David J Coleman

University of New Brunswick · Department of Geodesy & Geomatics Engineering

Devastating floods occur regularly around the world. Recently, machine learning models have been used for flood susceptibility mapping. However, even when these algorithms are provided with adequate ground truth training samples, they can fail to predict flood extends reliably. On the other hand, the height above nearest drainage (HAND) model can p...

Flood is one of the most damaging natural hazards in urban areas in many places around the world as well as the city of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Recently, Fredericton has been flooded in two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019. Due to the complicated behaviour of water when a river overflows its bank, estimating the flood extent is challe...

Semi-automatic extraction

This paper summarizes the discussions related to the panel “Contributions of GIScientists (or GIScience) over the past Twenty Years” at the 2015 Vespucci Institute. Reflections about the past not only provide an account of what occurred, but also may serve as a basis for comparison when in the future somehow related scenarios arise. Such histories...

The authors compare key elements of the emerging field of Indoor Location-Based Services (Indoor LBS) to those currently found in spatial data infrastructure (SDI) programs. After a brief review of SDIs and Location-Based Services, the corresponding drivers, characteristics and emerging issues within the field of Indoor LBS are introduced and discu...

Este artigo apresenta características da Infraestrutura Nacional de Dados Espaciais (INDE) e aspectos arquitetônicos e tecnológicos para um Ecossistema de Infraestruturas de Dados Espaciais (IDEs) proposto para a próxima geração da IDE brasileira. Um protótipo, chamado IDE-CO, está sendo construído fundamentado em uma plataforma habilitada para gov...

In this paper, we develop a constrained Douglas-Peucker algorithm using a polyline to be simplified and other geometries as contextual constraints. We develop a contextual model that incrementally rewinds to the original polyline with relevant characteristic vertices to resolve contextual conflicts. Constraints cov ered in this paper are topology a...

This article discusses the challenges involved in determining the accuracy of large spatial datasets, using airborne Lidar data as an example. Vendor and end-user blunders resulted in errors as high as two metres and as low as 1cm at different locations from the same dataset. To prevent such blunders, the ‘checkpatching’ method is proposed. Checkpa...

This chapter introduces the context and characteristics implicit in conventional digital topographic mapping programs and then contrasts them to important underlying assumptions regarding volunteered geographic information. It defines the term "authoritative data" and challenges its use in the context of comprehensive topographic base-mapping progr...

This paper discusses, conceptually and empirically, the role of geographic ICT (geoICT) and virtual globes (e.g. Google Earth) at the interface of public policy and citizens. Our preliminary findings from on-going field work in an Indian city and in Zanzibar suggest that virtual globe technology can potentially transfer to citizens surveillance pow...

Recent availability of high-resolution satellite images provides a new data source for geospatial data acquisition. This high-resolution data source has made it possible to extract man-made features such as roads and buildings, which are required for varieties of applications including urban planning, creation of GIS databases, and environmental mo...

This paper builds on research by the senior author in reviewing and classifying both VGI contributors and the nature of their contributions. Drawing upon lessons learned in other types of user contribution systems, the authors discuss and propose recommendations as to how a deeper understanding of contributor motivations and the contributions thems...

Advances in personal positioning, Web mapping, cellular communications and wiki technologies have surpassed the original visions of the architects of mapping and spatial data infrastructure programs around the world. Using GPS-enabled cellphones and personal navigation systems, people can and do share location information describing points of inter...

There is great concern within health surveillance, on how to grapple with environmental degradation, rapid urbanization, population mobility and growth. The Internet has emerged as an efficient way to share health information, enabling users to access and understand data at their fingertips. Increasingly complex problems in the health field require...

This HERXML schema covers the semantic, geometric and graphic representations of health information.

Advances in positioning, Web mapping, cellular communications and wiki technologies have outpaced the original visions of GSDI programs around the world. By tapping the distributed knowledge, personal time and energy of volunteer contributors, GI voluntarism is beginning to relocate and redistribute selected GI productive activities from mapping ag...

Due to the recent outbreak of SARS and the danger of pandemic Bird Flu, the ability to strengthen health surveillance and disease control is a growing need among governments. The development of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) has shown great potential in many industries such as emergency management, public health, disaster relief...

Disease data sharing is important for the collaborative preparation, response, and recovery stages of disease control. Disease phenomena are strongly associated with spatial and temporal factors. Web-based Geographical Information Systems provide a real-time and dynamic way to represent disease information on maps. However, data heterogeneities, in...

Recent advances in sensor technology have promoted the mapping communities to investigate the potential and information contents of recent very high-resolution satellite images. In this paper, we report our new semi-automatic building extraction approach and our first results of mapping informal settlement areas obtained using QuickBird high-resolu...

This paper investigates the performance of a spatio-spectral template on Ikonos imagery to automatically detect small recreational boats. The spatio-spectral template is employed which is then enhanced through use of a weighted Euclidean distance metric adapted from the Mahalanobis distance metric. The purpose is to assist the Canadian Coast Guard...

Research and development of Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) has been a branch of GIS study for more than a decade. Using WebGIS and communication tools for public participation, both citizens and municipalities benefit from a more efficient "24/7", GIS-enabled communication and information-sharing platform. PPGIS demands...

Although the importance of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) is well recognized, their implementation is still being impeded due to lack of research and knowledge on the economic issues (macro and micro) associated with implementation. To date, the SDI community - that is primary institutional stakeholders, key users, and interested observers in e...

Real-time access to status of project progress, control of production processes and activities, and automation of production procedures are major hurdles in further improving production throughput and project management in distributed GIS data production projects. Workflow technology promises to address these issues by facilitating, automating or c...

There are many applications for small target detection in engineering: topographic mapping, infrastructure inventories, and pre-engineering design. Near shore marine applications include: mapping breakwaters, piers, navigation structures, pilings, and vessel traffic patterns. The application driving this research is the development of a surveillanc...

Extraction of geospatial data from digital images is one of the most complex and challenging tasks faced by computer vision and photogrammetry communities. Geospatial data and buildings in particular are required for varieties of applications such as urban planning, creation of GIS databases, and urban city models. For decades, extraction of geospa...

Rescuing operators of small recreational vessels is a constant resource drain on the limited operating budget of the Canadian Coast Guard. As a result, a new and innovative application of small target surveillance techniques is being developed at the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, UNB, Canada. This work is being done in support of...

Recreational boating activities represent one of the highest risk populations in the marine environment. Moreover, there is a trend of increased risk exposure by recreational boaters such as those who undertake adventure tourism, sport fishing/hunting, and personal watercraft (PWC) activities. When trying to plan search and rescue activities, there...

Real-time access to project information (documents and progress status), control of production processes/ activities, and the automation of production procedures are major hurdles in further improving production throughput and management of distributed GIS data production projects. CSCW technologies, especially workflow management technology, promi...

The principles and technologies of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) are increasingly integrated in many areas to support distributed collaborative production, especially with the rapid growth of the Internet and broadband network technologies. To achieve the improved efficiency and productivity, group processes and interaction must be pro...

Canada Phone: 1-506-453-5194; Fax: 1-506-453-4943 E-Mail: dcoleman@unb.ca, b17gc@unb.ca Garfield Giff B.Sc. (Hons) (University of East London), M.Sc. (ITC) is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering at the University of New Brunswick in Canada. His research interests are the economic issues associated with...

Satellite imagery of dynamic environments can only yield precise ground object positional information if temporally accurate ground truthing occurs. Thus, detailed knowledge of satellite overpass characteristics permits ground truthing activities to coincide with imagery acquisition, and also ensures that the deployment of such resources is done in...

Summary Canadian federal and provincial government organisations have long been engaged in building and maintaining extensive collections of digital topographic mapping datasets, road network files and property mapping databases in support of their own respective mandates and obligations. Beginning in the mid-1980s, cooperative spatial data- sharin...

Digital map and chart providers are under increasing pressure to bring their original and updated products to market in shorter time frames than ever before. As the contract production model has come to play an increasingly significant role in digital mapping and charting programs, workflow processes and production tasks have at least been extended...

Geomatics firms are under competitive pressure to bring their products to market more quickly. Increasingly, production contracts involve multiparticipant, distributed project teams. This paper discusses the potential to apply computer-supported cooperative work concepts and groupware tools to multiparticipant, distributed geomatics projects. Group...

Traditionally, there are three major challenges facing the utility industry: large service areas, many distributed customers, and remotely distributed aging facilities. Recent deregulation and increasing market competition also have imposed more sophisticated difficulties. Utilities are seeking new technologies to tackle these challenges, and autom...

The infrastructure for a knowledge-based society is becoming a reality in Canada. As a result, the appropriate roles of government, community organisations and individual citizens in public decision-making processes are being reconsidered. The authors examine progress in New Brunswick towards building a province-wide land information infrastructure...

This paper addresses the state of spatial data infrastructures within North America in late 1997. After providing some background underlying the philosophy and development of the SDI concept, the authors discuss effects of technology, institutions, and standardization that confront the cohesive implementation of a common infrastructure today. The p...

The concept of global geospatial data infrastructure is presented as a logical extension of telecommunications-based information infrastructure initiatives and both national and regional base mapping paradigms developed through the 1960s and 1970s. However, the directions of such initiatives-and there are many-are shaped by the respective requireme...

The paper examines the thirty-year evolution of land information management in New Brunswick, beginning with the early vision of linking land information with environmental and resource-based information to support improved decision-making. After discussing the early inititatives undertaken to establish a land information infrastructure, the paper...

The dramatic growth of a national - and eventually a global - spatial data infrastructure (or "GSDI') environment will require a fundamental reassessment of the ways in which spatial data is marketed by producers, examined by potential customers, and finally delivered to the end-user. Developing the most appropriate responses to new customer demand...

One of the concerns of GIS users is the exchange of map data from one system to another. This paper describes a framework for evaluating interchange standards based on coordinate systems, representation of spatial objects, topology, attribute data, and encoding methods. The framework is applied to compare seven interchange standards including CCSM,...

During the 1980s, a number of studies, conferences and events have served to emphasize the fact that the field of surveying and mapping activities has been undergoing some profound changes - changes which have affected the scientific, technical, and even professional aspects of the activities. These profound changes have prompted us to redefine the...

The shift in market emphasis from conventional to digital mapping is now approaching completion in Canada. However, while hardware and software are evolving rapidly, management preparation and practices are not keeping pace. In some private companies, the loosely planned implementation of digital mapping and geographic information systems are resul...

A country's economic and social development is shaped in large measure not only by its distinctive physical and economic geography, but also by how this geography is perceived by its people and leaders. Knowledge about the physical character and natural resources of a country is of fundamental importance in undertaking any development strategy and...

Building on earlier Public Participation Geographic Information System research, a GIS-enabled Online Discussion Forum prototype named GeoDF is now being implemented and evaluated. This paper aims at empirically evaluating the usability of the GeoDF prototype to determine: (1) whether or not this new technology will indeed lead to "better" particip...

Advances in personal positioning, Web mapping, cellular communications and wiki technologies have surpassed the original visions of the architects of spatial data infrastructure programs around the world. Using GPS-based cellphones and personal navigations systems, people now view their own position (and those of others) in real time on a backdrop...

In the mid 1980s, the use of conceptual models, common standards, and metadata as well as high level designed GISs became more common. Together with concepts such as data warehousing, these advancements led to the idea of Spatial Data Infrastructure - SDI (known inside Brazil as Infra-Estrutura de Dados Espaciais - IDE). SDI have allowed efficient...

The New Brunswick Geographic Information Corporation (NBGIC) recently began the development of the Land Gazette as part of its land records initiative, PLANET. The concept of the Land Gazette is to provide a mechanism for agencies, departments and municipalities to serve public notice of time-limited interests and notices for parcels of land. Examp...