Title: MGIS Projects
1MGIS Projects
2Clickable Collage
3Ulrich Aeschlimann
Environmental controls on glacier distribution
and the influence of spatial resolution of base
data on terrain analyses
- In the context of global climate modifications,
the monitoring of glaciers is a key instrument to
quantify changes and to predict any resulting
adverse impacts on alpine environments. This
study examines data from the Revelstoke area
(Glacier National Park, British Columbia) and the
Kananaskis region (Peter Lougheed Provincial
Park, Alberta) to address three issues that are
paramount in any GIS-based, elevation model
operations. The three modules of the study
include Glacier parameter inventory, DEM -
Resolution considerations, Climate Modeling.
The glacier parameterization module extracts and
compares elevation related factors (e.g., Mean
elevation, ELA) as well as topographic parameters
such as slope angles, aspect and curvature. The
comparison of the glacier parameters of the two
study areas indicates significant differences in
the average glacier mean elevation and the
average ELA. However, there is no statistical
difference in average glacier area, length, shape
index, and overall slope gradient between the two
study areas. The second module, DEM resolution
considerations, compares elevations extracted
from different grid resolutions (30 m, 100 m, 200
m, and 500 m) to determine if certain parameters
(e.g., mean elevation) are less problematic if
obtained from low resolutions than other
parameters, for example minimum and maximum
elevations. The assessment shows that the average
glacier mean elevation is similar (a maximum of 7
m difference) between values extracted from a 30
m grid and values extracted from a 500 m grid.
However, the maximum and minimum elevations are
considerably different between the 30 m and 500 m
grids, particularly in the Kananaskis study area.
As such, caution is recommended when using
glacier parameters obtained from low resolution
DEMs. In particular, grid resolutions of 500 m
and larger may cause considerable errors in
parameters measured. The third module, climate
models for the two study areas, explores general
ways of evaluating the role of climate under
different climatic regimes. The chosen method
includes extrapolation of 30-year data sets from
climate stations using linear regression
analysis. The climatic parameters assessed in
this study are temperature and precipitation
(i.e., snow depth). For the Revelstoke area, the
temperature/elevation results indicate that there
was a decrease of 0.53 C in the mean July
temperature with at every 100 m elevation
increase (intercept 20.3 C). The mean January
temperature decreased by 0.48 C at every 100 m
elevation increase (intercept 8.4 C). Due to a
lack of alpine climate data in the Kananaskis
area, the model was based on a constant gradient
of 0.6 C/100 m with intercepts of 22.3 C for
July and 11.4 C for January. The intercepts were
extrapolated from climate stations close to the
study area. The Revelstoke data indicates an
overall increase of 72 cm in snow depth per 100 m
increase in elevation (intercept 89 cm). In the
Kananaskis area the average increase in snow
depth is 29 cm per 100 m increase in elevation
(intercept 132 cm).
4Adriana Aguilar
A Multi Criteria Evaluation approach using Fuzzy
Set Theory
- A computerized decision support tool implementing
a multiple criteria evaluation approach using
fuzzy set theory is programmed in Arc/Info as a
prototype. To aid and evaluate lynx habitat
selection in Southern Alberta by developing a
surface of possibility, following three different
approaches and comparing the results. - The prototype presented herein has been
programmed in Arc/Info macro language (AML)
following a modular approach and presented in a
series of easy to use menus. - By combining geographic information systems (GIS)
and multiple criteria evaluation (MCE)
capabilities and in the context of analyzing
geographic data the union of these methodologies
appears to be instrumental in the design of
efficient tools for spatial decision-making.
5Catherine Bow
A GIS Based Study of Address and Postal Code
Location and Street Network Files and their use
in Medical Geography Research
- Medical Cardiac Catheterization Data supplied
from the APPROACH (Alberta Provincial Project for
Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease)
database was reviewed and analyzed to determine
the amount of error propagation inherent within
the database. The error was found by comparing
the address and postal code information in the
database to the postal code and address
information found in the 2001 Edition City of
Calgary telephone book. A 16.32 percent error
rate was found, excluding missed values and minor
spelling errors. The database was corrected,
postal code converted to find the longitude and
latitude of the postal code, and geocoded into a
GIS (Geographic Information Systems), namely
ESRIs ArcView 3.2. Two street network files were
compared, the City of Calgary 2001 file and the
Statistics Canada 1996 file. The address and
postal code locations were found for both of
these files in meters and subtracted. In SPSS
(Statistical Package for Social Scientists),
scattergrams and histograms were created to
compare these two files. It was found that the
Statistics Canada street network file was less
accurate and had more errors within the database.
The City of Calgary street network file was
deemed to be very accurate as it was used and
updated daily within the City. The subtraction of
the address and postal code led to similar
results in terms of the mean and standard
deviation, but the Statistics Canada file created
an unusually linear pattern at the 25 and 25
meter x and y-axis. This linear pattern is due to
the block-face representative postal code point
location of 20 meters from the centre of the
street. Depending on the application, the postal
code was deemed to be a fairly good
representation of the address location.
6Wesley Burrows
A 3-D Steady-state groundwater model for West
Nose Creek watershed
- A 3-dimensional, steady-state, numerical
groundwater model for the West Nose Creek
watershed is proposed in this project. Hydraulic
conductivity values are derived from summaries of
pump test data from domestic and stock water
wells. Spatially distributed hydraulic
conductivity is interpolated from water well
point estimates and imported to MODFLOW. For
this, a loose-couple between ArcGIS and MODFLOW
is implemented through Visual Basic and
ArcObjects and is demonstrated to perform
correctly. Calibration of the numerical model was
not possible, as convergence was not achieved. An
inability to model stream leakage and complex
heterogeneities in hydraulic conductivity fields,
has led to an ill-conditioned problem and
ultimately non-convergence of this
finite-difference solution.
7Bruce Burwell
Implementing a Geographic Information System
Using ESRIs Geodatabase Model A Case Study in
Archaeological Research
- This research demonstrates the conceptual design
and system implementation of a Geographic
Information System for archaeological research
using ESRIs (Environmental Systems Research
Institute) Geodatabase model. The Geodatabase
model uses an Object-Oriented approach to
database design in comparison with other data
basing techniques which utilize
Entity-Relationship design methodology. Based on
research conducted in current practices of data
modeling and implementation in archaeology, a
spatial data model was created using Microsofts
Visio 2000 drawing and modeling package. The
model was then imported into ArcGIS and populated
with data available from archaeological research
previously conducted in Yemen. To complement the
database, a wide variety of public domain image
and vector data was also processed and modeled in
the database. An application was then created
that would facilitate a preconceived workflow for
database updating, data mining, mapping and
reporting. The result is a fully functional GIS
(geographic information system) database
management system with supporting model and
documentation. This project also provides an
effective methodology for designing and deploying
an archaeological data model and proves that
ESRIs object oriented database is superior to
previous methods of GIS development.
8Nicola Bywater
Cumulative Effects of Hurricane Iris (2001) on
Belizean Black Howler Monkey Habitat
- This study integrated remote sensing and
geographic information systems (GIS) to quantify
landscape fragmentation and habitat change
resulting from Hurricane Iris (2001) in the Stann
Creek District of Belize. There are few studies
that integrate remote sensing, GIS, primates, and
tropical forests. Ground surveying was performed
in January 2003, which identified 15 major land
cover types in this area. The ground survey data
was used to classify a pre hurricane Landsat 5
image and a post hurricane Landsat 7 image.
Habitat change was quantified by comparing the
pre and post hurricane classified images using
FRAGSTATS version 3.3 software. Class and
landscape level metrics were used to quantify
habitat change and fragmentation. It was found
that the landscape has become more fragmented,
specifically increase in patch numbers, increase
in total edge, decrease in average patch size,
decrease in patch extent, significant loss of
core area, decrease of functional connectivity,
increased interspersion, and an increase of
aggregation for some patch types. These findings
could have significant implications for howlers,
particularly a loss of habitat quality and
connectivity.
9Christopher Caschera
Multiresolution Wavelet Based Satellite Image
Fusion Application to examining Arctic sea ice
concentration
- In this document the application of wavelet
theory to fuse disparate multiresolution
satellite images is performed for evaluating the
results against Canadian Ice Service ice chart
derived estimates. The primary images will be
RADARSAT-1 ScanSAR products (100m) from the
Canadian Data Processing Facility (CDPF), NOAA
AVHRR Thermal band 4 (1100m) provided by the
National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), and
passive microwave from the DMSP SSM/I at 25km
resolution. The temporal scale for this study
ranges from Julian Day 137 (May 17) to 204 (July
23), 2002. The study area is located in Lancaster
Sound between Borden Peninsula, Baffin Island and
Cape Warrender, Devon Island (748'N, 8113').
The images are decomposed into their multi-scale
edge representation, using Daubechies wavelet
transformation. The fusion process is built by a
pixel by pixel selection of the coefficients with
maximum amplitude. Finally, the fused image is
computed by the appropriate reconstruction
scheme. - The wavelet image fusion results in a
non-redundant image representation providing a
photointerpretive and statistical assessment of
wavelet based fusion of sea ice in the study
area. Results indicate that the fusion of
RADARSAT-1 ScanSAR to NOAA AVHRR is comparable
and in some instances provides additional data
over Canadian Ice Service (CIS) ice charts.
Specifically, fusion conducted on JD 180 and 200
illustrate the strength and applicability of this
method. The fusion of RADARSAT-1 ScanSAR to an
SSM\I algorithm of sea ice concentration
(Bootstrap) illustrated no benefit over current
methods employed by the CIS. Pixel size appears
to be a major constraint for the successful
fusion of images based on this method.
10Sam Coiro
Spatial Analysis of Enterprise Customer Data
- The construction of trade areas for retail
selling channels bound by a fixed location in
space, such as the traditional bricks-and-mortar
selling unit, has been extensively reviewed in
literature over the past 50 years. Although the
catalog selling channel is the topic of much
literature, attempts to describe, explain, and
predict trade areas of such channels have yet to
be made. Unlike traditional channels, catalog
ones are not bound by fixed spatial locations and
thus the methodologies used to derive
bricks-and-mortar trade areas cannot be directly
applied to catalog channels. This paper proposes
the use of trend surface analysis (and the
creation of visualization maps) to identify
catalog trade areas at varying scales of
geography. Four product division groups are
studied and results indicate that for the most
part, the trade area formations are dependent
directly on the type of product in questions. In
general, trend surfaces created for hard-line
merchandise (e.g. tools, furniture, etc.) heavily
underpredict transaction amounts across space.
Trend surfaces created for soft-line merchandise
(i.e. clothing, bedding, etc.) heavily
overpredict transaction amounts across space.
Regardless of the observed inadequacies however,
the products of this paper are excellent
first-steps that retail marketers can use to
render the most return on investment possible
from catalog campaigns, distributions, and
promotions.
11Jon Connick
Benchmarking a Geospatial Store ArcSDE and
Oracle Spatial
- This manuscript describes an evaluation of the
spatial storage capabilities of ESRIs ArcSDE and
Oracles Oracle8i Spatial. The prime objective of
this evaluation is to understand how to implement
and manage a spatial store in an Oracle DBMS
using ArcGIS as the client. The evaluation was
completed through the implementation of the
SEQUOIA 2000 Storage Benchmark and Paradise
Geo-Spatial DBMS Benchmark. - The benchmarks provided insight into performance
differences between ArcSDE and Oracle8i Spatial
storage and indexing options, in addition to
overall functionality of the ArcGIS client in
completing the queries. A chapter devoted to
ArcSDE and Oracle8i Spatial functionality is
provided to outline the common and differing
aspects of both softwares. - This study showed that data stored as ArcSDE
Binary Geometry - Long Raw datatype, performed
better overall in completing the queries and
required less storage table space than the ArcSDE
Binary Geometry - BLOB datatype and all other
Oracle8i Spatial options.
12Kathleen Donovan
Snowmelt Run-off modeling of Prairie Depressions
- Understanding and quantifying snowmelt retention
in depressions is an important component of
modeling their role in groundwater interactions
such as infiltration, soil moisture recharge, and
the overall hydrologic properties of the
watershed such as regional aquifer recharge, and
stream discharge. The potential volume of
snowmelt runoff was estimated using average snow
water equivalent, depression area estimates, and
depression depth measurements. The area of
surface water runoff retained in the depressions
after snowmelt was estimated from supervised
classification of infrared aerial photographs
with an accuracy of 15 compared to the detailed
elevation surfaces, and 10 compared hand
digitized polygons of the depressions on the
photographs. Using 10 detailed elevation
surfaces, the relationship between depression
volume (V) and depression area and depth (Ah) was
defined as V0.515(Ah). The error for this
relationship compared to the volume estimated
from the elevation surfaces was 10. The
classified area and measured depth of 101
depressions were applied to this equation to
determine the overall relationship between
depression area and volume. The relationship
between depression area and volume was defined
using least squared regression as V0.055
(A)1.17. The cumulative error associated with
this model is estimated to be approximately 25.
Application of the volume model to all the
classified depressions indicated that 40 to 70
of the snow water available for runoff was
retained by depressions. This assessment
indicates that depressions in the West Nose Creek
basin provide a significant contribution to the
storage component of the water balance in the
watershed.
13Rebecca Evans
GIS and on-line learning pedagogical issues and
tutorial development
- This project is a study of Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) and online learning. The study is
presented in two parts. Part One, Theoretical
Issues (GIS and Online Learning Pedagogical
Issues), is an examination of the broader,
conceptual issues surrounding online GIS
learning. It is argued that online,
computer-based tutorials are an effective way to
teach the concepts, applications, and technical
skills required of a competent GIS user. However,
it is important that GIS online learning
materialsespecially those designed for use in
higher educationbe based on a strong foundation
of psychological learning theory. Thus,
constructivism and the various approaches to
constructivist learning and teaching are
discussed. It is demonstrated how the use of
technology, in combination with constructivist
learning principles and the careful consideration
of instructional design can produce quality,
pedagogically sound, online GIS learning
materials. Part Two, Implementation (An Online
GIS Tutorial Development Project), is the
practical application of the concepts, theories,
and approaches regarding GIS and online learning
discussed in Part One of this report. A series of
GIS tutorials that demonstrate the use of GIS as
a cartographic tool for thematic mapping are
developed and implemented in an online
environment. The tutorials are customized for use
in an existing course offered in the Department
of Geography, University of Calgary, and
incorporate the key elements of quality online
pedagogical principles and instructional design.
Two primary software products, ArcView GIS and
WebCT, are utilized to accomplish this goal.
Preliminary results are obtained by having two
anonymous volunteers test the tutorials and offer
their comments and recommendations. The results
of these tests indicate a high degree of success
and it is concluded that the GIS tutorials hold
considerable promise as an instructional/learning
tool.
14Neil Farries
Study Wildlife Overpasses Crossing TransCanada
- This project begins with an overview of the
history and operation of Cellular Automata (CA)
as a tool for predictive change modeling. Several
diverse projects from a number of disciplines are
presented as examples of the vast amount of
research that has been completed in this area.
Next, an application project is presented in
which the CA modeling capabilities of the Idrisi
CELLATOM module are tested. This project entails
a predictive model of Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB)
infestation in the Bow Valley Corridor near
Canmore, Alberta.
15Wenonah Fraser
Airborne laser scanning for measuring trees in
the boreal forest theoretical issues and
implementation
- Airborne laser scanning is a developing
technology with many application possibilities.
The first part of this document focuses on
theoretical issues about using airborne laser
scanning (also known as lidar) for assessing and
monitoring forests. A review of forest structure
is followed by an introduction to light detecting
and ranging techniques and characteristics, with
a review of applications in other fields. After
explaining some of the challenges unique to
lidar, issues regarding grid cell sampling are
explored. Finally, potential interpretation
techniques to identify individual trees by
filtering are discussed. The second part
demonstrates an application using lidar data.
First and last returns from seventeen plots in
the boreal forest in northwestern Alberta were
used to generate estimates of tree heights.
Kriging was used to interpolate surfaces of the
tree canopy. The estimated tree heights were
compared to tree heights determined from
high-resolution aerial photographs. Although the
relative tree heights within each plot compared
well, lidar underestimated tree heights somewhat.
Others have found similar results with different
techniques.
16Roger Gauvin
Object-based Terrain Classification of a High
Resolution Elevation Model
- Terrain is accredited as one of the largest
factors controlling surface and atmospheric
processes on the earth (Hutchinson and Gallant,
2000). Terrain landforms are defined to be the
resulting morphology and characterization of
slopes and slope patterns caused by physical
processes on the earth (Whittow, 2000). Terrain
itself can be said to be the spatial arrangement
of landforms into a repeatable pattern. These
patterns of terrain can be explained by the
catena concept of landscape soil process was
first described by Milne (1935) and later
expanded with Spreight (1974) as the realization
that sequences of slope forms were intrinsically
related with soil series in a predictable way.
Before the advent of spatially enabling
technologies such as Geographic Information
Systems (GIS), the science of geomorphometry
involved either qualitative description or
quantitative field measurements. Purely
qualitative descriptions are problematic due to
the lack of standardization of descriptive labels
required to extend global classification.
Quantification of landscape attributes required
for terrain classification prior to the practice
of computer automation required detailed field
measurements involving laborious human
intervention and limited analytical capability.
Soon after the common adoption of the computer
representations of terrain in the digital
elevation models in the late 1980s, earth
scientists and ecologists became intrigued with
the potential of using elevation models to create
specific topographic attributes that have a
predictable relationships to both biotic and
abiotic landscape processes. Better understanding
of these key processes was to generate interests
in applications for hydrology, soil conservation
and forestry creating benefits for improved
environmental management. In the 1990s the
advent of high resolution Digital Elevation
Models (DEMs), created with Light Detecting and
Ranging (LIDAR), Inferometric RADAR or automated
softcopy photogrammetric techniques, created new
challenges and opportunities for the extraction
of detailed landscape information for
applications using terrain modeling techniques.
In this review, quantitative methods that employ
the use of GIS and spatial analysis techniques
for the purpose of terrain analysis will be
highlighted. Geostatistical exploration with
spatial statistics of the digital terrain models
attributes is argued to be essential for
determining the structure, domain and range of
these attributes. The determination of the
spatial domain and range of terrain derivatives
are necessary to approximate the scale of
landform entity phenomena and how they might
relate to complex landscape processes. As it is
widely accepted that different landscape
processes operate at different scales and the use
of hierarchical object-based schemes may be the
best method to model these complex relationships.
This review will outline some of the theoretical
issues of scale, hierarchies and the practical
realities of designing a spatially aware modeling
framework for modeling. This research area began
with simple morphometric characterization of
landscape and terrain, but is now moving to
incorporate contextual methods that may better
describe the spatial arrangement inherit of
hierarchical schemas where a variety of landscape
scales and processes interact. Recently, there
has been much interest in using automatic
landform segmentation and classification for
practical applications in geotechnical
engineering, agricultural and the environmental
field. With these advancements, large amounts of
data (and large tracts of landscape) have the
potential to be analyzed. The question is as
these new technologies become adopted will the
statistical quantification in this field
accelerate faster than the semantic labels to
make practical sense of the relationships between
processes and forms?
17James Gebert
ArcGIS migration to support upstream oil and gas
applications
- This project was undertaken to examine the
migration from ArcView 3.x to ArcGIS 8.x in
petroleum exploration and production (EP)
companies. The major focus was to investigate how
previously developed customization in ArcView 3.x
can be implemented in ArcGIS 8.x. A custom tool
was developed to automatically plot and symbolize
wells from a standard petroleum industry
database. The development of this tool
demonstrates one aspect of ArcGIS customization.
Other customization options for the creation of
an oil and gas GIS are also summarized. As would
be expected, petroleum specific functionality
developed for ArcView 3.x can be replicated in
ArcGIS 8.x, although at the considerable expense
of time and effort. Development is more difficult
in ArcGIS 8.x because of the increased complexity
of the system architecture. However, this
increased complexity allows ArcGIS 8.x to be
customized to a much greater extent than ArcView
3.x. A major benefit of migration is the
geodatabase, which is a more robust format for
the storage and maintenance of spatial data. The
collaborative development of petroleum specific
data models may facilitate the loading of data
into the geodatabase, and make data access more
efficient. There are limited short-term benefits
to migration for the exploration business unit
although the long-term benefits may be
significant. The ability to customize ArcGIS 8.x
will no doubt lead to the future development of
additional tools that will directly benefit the
exploration business unit. This will allow GIS to
make incremental progress in the transition from
its current role as a tool of data visualization
towards a future role as a tool of spatial
analysis and modeling.
18Nicole Hopkins
Analysis of wetlands in Scotty Creek basin, NWT,
using IKONOS and Landsat imagery
- Wetlands are an important part of the hydrology
of the Scotty Creek basin, near Fort Simpson,
North West Territories, because of their ability
to hold water which affects the spring flood on
the Liard and Mackenzie Rivers. The 30-meter
resolution Landsat Thematic Mapper and the finer
resolution IKONOS imagery (4 meters) were used to
classify the Scotty Creek basin into six classes
lakes, channel fens, wetlands, coniferous,
deciduous and mixed forest. The percentage of the
basin occupied by wetlands was also determined
using commercially available computer programs.
The IKONOS imagery was only available for the
east portion of the basin. Therefore, the
objective of the study was to classify the east
portion of the basin using the finer resolution
IKONOS imager and classify the entire basin with
the Landsat image using the common training
sites, compare the results and evaluate the
accuracy. The overall accuracy for the hydrology
landcover classes, which includes lakes, channel
fens, and wetlands, was 78 for the IKONOS image
and 67 for the Landsat classification. Both
classifications resulted in confusion between the
conifer and mixed vegetation classes. The
accuracy for the Landsat classification was lower
because of greater confusion between the conifer,
channel fen and wetlands classes due to the
coarser resolution of Landsat imagery. The IKONOS
classification resulted in smaller patches (i.e.,
interconnected pixels having the same class)
which were closer together than the Landsat
patches and determined that 41 of the east
portion of the basin was occupied by the
hydrology classes whereas the Landsat showed that
46 of the basin was occupied by the hydrology
classes. The IKONOS classification resulted in a
greater accuracy and provided a better
representation of the hydrology and connectivity
of wetlands in the Scotty Creek Basin.
19Luigi Iannuzzi
Socio-economic application of geographic
information systems, calculations and spatial
analysis of the Human Development Index for
Honduras
- In 1990 the United Nations Development Program
published the first world Human Development
Report. This report refocused the attention of
developmental practitioners on people. It also
reminded us that economic growth is only a means
to improve people's lives and not an end in
itself. Human development is and should be the
goal for any development. The Human Development
Index (HDI) was developed as a new aggregate
indicator, which would make it possible to
compare the level of development of individual
countries. It is always difficult to construct
such aggregate indicators for it requires a
number of theoretical questions to be resolved
and open criticism to be answered (Banuri, 1994).
The HDI has been undergoing this process over the
last five years. There are many different ways
that such an indicator can be constructed and if
it is to be used as a means of comparing
different countries throughout the world, the
availability and reliability of data must be
taken into account. After the methodology of
calculating the indicator was developed, its
three basic components remained unchanged. One
was the per capita gross domestic product (GDP)
which is an indicator of the economic level of
the country, this being one of the basic
preconditions for human development. When
calculating the HDI it is adjusted for parity of
purchasing power. The second component for
directly measuring human development is life
expectancy at birth as an average for both sexes,
and the third is the level of literacy of the
adult population, recently supplemented by the
average period of school attendance. This first
Development Index for Honduras at the municipal
level was produced for the Field office of the
United Nations Development Programme in
Tegucigalpa Honduras. This will be the base
document to be used in the development of this
project.
20Keila Johnston
Archeological Predictive Model for the Souris
River Basin Region of Saskatchewan
- This study employs GIS and statistical analysis
in an effort to construct an archaeological
predictive model for determining potential site
locations in the Souris River Basin of
Saskatchewan. Archaeological predictive modeling
involves the use of environmental correlates with
site presence or known human behaviour patterns
in an attempt to locate likely areas of site
presence. Inductive predictive modeling, or
environmental correlates of site location are
used to determine the probability of site
occurrence throughout the Souris River region.
Chosen environmental variables include distance
to water, elevation, slope and land cover.
Predictive modeling can prove to be a valuable
aid in cultural resource management work because
the time, money and manpower required to
undertake extensive surveys can be greatly
reduced. Statistics used in this study include
nearest neighbour analysis, chi-square analysis
and Dempster-Shafer theory. Nearest neighbour and
chi-square analysis were used to determine the
spatial patterning found in the region and to
determine the association of archaeological sites
with environmental variables. The Velief Module
in Idrisi employs Dempster-Shafer theory and was
used to construct a predictive model for the
area. The Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC)
Module in Idrisi was used to validate the results
of the Belief Module. The sites of the Souris
River Basin are clustered. A clustered pattern
can be indicative of an abundance of good
resources. Distance to water, elevation, slope
and land cover are correlated with site location.
Dempster-Shafer theory can be used to accurately
reconstruct site location in the Souris River
region. High probability areas are areas of
possible site location, not areas of definite
site location.
21Christopher Jordan
Client Server Feature Streaming in ArcGIS 8
- Large corporations such as those in the Petroleum
industry amass a vast quantity of spatial
information. Data accuracy and currency is
paramount in these organizations, with
problematic data frequently leading to poor
decision-making and a substantial loss of
capital. An efficient process of maintaining data
currency over the web has been developed and is
appropriately named Feature Streaming.
Web-based Feature Streaming allows limited data
to be delivered from a Web Server to a client
computer only when required, thereby resulting in
increased efficiency. Just as web-based Feature
Streaming effectively removes the internet
bottleneck, Selective Client-Server Feature
Updating removes the data transfer bottleneck
associated with the corporate intranet. Visual
Basic code has been developed using ArcObjects
and Microsofts Component Object Model to enable
Selective Client-Server Feature Updating in
ESRIs ArcGIS 8.3 software. This program has been
developed for EnCana Corporation to be used with
ArcSDE. The code facilitates transparent data
currency by regularly updating client machines
with modifications, additions and deletions to
the tables of spatial datasets. By eliminating
the redundancy involved in the updating of entire
records, the bottleneck created by the intranet
is effectively removed, allowing massive datasets
to be refreshed on client machines without delay.
22Hejun Kang
Remote Sensing and GIS Applications in Lynx
Habitat Suitability Modeling
- Geographical Information Science (GIS), with its
versatility and potential in addressing
ecological issues, has had numerous methods for
modeling wildlife habitat use and suitability.
The first goal of this research was to identify
the habitat preference of both lynx and snowshoe
hare, and to determine relationships between the
two species. Secondly, predict the lynx
occurrence through different modeling methods
Logistic regression, Multiple-Criteria
Evaluation (MCE), and Dempster-Shafer, and then
compare the prediction power of each model. Based
on the overall accuracy, the best model is
logistic regression (74.51), then the MCE
(unequal weights), MCE (equal weights), and
finally the D-S model (29.90). However, using
only the users accuracy, the rank is completely
reversed the best one is the D-S model (100),
and the worst one is the logistic regression
model (27.07). There are two main factors
affecting the reliability of models. One is the
combination of absence points, which inflated the
overall accuracy of both the logistic regression
model and the MCE (unequal weights), and
decreased that of the other two models. Another
is the choice of the threshold value. Logistic
regression, which is more objective, can help
decide how to choose prediction factors for both
the MCE and D-S models. Future research should
increase sampling on areas with higher slopes for
both the MCE and D-S models. For the logistic
regression model, spatial autocorrelation should
be incorporated to increase the model performance.
23Maria Komierowski
Using GIS to Identify Wind Erosion Risk and to
Recommend Sustainable Land Management Practices
in the Taber Irrigation District of Southern
Alberta
- Soil erosion is a predominant problem in Southern
Alberta, especially with the strong chinook winds
that are characteristic in the area. Additional
problems exist on fields where specialty crops
(potatoes, sugar beets, dry beans) are grown.
Soil erosion poses a threat to human health and
safety by air-borne particulate matter as well as
reducing visibility on highways. Soil erosion
also poses a threat to the sustainability of
agricultural land and the agricultural industry.
This work presents a state of the land report
that identifies areas that are of concern to wind
erosion, as well as locating areas that allow for
sustainable expansion of the potato industry.
This report also discusses various methods and
practices that could reduce the risk of a wind
erosion event. Using a Pairwise Comparison Matrix
and ArcView 3.2, factors that affect wind erosion
were identified. These factors were then used to
locate the aforementioned areas of interest. The
study found that areas of concern and highest
priority for mitigation are those that have
easily erodible soil textures (sands and clays)
but have highly suitable land for potato
production. It was determined that 48 of the
Table Irrigation District fell within this
category. Areas suitable for expansion included
those that had inherent soil properties that have
a reduced risk of wind erosion (loams and silts),
had land suitable for potato production, and were
in proximity to land with existing irrigation
rights. Mitigation practices such as proper
education, residue covers, shelterbelts, and
emergency control methods were identified.
24Dae Won Kwon
An Analysis of the Impacts on Travel Behavior
during the Transit Strike in Calgary using
Discrete Choice Methods
- Mode choice models are used to analyze and
predict the choices that individuals or groups of
individuals make in the selecting the
transportation modes that are used for particular
types of trips. This study describes an
investigation of the impacts on mode choice
travel behavior during the transit strike in
Calgary using logit models. A utility function is
formed which includes attributes that describe
socioeconomic characteristics of households and
individuals. The binary logit models and
multinomial logit models based on this utility
function are developed in cases of Home Based
Work trip and Home Based Other trip before and
during the transit strike. The developed logit
models are evaluated using an individual level
(disaggregate) data set and a zone level
(aggregate) data set. The parameter estimation
and model evaluation are performed using GIS
software (TransCAD). The models that result and
the model evaluation provide indications of the
impacts on travel behavior of Calgarians during
the transit strike.
25Dana Lampi
Aboriginal GIS
- Aboriginal groups in Canada are taking an
increasingly active stance in the definition and
control of their traditional territories. This is
occurring through two major processes land claim
settlements and resources management /
co-management. Each of these activities has a
large spatial component and Aboriginal
communities are turning to Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) to address these issues. GIS is
being used as a tool to provide a non-western
view of the traditional territories in the face
of development and is not only building capacity
within Aboriginal communities but also providing
community members with an in depth look at their
culture, both past and present. The second part
of this paper provides the course materials for
an Aboriginal GIS course to be offered as part of
the GIS Applied Degree program at the Southern
Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT). The
purpose of the course is to introduce students to
the different ways that GIS is being used by
Aboriginal groups and to provide students with an
introduction on GIS implementation in Aboriginal
communities.
26Joe Lee
An exploration into the use of digital cameras
for remote sensing studies of live vegetation in
Grasslands National Park
- The movement of animals across a landscape has
been of interest to landscape ecologists for
years. One way of studying this movement is
through the development of simulation programs.
These programs attempt to mimic the movement of
animals in real life through the use of various
algorithms and models. More recently, the
development of object-oriented models for
software design has lead to new approaches to
this problem. Artificial intelligence has
provided the framework for intelligent agents,
programs that actively work to achieve a goal
using knowledge and resources at its disposal.
This project examines the complexities involved
in the design of such simulations by developing
an animal movement simulation that attempts to
capture the effects of habitat patch
configuration upon animal movement.
27Nancy Lee
A Spatially Explicit, Object-oriented Simulation
Model of Animal Movementulation Model of Animal
Movement
- The use of digital photography to gather data for
remote sensing studies on vegetation has a number
of advantages over data collected in air or
space. Digital cameras are small and easily
transportable which makes the technology readily
available for fieldwork. Likewise it is
relatively inexpensive as compared to airphotos
and satellite imagery. Photos can be taken of any
areas at any time and can instantly be
transferred to a computer for analysis with
remote sensing software packages. Unfortunately,
the majority of digital cameras take photos in
the RGB wavelengths only. This is limiting with
respect to vegetation analyses because the
spectral reflectance curves of live and dead
vegetation and bare soil are note very different
in the VIS wavelengths. Consequently, procedures
such as PCA, supervised classification,
unsupervised classification and ANNs performed
poorly at classifying these features whose
spectral information was taken with the VIS
spectrum. Reflectance information for vegetation
in the VIS wavelengths was not sufficient to
enable good spectral separability of the features
in data space. The average blue radiance values
for live grass were extracted from the
classifications and plotted against the total
green biomass clipped and weighed for the plots.
Additionally the percent area of live grass and
forbs was plotted against the total green biomass
weights. No relationships were found. Vegetation
indices such as the NDVI and the NDVI with the
blue and green bands (referred to as the NBVI)
were done to extract the live vegetation
features. The values for the NDVI calculations
were collected using s spectroradiometer and the
MODEL function in PCI Works. These values were
also plotted against the total green biomass
weights and no relationships were seen. However,
sample sizes were too small to allow solid
conclusions.
28Kaidong Li
Case-based reasoning, traffic safety and GIS
- This paper reviewed previous studies on the
application of geographic information systems
(GIS) and case-based reasoning (CBR) in traffic
safety research, and demonstrated the methodology
and results of a study that used GIS and CBR to
analyze and manage traffic safety at light rail
transit (LRT) grade crossings in the City of
Calgary. GIS have generated an increasing amount
of attention in the traffic safety community due
to their capabilities for storing and analyzing
spatially distributed data, such as traffic
collisions. The information-retrieval methods,
adaptation capabilities and learning processes of
the CBR systems are considered more advanced than
other database and reasoning systems. Therefore,
the integration of CBR and GIS is highly likely
to be beneficial in developing an intelligent
system for traffic safety analysis. In this
project, traffic collision history and
site-specific data at Calgarys LRT grade
crossings were manipulated and analyzed in
ArcGIS. This data was then put into a CBR system,
eGain Knowledge, to establish a case base for
future LRT crossing studies. An example from the
case base was provided.
29Travis Logan
Large mammal habitat modelling Logistic
regression and model selection using GIS
- Cougar habitat suitability was modeled as a
function of a number of landscape variables,
describing features of topography, vegetation, as
well as prey and competitor species densities.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote
Sensing (RS) technology were used to create
habitat models that related species presence and
landscape characteristics. Habitat models were
created for cougar, as well as wolf, deer and
elk, for four different winter periods. Logistic
regression and Akaike Information Criterion (AIC)
were used for model construction and model
selection respectively. Model accuracy was
assessed using the Receiver Operating
Characteristic (ROC) curve. Model predictions
were used to describe cougar habitat suitability,
as well as to infer the degree of competition and
resource partitioning between the two top
carnivores over the winter season. Cougar habitat
selection was shown to be variable over the
winter season, selecting for rugged regions of
high elevations in early winter, while late
winter selection indicates a shift in selection
for areas lower on the hillslope, skirting the
valley bottoms. Results indicate that competition
and resource partitioning between cougars and
wolves likely increases over the winter season,
as predicted cougar distributions show increased
overlap with the other species as winter
progresses.
30Julia LoVecchio
Site analysis for wind turbines
- This study employs the spatial analysis and
decision support functionality of geographic
information systems (GIS) to select the most
appropriate site for the installation of wind
energy at the Sunshine Village Ski Resort in
Banff National Park, Alberta. The study uses
environmental features, such as those included as
valued ecosystem components under the Canadian
Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA), as
constraints to the placement project, and
identifies sites for turbine(s) in an area with
winds exceeding average rates of 5 metres per
second (m/s). Results indicate that 11 sites are
available to the ski area for further analysis
and investigation. None of these sites is located
further than 500m from an electrical grid tie-in
nor are they visible from the Trans-Canada
Highway, Town of Banff, or the other ski areas in
the National Park. Using one full-year of derived
wind data from weather stations within the ski
area and on Rundle Mountain, an economic analysis
of the wind energy project was undertaken through
the use of HOMER, a free-ware package created by
the US National Renewable Energy Lab. Results
indicate that the ideal turbine selection would
be three Vestas V47s, 660kW systems producing
roughly 6,420,305kWh of energy annually and
reducing the ski resorts carbon emissions by
over half. The wind mapping procedure used in the
project is a simplified multivariate regression
equation that reduces a complex physical
phenomenon to three elements namely slope,
aspect and elevation. Should the ski area choose
to move forward with installing wind energy, a
more sophisticated wind assessment will be
required.
31Nathalie Lowry
Mining effects on Yukon boreal forest
- The Keno Hill mining district in central Yukon is
located in the Boreal Cordillera Ecozone and has
been subject to mining activity for more than
eight decades. Using a combination of historical
sediment metal concentrations, benthic
invertebrate data and temporal Landsat satellite
imagery collected from the Keno Hill district, an
assessment of the effect of metal contamination
on the boreal forest was made. The sediment
metals and benthic invertebrates were evaluated
on the basis of a control/impact experimental
design to show that metals were having an effect
on the stream ecosystem. The Landsat images were
evaluated to detect changes in the forest over
time using pseudo-supervised classification and
post classification change detection analysis.
The two were then used to see if a connection
between metal contamination and forest change
could be made. The sediment metal concentrations
were higher at the affected sites and remained
consistently high over the study period. Overall
there was no difference detected in the benthic
invertebrate communities over time though the
site with the highest metal concentrations
consistently had the lowest number of individuals
and taxonomic richness. There was a change in
vegetation between the two Landsat images where
mixed spruce forest increased at the affected
sample sites and decreased at the control sites.
While it can be shown that there is evidence of
metal contamination and a change in forest
classification, a link between the forest and the
metals cannot be made without access to forest
classification information prior to mining
activity. As this is not possible, future work
using a similar analysis at different mine sites
32Melanie Luinstra
Howler Monkey Habitat / Hurricane Regeneration
- This study examines a population of howler
monkeys (Alouatta pigra) in Monkey River, Belize
whose habitat was affected by a hurricane in
October 2001. Habitat models were created and
selected for both the pre and post-hurricane time
periods, using logistic regression and Akaikes
Information Criteria applied at two different
scales. Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic
Information System (GIS) techniques were employed
to derive the independent variables and create
the models. It was found that the monkeys were
selecting for areas further away from rivers at
the smaller study scale, but closer to these
types of areas at the larger scale, they were
selecting for different types of vegetation in
the different time periods, and that their
habitat was less homogeneous after the hurricane.
The spatial extrapolation of these regression
models was less successful. However, it is
possible that areas to the east in the smaller
study site were more suitable after the
hurricane. More data collection is needed over
the larger area, and more scale appropriate data
may be used for the smaller area to attain
generalizable spatial models.
33David MacDonald
Classification of mixed prairie pasture types in
southern Alberta using Landsat TM and RADARSAT
imagery
- Having a means of accurately classifying pasture
types over large areas is important to ranchers
and to conservation organizations interested in
preserving native prairie. Radar imagery has been
shown to be complementary to optical imagery with
respect to providing information about rangeland.
The purpose of this study was to use satellite
imagery to assess the differences in radar and
optical digital number (DN) values for different
mixed prairie pasture types in southeastern
Alberta and to develop a means of classifying
them based on these differences. The images used
included a Landsat TM image (acquired July 25th
1998), and five RADARSAT standard beam mode
images (acquired in September of 1996 and May of
1998). Four pasture types were assessed,
including native, Russian wildrye, crested
wheatgrass, and a pasture that was originally
cultivated and seeded to Russian wildrye but has
reverted to native vegetation (referred to as
native/Russian wildrye). The native and
native/Russian wildrye pastures were found to
have significantly lower average DN values for
the Landsat image than the crested wheatgrass and
Russian wildrye. Normalized difference vegetation
index (NDVI) values were low for all classes
indicating that there was little live healthy
vegetation at the time of acquisition (i.e. the
grasses had already senesced). Average radar
backscatter was found to be significantly higher
for the seeded pastures compared to native, the
largest differences being between native vs.
Russian wildrye and native/Russian wildrye. The
fact that the native/Russian wildrye class
(cultivated but with native vegetation) had
average radar DNs most similar to those of
Russian wildrye indicated that the roughness of
the soil surface was dictating backscatter. Using
the Landsat image alone for classification led to
poor separability of the pasture classes.
RADARSAT images alone, or together, also provided
poor separability. Using a combination of the two
types of imagery greatly increased the
separability of the classes. The S7 image
acquired in September was found to be the most
useful for distinguishing between native and
seeded pastures when added to the Landsat image
but the September S1 image was found to provide
the best increase in separability between crested
wheatgrass and Russian wildrye. The S7 image
acquired in May proved to be the least useful
with respect to providing separability between
classes. A combination of the Landsat bands (3,4,
and 5), an NDVI transformation, Frost filtered
RADARSAT images, Mean texture measure for
RADARSAT images, Angular 2nd Moment and Standard
Deviation texture measure images run on both the
September RADARSAT images and band 4 of the
Landsat image provided the best overall
separability of pasture classes. Unsupervised
classification showed the influence of geological
features on the imagery but failed to
discriminate pasture types. For the supervised
classification, overall accuracy for the optimal
combination of imagery and transformations was
84.0, Kappa hat 76.7 for training sites, and
73.5, Kappa hat 61.9 for randomly selected
points. Although this level of accuracy does not
allow for automated quantitative measurement of
pasture areas by type, the classification
obtained provides a means of visually identifying
pasture species type for pure paddocks of
Russian wildrye and native but less so for
crested wheatgrass (accuracy for this class was
low). In summary, the combination of C-band radar
imagery and medium resolution optical imagery
allows reasonable separation of Russian wildrye
pasture from native pasture. This tested
combination was not able to adequately separate
native from crested wheatgrass it is suggested
that optical imagery at a different phenological
stage or radar imagery with a smaller wavelength
(e.g. X-band), or with multiple polarization
might be more profitably employed.
34Shilong Mei
Making features movable in ArcGIS A
functionality of paleogeographic reconstruction
developed using ArcObjects and VBA
- In current GIS software and GIS applications,
features, once digitized into a vector layer,
have fixed present day locations in a selected
coordinate system. To deal with paleogeographic
information, there is a need to restore the past
locations of features of interest. A few
Paleocontinent Reconstruction software packages
have been developed for geologists independently
from GIS. These software packages do not have the
powerful functionalities in data management, data
display and spatial analysis of the conventional
GIS software. Current GIS software packages,
however, do not have the function to restore past
locations of geological features, but do have the
potential to realize it. Paleogeographic
Information System (PGIS), proposed by Mei and
Henderson (2002), is an approach to incorporate
the Paleocontinent Reconstruction function into
GIS. This approach has been realized in ArcMap by
developing a Paleogeographic Reconstruction
functionality using ArcObjects and Visual Basic
for Application (VBA) embedded in ArcMap.
35Sunghuan Moon
DSS traffic issues
- Calgary is one of the fastest growing cities in
North America. The growth is expected to continue
until the middle of 2030. As the city continues
to grow, many new public facilities will be
necessarily needed over the next 30 years.
Locating new schools, and in particular high
schools for grades 10 12, is a significant and
political issue in City of Calgary. Site planning
of schools can be examined in the context of
spatial modeling methodologies focusing on
maximizing students accessibility to their
schools and minimizing the accessibility costs
based on different algorithms. To solve these
various accessibility patterns, several location
models and spatial analysis methods have been
used in geography, operational research and other
disciplines. This paper presents an integrated
spatial solution to the school site problem by
combining location-allocation modeling and
spatial interaction methodologies. Student
population projections are analyzed in various
aspects before implementing these models. The
location-allocation modeling is used for locating
new high schools depending on various situational
parameters such as efficiency, equity, number of
schools, and scale of economies. The spatial
interaction model is used to estimate the new
school location sensitivity, that is, variability
of accessibility if the new locations change. GIS
is used to solve various complex spatial
problems. Powerful and flexible spatial modeling
integration within GIS can contribute to
extending the potential scope of GIS toward not
only determining school locations, but also other
spatial analysis and modeling applications.
36Rupa Mukherjee
Spatial Analysis of Meso-Carnivores and Prey in
the Rocky Mountains
- Wildlife conservation in the Canadian Rockies is
complex in nature, and present a challenge to
conservationists. One method of understanding the
dynamics of an ecological system is to model what
is occurring in nature. Habitat suitability
modelling attempts to replicate the wildlife
habitat processes that occur in nature. Two goals
were present within this study (1) To determine
how the community species affect habitat
suitability for the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis)
and (2) To determine changes in the use of lynx
habitat over a period of three years using a
Geographic Information System (GIS), coupled with
logistic regression and AIC (Akaikes Information
Criteria) statistical techniques. Species are
part of a sophisticated network of community
interactions, which introduces complexity in
modelling the system. Three key species within
the lynx community were identified for analysis
Snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), coyote (Canis
latrans) and American marten (Martes americana).
Hare is considered the most important source of
prey for lynx (Buskirk and Ruggiero, 1994).
Coyote and marten are regarded as common
competitors of lynx for prey (hare) (Lachowski,
1997 ODonoghue et al., 1998). All three species
along with landscape attributes were incorporated
into the lynx model for the three-year study
period (1997, 1998 and 1999). Image comparisons
between the three habitat suitability maps showed
that models varied annually in their predictions
of total high suitability habitat. All three
species (hare, coyote and marten) were integral
to the top models created for lynx in all three
years. Northness, greenness and terrain
ruggedness were found to be the most influential
landscape attributes among the top lynx models.
37Anthonia Onyeahialam
Assessment Modeling of Sage Grouse Breeding
Habitats in North Natrona, Wyoming A RS, SS and
Predictive Modeling Approach Towards
- This project presents results from an exploratory
approach studying sage grouse breeding habitat,
leks, in North Natrona County, Wyoming USA, using
spatial statistical analysis, predictive
modelling and Geographic Information Systems
(GIS). It was found that sage grouse breeding
locations present a pattern derived from a
specific habitat selection process. Contributing
habitat predictor variables in the models were
generated from Landsat imageries using advanced
image processing methods such as hierarchical
classification, spectral pixel unmixing,
knowledge based classification etc. Further, GIS
was used extensively in data generation and
analysis. Four final models that describe sage
grouse breeding habitat selection were developed
for multiple scales using logistic regression and
multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS).
AIC, AICc and model averaging were used to aid
the model selection process in identifying
relevant predictors for lek locations and
choosing the most appropriate model. Two of the
models developed on the home range scale improved
these predictions. Based on a large set of 83
candidate models, important habitat predictor
variables in the final models were elevation,
distance to human development, slope, distance to
roads, NDVI and distance to water. Sagebrush
vegetation was not found among the most important
predictor variables. Finally, a cumulative