FUTRWORK.TXT - 12th of 19 digital documentation files distributed
               with the "Forest Fire Chronology of Saskatchewan"
               (FFCS) dataset.


<Document overview>

     Describes the plans for data revisions and updates.
     Indicates wish list items for future FFCS functionality.


<Updates of 1,000 hectare fires>

     Burn boundaries from subsequent fire seasons will be added
     to the dataset.  Additions will be either in the form of GPS
     boundaries or via manual trace digitizing.  Depending on the
     update source, additions will be made after fire-out status
     or during the fall/winter after a fire season.  Data entry
     will be performed annually.


<Determine course of action for revising 1990-1994 fire data>

     Some of the 1990-1994 fire boundaries intentionally strayed
     across waterbody boundaries (see DATAISSU.TXT and
     DIGITIZN.TXT).  These fires were digitized using a method
     inconsistent with the digitization of most other fires.
     Furthermore, the burn area of these fires is exaggerated as
     the fire includes intentionally added water surfaces.

     Subsequent revisions of the FFCS will either have some, all,
     or none of these fire-in-water boundaries revised along with
     documentation justifying why a given approach was used.
     These revisions will depend on:

        - the relative amount of water added;
        - the geographical location (e.g., the Canadian shield,
          or commercial forest -- in general, the former has many
          smaller waterbodies and the latter has fewer but larger
          lakes);
        - the shape of the fire;
        - and any other criteria deemed important.


<Cross-referencing of FFCS data with Forest Fire Management Branch database>

     The FFCS was cross-refrenced against the Forest Fire Management
     Branch database of fires.  Preliminary results indicate that up to 34
     fires from 1981-1995 may be missing in the FFCS.  In reality, many of
     these fires, may be well under the 1000 hectare minimum size limit
     established for the FFCS database.  The fire sizes presented in the
     following list are field estimates, and were not derived using GIS:

	Year	Fire_No	Fire_Name	Firesize7 (Ha)
	1981	9700	BIRCH			 1960
	1981	9350	BURBIDGE		10000
	1981	9940	CHICHU			 5500
	1981	9090	CONTEST #2		 1400
	1981	9353	ELVIN			 2000
	1981	9537	GOOSE			 1094
	1981	9221	MAURICE			 2694
	1981	9515	MORWICK			23466
	1981	9931	MURIEL			10000
	1981	9257	SANDRAFIRE		 9164
	1981	9242	VERMILLION		90186
	1982	7909	CLIFF			 1256
	1982	7919	FRANK			 1239
	1982	0701	MINIRESERV		 1200
	1982	6124	WATHMAN			 1500
	1983	6802	HARA			 1061
	1984	3152	BOWIE			11335
	1984	3053	CLEARWATER		 4986
	1984	3151	OVERPASS		 1375
	1984	6307	PASKWACHI		 2000
	1984	6514	SARUK			 3800
	1984	6018	WALKER			 1174
	1985	L607	CHARLIE			 3595
	1986	L502	ELANDER			 1369
	1987	CB21	HARRISON		 1054
	1987	L277	RIVER			 5634
	1987	L416	ROTHNIE			 1632
	1987	L298	TIRED			 1489
	1988	B506	COWBOY			 1862
	1989	L744	CHRIS			 1518
	1991	B703	POUNDMAKER		12000
	1993	L404	WILMA-2			66291
	1994	L410	HIGHWAY			 1800
	1995	L426	JESS 2			 1000

		(Data source: Forest Fire Management Branch)

     Many of the above fires may have merged with other fires, so
     their names may merely have to be added to the FIRE_NAME field
     of an existing record in the SK_FIRES attribute database.


<Incorporation of Forest Fire Management Branch attributes>

     All but one of the fires in the FFCS dataset can be
     linked to FFMB databases.  Among the information that FFMB
     maintains are cause, ignition and fire-out date, fuel and
     weather conditions, and actioning (response) data.  By
     linking FFMB information to the FFCS polygons, the FFCS
     would immediately have significantly enhanced functionality.
     The contact listed at the end of this document will forward
     requests for the FFMB databases to FFMB staff.

     Work is already progressing on FFCS-FFMB data linkages.
     Databases being developed by Wildlife Branch include,
     SK_FFMB, SK_DSTRC, and SK_REGIN.  These three files are
     described in slightly more detail in the next two
     paragraphs.  Other attribute databases may be added to the
     list.

     At the very least, the SK_FFMB database will link the
     FIRE_NO field in the FFCS to the numbers that FFMB assigns
     to fires.  This would allow users to link the FFCS and FFMB
     databases.  It is yet to be determined whether the fire
     information that FFMB manages will be added to the SK_FFMB
     database file.  Users may have to contact FFMB for that
     information.  However, should FFMB data be provided along
     with the FFCS databases, only subsets of FFMBs databases
     would be provided: just those records pertinent to the FFCS
     dataset.

     The SK_DSTRC and SK_REGIN database files are simple look-up-
     tables that contain explanations of the departmental
     administrative district and region codes that FFMB uses as
     part of its fire nomenclature.  Other look-up-table
     databases that describe FFMB codes may also be generated.


<Spatial element metadata>

     Want to have descriptions for individual coverage elements
     rather than just an overall coverage description.  By
     clicking on a cartographic element, one should be able to
     discover its metadata.  Example #1.  Most 1972-1976 fires
     were generated from a 1:million map, but there are
     exceptions.  Determining the exceptions from text based
     documentation cannot be easily done.  It would be preferable
     to simply click on the object of interest, and have the
     metadata information presented.  Example #2.  A fire
     boundary may have been digitized using a NTS250 base, or by
     using a 10km graticule, or by using GPS.  As the source of a
     boundary reflects data quality, users should be able to
     determine the origin of a boundary simply by clicking on the
     fire.

     Spatial element metadata work hinges upon the development
     team at ESRI; this functionality is planned to be
     implemented in an upcoming release of Arc/INFO.  (The
     "document" atool in Arc/INFO version 7.0.X was not
     compatible with Canadian documentation standards).


<Hypertext documentation>

     Currently, finding the right digital document is not as easy
     as it should be.  Furthermore, jumping between associated
     documents cannot be done whenever the documentation is
     interrelated.  The answer is in Hypertext.  While Hypertext
     is wonderful, implementing it requires resources currently
     not available.


<Establish a new dataset of fires 100-1000 hectares in size>

     This is an ambitious plan.  Implementing it will require
     considerably more resources than for the 1000 hectare or
     larger dataset.  The 100-1000 ha dataset will not contain
     fires from previous years.  It shall only contain the fires
     for the year that the dataset was implemented and all
     subsequent years.  There have been simply too many fires in
     this size range in the past, so that generating a dataset of
     such fires would be far too monumental a task.


<Comments>

     Suggestions for improving the FFCS dataset and its
     associated documentation are welcome.


This document prepared by:

Ott Naelapea
Wildlife Branch
Saskatchewan Environment & Resource Management
Box 3003, 800 Central Avenue
Prince Albert, SK.  S6V 6G1
CANADA
(306)953-2671 - Tel.
(306)953-2750 - Fax.

November 28, 1996


Revisions:

March 31, 1997
  -added <Cross-referencing...> section
  -revised <Incorporation...> section
