UBC Theses and Dissertations

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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Creation of a geographic information system database of Pacific Spirit Park Helewa, Norman Thomas

Abstract

Pacific Spirit Park is a 776.0 hectare urban park located on the Point Grey Peninsula in Vancouver, British Columbia. The park is managed by the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) for recreation opportunities and the preservation of the area's natural resources. Appropriate geographic data were collected and entered into a geographic information system (GIS) in order to create a spatial database of the park. Guidelines from published documents on database creation were followed in the development of the park database. Data collection and design of the database were based on the information requirements of the GVRD park staff (e.g., database users). Information requirements were derived from the activities carried out by the database users. The database could be used to examine the efficiency of activities carried out by park staff on a daily, weekly and yearly basis or assist University of British Columbia faculty and students with research and educational activities in the park. An extended example of how to use the Pacific Spirit Park database for park management was carried out. It exemplified how data on forest vegetation damage can be correlated with other environmental variables (e.g., soils, topography, forest cover, hydrology). Correlations were identified between forest vegetation damage and topography, areas with a high water table and along University Boulevard. The suggested course of action for GVRD park staff is to carry out additional research. Future research could compare the level of forest cover damage in Pacific Spirit Park with similar sites in Southwestern British Columbia, examine how the urban environment impacts the forest vegetation (e.g., damage, composition and growth) and how forest vegetation damage changes over time.

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