Need to change your address? Alert Level: LOW

Learn how to update your mailing address on title with LTSA’s online application form or learn how to make other changes to title.

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Front Counters Open By Appointment Only Alert Level: LOW

Please be aware that LTSA’s Land Title Office front counters are open 9 am – 3 pm, Monday to Friday by appointment only. Many common transactions are now available online. To book an in-person visit, contact the Customer Service Centre at 1-877-577-LTSA (5872) .

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Access myLTSA Services

Order a current land title or plan with myLTSA – LTSA’s online service for search, filing, and more. Register Now

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LTSAProperty OwnersLand Title Records and ServicesVault RecordsDigitization of LTSA Vault Records

Digitization of LTSA Vault Records

Digitization is the process of converting analogue records (e.g. paper, linen, leather-bound books, mylar, or microfilm) into a digital format. Digitization prolongs the life of vault records which reduces handling and improves accuracy.

Digitization improves the accessibility and retrieval of vault records and supports the adoption of advanced technologies including automation, geolocation and natural language processing and machine learning based on optical character recognition. Vault records refer to thousands of land and survey documents stored in two climate-controlled areas collectively referred to as the vault.

Archival-Quality Digitization Projects In Process

  • Bound Volumes
  • Microfilmed Documents
  • Conserved Plans
  • Dominion Township Plans
  • Surveyor General Field Books
  • Kamloops and Prince George Crown Grants

Equipment and Software

  • Bookeye 5 cradle scanner for bound volumes and publications
  • Contex and HP large-format scanners for plans
  • nextScan microfilm scanner for microfilm reels
  • Proprietary scanner software, InfranView, Adobe Acrobat, Infolinx, DocuWare for creating, editing, viewing, storing and searching images

Specifications

  • High resolution files (300 to 600 dpi, up to 1.5 GB)
  • Colour where colour exists
  • JPG, PDF, TIFF formats (determined by digitization equipment and processes)
  • Filenames follow metadata conventions, are machine readable

Metadata

  • Descriptive: Title, legal deposit notes, date, size, colour, medium, plan scale, geographic coverage, surveyor names, Indian Reserve, evidence of traditional use, annotations
  • Structural: Page or folio number, volume number, document range from/to
  • Administrative: Storage location, unique identifier, inventory number, status, condition, found storage condition, conservation treatment, barcode, digitized, digital filename, digital file size

LTSA works to ensure its digitized vault records represent the original analogue source record with authority and remain trustworthy over time. Producing trustworthy digitized records requires planning, preparation, metadata, quality assurance, file management, digital preservation, and databases for locating, searching and displaying records and information about them.

Every day, vault records are indexed, digitized and made available through an LTSA online account or an on-site digitized image repository called DocuWare. Many digitized images of Surveyor General records are available through Tantalis GATOR, the Government Access Tool for Online Retrieval.

A selection of Surveyor General vault records are freely available through two University of Victoria Libraries Digital Collections: Early British Columbia Maps and Indian Reserve Maps.