Press Release

January 5, 2004

Announcement: Nova Scotia Signs on to GeoBase

What is GeoBase?

GeoBase is a federal / provincial / territorial initiative endorsed by the Canadian Council on Geomatics (CCOG) to ensure the provision of quality base geospatial data covering Canada.

GeoBase can be summed up by the following three main characteristics:

• Quality geospatial data (accurate, consistent, current and sustainable);
• Unique (data captured once and maintained closest to the source); and
• No fee to user (easily accessible with no restrictions on use).

GeoBase Version 1 offers six data themes:

• National Road Network (NRN): Continuous accurate centreline data of the basic Canadian road network.
• Canadian Digital Elevation Data (CDED): National digital elevation model coverage at the 1:50 000 and 1:250 000 scales.
• Geographical Names of Canada (Toponymy): Selected feature names taken from the Canadian Geographical Names Data Base.
• Administrative Boundaries: International, provincial and territorial boundaries, and the exclusive economic zone of Canada.
• Canadian Geodetic Network: Information about horizontal and vertical geodetic control points distributed across Canada.
• Landsat-7 Ortho Images: National coverage of recent orthorectified satellite images.

Why GeoBase:

GeoBase responds to Canadians' requests for access to basic geographic data at no cost to users.  By working together, multiple levels of government are increasing their efficiency in collecting and maintaining geographic data.  Nova Scotia is supportive of the GeoBase initiative because it is in alignment with our own GeoNova Program which promotes source data collection, collaborative maintenance and dissemination/sharing of this source geographic data.

Nova Scotia's contribution to GeoBase includes the required content of the Nova Scotia Topographic Database (NSTDB) for the GeoBase themes.  Further NSTDB data content will be offered through the Province of Nova Scotia GeoNova Portal (under development) at no cost to the user.  The ransition to a free data environment for the NSTDB will occur over the next few months with the financial support of GeoConnections to offset lost revenues.  In addition to the financial support of GeoConnections, Nova Scotia has an agreement with Natural Resources Canada to ensure ongoing maintenance of our provincial topographic data through cost shared support of the GeoBase themes.

The opening and official launch of the GeoBase Portal took place on November 19, 2003.  Further information and access to the GeoBase Portal can be found at: www.geobase.ca

If you have questions regarding GeoBase, please contact Danny Gray at Geographic Information Services - dgray @ gov.ns.ca