This task involved:
- Compiling existing Greenlands data in a GIS-compatible format from the following sources: Ministry of Natural Resources; Ministry of Agriculture and Food; Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing; local Conservation Authorities; Niagara Escarpment Commission; regional and local municipalities; and non-governmental organizations (e.g., Nature Conservancy of Canada);
- Assembling a GIS database of the data, with separate layers for each of the elements of the Greenlands system (e.g., woodlands, wetlands, watercourses, Environmentally Significant/Sensitive Areas, Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest, provincial parks and conservation areas, etc.);
- Overlaying the Greenlands database with comparable land use data for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) portion of the study area (i.e., the City of Toronto and the regional Municipalities of Halton, Peel, York, and Durham), which classifies land using the following categories: urban; employment lands (industrial/commercial); major open space; rural; agricultural; and special study area (e.g., the Seaton Lands in north Pickering);
- Developing a common typology for the elements of the Greenlands system, to achieve consistency throughout the study area, since the extent to which Greenlands are afforded protection differs from municipality to municipality and in some cases is strongly influenced by the presence of physiographic features that are subject to special provisions - the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Niagara Escarpment.