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SDI Snapshot - April 2019

Did you know about the new Community Map of Canada vector cache, which you can access from your basemap picker? What is the National Road Network (NRN) database? How can Law Enforcement and National Security agencies benefit from Esri Crime Analysis solution for ArcGIS Pro? See 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 and products this month.

SDI News

How can you access the Community Map of Canada vector basemap?

Have you checked out the new Community Map of Canada vector cache? Are you curious to find out how you can start benefitting from the speed and currency of this new basemap? Learn about a few simple steps on how to include the new Community Map of Canada vector cache in your basemap picker.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) releases 2018 space-based crop inventory

AAFC has published the 2018 version of the annual crop inventory digital maps generated from satellite imagery for all of Canada, in support of a national crop inventory program. The maps are based on a methodology of applying optical (Landsat-8, Sentinel-2) and radar (RADARSAT-2) based satellite images giving a final spatial resolution of 30m. Provincial and other agencies provided the ground-truth information for this inventory.

NaturalVue® cloud-free imagery mosaic data for Canada available

The NaturalVue® 2.0 image mosaic, which includes images for Canada, is now available through the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. This next-generation global image mosaic at a spatial resolution of 15-metres encompasses over 60,000 Landsat 8 images and is virtually cloud free. Improvements on previous versions include more current imagery, enhanced positional accuracy, colour fidelity and spatial resolution.

Canada and Sweden cooperate on Earth Observation capabilities at the Inuvik Satellite Station

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) in coooperation with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is expanding its data reception capabilities at the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility (ISSF) in Canada’s Northwest Territories. This expansion marks the next step in a long-standing and productive collaboration between SSC and NRCan.

SDI Data

National Road Network (NRN) data available for Canada

The NRN is a seamless geospatial vector database containing Canadian road features comprising of over 1 million kilometres of road network centreline data. The data has been separated by provincial and territorial jurisdictions. The NRN, originally distributed and housed within the GeoBase brand, is now managed by Statistics Canada and can be found on the federal government’s open data portal.

The Open Database of Buildings for Canada

The Open Database of Buildings (ODB) is a collection of open data on buildings, primarily building footprints, and is made available under the Open Government Licence - Canada. The ODB brings together 65 datasets originating from various government sources of open data. The database aims to enhance access to a harmonized collection of building footprints across Canada.

New Brunswick released complete provincial open data LiDAR coverage

New Brunswick released the 2018 LiDAR data for public download and became the first Canadian province to achieve complete aerial LiDAR coverage under an open data licence. All of the LiDAR data is now available for download. The data includes over 100,000 files and totals 7.2 terabytes of compressed files.

SDI Products

A simple automated web mapping system: Combining data collection and mapping

Thousands of field-based observations can be collected in a single scientific field program. The modern approach to quickly visualizing these observations is to make that data available on a web map. Esri web maps are designed to be a living entity reflecting changes to the underlying datasets at the time they occur. Using a real-time web map removes the ‘task’ of reproducing a map when changes in the data emerge.

Crime Analysis Story Map – free add-in ribbon for ArcGIS Pro

Esri Crime Analysis solution for ArcGIS Pro supports the specific analytical workflows of Law Enforcement and National Security agencies. The solution includes an ArcGIS Pro ribbon that combines often-used GIS tools with new custom tools into sections that follow the standard analytical process, so analysts can quickly use ArcGIS Pro to deliver new insights to the rest of the agency.

ArcGIS Indoors for smart workplaces released

Esri recently added a new extension to their ArcGIS product line that takes mapping, resource management and analytical data indoors. Additionally, it is complemented by an indoor positioning system (IPS), allowing for real-time wayfinding inside buildings.

About the Author

Gordon Plunkett is the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Director at Esri Canada. He has more than 30 years of experience in GIS and Remote Sensing in both the public and private sectors. He currently sits as a member of the Community Map of Canada Steering Committee, GeoAlliance Canada Interim Board of Directors, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Technical Committee, the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) Committee on Geomatics, the University of Laval Convergence Network Advisory Committee and the Advisory Board to the Carleton University Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre. During his career, Gordon has worked on projects in more than 20 countries and has contributed to numerous scientific conferences and publications. At Esri Canada, he is responsible for developing and supporting the company’s SDI vision, initiatives and outreach, including producing content for the SDI blog.

Profile Photo of Gordon Plunkett