data from the ENCs other than shorelines was therefore reconciled to the shoreline from the topographic data which was at
a consistent scale and covered the whole province of Nova Scotia. Since
the NSCS conforms to the standard 1:50,000 National Topographic
System map sheet layout, chart limits had to be included for the creation
of the polygon boundaries between ENCs of differing scales.
The development of the NSCS required the merging of 1:10,000 topographic and forestry data sets into seamless 1:50,000 data sets. The
process revealed data quality problems at the map boundaries of the
1:10,000 maps which had to be rectified. The process provided a previously unexplored avenue for quality control and enhancement of both
the forestry and topographic databases.
Confidential information in the forestry database used for the NSCS was
generalized so that information on forest stands of an individual owner
could not be identified.
Topographic data for the NSCS was converted from the ATS77 horizontal datum used by provincial mapping agencies in Atlantic Canada
to the NAD83 horizontal datum to match the requirements of the user
community and the datum of the ENCs.
In the Atlantic Region Sensitivity Mapping Program (ARSMP), traditional ecological knowledge of nearshore fisheries and other coastal
resources were incorporated. Manipulation of the data structures was
necessary to make this data compatible with the ARSMP structure.
Incompatibilities related to definitions and semantics may be insurmountable. Bishr (1998) gives two examples of semantic incompatibility. Naming semantic incompatibility (e.g. watercourse versus river)
can normally be corrected using tools like a thesaurus. Bishr (1998)
suggests that cognitive semantic incompatibility (e.g. the differing
view and purpose of streets held by pavement managers and marketing
analysts) requires a more complex system of rules and constraints to
map between the roles and definitions different disciplines may attribute
to the same real world object.
These types of incompatibilities were avoided in the ARSMP and the
CIS by using geomorphological classifications which share a common
origin. They are both refinements of the system developed for the
Government of the Province of British Columbia (Howes et al., 1994;
87