SDI Snapshot - May 2019
What is NG9-1-1 and what role does GIS play in the implementation of NG9-1-1 in Canada? How is Canada’s CIO planning digital transformation for the country? Find out what’s happening in Canada and globally in the world of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) through this collection of the latest and most significant SDI news, data, products and events this month.
SDI News
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has mandated telecommunications service providers to upgrade the current analog-based national 9-1-1 system to digital-based Next-Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1). What goes into implementing this new emergency communications infrastructure in Canada? This first post in an educational series, comprising of articles and thought-leadership content, explains various aspects of public safety emergency response and their relationships with GIS systems.
Canada’s chief information officer outlines plans for Canada’s digital transformation
Alex Benay, CIO for the Government of Canada, was interviewed recently by TheFutureEconomy.ca on whether Canadian governance models are ripe for digital disruption. When asked, “Do you think Canada should have a national digital strategy and, if so, what should it look like?” he answered: I’ve never been a huge fan of strategy in the digital space because things change so quickly. If we spend two or three years developing a strategy, the entire digital economy would have changed by the time we are done.” Read more about his insights on Canada’s future digital economy.
Natural Resources Canada provides flood extent polygons for affected areas
In response to large flood events, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) may activate emergency geomatics services to create flood extent polygons from satellite imagery. Current year flood extents are published as web maps and when new satellite imagery becomes available, NRCan will extract flood extent polygons and update the dataset in near real time (4 hours).
The emergence of a geospatial cloud and the continuing evolution of cloud computing
The combined forces of the Internet and cloud computing are dramatically changing how software companies deliver their functionality, and this is clearly impacting and transforming how end users do their work. Over the past decade, Esri has transformed the fundamental architecture of ArcGIS to be entirely web services-based. We refer to this architecture as a Web GIS platform.
SDI Data
2010 Land Cover of Canada – Landsat-7, 30-metre resolution now available
The Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) at Natural Resources Canada produced this new high-resolution dataset of Canada’s 15 land cover classes from 13,350 Landsat-7 satellite images taken between 2009 and 2011 for cloud- and snow-free national coverage. The 30-metre resolution of the dataset will help improve the accuracy of local and regional-scale analyses and applications.
Mapping ice roads in the Northwest Territories using NRCan’s open CanVec data
New content is now available to demonstrate how to create a transportation map of land and ice roads north from Yellowknife to a diamond mine on Contwoyto Lake. The posts highlight an efficient strategy for thinning the downloaded CanVec data, creating a custom map projection, enhancing the cartography and creating a bespoke north arrow.
Four areas where the government must break down data silos
One of the biggest challenges that governments face today is the continued existence of data silos, where valuable information is locked behind a handful of gatekeepers preventing easy data access for decision making. A recent study indicated that organizations are amassing enormous amounts of data, but nearly 90% of it is never analyzed. For governments, breaking down silos creates the connections necessary for continued evolution and innovation. Any strategy to break down public sector silos must address the four key areas of government interaction.
SAR handbook: Comprehensive methodologies for forest monitoring and biomass estimation
The Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) handbook is now available online for download. Handbook chapters include SAR basics, SAR for forest change detection, forest height estimation, biomass estimation, mangrove monitoring, and sampling design. Each chapter includes theoretical basics and applied exercises including ArcGIS examples.
SDI Products
Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) uses ArcGIS Pro to map transportation assets
LiDAR and video cameras attached to both moving vehicles and drones are used to rapidly build highly accurate 3D representations of 16,000 lane miles of roads in Utah. ArcGIS Pro allows UDOT to create a representation of roads and road assets in both 2D and 3D representations.
Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) enable exact localization of people or objects inside a building in real time. Indoor positioning technologies are enabling many applications across multiple industries and are gaining popularity in indoor environments such as airports, train stations, hospitals and corporate campuses. Click here to learn more about the companion technology, Indoor Mapping.
OGC certifications for ArcGIS 10.7, ArcGIS Pro 2.3 posted
OGC Certifications are now current for ArcMap 10.7, ArcGIS Enterprise 10.7 and ArcGIS Pro 2.3. These include certifications for GeoPackage (v1.2), WFS 2.0, WMS 1.3.0, WCS 2.0 - Core, EO Profile, and other extensions, KML 2.2.0, and Simple Features. For further information, check out the OGC compliance and certifications page and search for "ESRI" in the "Product Provider" dropdown.