Royal Military College of Canada
Research Groups at RMC
Remote Sensing Lab
Dr. Kathy Creber, Greg Hounsell or Graeme Watson
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Database Archives
Base Environmental Monitoring using Geomatics & Remote Sensing
Canadian Military Bases, Wings, and other entities manage relatively large tracts of lands up to one million hectares in size. These lands must be able to continuously support realistic military training; that is our military training must be sustainable on these lands. To help keep these lands viable and to assist in monitoring the environmental conditions on our lands, an initiative has been established to evaluate the effectiveness of using remote sensing in conjunction with a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to detect and assess change in the environmental conditions occurring on these lands.
GIS data collected and synthesized to create knowledge-base for CF Base
Funded by the office of the Director General for the Environment (DGE), the BEMGRS Lab at the Royal Military College collects and runs analyses of the available data in the detection, identification and quantification of environmental changes. Remote Sensing data (satellite imagery) and GIS are used separately or combined to accomplish this service.
Elevation contour data used to create grids and 3D terrain modelling for analysis
Remote Sensing imagery is a powerful tool providing a good overall view and knowledge of the installations and resources of a base. It is very useful for estimating the aerial extent of impacted areas and delineating natural features such as wetlands, natural habitats, floodplains, etc. Determining the health of vegetation, extent of erosion and fire area delineation are environmental parameters easily detected and monitored through this medium.
Spatial analysis is important in determining relationships between objects in the world and the data collected about them. The Remote Sensing data may be converted to vector format or left as a raster image for inclusion into GIS datasets.
Tables of data from analyses can be hot-linked to either Remote Sensing imagery or GIS topological datasets, reviewed and processed in real-time for better management of resources. When GIS data gathered in fieldwork as well as other sources, is combined with RS imagery, a more coherent and developed impact study can be performed; from finding trends over the past years, developing a current working model, to predicting possible outcomes for the future.
RS imagery overlayed with GIS vegetation, trails, roads, and CFB boundary coverages
Fusing GIS and Remote Sensing imagery further builds the capability and understanding of the impact and sustainability on DND training lands. The data generated from Remote Sensing and GIS is available for output in various formats for ease of dissemination; CD's, tapes, paper maps, reports and presentations are services available from the lab.
