Volume 11 No. 1

• Harvesting efficiently using mobile GIS
  Corner Brook Pulp and Paper (CBPP), a division of Kruger Publication Papers, has been using GIS since 1987 when they had a direct link to the Newfoundland Forest Service GIS located at Herald Towers, in Corner Brook. Today, they use ArcPad for pre-harvest planning field work by capturing the necessary terrain and tree stand attributes required for inventory analysis and operations planning. They also use ArcPad to help navigate harvesters in the woods and record harvesting activity.
  
  
• City of Kitchener leverages mobile GIS to conduct street tree inventory
  Thousands of trees line the streets of Kitchener. In contrast to other types of assets, trees are one of the few owned by a municipality that actually increases in value as it ages. Maintaining the health and well being of these assets poses a number of unique challenges for Kitchener's Forest Managers since trees are living organisms that require maintenance, protection, and eventually replacement. Forest Managers need to identify hazards such as dead branches that hang over parking spots, streets, and sidewalks and react quickly in order to prevent personal injury or damage to property. It is also the duty of the City's Forest Managers to protect trees and educate internal and external stakeholders on the many benefits that trees provide.
  
  
• Geological Survey of Canada: Mining for data
  Mineral resources and mining activities are an important aspect of the Canadian economy. Therefore, it is essential to have an unbiased understanding of the country's mineral assets and their economic potential for the nation. Since 1842 the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), now part of the Earth Science Sector under the Department of Natural Resources of Canada, has been Canada's premier agency for geoscientific information and research. The GSC provides its geoscientific data to industry, universities, and other government organizations in Canada and throughout the world. In consideration of sustainable development of Canada's resources, environmental protection, and technological innovation, information from the GSC can form the foundation upon which mineral exploration decisions are made.
  
  
• From the field to the enterprise using an electronic silviculture system
  New Brunswick's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the key government agency dedicated to the preservation, protection, effective management, and maintenance of the Province's natural resources. In November 2003, the DNR undertook an initiative aimed at providing means to exchange accurate silviculture information between internal and external stakeholders with the creation of a silviculture application. While the initial silviculture application addressed a number of administrative requirements DNR had with respect to the collection and submission of field data, it did not provide multi-user access to the most current spatial and non-spatial information. This led to improvements by automating the process used for collecting and submitting field data through the development of an electronic silviculture database called ESilv. Core users of the ESilv application include DNR's regional and district staff who use it during the course of their field season which runs from May to November each year.
  
  
• Town of Oakville enhances service with AVL solutions
  In order to maintain the Town's network of roads, Town managers rely upon a number of technologies including GIS which is used daily to store, retrieve, manipulate, query, and report on mapping and related information across various departments. A Commission goal was to implement an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) solution to interface with these technologies so that they could have the ability to determine the whereabouts of their fleet of over 300 public vehicles.
  
  
• Enterprise integrated field mapping applications
  Saint John Energy's commitment to integrating field mapping applications within the broader enterprise has not only leveraged asset inventory investments but also provided increased efficiencies in workflow management and accuracy for Saint John Energy field staff utilizing mobile GIS technologies.
  
  
• Des applications de cartographie sur le terrain intégrées aux systèmes de l'entreprise
  L'engagement de Saint John Energy à intégrer les applications cartographiques sur le terrain à l'ensemble de l'entreprise lui a permis nonseulement de tirer parti de ses investissements en actifs, mais également d'accroître la précision et d'améliorer la gestion du processus des travaux de son personnel qui utilise les technologies SIG mobiles sur le terrain.
  
  
• Manitoba Hydro's field data collection and photo management applications
  For several years Manitoba Hydro has used GIS in various departments including the Hydro Power Planning Department. In 2006, the Hydro Power Planning Department developed a field data capture application using ArcGIS Engine, a developer product for creating custom GIS desktop applications.
  
  
• Students learn the value of mobile GIS
  In Wawa, Ontario, students at Michipicoten High School have been out in the community hard at work with their GPS units. At Michipicoten HS the Grade 11 Geographer's Toolkit course has been offered for the past four years and this year is taught by Ms. Moore-McKenzie. This course focuses on giving students practical experiences with geotechnologies and related skills. Students engage in a variety of areas including image interpretation, desktop mapping, analysis using GIS, use of GPS, and data collection and management. In Ms. Moore-McKenzie's course, students have been working with ArcView 9.2 and Garmin GPS devices to make a contribution to their community.