NLWIS Help

Frequently Asked Questions

Please come back often to find out answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the National Land and Water Information Service.

List of FAQ

• What is the National Land and Water Information Service?
• How will the National Land and Water Information Service be delivered?
• What are the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) programs that the National Land and Water Information Service supports?
• Are any other government departments participating in this initiative?
• Why will it take four years before the Service is fully operational?
• Can I reproduce information found on your Web site?
• What is GIS?
• Where was the agri-environmental geographic data held before the National Land and Water Information Service and how was it delivered?

What is the National Land and Water Information Service?

The National Land and Water Information Service is an Internet-based service being developed by the Government of Canada that will provide a recognized source of information, analysis and interpretation of land, soil, water, climatic and biodiversity data to assist land-use managers in their agri-environmental planning.

Led by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in partnership with other federal departments, provincial, territorial and municipal governments, non-government organizations, producer and industry groups, and academic institutions, the National Land and Water Information Service will link agri-environmental information from these dispersed sources and make it available through a recognized point of entry on the Web. The Service will also provide expertise to help land-use managers interpret that information.

The National Land and Water Information Service will be introduced in four phases over four years, with each phase bringing increased levels of service and benefits to users. The first phase of project implementation began in May 2005. Over the course of the project, the National Land and Water Information Service will acquire new data, continue collaborating with data providers, create new applications and pursue consultations with stakeholders to ensure that the Service meets their needs. By 2009, the full Service will deliver Web-based maps, data, tools and expertise.

The National Land and Water Information Service will deliver the capability of querying, modelling and incorporating data provided by other organizations. This will be augmented with agri-environmental, information and planning tools for both a regional and local scale.

The Service infrastructure, built on GeoConnections principles, will be a network of independent computers and databases accessible through the Internet which are housed, not only at AAFC, but also onsite at various client locations. The Service platform will be set up to provide access to data marts and Web Services including access from the desktop and client Web applications as well as metadata facilities for external clients to locate information.

How will the National Land and Water Information Service be delivered?

The National Land and Water Information Service is based on service delivery first and foremost through the Internet:

• Basic accessibility to geospatial data, information, tools and expertise will be provided to clients directly using the Internet
• If users do not have access to the Internet at home, they can access the Service through libraries or community centres.

Three levels of service will be supported:

1. Self service - fully Internet-based self help
2. Assisted service - assistance through tutorials or help via the National Land and Water Information Service Office
3. Custom service - applications or interpretations built specially for a single client, producer agency or group of collaborators.

What are the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) programs that the National Land and Water Information Service supports?

• Environmental Farm Plans (EFP) and Environmental Assessments
• National Farm Stewardship Program (NFSP)
• National Agri-Environmental Health Analysis and Reporting Program (NAHARP)
• National Agro-Climate Information Service (NAIS)
• Greencover Canada Program
• National Water Supply Expansion Program (NWSEP)
• Water Quality Surveillance

Are any other government departments participating in this initiative?

A number of departments of the Government of Canada are contributing to this initiative, for example:

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)

• GeoConnections - a large interdepartmental program to coordinate a national effort that is making Canadian geospatial information available on the Internet.
• Collaboration on Land Cover and Land-use Classification - NRCan and AAFC scientists and programs are collaborating to develop integrated models for land cover classification and analysis.
• Advancing Geo-related Sciences and Policy - NRCan is willing to foster opportunities to explore collaborative research and joint projects that would advance geo-related sciences in support of the National Land and Water Information Service and AAFC interests as well as NRCan programs and interests.
• Canadian Forestry Service (CFS) - The National Land and Water Information Service is working in collaboration with CFS to benefit from its work with the National Forestry Information Service to access data, applications and interpretive models.

Environment Canada

• Canadian Information System for the Environment (CISE) - The National Land and Water Information Service will work with Environment Canada to support collaborative interests.
• RésEau - The National Land and Water Information Service is partnering on this project, which is an initiative to define data for water quality in order to establish a national approach for identifying data from different agencies in a consistent manner.
• Drought Watch - a joint initiative between AAFC/the National Land and Water Information Service and Environment Canada to share near real-time data for drought monitoring interpretations.

Statistics Canada

• Agriculture Statistics - Statistics Canada provides AAFC/the National Land and Water Information Service with agriculture and population statistics and statistical analysis.
• Crop Condition Assessment Program (CCAP) - Using remote sensing interpreted satellite imagery, the assessment provides useful information on crop conditions for western Canada. AAFC has negotiated a five-year agreement with Statistics Canada to make this service available to anyone on the Internet.

Other Partnerships and more information

For more information about other federal government organizations, provincial/territorial and municipal governments and non-governmental organizations who are participating in the National Land and Water Information Service initiative, please refer to the Collaboration option on the left hand side of your screen/the main screen.

Why will it take four years before the Service is fully operational?

The National Land and Water Information Service is a complex Major Crown Project which will be introduced in four phases over four years. Each phase will provide increased levels of service and benefits for users. Some data and a number of existing applications and tools will be accessible within the first year. Over the course of the project, the National Land and Water Information Service will acquire new data, continue collaborating with data providers, create new applications and pursue consultations with stakeholders to ensure that the Service meets their needs. By 2009, the full Service will deliver Web-based maps, data, tools and expertise.

Can I reproduce information found on your Web site?

Information on this site has been posted with the intent that it be readily available for personal and public non-commercial use. With the exception of identified third party materials whose reproduction may require the permission of another rights holder, as described below, the information on this site may be reproduced, in part or in whole and by any means, for the sole purpose of its utilisation by the user, without charge or further permission from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. We ask only that:

• Users exercise due diligence in ensuring the accuracy of the materials reproduced and their appropriateness for the user's purposes;
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada be identified as the source department; and,
• The reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor as having been made, in affiliation with or with the endorsement of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Reproduction of materials on this site, in whole or in part, for the purposes of commercial redistribution is prohibited except with written permission from the Government of Canada's copyright administrator, Public Works and Government Services Canada ("PWGSC").

Some of the materials and graphical elements found on this web site are subject to copyrights held by other organizations, and as such are not covered by the copyright permissions set out above. In such cases, some restrictions may apply to the reproduction of these materials or graphical elements and it may be necessary to seek permission from the rights holder prior to reproducing the material or graphical element in question.

For more information please refer to the Important Notices which can be found at the bottom of every page.

What is a GIS?

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is an information system that is used to analyze and view data from a geographic perspective.

A Geographic Information System differs from an information system in its additional geographic dimension. By supplying a location for each piece of data in a data set, each piece of data takes on a relationship with every other piece of data in that set of data by virtue of its location. But more importantly, it also takes on a relationship with every piece of data in any other data set that is also referenced by location!

However, in supplying a location for each piece of data, special spatial considerations are subsequently required of the data, the software and the procedures to support data capture, processing, analysis, modeling and display of the geospatial data. On the other hand, the end-user gets to ask more probing questions about the relationships between diverse data sets. Examples include geo-statistical analysis and overlay and buffering operations.

The components of a GIS are a computer system, geospatial data and users. A computer system for GIS consists of hardware, software and procedures designed to support the capture, storage, retrieval, processing, manipulation, management, analysis, modeling, visualization and output of geospatial data.

Data for GIS can be generated from scratch, or sourced from digitized maps, aerial photographs, satellite images or tables. Each piece of data consists of two parts: 1) a geometry component, which is the world-referenced representations of the physical places (like cities, rivers or lakes); and 2) an attribute component that describes the some characteristic(s) of the geographic features (ex. population, length, area).

Where was the agri-environmental geographic data held before the National Land and Water Information Service and how was it delivered?

The data has been maintained, managed and delivered by many federal and provincial departments. Some of the data has been available by downloading, from various departments in either digital format or in paper (map or report) form. A large amount of the soils data has been maintained and stored in the National Soil Database (NSDB) and delivered through the Canadian Soil Information System (CanSIS) website and also by many provincial agriculture or resource departments.