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Shoreline mapping vector data in regions along Canada's west coast, based on low-altitude helicopter videography in support of environmental emergency preparedness efforts

With the changing climate conditions, marine traffic along Canada’s coastal regions has increased over the past couple of decades and the need to improve our state of preparedness for oil-spill-related emergencies is critical. Baseline coastal information, such as shoreline form, substrate, and vegetation type, is required for prioritizing operations, coordinating onsite spill response activities (i.e. Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique [SCAT]), and providing information for wildlife and ecosystem management.



Between 2013 and 2019, georeferenced high-definition videography and photos were collected for various study sites along the west coast. The study areas include the mainland, inlets, channels and islands along the BC coast starting from Kitimat in the north to Quadra Island in the south, including Haida Gwaii and North Vancouver Island in the west and Burrard Inlet in the extreme south.



Data was collected during low tide conditions (where applicable) between July and September. Low-altitude helicopter surveys were conducted at each of the study site to capture video of the shoreline characteristics. In addition to acquiring videography, ground-based observations were recorded in several locations for validation.



Shoreline segmentation was then carried out by manual interpretation of the oblique videography and the photos aided by ancillary data. This involved splitting and classifying the shoreline vectors based on homogeneity of the upper intertidal zone. Detailed geomorphological information (i.e. shoreline type, substrate, slope, height, accessibility etc.) describing the upper intertidal, lower intertidal, supratidal and backshore zones was extracted from the video and entered into a geospatial database using a customized data collection form. In addition, biological characteristics like biobands, water features, fauna, human use etc. observed along the coast were recorded.



The data was also validated through ground samples (when available) and a second interpreter QA (quality analysis) was performed on the dataset to ensure high quality and consistency.



The final dataset contains segments ranging in length from 150 metres (45 metres for study areas surveyed in 2018-19) to 2500 metres. In total, from 2013 to 2019, about 15,000 km of shoreline were segmented.

Basic view

Metadata Record Information

File Identifier
a78f026c-d998-46db-aecc-a488f247fb63 XML
Date Stamp
2022-10-13T13:20:14
Metadata language

eng; CAN

Character set
UTF8
Hierarchy Level
Dataset
Point of contact
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada - Inquiry Centre

10 Wellington, 23rd Floor, Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0H3, Canada
819-997-2800

819-994-1412

https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change.html
 

Data identification

Title

Shoreline mapping vector data in regions along Canada's west coast, based on low-altitude helicopter videography in support of environmental emergency preparedness efforts

Date (Publication)
2020-08-15
Date (Creation)
2020-08-13
Status
On going
Metadata language

eng; CAN

Topic category
  • Environment
Maintenance and Update Frequency
Irregular
Spatial representation type
Vector
Point of contact
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Science and Technology / Wildlife and Landscape Science / Landscape Science and Technology - Jon Pasher ( Physical Scientist)

National Wildlife Research Centre,1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada
613-990-9941

Keywords

Theme
  • Canadian Pacific, shorelines, oil spill, emergency preparedness, sensitivity mapping, shoreline segmentation, videography, Kitimat, Haida Gwaii, Burrard Inlet, Vancouver Island, coastal management, coastal studies

Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus

  • Environmental emergencies

  • Environmental protection

Business Functions

  • Assess Status of Species

  • Protect Species Well-Being

 
Use Limitation

Open Government Licence - Canada ( http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)

Access Constraints
License
Use Constraints
License
Begin Date
2010-06-01
End Date
2017-09-01

Extent

N
S
E
W
thumbnail




 
 

Ref. system Reference Systems

Reference system identifier
http://www.epsg-registry.org / EPSG:3978 /
 

Distribution

Distribution Formats

Distribution format
  • CSV ( unknown)

 
Distributor
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada - Inquiry Centre

10 Wellington, 23rd Floor, Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0H3, Canada
819-997-2800

https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change.html
 
 

Overviews

overview
WestCoastSegmentation.JPG

N
S
E
W
thumbnail




Keywords

Canadian Pacific, shorelines, oil spill, emergency preparedness, sensitivity mapping, shoreline segmentation, videography, Kitimat, Haida Gwaii, Burrard Inlet, Vancouver Island, coastal management, coastal studies
Business Functions

Assess Status of Species Protect Species Well-Being
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus

Environmental emergencies Environmental protection


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