LandData BC has the following Vision:
LandData BC is a clearinghouse for land-related information about the Province of British Columbia. By the year 2000, we plan to carry most publicly available land related products. All digital products will be available electronically (by download, email, or fax) in a wide variety of formats.This site is part of the LandData BC initiative, a program to establish the technology, standards, and procedures necessary to share land-related information among provincial ministries and agencies, industry, and the public. The LandData BC initiative will support cross-government activities such as integrated resource management, sustainable development, and treaty negotiation; encourage investment in British Columbia; and ensure that land-related government programs are open and accountable to the public.
Scheduled for completion near the middle of 1998, the LandData BC Website will be the mechanism which provides a single point of entry to land-related information in British Columbia.
copied from the LandDataBC website. Last modified May 20, 1999.
Costs of LandDataBC
In response to a Freedom of Information request Geographic Data BC (the provincial government agency which manages Land Data BC) provided the following information:1) The total cost of development of LandData BC between 1989 and 1998 has been $11.1 million dollars and includes all third party hardware and software purchased to design, prototype, develop, host, manage and deploy the application. 2) MacDonald Dettwiler has received fees totalling $9.7 million. 3) Spatial data sales revenue from June 1998 through September 1999 has been $1,082,894.77. 4) $461,927.66 has been received from sales to provincial ministries. 5) $28,101.50 has been received from sales to provincial Crown Corporations. 6) $4,588.50 has been received from sales to municipal governments. 7) $24,401.70 has been received from sales to federal government departments. 8) $5,701.84 has been received from sales to educational institutions. 9) $3.42 has been received from sales to other provincial government agencies. 10) $1,635.90 has been received from sales to non-profit organizations. 11) $10,546.00 has been received from sales of data not produced by Geographic Data BC.
Sales Analysis
The table below shows a very simple analysis of the sales figures reported above, annualized to a 12 month average.| Thousands (16 mo) | Thousands (averaged to 12 mo) | |
| Total spatial data sales |
$ 1,083
|
$ 812
|
| Sales to BC Government and Crown corporations |
- 490
|
- 368
|
| Net sales outside BC government |
593
|
445
|
| Sales to other levels of government and educational institutions |
- 34
|
- 25
|
| Net sales outside government |
559
|
420
|
| ** Conservative guess as to LandDataBC staff costs |
- 500
|
|
| Net annualized loss to provincial treasury from data sales |
(80)
|
** Note: We have no figures for staff time for day-to-day operations of the LandDataBC agency. The Land Data BC Unit lists 10 full time employees in the BC Government Directory .
The table above makes no allowance for
- $11.1 million dollar software development cost spent over 9 years.
- Value of the data being sold.
- Normal government office overhead (lease, utilities, office equipment, etc).
- Accounting costs of sales from the BC government to the BC government.. fund transfers within government are commonly estimated at $70 per transaction.
Last modified: 08-Nov-1999
If you don't like these economics, the Canadian Free Geospatial Data Committee would like your support.