Adding the Third Dimension to Natural Resource Assessments: Watercourse Crossings & Forest...

ADDING THE DIMENSION TO

NATURAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENTS:

WATERCOURSE CROSSINGS &

FOREST INVENTORY PLOTS

Javed Iqbal

FARO 3D Documentation Conference

October 15th 2014

Javed Iqbal

Bruce Nielsen

Who are we?

• Woodlands North, established in 2000

• Professional consulting services to energy and forestry sectors specializing in far upstream and final field work and all supporting geomatics

• 23 professional, technical, and administrative staff

• Main office in Edmonton, field office in Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada• Main office in Edmonton, field office in Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada

• Members in the CAPF, CAPFT, ASPB

2Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D

BiologicalForest Ecological

3Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D

• Ecological

Land

Classification

• Ecosite

modelling

• Soil

classification

• AVI modelling

• Aural surveys

• Visual surveys

• Passive surveys

• Active trapping

• Growth & Yield

• Forest volume

calculations

• Site Index

• Waste &

residue

• TDA & Cruise

volume

BiologicalForest Ecological

• AVI modelling

• Rare plantsvolume

4Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D

TerrestrialSpecies Aquatic

5Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D

• Stream

classification

• Crossing

inventory

• Species

inventory

• Stream reach

mapping

• Habitat linkage

• Riparian

• Covert creation

• Source / sink

dynamics

• Patch

dynamics

• Rare plants

• Songbird

• Amphibian

• Small mammal

• Owl survey

• Fishery

• Vegetation

TerrestrialSpecies Aquatic

mapping• Rare plants

6Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D

WellsiteRoad Crossings

7Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D

• Regulatory

submissions

• Crossing

assessment

• Crossing

replacement

• Construction

monitoring

• Prescribe and

treat

• Reforestation

• Invasive species

• DSA & rec. cert.

application

• No entry

analysis

• Rill and gully

erosion

• Mass wasting

• Washouts

• Sediment

control plans

• Bioengineering

WellsiteRoad Crossings

monitoringanalysis• Bioengineering

8Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D

• Spatial/non

spatial

• Predictive

• Inferential

• Adaptive

• Statistical

• Decision

Support Systems

• Geodatabase

• dbase

construction

• dbase

management

• Graphic user

interface

• ArcPad

interface

• Hand-held

device

• Digital & Spatial

ManagementCollection Analysis

Support Systems• Digital & Spatial

9Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D Inventory Ecology Reclamation GIS/R&D

LIDAR

Optical remote-sensing technique that uses laser light to densely sample the surface of the earth, producing highly accurate x,y,z measurements

TopographicTopographic

AerialAerial TerrestrialTerrestrial

MobileMobile

BathymetircBathymetirc StaticStatic

Aerial Aerial LiDARLiDAR

Aerial Aerial LiDARLiDAR

Aerial Aerial LiDARLiDAR

2: Wet Areas

3: Existing Roads

4: Slope

1: Stream Crossings

4: Slope

1: Infrastructure

(hazard)

Distance

(meters)

Hazard

Factor

None > 800 1

Low 500 – 800 3

High 300 – 500 6

Extreme < 300 12

2: Access

(hazard)

Distance

(meters)

Hazard

Factor

None > 300 1

Low 200 – 300 3

4: Wet Areas

(hazard)

DWT

(meters)

Hazard

Factor

Low 0 – 0.5 1

High 0.5 – 1 2

Extreme > 1 4

5: Slope

(hazard)

Degrees Hazard

Factor

Low 0 – 2 1

High 2 – 5 4

6: Water

(hazard)

Distance

(meters)

Hazard

Factor

None 0 0

Low < 700 1

High 700 – 2000 3

Extreme > 2000 5

Low 200 – 300 3

High 100 – 200 6

Extreme < 100 12

3: Fuel

(hazard)

Height

(meters)

Hazard

Factor

None < 1 1

Low 1 – 5 2

High 5 – 15 4

Extreme > 15 8

High 2 – 5 4

Extreme > 5 8

Terrestrial Terrestrial LiDARLiDAR

1:1: Integrate within workflows for better Integrate within workflows for better documentationdocumentation

22:: Extract key variables to replace existing manual Extract key variables to replace existing manual processprocess

33:: Create cost effective processes Create cost effective processes -- replacing replacing existing existing

methodologiesmethodologies

44:: Automated solutionsAutomated solutions

Forest Resource InventoryForest Resource Inventory

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

Manually collecting inventory attributes in field can be time Manually collecting inventory attributes in field can be time

consuming, costly and susceptible to subjective errorsconsuming, costly and susceptible to subjective errors

Terrestrial Terrestrial LiDARLiDAR has the potential to improve the efficiencyhas the potential to improve the efficiency and and

accuracy of forest resource inventory accuracy of forest resource inventory accuracy of forest resource inventory accuracy of forest resource inventory

Automated and most costAutomated and most cost--effective techniques are neededeffective techniques are needed

51

What type of file formats would

work best for data extraction?

Intake

Watercourse crossingsWatercourse crossings

52

Before Repair Work After Repair Work

Output

Video

55

56

Any tool/method to create planes

or surface based on point to point

distance for complex objects like distance for complex objects like

vegetation?

57Any tool/method to convert distance

(x,y,z) from reference scan to UTM

Coordinates?

58

Any tool/method to extract

Digital Elevation Model with out

point classification?

TAKE HOME MESSAGES

• Terrestrial LiDAR provide promising technology for documentation• Safe

• Accuracy

• Detail• Detail

• It’s the future for resource inventory

• Potential comes with lots of limitations• Line of sight

• Weather

• Processing

• Automated means of extracting useful parameters needs to be formulated

THANK YOU !

For more information about the Spatial Analysis, R & D:

60

For more information about Woodlands North Projects:

Bruce Nielsen, RPF, Principal Forester

Woodlands North

4012 41 Avenue, Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada T7S 0A9

Phone: (780) 706-2188

Cell: (780) 720-2402

Email: bruce@woodlandsnorth.co

Javed Iqbal, PhD, Manager GIS, Research & Development

Woodlands North

18136 – 102 Ave., Edmonton, Canada T5S 1S7

Phone: (780) 488-1945

Cell: (780) 226-9151

Email: javed@woodlandsnorth.co