“Everybody on campus wants housing data, and it’s very difficult to get,” says Paul Lesack, Data and GIS Analyst at the UBC Library Research Commons. Some of that data, which Lesack notes is hugely expensive, is contained in the Data Advice and Inventory Extracts provided by BC Assessment (BCA), which include value assessments for just over 2 million properties in British Columbia, along with details about each property’s three most recent sales.
Previously UBC researchers had access to this data through the Sauder School of Business, thanks to Associate Professor Dr. Tsur Somerville, who put in place a licensing agreement with BCA and managed the data distribution on campus. But over time, the arrangement became impractical and sharing the data became more challenging after BCA switched its data delivery model.
Excerpted from “UBC researchers can now access BC Assessment data through UBC Library” (July 13, 2021) on the UBC Library website.
Read the full story on the UBC Library website.