Dr. Barry White reviews the progress made with LiDAR and wet area mapping in Alberta. Alberta's $20 million investment in LIDAR and new innovations are providing new information for forestry and oil and gas companies (e.g. Estimates of watertable depth). Plus, the data behind the wet areas mapping (flow direction, water accumulation, wetland area) is available for further use and interpretation. The Open Government initiative gives industry access to this data. He discusses DEM artifacts due to deep peat. With a new model developed in 2010, wetland area mapping has improved. Connectivity mapping of wetland to wetland is also in development for oil spill mitigation.
Dr. Barry White is a Provincial Forest Management Specialist with Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development and an adjunct professor with the Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta. He presented at the Foothills Research Institute's Water Program Workshop, Feb. 6, 2013.
