System Design & Building
Introduction
Community information systems (CIS) are comprehensive web-based solutions for managing community information.
CIS are Business Intelligence tools designed primarily to support geographic reporting. They also overlap with some capabilities of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), offering basic GIS analysis (spatial select, overlay, buffer), however they are intended to be used in day-to-day information management in office and field environments. CIS offer some common Knowledge Management type functionality for storage and retrieval of unstructured data such as documents. They deliver functionality to load, store, analyze and present data that has a strong geographic reference.
More background on CIS systems.
We have built CIS systems for:
- First Nations - who use our systems for referrals tracking and response, elections, department contacts, economic development (company listings and links), community events, community calendars, cultural data management, file management, GIS integration,...
- Non-profits - who use our systems for volunteer and asset management and tracking.
- other "Communities of Practice" - who use a CIS to build a community around specific communication goals, manage the sharing of documents, and meetings management."
Here are some of the "features" that we have developed and which can be added to a CIS build:
- Referrals tracking and management toolbox
- Cultural data management toolbox
- Community health toolbox
Here are some of the "features" that we are currently developing:
- Mobile data collections tools, with tablet PCs
- Emergency management toolbox
Example Projects
Fort Nelson CIS |
Fort Nelson First Nation A new way of doing: referrals ingest, tracking and management, cultural data management, and site survey visits. This is our first First Nations CIS build to implement our referrals fee processing system. The system takes credit card payment as part of Fort Nelson's OGC/ILMB referrals processing... |
Specific Claims |
Union of BC Indian Chiefs The Union of BC Indian Chiefs Research Department needed a flexible and cost-effective online learning system for its free, fully interactive, self-paced introductory online specific claims research course for First Nations community researchers in British Columbia. http://learning.ubcic.bc.ca 2010 |
Metlakatla CIS |
Metlakatla First Nation The Metlakatla First Nation CIS was build to specifically address these needs: economic development, referrals management, and community building (news, photos, newsletters, elections). We implemented a file management system as part of the build. This allows important files to be accessed by... |
CORAL Laboratory |
Geography, University of Victoria The Coastal and Oceans Resources Analysis Laboratory at the Department of Geography, University of Victoria is a CFI-funded research unit led by Prof. Rosaline Canessa. The units focuses on marine protected areas and integrated coastal management, including developing approaches and techniques... |
Language Surveys |
First Peoples' Heritage Language and Culture Council This project added functionality to the First Peoples' Language Map of BC. FPHLCC gives out hundreds of language grants every year and these grants are linked to a yearly community language survey. We built a custom web-form-based language survey input tool which reduces the... |
Sharing Backyards |
LifeCycles Project Society Sharing Backyards is a web-based system that encourages urban gardening by connecting those who have space to garden and are willing to share with those who would like to have a gardening space. It is being used to connect neighbours of different socio-economic conditions together in a atmosphere... http://sharingbackyards.com/ 2008 |
Language Map of BC |
First Peoples' Heritage Language and Culture Council This 12 month web-mapping project resulted in an interactive map that showcases British Columbia First Nations' rich linguistic diversity. The map and website detail the spatial locations of languages, First Nations, and interconnections. It is also the authoritative source for the status and... |
University Community Map System |
University of Victoria A two year initiative of UVic Sustainability and Planning and the UVic Office of Community Based Research, the University of Victoria Community Green Map (UVicCGM) is a participatory mapping and planning system used to facilitate innovative and sustainable development at the University of... |
Nativemaps.org |
www.nativemaps.org is an important and popular repository of news and best practices in GIS use for traditional knowledge mapping, training, methodology, and data. The site has increasingly included other topical areas, important... |
Neighbourhood Resources Inventory Web-Map System |
City of Victoria The City of Victoria came to us with a web-mapping challenge: they had an out-of-date neighbourhood resources database that was traditionally used to create static maps for their website. They needed a system that allowed (1) easy update of the database, and (2) easy generation of new web-maps.... |