LIO - Land Information Ontario - Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR)

Background
Government has long been aware of the need to provide better ways to share its geospatial data. Land Information Ontario (LIO) recently received approval from the Management Board of Cabinet to develop a data-sharing exchange which will better address this issue.

The Ontario Geospatial Data Exchange (OGDE) will draw its members from all levels of government with a mandate in Ontario (the Federal Government, Ontario Government and municipalities). Membership is also available to First Nations and aboriginal communities as well as broader public sector entities such as conservation authorities, school boards, and post-secondary educational institutions.

Benefits
The Exchange will provide for the centralized sharing of spatial data, through an umbrella agreement among member organizations thereby:

Reducing the administrative paperwork involved,
Simplifying and streamlining access to member data,
Reducing the potential for duplicate data collection and maintenance,
Raising the awareness among members of the data which is available,
Supporting the move towards the development and adoption of spatial data standards and,
Allowing members to benefit from the efficiencies and economic opportunities which geographic information systems can introduce.

Funding the Initiative

Various Ministries of the Ontario Government have agreed to pay an annual levy in support of the Ontario Land Information Infrastructure initiative which includes the OGDE. In consideration of this levy, free access will be provided to Ontario Government organizations including Schedule I & III agencies. The Federal Government, municipalities and non-government members will all pay an annual fee (waived in the first year) to cover hardware, software and support costs. There is no charge for the data itself.


Guiding Principles

The expectation is that all geospatial datasets belonging to a member organization would be shared unless there is a legal, legislated or privacy reason not to do so. Members may specify restrictions on access by members to their sensitive or classified data.

As a condition of participation, members will be required to compile standardized metadata which will describe their data sets in the Ontario Land Information Directory (OLID). This process will make the data discoverable on the Internet. While members may elect to retain the responsibility of distributing their own data a central data warehouse facility, designated as the Ontario Land Information Warehouse (OLIW), has been established to facilitate standardized access by members.

For more information go to LIO