Executive Summary

This project is a year long research project completed to satisfy the requirements of the two
year Planning: Land Information Technology diploma program at the Centre of Geographic Sciences
in Lawrencetown, N.S. The client for this modelling research project is Cathy MacDonald
(Department of Tourism). The purpose of this project is to research and create a Geographic
Information System (GIS) model that will model tourism values and show areas of high tourism
potential within the crown land parcels of the Annapolis/Kings County study area. This model is
viewed as a way to help develop some spatial modelling capability for the Department of Tourism and
as an input for further departmental planning initiatives.1 As well, this model can be used to identify
areas worthy of tourism development and marketing, so that these crown lands can be better
economically utilized. Due to a lack of required data in this area, the model was not attempted, but the
project has focused on what is needed for a model and what other researchers have done to create
tourism potential models. These factors were mentioned specifically in the client project tender.
Tourism potential modelling, the focus of this project, is a multi-step process that can be
broken down into three main development stages. These three main stages of development are the
user needs assessment (data gathering) stage, the digital integration/weighting stage, and the
analytical/suitability (feasibility) stage. Before any modelling occurs there must be tourist user and
operator surveys completed and the resources essential that support these tourism activities must be
identified and accounted for. Once the data to be used in the model is determined through the user
needs assessment and the surveys. This data can then be integrated and ranked according to what
features the user wants accentuated and those that should be avoided. This weighting is very
subjective and must be determined by extensive research and consultation with tourist experts. From
the ranked results of the model, those in the tourism field can analyze areas to develop and those that
have suitable resources to warrant future development.