The data for this project was obtained from a variety of sources. The sources for each layer involved are detailed in the below chart.
| Layer | Data Source | Purpose | Original Format |
| Biogeoclimatic zones | S: Drive Data Warehouse | To find interior Douglas fir, ponderosa pine and bunch grass zones | Vector |
| Digital Elevation Model | Downloaded from GeoBase | Used for elevation and aspect | Raster |
| Forest cover | Digitized using Google Maps as a reference image | To achieve an up to date representation of forest cover | Vector |
| Mariposa lily distribution | Land and Resource Data Warehouse | To find mariposa lily's distribution in BC | Vector |
| Protected areas | S: Drive - DMTI Datasets | To find PA's within BC | Vector |
| Rangeland | S: Drive - DMTI Datasets | To find rangeland within BC | Vector |
| Ecosection - Southern Okanagan Basin (SOB) | Land and Resource Data Warehouse | Area of study, acted as a basis for which to clip all layers | Vector |
| Roads | S: Drive - DMTI Datasets | To have a road constraint layer | Vector |
| Water | S: Drive - DMTI Datasets | Used to obtain water - both lakes and rivers for constraints | Vector |
| Built up areas | S: Drive - DMTI Datasets | To represent the constraint of cities and development within the ecosection | Vector |
The S:Drive refers to the hardrive available through Spatial Information Systems Labratory at Simon Fraser University.
The two main programs used for this analysis were ArcGIS 9.1 and Idrisi Kilimanjaro 14.02. Most of the data manipulation took place in ArcGIS, with images then being imported into Idrisi for further analysis and manipulation. The data manipulations which took place in ArcGIS are as follows:Importing to ArcGIS: Files were “imported as interchange files” to allow .E00 files to be opened and used in Arc. This provided access to all the file’s components and allowed layers to be created.
Projecting: All vector layers had to have their projections transformed to UTM Zone 10N.
Clipping: All vector layers used were clipped in Arc to the Southern Okanagan Basis (SOB) ecosection. This allowed for all vector layers to be contained within the same area of study.
Querying: Queries were preformed to extract specific values from the vector layer’s attribute table. Once a query was preformed, a new layer could be created from the selected features. The layers created through querying include: the Southern Okanagan Basin ecosection, the interior Douglas fir biogeoclimatic zone, the ponderosa pine biogeoclimatic zone, the bunch grass biogeoclimatic zone, protected areas, built up areas and the mariposa lily distribution.
Resolution: Resolutions were set for the vector layer during the rasterization process in Arc. The resolution for each layer was set at 75 m squared. The DEM used also had its resolution changed within Arc.
Digitizing: The forest cover of the Southern Okanagan was digitized in Arc using the Editor tool. Google Maps was used as a reference.
Rasterizing: All vector layers used were rasterized in Arc. The raster layers were then converted to ASCII to allow them to be imported into Idrisi.
