Melanie Williamson
Sessions in which Melanie Williamson attends
Friday 23 April, 2021
This talk will be bringing together the power of location intelligence and blockchain technology for an increased speed and accuracy of transactions and improved decision-making.The value that blockchain brings to geospatial technology is security, immutability, and trusted data. On the other hand, geospatial technology provides the power of location to the blockchain. Together, they represent a game-changer both for their utility and disrupt...
Monday 28 October, 2024
Arc Hydro is a community, data model, set of tools, and workflows to support the GIS side of hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) analyses. Learn how to apply the Arc Hydro data model while running workflow-driven tools in a watershed modelling application. Starting with a good quality digital elevation model (DEM), you will conduct terrain preprocessing to hydrologically condition the DEM. The next step will involve input into stream drainage network identification, followed by catchment delin...
Tuesday 29 October, 2024
The new Canadian Hydrospatial Network (CHN) is set to replace the National Hydrographic Network (NHN) for Canada. Designed for improved use in hydrological models, the CHN is analysis ready with full-network traversing ability, and value-added attributes such as stream order. The CHN is also created from higher-resolution source data and better aligned to elevation than the NHN, where possible, and has been streamlined for production and maintenance.Work is on-going to refine methods a...
The Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) defines human footprint as the visible alteration or conversion of native ecosystems to temporary or permanent residential, recreational, agricultural, or industrial landscapes. It also includes land that is periodically reset to earlier successional conditions by industrial activities such as forestry harvest areas and seismic lines. To monitor and map human footprint across Alberta, the ABMI, in partnership with the Alberta Human Footprin...
Sessions: Human footprint datasets for Canada: mapping and monitoring in support of land and resource managementDisturbance is a key component of boreal-forest ecosystems, impacting their structure and functions. In Alberta, disturbances are both natural and anthropogenic, including > 30,000 sqkm of harvest areas. The recovery of all types of forest disturbance influences not only local landscapes, but also carbon dynamics and biodiversity. In the face of a changing climate, the imp...
From ancient cave drawings depicting hunting grounds to hand-sketched layouts of backyard gardens, humans conceptualize space through map making. Maps serve both to capture what exists on the landscape and to plan future uses by intentionally defining where specific activities can happen. Modern satellite technology creates geospatial datasets that can contribute to current and proposed land use management planning, all underpinned by the pursuit of the public good.Background
Maintaining undisturbed habitat is key to the recovery strategy of the Woodland Caribou boreal population. Seismic lines have been identified as a human footprint feature that requires specific attention for habitat restoration in part because linear features are linked to increases in the predation rates of caribou as they provide lines of sight and easy transportation routes for predators. It is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of kilometers of seismic lines within Alberta (AB...
Large-scale habitat inventories are necessary for understanding how human land-use, natural disturbances (e.g., fire) and climate change are influencing ecological processes, species declines and how restoration can address these changes. Within the boreal forest of Alberta, Canada anthropogenic habitat alteration, also referred to as human footprint or the physical disturbance of a landscape as a result of human activity, covers over 19% of the land area. Much of this human footprint is not ...
Session Human footprint datasets for Canada: mapping and monitoring in support of land and resource managementHuman activities have disturbed biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecological processes over the last century. Given the growing trends of habitat loss and biodiversity decline, understanding patterns of human pressures has become a crucial element of conservation planning. In this context, cumulative pressure mapping is used to quantify the extent and intensity of multiple pressure...
Regional and provincial conservation efforts require detailed human pressure mapping to manage and mitigate human impacts effectively. However, in the province of British Columbia (BC), existing efforts to map human pressures have faced significant challenges, particularly in adequately capturing their full extent. The Geospatial Centre of Biodiversity Pathways at the University of Northern British Columbia, in collaboration with the West Moberly First Nations and the Alberta Biodiversity Mon...
The government of Alberta manages the production of riverine flood studies under the provincial Flood Hazard Identification Program, to assist communities in keeping Albertans safe and protecting their properties from floods. Flood maps improve public safety, support emergency management, and help us build safer and more resilient communities. The government of Alberta also manages the production of alluvial fan studies to help Albertans learn about flood risks in the steep terrain of Alberta...
The Riparian Web Portal (www.riparian.info) is an award-winning project, launched in 2021 by Alberta’s watershed community. This dynamic online space empowers Albertans to enhance riparian health through interactive access to comprehensive data and resources. It serves a crucial role in advancing the riparian health objectives pursued by various watershed groups.At its core, the portal integrates innovative GIS-based assessments from six watershed agencies, covering over 60,000 km of r...
In flood mapping and dam breach analysis, engineers and planners define inundation areas through flow modeling. A crucial input for this analysis is a comprehensive topographic surface of the area of interest and any upstream zones. These areas can span hundreds of kilometers and cover thousands of square kilometers.Previous studies have indicated that low-resolution topography can results in larger inundation areas, greater flow volumes, and faster flood streams. However, a comparison...
Methane is a greenhouse gas that has a global warming potential 80 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Reducing methane emissions from industrial facilities is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This talk gives an overview of GHGSat’s approach to providing stakeholders actionable data by detecting, geolocating, and quantifying methane emissions using our fleet of space-based and airborne instruments.
Algal blooms, typically consisting of cyanobacteria which can produce harmful toxins, are a recurring problem on lakes around the world. Although Alberta has long-term sampling programs on selected lakes, monitoring is limited in time and space. Satellite remote sensing offers a way to monitor cyanobacteria blooms across the entire ice-free season and track spatial patterns of bloom development, dynamics, and spread across lakes. The Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI), Alb...
Today, digital twins, autonomy and artificial intelligence (AI) dominate the lexicon of the geomatics industry. These capabilities provide significant productivity advantages to our profession, but our domain content and knowledge are critical to their success. These tools will change the way we work and transform the industry. However, they will not replace us, but rather change our role. This is no different than when the EDM, total station, CAD, or GPS became part of our professional lives...
Wednesday 30 October, 2024
Photogrammetry is not just limited to aerial platforms. Modern mobile devices contain high-quality cameras and increasingly have LiDAR and depth sensors built in. When combined with high-accuracy GNSS systems, these mobile devices can quickly collect accurate data for utilities, infrastructure, inspection, as-builts, construction, and more. Utilizing these readily available devices can reduce project delays, capture better documentation of utilities, and lay the foundations for digital infras...
With drones like the DJI Matrice 300 now being positioned using RTK GNSS, combined with Structure from Motion (SfM), high precision mosaics are possible without deploying targets. The ability to mount lidars (DJI L1 and L2) and other optical sensors (RGB, multispectral, thermal) allows for precise surveying and the production of high resolution and high accuracy mosaics with minimal ground control. While battery power still remains an issue and the limiting factor for flight duration (10’s of...
As the drone industry is increasingly focuses on developing larger airframes and equipping them with bigger sensors, Spexi is taking a revolutionary approach to aerial imagery. At Spexi, we believe that the future of geospatial data collection lies not in size and complexity, but in numbers and standardization. The Spexi platform leverages the power of crowdsourcing, deploying local pilots with small drones to capture standardized imagery across entire cities. This method allows us to achieve...
Project Overview: Discuss the integration process of the Connectiv LiDAR system with the Velos Rotors V3 UAV, focusing on custom modifications for transportation infrastructure inspections and topographic mapping. Highlight the key features and benefits of the custom UAV solution, such as modularity, precision, and safety.Innovative Payloads: Highlight the use of Phase One P3, Drone Rescue Systems DRS-25 parachute, Riegl MiniVux3, and Sony 61 MP camera.Technological Advancements...
How do hydrographic surveys, aerial Remote Sensing and GIS help with environmental efforts? Terra explores 2 projects that use a combination of different sensors and visualizations to achieve these goals. The projects include a rapid marine data collection supported by Aerial LiDAR to aid in rescue efforts of a trapped Orca cafe, and using LiDAR with GIS to support change detection efforts of a major land slide.
Reduced snowpack in the Rockies presents a severe drought risk for Southern Alberta. Mountain snowmelt in the Bow and Oldman basins maintains reservoir levels, crop irrigation, municipal and industrial supply, and ecosystem services. As climate and consumption pressures increase, accurate snow water equivalent (SWE) data is crucial for water supply forecasts, which impact allocations and emergency drought measures. Field snowpack monitoring does not provide accu...
