Visual Landscape Inventory

Procedures & Standards for VLI & Digital Update/ Mapping

VLI PROCEDURES & STANDARDS

This document outlines the ministry's procedures and standards for undertaking a Visual Landscape Inventory (VLI). The VLI is the identification, classification and recording of visual values on maps. In the case of Visual values, the visible landscape is physically mapped from specific view locations and by travelling waterways and highway corridors. As the landscape is mapped, it is assessed using various factors which are then used to rate the landscape for its visual sensitivity to forest alterations and assigned a Visual Sensitivity Class (VSC) between 1 (very high sensitivity to landscape alterations) and 5 (very low sensitivity to landscape alterations).

The VLI training student manual can be found here as an additional source of information. It is important to note that VLI work needs to be undertaken by qualified personnel having taken the 3-day VLI training course offered by the BC Ministry of Forests. Refer to the training tab for more information on training opportunities or contact one of our visual staff listed in the contacts section.

VLI ANALYSIS

In a process separate from the VLI, the VSC is used to make a recommendation as to which visual alteration class could be applied to the landscape using a government memo as guideline. This memo can be found here. These recommendations may then be used as part of the decision-making process in establishing VQOs on the landbase.

VLI BROCHURE

A VLI brochure explaining the VLI has also been produced and can be found here.

DIGITAL UPDATE/ MAPPING

Once the field component of the VLI is completed, the data is entered into a digital GIS dataset (linework is digitized and the attribute data entered in the corresponding database) to specific digital standards. These standards are still under development but a draft version of the digital standards document can be found here. The purpose of this manual is to provide District Managers and resource professionals with the procedures and standards for capturing, downloading, updating and uploading Visual Landscape Inventory (VLI) spatial and attribute data files to a central repository, called the Land and Resource Data Warehouse (LRDW), for storage, distribution and displaying of common map themes. Once the digital update is completed, the data is submitted to the Provincial Visual Landscape Inventory Specialist for Quality Control and submitted to the corresponding Regional Visual Specialist for approval.

Upload/ Download of District Tiles

In several cases, the VLI is not a new inventory from scratch but rather an update of an older VLI. In this case, the current VLI needs to be downloaded and updated and then re-submitted for review (to the VLI Specialist) and approval (to the Regional Visual Specialist)

To download a tile for editing, the VLI Specialist needs to be contacted for proper permissions to be acquired. Then, go to the Recreation Resource Inventory (RRI) Online web site at: http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/rec/ and click on the "Extract Recreation Data" link, choose the district tile desired and then the layer desired for edits (VLI layer, Viewpoints layer, screening layer, Recreation Features Inventory layer or Recreation Opportunity Spectrum layer). Alternatively, any layer can be downloaded freely (no permissions required) for viewing ( by using the click on the "Download Recreation Data" link).

Once the edits are done and the tile is to be re-submitted for review (to the VLI Specialist) and approval (to the Regional Visual Specialist).

Metadata for the fields used in the VLI layer can be found either on the discovery services web page at: http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/geometadata/home.do or on the following PDF document.

Visual Data Online Viewer

The Visual Information Management System (VIMS) stores visual landscape inventory mapping, scenic area designations, established VQOs, viewpoints, view arrows and screening.

If you are interested in viewing the visual data as opposed to downloading or editing it, the visual data can be seen freely (by the public) using the Recreation Resource Inventory (RRI) Online web site at: http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/rec/and click on the "START" link to initiate the viewer. This viewer is specifically designed for visual data and starts with the visual data displayed as the default view as soon as the user zooms below 1:200,000 or 1:100,000 (better to view full labels).

Visual Landscape Inventory Training

The VLI Procedures & Standards Manual outlines the ministry's procedures and standards for undertaking a Visual Landscape Inventory (VLI) and can be found here.

The VLI training student manual is the actual student manual for the 3-day VLI training course and can be found here. It is important to note that VLI work needs to be undertaken by qualified personnel having successfully taken the 3-day VLI training course offered by the BC Ministry of Forests. The 3-day VLI training course and its content are currently being refreshed with the intent to offer the 3-day VLI training course in the spring of 2009 depending on the level of interest from potential participants. Announcements and interest inquiries will be made in early April 2009 with a target delivery date in late April or May 2009. For more information, contact the Visual Landscape Inventory Specialist listed in the contacts section.