WHEN AND WHY YOU NEED GEOSPATIAL DATA. SIX COMMON QUESTIONS ANSWERED.

March 27, 2018 | Written by: Heidi Hudson

The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) is rich in resources compared to other regions in Canada. This creates a higher demand for land use and consequently an increased demand for preservation. With all of this interest in resource information, organizations require geospatial data to inform decisions.

What is geospatial data used for?

This data is used for planning & disaster mitigation, monitoring and reporting, as well as, to inform design and development decisions. More specific examples include:

Flood Plain Modeling
Logistics & Communications
Utility Corridors
Forestry-fire management
Environmental Analysis and Archeology
Coastal Erosion and Study
Emergency Planning
Oil and Gas Exploration and Development
Transportation- RR, Hwy, Airports
Land Development- Subdivisions, Infrastructure

Who is using geospatial data?

The organizations that typically require this data are municipalities, cities and towns, plus engineering, pipeline, oil & gas, surveying, geomatics, environmental and mapping companies.

What are the various types of geospatial data?

Orthophotography, High Resolution Satellite Imagery, Aerial Photography; Stereo Imagery & Aerial Triangulation, Photogrammetric Elevation Data and LiDAR.

Is free geospatial data worth it?

Simply put, no. The quality doesn’t compare and it is not worth putting your project at risk of failing or your analysis at risk of containing incorrect information.

Drone Versus Fixed Wing Aerial Photography
Drone Pros

Drones are lightweight and portable and can be deployed quickly to capture low altitude imagery. Drones mounted with cameras are ideal for commercial applications such as:

Capturing breaking news
Visual inspections of water towers, wind turbines and other infrastructure
Damage, hazard and crisis assessments
Marketing real estate

Drone Cons

Short battery life limits each flight
Can’t cover large areas quickly, flights are limited to the neighborhood level
Small, inexpensive cameras
Drones can’t go too far away from the operator. If you’re inspecting a hazardous situation, you still need to get relatively close.
Regulations limit altitudes and distances to structures and airports.
Legal and privacy concerns.
Drones are impacted by localized weather phenomena, vibrations, and exposure to dust and airborne debris on the sensors.

Fixed Wing Pros

The higher costs to operate a fixed wing plane can be easily justified.

Covers large areas quickly, a city can be imaged in just a few hours
Higher quality camera with separated spectral bands and longer focal length
The weight of sophisticated camera equipment, gyroscopes, GPS etc needed for good quality ortho imagery can easily be carried
Data security and redundancy
Value added products created from imagery like elevation mapping are possible; imagery remains relevant and useful longer

( Drone Facts – Credit – www.firstbasesolutions.com for more details check out their excellent blog )

How to Acquire Geospatial Data?

You can contact us for a free quote and demo at orderdesk@tarin.ca

At Tarin, we take great pride in being a “One Stop Shop” for all of your Aerial Survey needs (including drone). Tarin acquires more than 50,000 km2 of Aerial Photography each season and we will acquire whatever your project requires, be it imagery or LiDAR, aerial or satellite; smallscale or large, colour, infra-red or black and white.

We help clients understand what they need for their project, helping them save time, money and the burden of any unanswered questions.