Niagara Water Strategy – Information Index

Niagara Water Strategy

During the development of the Niagara Water Strategy it was recognized that there was a wealth of water related information available from a number of different sources within the Niagara Watershed. An objective of the Niagara Water Strategy is to facilitate communication and sharing of this information between various proponents within the watershed. The sharing of knowledge and resources will help to improve the overall management of water within the Niagara Watershed.

Information Index

The Niagara Water Strategy Information Index is a central resource that can be used as a tool by Niagara Area decision makers, people working in the water resources industry in and the general public. The Index is a catalogue of information that has been produced by various stakeholders within the Niagara Watershed. Each of the items in the catalogue is summarized within the Index as metadata.

Metadata

Metadata is simply “data about data”. Each document in the Information Index is metadata describing a specific piece of information. Traditionally metadata is produced in association with spatial applications, such as GIS mapping. A large amount of the water related information within the Niagara Watershed is not in a spatial GIS mapping format, but rather it is produced as reports, brochures, or spreadsheets. This information is included in the Niagara Water Strategy Information Index as non-spatial “metadata”. A metadata document tells you for instance when the information was produced, what areas the data applies to, and where the information can be obtained.

Metadata Standard

The following description of Metadata Standards applies to spatial data sets to be uploaded to the site. The site utilizes the Metadata Standards developed by GeoSmart Niagara. The GeoSmart Niagara Metadata Standard provides a common approach for documenting all types of geographic data. The Standard has been designed to be straightforward, intuitive and complete. For each metadata element, the standard provides a description, domain, field type and status information. The Standard can be selected and viewed below.

Please note that access to and dissemination of spatial data is determined by policy documents associated with the governing agency, and users must ensure that these are followed.