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Volume 10 No. 2
- One-stop access to environment and agriculture information
Canadians have one-stop access to information and decision support for agriculture and the environment through a new web portal developed by the Government of Canada. Online since 2006, the National Land and Water Information Service (NLWIS) provides interactive maps, planning tools, expertise, and geospatial data highlighting landuse, soil, water, climate, and biodiversity across the country.
- Meridian Mapping modernizes mining surveys
Meridian Mapping Ltd. is a multi-disciplinary company, providing a wide range of services that integrate GPS, GIS, and numerous other mapping disciplines for resource-based industries. In the field, Meridian Mapping uses a variety of software programs including ArcPad, Trimble GPSCorrect, and Trimble TerraSync. Using ArcPad with Trimble GPSCorrect, the company can use their GIS vector and raster data in its native format without going through time-consuming data translation processes. "Essentially, we are able to take our GIS in the field with us," says co-owner Dugald Dunlop. One of Meridian's specialties is using Visual Nature Studio (VNS) software to generate photorealistic animated sequences that integrate diverse geographic data. They are an important final step in facilitating client and stakeholder visualization of a project. VNS allows Meridian to animate data in a variety of ways, displaying diverse information such as drill hole data, ore body data, planned excavations, and mine and site infrastructure. Clients find this photorealistic approach to stakeholder consultation an invaluable tool aiding in the successful development of a mine.
- GIS for the sustainable management of fish stocks
With nearly 18,000 students, Memorial University of Newfoundland is the largest university in Atlantic Canada. Research in GIS within the department of Geography ranges from modelling the impact of climate change on vegetation, supporting conservation of endangered marine species, and analyzing the seabed morphology to identifying structures related to oil and gas reservoirs. "GIS allows us to integrate heterogeneous fisheries and environmental data into a single data model that has made it suitable for subsequent analyses and visualization," said Dr. Devillers.
- Online data access and customizable GIS tools
The Ministry of Agriculture and Lands Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) in the province of British Columbia has a mandate to provide local government, private industry, and the public with access to provincial natural resource sector data. In doing so, the Bureau supports users of GIS across several ministries within the provincial government involved in landuse planning, decision making, disaster response, and the management of legal interests and tenures within the provincial government. In 2006, the ILMB launched an online data portal called the Natural Resource Information Center (NRIC), and since then has been continually improving the functionality and flexibility of the site. The NRIC provides online access and download tools for the Land and Resource Data Warehouse (LRDW).
- Contiguous coastal mapping provides critical marine information
Coastal and Ocean Resources Inc. (CORI), based in Sidney, British Columbia, has been supplying professional consulting services to the geological and environmental sciences industry since 1987. Their focus is the marine environment from the coastline to the deep sea. Of the many projects this group has undertaken, one of the most significant is the ShoreZone coastal habitat mapping program which has been widely used by the Pacific Northwest over the past fifteen years.
- Abrinord uses GIS for water and landscape resource management
Abrinord (Agence de bassin versant de la rivière du Nord) is a non profit organization working to implement an integrated watershed management program in the Laurentian region of Quebec. Created in 2003, when the rivière du Nord was identified as one of the 33 priority rivers included in the Québec Water Policy, Abrinord was tasked with a mandate from the Ministry of the Environment to develop a watershed management plan for the area
- Abrinord crée une étude sur les lacs à l'aide d'un SIG
L'Agence de bassin versant de la rivière du Nord (Abrinord) est un organisme à but non lucratif qui ouvre à mettre en place la gestion intégrée de l'eau par bassin versant (GIEBV). Cet organisme fut créé en 2003 suite à une volonté du milieu et à l'identification de la rivière du Nord parmi les 33 rivières prioritaires inscrites dans la Politique nationale de l'eau du gouvernement québécois. Abrinord s'est donc vue confier, une fois créée, le mandat de mettre en place la GIEBV par le ministère de l'Environnement de l'époque.
- Domtar uses GIS to automate water crossing calculations
Domtar Corporation is the largest integrated producer of uncoated freesheet paper and one of the largest manufacturers of papergrade market pulp in North America. Accessing forest resources in Northern Ontario to produce these papers quite often results in the expense of building roads. Since streams are in abundance at many locations where forest operations are to occur, forest companies have little or no choice but to build a number of access roads that cross these streams. Using GIS as the framework, Domtar set out to improve the accuracy and timeliness of their road building activities and created an application using both ArcObjects and the Spatial Analyst extension that automates the process of performing water crossing calculations.
- Engaging youth at Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park is the largest and most northerly Canadian rocky mountain national park, part of a spectacular World Heritage Site. The park spans 11,228 square kilometres of broad valleys, rugged mountains, glaciers, forests, alpine meadows, and wild rivers along the eastern slopes of the Rockies in western Alberta. At
the Parks Canada Palisades Centre, located in Jasper National Park, park staff have been using GIS and GPS technology to bring National Park stewardship messages to Alberta's youth.
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