GIS Products 

Provincial Biogeoclimatic Subzone/Variant Mapping (Version 7.0 created March 2008)

Biogeoclimatic subzone/variant mapping is provided as a single ESRI ArcGIS compatible GIS layer, and can be obtained either via:

1) a 'zipped' ESRI interchange file (abgc_bc_ver7.e00.zip) on the Ministry of Forests a Range FTP server (FTP://ftp.for.gov.bc.ca/HRE/external/!publish/becmaps/GISdata/CurrentVersion), or

2) the ArcSDE layer WHSE_FOREST_VEGETATION.BEC_BIOGEOCLIMATIC_POLY on the Integrated Land Management Bureau's Land and Resource Data Warehouse (LRDW).

 

The following is a condensed description of ESRI interchange file version of the biogeoclimatic subzone/variant GIS layer. More detailed metadata is provided in abgc_bc_metadata. (Additional information regarding the LRDW version can obtained from the Biogeoclimatic Map description in the Land Information BC Discovery Service.)

  • Provincial Biogeoclimatic Subzone/Variant Mapping, Version 7.0, produced on 2008/03/31, by the Ministry of Forests and Range, Research Branch. Contact person: Adrian Walton
  • This version is meant to replace all other digital versions of the BEC subzone/variant mapping, both regionally and provincially (Version History).
  • Mapping units are based on the Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification (BEC) System formalized by Meidinger and Pojar (1991). The BEC system consists of two components: a zonal classification and a site classification. The zonal classification is a hierarchical system that integrates climate, vegetation and site classifications at a broad landscape level - this is the level of Biogeoclimatic Subzone/Variant Mapping. Please visit How BEC Works for further information.
  • The polygon attribute BECLABEL contains the principal information for the biogeoclimatic subzone/variant designation. The BECLABEL attribute is nine characters wide. The first 4 character positions designate the biogeoclimatic Zone. Character positions 5, 6 and 7 designate the Subzone. Position 8 designates the Variant, and position 9 designates the Phase. Each portion of the BECLABEL (i.e., zone, subzone, variant and phase) is repeated in a separate field. A complete list and description of the valid BECLABEL values can be obtained from the BECweb Codes & Standards page.
  • This map is a work in progress. The original subzone/variant boundaries were drawn by hand on maps ranging in scale from 1:100,000 to 1:600,000. Since 1999, regional ecologists have been working to systematically revise the original "legacy" lines. The current scale of mapping varies from 1:20,000 to 1:600,000. Refer to the Scale of Mapping PDF for the spatial distribution of the various mapping scales.
  • Note that with any major update there will be border matching issues. These occur primarily where newer large-scale mapping has been completed adjacent to "legacy" small-scale mapping, and where newer large-scale mapping has been completed adjacent to existing, but significantly older large-scale mapping.
  • British Columbia Albers Conical Equal Area projection
  • Updated annually or less frequently as required