Data Limitations
The uPLVI provides the City with critical standardized baseline information that is important to informing urban land use decisions and conservation initiatives. That said there are a few important limitations that must be highlighted:
- The uPLVI dataset available on this website was completed using the City’s May 2015 stereoscopic imagery. While this is relatively recent, it is not current and therefore, some discrepancy is expected between mapped and actual features, due to loss and changes from ongoing development activities. More recent updates are currently being planned.
- For most of the City, the uPLVI has been completed at the City-wide level and therefore does not include homogeneous site types generally less than 1 hectare (e.g. small wetlands and other natural areas). This means that additional natural features are expected to be identified and/or updated when site specific area planning occurs.
- The creation of the uPLVI relied on identifying features through the use of stereoscopic imagery. While some ground-truthing did occur, or local knowledge of an area was drawn upon, the majority of the inventory has not yet been assessed in the field. This information will continue to be updated as site specific surveys are completed.
Despite the limitations above, the 2015 uPLVI provides important baseline information of Edmonton’s natural system network. In addition, the uPLVI has been designed to capture more detailed information at every step in the municipal land use planning process.