Fish Web Collaborative: Towards an Integrated View of Fish Distribution Information for Ontario

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Fish Web CollaborativeTowards an Integrated
View ofFish Distribution Information for Ontario

• Craig Onafrychuk
• Fisheries Metadata Officer
• Information Management Spatial Analysis Unit
• Southern Science and Information Section
• Ministry of Natural Resources

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Current Situation

• Many agencies and community-based monitoring
  groups are collecting fish community and habitat
  information
• Information is collected using various methods
• Data are stored on agency networks or individual
  personal computers
• As a result
• Fish distribution data are undiscoverable,
  uncoordinated and unstandardized
• Difficult to access information on fish
  communities and habitat necessary to make
  resource management decisions
• Difficult to test effects of regulations, habitat
  improvements or other management techniques
• Difficult to make comparisons across spatial and
  temporal scales

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Purpose of the Fish Web Collaborative

• To develop a multi-organizational collaborative
  model for the management of fish distribution
  data in Ontario and establish a single
  standardized source accessible over the Internet
• Goals/Results
• Increase communication data sharing
• Reduce costs
• Data analysis increase sample size compare
  across time space

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Goal

• Ultimate goal of the project is to provide one
  repository of fish data maintained by
• multiple organizations and served via web mapping

Source Fisheries Oceans Canada
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Phases of the Fish Web Collaborative

• Phase 1 Develop thematic data standards for fish
  distribution information (this project)
  completed by Sept 2008
• (Proposed) Phase 2 Publish thematic data on fish
  distribution in Ontario waterbodies on the
  internet Oct 2008 Oct 2009
• (Proposed) Phase 3 Develop a web-based
  application to enable the community of practice
  to continue to contribute fish distribution
  October 2009 March 2010

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Objectives for Funding

• To develop and implement thematic geospatial data
  organized around a particular theme (i.e., Fish
  Distribution)
• Standards which allow for inter-organizational
  exchange and interoperability
• Project must be collaborative and support an
  identified end-user community

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Phase I Technical Committee Members
Team Members Representing
Provincial Government Provincial Government
Helen Ball, Aquatic Ecologist Leslie McDonald, Fisheries Program Biologist Fisheries Section, Fish Wildlife Branch, MNR
Ola McNeil, Fisheries Information Specialist Inventory, Monitoring Assessment Unit, Science Information Branch, MNR
Silvia Strobl, IMSAU Coordinator James McHattie, IM Specialist Craig Onafrychuk, Fisheries Metadata Officer Trevor Friesen, Fisheries Specialist Southern Science and Information Section, Science Information Branch, MNR
Peter Sorrill, GIS and Data Support Officer Natural Heritage Information Centre, MNR
Harry Taylor, Commercial Fish/Systems Officer Great Lakes Branch, MNR
Conservation Authorities Conservation Authorities
Chris Wilkinson, WRIP Coordinator Conservation Ontario
Samantha Mason, Aquatic Biologist Phil Lenoir, Senior Business Analyst/Programmer Graham Smith, Geomatics Coordinator Grand River Conservation
Federal Government Federal Government
Carolyn Bakelaar, GIS Analyst Department of Fisheries Oceans Canada
International International
Christine Geddes, Great Lakes GIS Project Coordinator Institute for Fisheries Research, University of Michigan
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Technical Team Member Roles

• Provide technical direction
• Empowered to actively participate on behalf of
  their organization
• Communicate progress to solicit information
  from home organization (esp. senior management)
• Coordinate the cataloguing of fish distribution
  data with Metadata Coordinator
• Support delivery of User Needs Workshops

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Phase 1 Thematic Data Standards
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Phase 1 Goals

• Compile a comprehensive list of existing fish
  data sources
• Document the essential descriptive and
  administrative information to support discovery,
  access and use of existing fish data sources
• Conduct workshops with users to develop a
  consensus-based data model

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What is Metadata?

• High-level descriptions which enables the
  discovery and analysis of data
• At the very least, metadata answers some
  fundamental questions about data
• Who created the data? Who maintains it?
• What is the content of the data? What is its
  structure?
• Where was the data collected? Where is it stored?
  
• When was the data collected? When was it
  produced?
• Why was the data created? What is the purpose?
• How was it produced? How can it be accessed? What
  data quality can you expect?

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Collecting Metadata A Team Approach

• Identify a Metadata Coordinator
• User of standards and tools
• Establish a production process
• Interview method or individual entry
• Common templates
• Engage appropriate specialists
• Data owner (You the practitioner)
• GIS Specialist / Metadata Clerk

Source USGS GeoConnections Training
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Information Entropy
Time of data development
Specific details about problems with individual
items or specific dates are lost relatively
rapidly
General details about data set are lost over time
DATA DETAILS
DATA DETAILS
Retirement or career change makes access to
mental storage difficult or unlikely
Accident or technology change may destroy data
and documentation
Loss of initial data developer results in loss of
remaining records
TIME
Source Michener et al 1996 USGS GeoConnections
Training
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Metadata Interview Components

• General Info
• Dataset name, description, purpose, etc.
• Constraints, time period, key words, storage
• Contact Info
• Mapping Info
• Coordinate system, datum, accuracy
• Geographic Extent
• Business Requirements
• Location (river, lake)
• Protocols (OSAP)
• Fish Attribute Info
• Naming convention, codes,
• sampling techniques, photos
• Water Temperature Info

Source Christine Brousseau, Fisheries Oceans
Canada
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Metadata Standards and Tools

• Ontario Land Information Directory (OLID)
  Metadata Directory metadata editor
• Catalogue tool and repository
• Metadata records catalogued according to the
  Government of Ontario IT Standard (GO-ITS 72)
  Geospatial Metadata Standard
• Based on the North American Profile of ISO
  191152003
• Compliant with Canadian Geospatial Data
  Infrastructure (CGDI) endorsed standards
• OLID is a registered repository with
  GeoConnections and is discoverable via
  GeoConnections Discovery Portal

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How is the Fish Web Collaborative Unique?

• Metadata collection is being conducted on behalf
  of agency
• Maintenance of record is transferred to agency
• Metadata being published prior to data
  publication
• Ontario Land Information Directory (OLID)
  http//lioapp.lrc.gov.on.ca/edwin/edwin.asp
• GeoConnections Discovery Portal
  http//geodiscover.cgdi.ca/
• Metadata catalogue host
• Conservation Ontario
• http//conservation-ontario.on.ca/projects/fishwe
  b.html

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Ontario Land Information Directory
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GeoConnections Discovery Portal
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FWC Catalogue
http//conservation-ontario.on.ca/projects/fishweb
.html
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Interview Status

• Thirteen (14) sites to-date / 18 databases in
  total
• Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority
• Central Lake Ontario Conservation
• Credit Valley Conservation
• Grand River Conservation Authority
• Grey Sauble Conservation Authority
• Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority
• Otonabee Region Conservation Authority
• South Nation Conservation Authority
• Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
• Upper Thames River Conservation Authority
• McMaster, Department of Biology (Coastal Wetland
  Research Group)
• MNR Guelph District Office Guelph Area
• MNR Guelph District Office Niagara Area
• MNR IMA FishNet 2.0 and 3.0

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Preliminary results (16 databases)
Are you following OSAP? 9
Do you survey waterbodies/streams for temperature? 15
Used a consistent protocol? 7
Do you survey water bodies for fish species presence? 16
Are fish species Common Name recorded? 15
Are fish species Scientific Name recorded? 14
For site location, is a written description solely used? 0
For site location, is a geographic latitude and longitude used? 6
Are survey points captured in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)? 13
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Preliminary results
Is site location checked against base mapping? 14
Is the site checked against base data in a GIS? 13
Are there restrictions on disseminating your data? 9
Have you produced a Web Map Service (WMS) for any of your geospatial datasets? 6
Do you have a production, development or planned web map service (WMS) server environment? 5(Prod)
Do you have a production, development or planned web map service (WMS) server environment? 7(Dev)
Do you have a production, development or planned web map service (WMS) server environment? 7(Plan)
Do you have a production, development or planned web feature service (WFS) server environment? 0(Prod)
Do you have a production, development or planned web feature service (WFS) server environment? 3(Dev)
Do you have a production, development or planned web feature service (WFS) server environment? 5(Plan)
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Phase 2 Publish Fish Distribution Data (Proposed)

• Publish thematic data of fish distribution in
  Ontario waterbodies on the Internet
• Users may be able to
• Enter spatial data using existing protocols
• Validate site locations where surveys were
  conducted
• Access fisheries species data
• Query common attributes generate statistics
• Export selected data for modeling

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Phase 3 Online Data Entry (Proposed)

• Online data entry application
• A web-based set of tools to enable the community
  of practice to continue to contribute fish
  distribution data
• Online data entry forms based on the data model
  from Phase 1
• Potential of a batch upload tool

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Potential Framework
Fish Web Collaborative
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Review Fish Websites in North America
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Iowa Rivers Information System

• Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa State
  University, and U.S. Geological Survey

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• http//maps.gis.iastate.edu/iris/

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http//maps.gis.iastate.edu/iris/
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http//maps.gis.iastate.edu/iris/data/aquaticgap.j
sp
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http//maps.gis.iastate.edu/iris/data/aquaticgap.j
sp
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Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources Wisconsin
Aquatic Gap Mapping Application

• Fish Mapper

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http//infotrek.er.usgs.gov/wdnrfish/
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http//infotrek.er.usgs.gov/wdnrfish/
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http//infotrek.er.usgs.gov/wdnrfish/
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Trempaleau River Watershed
http//infotrek.er.usgs.gov/wdnrfish/
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http//infotrek.er.usgs.gov/wdnrfish/
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Northern Pike Abundance
http//infotrek.er.usgs.gov/wdnrfish/
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Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR)

• Eco Services/Fisheries Fishes of Minnesota
  MapServer Application (in development)

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Fishes of Minnesota MapServer Application

• Project Objective
• Serve fish species distribution data over the
  Internet
• Leverage the Fishes of Minnesota (FOM) database
  as the source
• Enable users to query by multiple criteria and
  display point locations of fish species
  occurrences
• Create printable species range maps
• Provide a basic introduction to fish species
  distribution across Minnesota, with links to
  relevant resources

Source Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Fisheries
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Attributes for User Query

• Species
• Scientific name
• Common name
• Group name
• Group common name
• Habitat guild - Adult
• Protection status
• Waterbody Info
• Waterbody type
• Waterbody name
• Lake ID (DOW )
• Stream ID (Kittle )

• Watersheds (Hydrologic Units)
• DNR Lake Watersheds ( HUC16)
• USGS Hydrologic Units 2-14 (HUC2-Huc14)
• Geographic Location
• County
• DNR Fisheries Administrative boundaries
• Collection Info
• Date (start date/end date)
• Gear
• Source
• Voucher

Source Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Fisheries, Minnesota DNR Fishes of MN database
model
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Attributes for Tabular Display

• Scientific name
• Common name
• Catch
• Date
• Voucher
• Waterbody name
• Drainage (HUC4)

• County
• Township
• Township Range
• Township Section
• UTM X
• UTM Y
• Source
• Gear
• Nearest town

Source Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Fisheries, Minnesota DNR Fishes of MN database
model
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Discussion Questions?

• Craig Onafrychuk
• Fisheries Metadata Officer,
• Southern Science and Information, MNR
• Tel [phone]
• craig.onafrychuk_at_ontario.ca