Garner Technology

I recently attended the ICIS User Conference held in Sidney on September 19th. It was well attended by many of the players that have made a significant contribution to the idea of sharing spatial data and building a common cadastral or parcel data set for the province of B.C. Two key announcements were made at the conference that are likely to significantly alter the landscape as it pertains to these objectives and may actually signal the end of the need for ICIS altogether.

Sharing Data

The Integrated Cadastral Information Society (ICIS) was created 10 years ago to foster the sharing of spatial data between local government, utility companies and the Provincial government. The vision was that by building a common base (the cadastral or parcel fabric) that other business data could more easily be shared. The challenges in achieving these two key objectives are many least of which was a parcel fabric that was being built and maintained in a haphazard way in part by B.C.’s municipalities and the Provincial government. There was no single agency responsible for parcel data in B.C.

Data Protection

To further complicate the objective was an entrenched view by many organizations of ownership of spatial data. Significant investments in spatial data were made by many agencies and they were not about to simply give it away. To solve this problem ICIS was created to martial together data sharing agreements that would allow agencies to share data without giving up their perceved ability to earn revenue. Everyone felt they were entitled to some form of compensation either financially or through access to data that they felt had an equivalent value to that which they were contributing.

The ICIS data sharing and licencing agreement became the hallmark of what ICIS is today. It created a “club” of sorts that allowed its members to freely share their data between themselves without fear of loosing control over their precious spatial data assets. Despite being very successful at implementing the sharing agreements (almost all municipalities in BC are members of ICIS) the challenge of building a common parcel fabric remains and after ten years only moderate progress has been made.

Changing Times

Fast forward to today. Stephanie Cadieux, the Minister of Labour, Citizens’ Services and Open Government outlines a major shift in the Province’s attitude toward open government and access to data within BC effectively opening the doors to data that had remained well protected within government computer systems. No longer is the province in a mode of protection to foster cost recovery. The investment has already been made by the BC taxpayer and they should have access to it. Minister Cadieux rightly points out that BC is far behind other juristictions on the issue of open access to government data. Of particular note was the Minister’s call to ICIS to do the same.

A second key announcement was from Mike Thomson, the Surveyor General and Boundary Comissioner for BC. He announced that the Board of the Land Title and Survey Authority in BC (LTSA) had approved work to proceed on building a business case to make creating and maintaining a single parcel fabric part of LTSA’s business and that it should be a priority. This is also another significant shift in attitude by an influencial organizations. For years, LTSA saw little value in building a parcel fabric an attitude I never could quite understand. Be that as it may, LTSA has finally figured out not only that they are responsible for registering land ownership in BC but that the associated spatial data record keeping might also be a good idea and something they should be doing. The light bulb has finally gone on!

The Future of ICIS

So, what does all this mean for ICIS? The two key reasons for ICIS existing appear to be out of its control and heading toward a resolution that, quite frankly, many of us have been hoping for for years. There are many that saw ICIS as an interim step to reaching where BC  seems to be finally going but I doubt many really expected that we would ever get there.  Latest developments might want to signal to the ICIS Board that it’s time to either refocus or plan to wrap things up once the larger job is complete.

I see no shame in suggesting that ICIS should be thinking about ending. It was created to help solve a problem and, in a way, it has done just that by continually highlighting the importance and benefits of a common parcel fabric and sharing data. Perhaps, more importantly, it has helped to bring people together to discuss these issue and we are all better for it. However, if ICIS is to survive it will need to significantly re-invent itself. It is a hold-over from a different time that is now starting to look hopelessly out of place in a world of open data sources and cloud computing.

My hope is that ICIS will evolve into an advocacy agency for local government spatial data issues. Perhaps an organization not unlike MISA, LGMA or GFOA. It should step back from the “doer” role it has taken on over the years and do what it has always been good at – getting people to talk. It does not need to be building software, buy servers or compiling data to provide value to the many agencies that it represents. It’s time to change or ICIS may truly be at its end.

 I am a former member of the ICIS Board and, for a very brief time, it’s vice president. I also served as a contractor to ICIS and developed the CivicSpatial grant program and assisted in managing AddressBC.