Author: griffith

Land Ownership Map

In iOS version 2.18, the Mapping Package now includes a new Land Ownership & Indian Reserves map type. Compared to the old Private Land layer, it has some significant improvements:

  • Shows even when zoomed out
  • Shows more parcel types
  • Allows querying the Parcel ID

You can select the new map type from the Map Options list the same way you would select Normal, Satellite, GeoBC etc.

The map is based on a snapshot of the ParcelMap BC government data set of interest to hunters. It shows a subset of surveyed land parcels colour coded by land ownership type – all land ownership types except Crown Provincial, Untitled Provincial, or Federal.

Federal parcels were excluded since most of them are Indian Reserve lands which are already shown from a different data source. However some Federal parcels such as airports may also be relevant for hunting. If you really need to show some of the omitted parcel types, you can add a custom map source with the following URLs for the provincial map server. These have the same limitations as the old layer – only show when zoomed in, and no labels/querying.

Federal:

https://openmaps.gov.bc.ca/geo/ows?SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetMap&CRS=EPSG%3A4326&LAYERS=pub%3AWHSE_CADASTRE.PMBC_PARCEL_FABRIC_POLY_FA_SVW&FORMAT=image%2Fpng&STYLES=6620&TRANSPARENT=TRUE

Untitled Provincial:

https://openmaps.gov.bc.ca/geo/ows?SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetMap&CRS=EPSG%3A4326&LAYERS=pub%3AWHSE_CADASTRE.PMBC_PARCEL_FABRIC_POLY_FA_SVW&FORMAT=image%2Fpng&STYLES=9588&TRANSPARENT=TRUE

Crown Provincial:

https://openmaps.gov.bc.ca/geo/ows?SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetMap&CRS=EPSG%3A4326&LAYERS=pub%3AWHSE_CADASTRE.PMBC_PARCEL_FABRIC_POLY_FA_SVW&FORMAT=image%2Fpng&STYLES=6618&TRANSPARENT=TRUE

When the new Land Ownership and Indian Reserves map layer is active, a single tap on the map will identify features (parks, rec sites, tracks etc.) near the tap as before, but will also send a query to the Hunt Buddy server to determine the land ownership type and survey parcel ID, if present, for the land parcel at that location. So there may be a short delay before the popup appears. Of course this also means the parcel query will not return any results if you have no Internet connection.

The single tap query will return parcel ownership and PID for all ownership types, not just the ones whose boundaries are shown. For more information about ownership types and PIDs, refer to this article from the BC LTSA.

The new tiles can be downloaded for offline use like other map types. Select the Land Ownership map type, choose “Get Maps” from the slide out menu, select the area to download.

A note about accuracy. The information is a snapshot of the government database. As such, it may become out of date and is not the final authority on anything. The positional accuracy seems pretty good except for the Indian Reserves. This is the official data set from the Government of Canada, and is the same one Apple Maps uses… but it appears to disagree with the ParcelMap data by as much as 150m in some places. Please verify boundaries on the ground! Again, this map is not a final authority about anything, but should get you pointed in the right direction.

Custom Map Sources

On iOS, the Mapping Package lets you add map servers by URL. It supports most WMS and TMS map servers, and some WMTS (if they happen to follow TMS naming conventions).

From the map type selection screen, tap Add… Give the new map source a name and copy and paste or type a suitable URL into the box. Tap the Test button to ensure the URL format is OK. NOTE: It’s important to always use the Test button, particularly for WMS servers. Hunt Buddy uses this to check the server’s configuration to see what size of map the server supports.

If permitted by the Terms of Use of the map server, you can flip the switch to enable offline storage of maps. If you enable offline storage, maps can be downloaded and stored in the usual way by either scrolling around or tapping Get Maps and selecting an area for download.

Hunt Buddy can currently only display one custom map source at a time. With transparent “overlay” maps such as the Private Land or Indian Reserves sources listed below, one of the built-in basemap types “Normal” or “Satellite” – whichever you used last – will be shown underneath the custom map source. These base maps are not cached by the app for offline use. The OS does cache areas you’ve looked at to some extent, but how much it stores and for how long is out of Hunt Buddy’s control. If you’re outside cell service and the basemap is not available, you may end up having to flip back and forth between the custom map type and another map type for which you have cached maps.

If you know your way around WMS, you can tweak the layers or styles parameters to customize what features are included. The sky’s the limit.

Here’s a short video showing how it works: Custom Map Demo

Here are a few sample URLs to get started.

TMS

NRCAN Canada Topo West Raster

http://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/nrcan/canmatrix/{z}/{x}/{y}.png

WMS

GeoBase

This one shows water bodies and streams with direction of flow.

http://ows.geobase.ca/wms/geobase_en?service=wms&request=GetMap&version=1.1.1&srs=EPSG:4326&featureCount=10&format=image/png&layers=WMS-GeoBase&styles=default

Toporama

This one is similar to CBMT Topo – contour lines are slightly more prominent and labeling of features is a bit different.

http://wms.ess-ws.nrcan.gc.ca/wms/toporama_en?SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=GetMap&VERSION=1.1.1&SRS=EPSG%3A4326&STYLES=&FORMAT=image%2fpng&LAYERS=WMS-Toporama

Private Land

This one contains a few layers from the BC Online Cadastre showing land ownership status of private or unknown. NOTE!! This info is a snapshot of the government database and is out of date the moment you see it. Plus the accuracy is unknown. If you set the Offline Enabled switch to store it offline, then any downloaded maps will never be updated unless you manually “Delete Maps”, even if the database changes. Use at your own risk!

http://openmaps.gov.bc.ca/mapserver/land-ownership-and-status?SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=GetMap&VERSION=1.1.1&FORMAT=image%2Fpng&transparent=true&SRS=EPSG%3A4326&STYLES=&LAYERS=CBM_CADASTRAL_FABRIC_PUB_PRIVATE,CBM_CADASTRAL_FABRIC_PUB_UNKNOWN,LASURVP_TANT_O,LASURVP_TANT_LD,LEASE_TEN_TANT_CF

Indian Reserves

http://openmaps.gov.bc.ca/mapserver/admin-boundaries?service=wms&request=getmap&version=1.1.1&format=image/png&transparent=true&srs=EPSG%3A4326&styles=&layers=Indian_Reserves_including_Band_Names___Colour_Filled

BC Imagery

This source contains some aerial imagery for some areas of the province but not complete coverage.

http://openmaps.gov.bc.ca/ecwp/ecw_wms.dll?SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=GetMap&VERSION=1.1.1&FORMAT=image%2Fpng&SRS=EPSG%3A4326&STYLES=&LAYERS=IMAGES

BC Base Cache

http://maps.gov.bc.ca/arcserver/services/Province/web_mercator_cache/MapServer/WMSServer?request=GetMap&service=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&FORMAT=image%2Fpng&SRS=EPSG%3A4326&STYLES=&LAYERS=0