There were over 40 researchers presenting a wide variety of geospatial topics at this year’s CCA Conference. Mine was on Day 2 Session 3: Remote Sensing and Earth Modelling, with the topic “Integration of Multi-source Terrain Data on Discrete Global Grids in Canada”.
Abstract
The Canadian Digital Elevation Model (CDEM) and the High Resolution Digital Elevation Model (HRDEM) released by Natural Resources Canada are primary terrain data sources in Canada. Due to their different coverage, datums, resolutions, and accuracies, a standardized framework for national elevation data across various scales is required. This study provides new insights into the adoption of Discrete Global Grid Systems (DGGS) to facilitate the integration of multi-source terrain data at a variety of granularities. In particular, the Icosahedral Snyder Equal Area Aperture 3 Hexagonal Grid (ISEA3H) was employed, and quantization, integration, and aggregation were conducted on this framework. Because of discreteness, a DGGS benefits parallel computing. An experiment was run in two areas in Ontario, Canada to test our algorithms by parallel computing on high performance computing clusters. Data accuracy was estimated by referring to the ground-surveyed elevations and was included in the spatially referenced metadata. The proposed method can serve as a guide for future development of national elevation service, providing consistent and multi-resolution elevations and avoiding complex, duplicated pre-processing at the user’s end. Future investigation into an operational integration platform to support real-world decision-making, as well as the DGGS-powered geospatial datacube, is recommended.
Pre-recorded Presentation