CloverPoint Insight Land Registry – Helping Build Nations Leveraging GIS to unlock the value of land

On April 1, 2012 the Huu-ay-aht First Nation from Anacla, British Columbia on the west coast of Canada celebrated the first anniversary of their return to self-governance and the management of their own lands.

“The first year has been overwhelming, but we will persevere in these proudest of times for our people.” said Larry Johnson, Director of Lands and Natural Resources for the Huu-ay-aht. Larry continues, “We worked with CloverPoint from Victoria BC to build a Land Registry, a system specifically designed to meet the needs of emerging governments.“ The Victoria firm’s Insight Land Registry system has become an integral tool for the Huu-ay-aht First Nation as it establishes itself following the enactment of the Maa-Nulth treaty in April 2011 that brought the nation out from under the Indian Act. The treaty provided the Huu-ay-aht with 2,661 acres of former reserve land, 17,760 acres of additional land, $22 million over 10 years, $350,000 projected annual resource sharing revenues and $2.2 million annually in program funding.

“Managing our Lands and Natural Resources is a vital part of creating a better life for present and future Huu-ay-aht citizens” says Johnson. When faced with the choices of how to manage their reclaimed traditional lands, the Huu-ay-aht chose to develop a web-based land registry system unlike anything else ever produced.

Insight made the task less daunting for the Huu-ay-aht and anyone doing business with them. The software interprets the nation’s legislation and has created checklists and application forms for anyone developing or using the nation’s land. Years of previous work done by CloverPoint in support of the Huu-ay-aht attaining self-government saw them build an enterprise GIS foundation so all decision-making on land use and planning would be made on a strong foothold.

This GIS repository was leveraged as the key business information and integrated with the new legislation from Treaty. The result was the first generation of the Insight Land Registry. Johnson comments, “ It’s made it a lot easier for me to dispose of land interests," Johnson said, noting anyone using the system from developers to citizens of the nation can also track the application process online. For the Huu-ay-aht, that kind of system will be key as it maps out its territory, understands its assets, and starts looking at economic strategies for forestry, tourism, culture and development.

At CloverPoint’s Victoria offices, the enormity of the task is not lost on its leadership team, who take seriously their small role in helping a First Nation rebuild. "We are giving them the tools to unlock that value in their land," said CloverPoint’s chief technical officer, Karl Swannie. "You can forget it has an impact on people’s lives from now into the future. It’s not like building a website for marketing and sales which we do a lot. This is a web application that will change economies and change people’s lives."

The software not only brings together the nation’s assets into one place, it also maps it so there is an immediate and easily read picture of how the land unfolds. "The visualization is a huge component. Having context to maps puts information where it should be and how segments of land are related to other things – how they are related to each other is the value," said CloverPoint CEO Jeff Warwick, noting that the maps show all interests – mineral rights, claims, boundaries, forest land, water rights and the like. Warwick said the software is being used to organize land and register title that has recently been transferred from reservation land into private holdings.

"They will now be able to do that same exercise and register in this system like it would be in any other government system," he said. “This is unlocking the value in the land that was previously locked due to restrictions in the Indian Act." As a web-based system, Insight will also allow members of the nation who live outside its traditional territory to participate. "The greater community is not all in one place," said Johnson. "But as we build our own economies and things like that, including homes, we are hoping people will move back to our treaty settlement lands." The Huu-ay-aht want to share the story of their journey to self-governance with the hope that they can inform and inspire other First Peoples to unlock their lands and build a bright future for generations to come. Watch Unlocking the Land, the story of how the Huu-ay-aht First Nations have begun to unlock the wealth of their lands using the Insight Land Registry at:

http://cloverpoint.com/nations/

CloverPoint is a leading international developer of 2D&3D GIS software. The CloverPoint team redefines what is possible on the web by pushing the boundaries of current technologies to develop innovative solutions for diverse clients. end…

With extracts from Andrew A. Duffy, Times Colonist June 30, 2012

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