BEC Map

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Published by the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development - Forest Analysis and Inventory
Licensed under Open Government Licence - British Columbia

The current and most detailed version of the approved corporate provincial digital Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification (BEC) Zone/Subzone/Variant/Phase map (version 11, August 10th, 2018). Use this version when performing GIS analysis regardless of scale. This mapping is deliberately extended across the ocean, lakes, glaciers, etc to facilitate intersection with a terrestrial landcover layer of your choice

Data and Resources

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Dataset Extent

Latitude:	47.6° to 60.7°
Longitude:	-139.4° to -110.4°

View in iMapBC

Additional Information

Purpose	The GIS layer is used for a wide variety of applications in British Columbia. A few examples include: Delineation of Natural Disturbance Types for Landscape Unit Planning. Delineation of Select Seed - Seed Planning Zones. As an input for Predictive Ecosystem Mapping. Reporting on the ecological representation of the Protected Areas Strategy. As a level in the classification hierarchy for Broad Ecosystem Units.
Lineage Statement	The Biogeoclimatic Coverage (e.g. ABEC_BC) is loaded into Oracle where it is validated before it is replicated to the LRDW.

Purpose

The GIS layer is used for a wide variety of applications in British Columbia. A few examples include: Delineation of Natural Disturbance Types for Landscape Unit Planning. Delineation of Select Seed - Seed Planning Zones. As an input for Predictive Ecosystem Mapping. Reporting on the ecological representation of the Protected Areas Strategy. As a level in the classification hierarchy for Broad Ecosystem Units.

Lineage Statement

The Biogeoclimatic Coverage (e.g. ABEC_BC) is loaded into Oracle where it is validated before it is replicated to the LRDW.

Contact Information

Name	Tim Salkeld (pointOfContact)
Email	Tim.Salkeld@gov.bc.ca
Organization	Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Sub-Organization	Forest Analysis and Inventory

Name	Adrian Walton (pointOfContact)
Email	Adrian.Walton@gov.bc.ca
Organization	Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Sub-Organization	Forest Analysis and Inventory

Name	Will Mackenzie (pointOfContact)
Email	Will.Mackenzie@gov.bc.ca
Organization	Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Sub-Organization	Forest Analysis and Inventory

Access & Security

Who can view this dataset?	Public
Who can download this dataset?	Public

Metadata Information

Record Published	2011-03-09
Record Last Modified	2020-10-08
Resource Status	completed

Object Description

Object Name: WHSE_FOREST_VEGETATION.BEC_BIOGEOCLIMATIC_POLY

Short Name: BEC_POLY

Column Name	Short Name	Data Type	Data Precision	Comments
FEATURE_CLASS_SKEY	FTRCLSSSK	NUMBER	10	The unique key assigned to a Feature Class by the Ministry of Forests. The Feature Class Skey value for Biogeoclimatic Polygon is 435.
ZONE	ZONE	VARCHAR2	12	A code uniquely identifying a Biogeoclimatic Zone of interest to MOF.
SUBZONE	SUBZONE	VARCHAR2	9	A code uniquely identifying a Biogeoclimatic SubZone of interest to MOF. A code used to designate a division of a specific biogeoclimatic Zone; a geographic area with a fairly uniform regional climate and a typical pattern of vegetation and soils. Subzones are not unique. They are only meaningful in conjunction with a Zone.
VARIANT	VARIANT	VARCHAR2	3	A one digit number used to denote a division of a specific biogeoclimatic subzone; A geographic area with a more specific regional climate. A variant has a specific pattern of vegetation and soils. Variants are only meaningful within a Zon
PHASE	PHASE	VARCHAR2	3	A one character code used to denote an atypical area, resulting from local relief, in the regional climate of the subzones and variants. Phases are not unique. They only have meaning in combination with a specific Zone, Subzone and Variant.
NATURAL_DISTURBANCE	NTRLDSTRBN	VARCHAR2	12	The Natural Disturbance of interest to MOF. A code used to designate a period process or event such as insect outbreaks, fire, disease, flooding, windstorms and avalanches that cause ecosystem change and renewal. The Code values range from 1-5 inclusive.
MAP_LABEL	MAP_LABEL	VARCHAR2	27	A compact concatenation of the BEC attributes Zone, Subzone, Variant and Phase to create a biogeoclimatic label suitable for map labelling. This label may not include spaces, except as a spacer when a varient is not specified and a phase is specified. This label is generated by concatenating trimmed zone, subzone, varient, phase where nulls are the empty string except in the case outlined above. Unlike the BGC LABEL, the MAP LABEL varies in length from 4 to 9 characters.
BGC_LABEL	BGC_LABEL	VARCHAR2	27	A concatenation of the BEC attributes Zone, Subzone, Variant and Phase to create a biogeoclimatic label suitable for map labelling. This label may include spaces to buffer each portion to the specified lengths. The first four chars are the zone, next three are the sub zone followed by one character for each of the varient and phase. Unlike the MAP LABEL, the BGC LABEL will always be 9 characters long.
ZONE_NAME	ZONE_NAME	VARCHAR2	105	A descriptive name given to a large geographic area having similar patterns of energy flow, vegetation, and soils as a result of a broad, homogeneous macroclimate. Zone names describe the major vegetation contained within the zone.
SUBZONE_NAME	SBZNNM	VARCHAR2	105	A descriptive name given to a division of the biogeoclimatic zone. Subzone names define the normal regional climate for the division of a biogeoclimatic zone.
VARIANT_NAME	VRNTNM	VARCHAR2	60	A descriptive name given to a division of the biogeoclimatic subzone. Variant names usualy denote a location within the biogeoclimatic subzone e.g. Eastern or Okanagan areas within a subzone.
PHASE_NAME	PHASE_NAME	VARCHAR2	45	A descriptive name given to an atypical area, resulting from local relief, in the regional climate of the subzones and variants. Phases may denote a different type of vegetation(e.g grassland within a Douglas Fir subzone), a difference in c
NATURAL_DISTURBANCE_NAME	NTRLDSTRB1	VARCHAR2	360	A full description of the Natural Disturbance.
FEATURE_AREA_SQM	AREA_SQM	NUMBER	19	FEATURE_AREA_SQM is the system calculated area of a two-dimensional polygon in square meters
FEATURE_LENGTH_M	FEAT_LEN	NUMBER	19	FEATURE_LENGTH_M is the system calculated length or perimeter of a geometry in meters
GEOMETRY	GEOMETRY	SDO_GEOMETRY	1	GEOMETRY is the column used to reference the spatial coordinates defining the feature.
FEATURE_AREA	FEAT_AREA	NUMBER	38	Area in square meters. This value is calculated by FME during the data load; this area may contain more precision than is appropriate for the particular geometry.
FEATURE_LENGTH	FTRLNGTH	NUMBER	38	Length in meters. This value is calculated by FME during the data load; this length may contain more precision than is appropriate for the particular geometry.
OBJECTID	OBJECTID	NUMBER	38	OBJECTID is a required attribute of feature classes and object classes in a geodatabase.
SE_ANNO_CAD_DATA		BLOB	4000	SE_ANNO_CAD_DATA is a binary column used by spatial tools to store annotation, curve features and CAD data when using the SDO_GEOMETRY storage data type.