Creating a comprehensive shoreline database for British Columbia through the use of an innovative web mapping application

The overall health of Canada’s oceans is strongly influenced by the coastal marine environment. Through the Oceans Protection Plan (OPP), the Government of Canada is working towards protecting, preserving and restoring... [ view full abstract ]

The overall health of Canada’s oceans is strongly influenced by the coastal marine environment. Through the Oceans Protection Plan (OPP), the Government of Canada is working towards protecting, preserving and restoring Canada’s marine environment which is vulnerable to marine shipping. In order to protect and preserve Canada’s marine coastline, we must first establish a baseline dataset to catalogue the current state of the environment.  This baseline includes mapping the shoreline types present, but also being aware of the location of sensitive coasts that are more productive, contain valued natural resources, and culturally significant areas for First Nations peoples.  This baseline dataset will help support a cumulative effects assessment of marine shipping.  

 A geospatial database of shoreline types for the British Columbia coastline is being created by splitting coastline vectors based on homogeneity of the upper intertidal zone.  Detailed information describing the intertidal, supratidal, and backshore zones are being extracted from the geo-tagged videos and entered into the database using a customized input form.  This project is focused on updating the existing BC shoreline dataset which was compiled over the past 30-40 years.  This advanced shoreline mapping system, developed by Environment and Climate Change Canada, has transitioned traditional shoreline segmentation from a desktop environment using licensed software to an innovative web platform that allows for online segmentation.  This enables multiple segmenters to populate the baseline shoreline database simultaneously.  It will allow scientists, First Nations peoples and citizen scientists to work collaboratively with each other to build a comprehensive coastal database.