GRADE Project at EDINA

Thursday, 29 September, 2005

I have been involved in a project at EDINA (funded by JISC) concerning the scoping of geospatial data repositories (GRADE). Scoping is the central aim here and the project is combining expertise in copyright, digitial repositories and catalogueing. I have been asked to input at an early stage through the provision of “use-case” examples in the application of geospatial data. These will be used as a “test-bed” from which more general working models can be developed in data usage.

The meeting this week brought all the project members together. A full on day where I was able to present the initial results from my report. Expect to see some interesting results over the next 19 months!

NEXTMap for NERC Science

Thursday, 22 September, 2005

An excellent meeting at the British Geological Survey exploring the use of Intermap’s NEXTMap DEM product of the UK. A very interesting selection of topics on data quality and usage from a whole variety of environmental/earth science applications. Any NERC grant holders (including ARSF) should note that NEXTMap is freely available for use within funded projects.

I was presenting a talk similar to one given earlier in the summer at a conference in Aberystwyth (Glacial Sedimentary Processes and Productson)on DEM data quality (in comparison to detailed field mapping). This presentation was more focused on NEXTMap, illustrating the problems of scale dependence in the use of DEMs and how data products must match the specifications of a project.

Representatives from Intermap were present (including the UK’s new director, Mark Stanley) and provided context sensitive comments to specific queries, whilst taking a (large!) ream of comments back to HQ.

Society of Cartographers

Monday, 12 September, 2005

I was speaking in the last session at the Society of Cartographers Annual Summer School (Cambridge) this week. Sadly I couldn’t make other days in the conference, however there appeared to be a wide variety of interesting talks. I was talking about open access journal publication (in my capacity as editor of the Journal of Maps) and, in particular, copyright issues related to the publication of original and third party data.

It is a shame that I was unable to attend the sessions on Tuesday where, amongst others, Ed Parsons (CTO, OS) and Jo Walsh (OpenGeodata) were speaking. Clearly this debate is continuing (click through to their blogs!). At the Journal of Maps we regularly turn away maps (based upon OS data) submitted to us as a direct result of the stringent licensing regulations employed by the OS.

There are clearly signs of change however, with the Research Councils requiring deposition of data from grant holders, the OFT’s investigation in to competition with public sector bodies (presumably including the OS), recent comments about Crown Copyright (see Jo’s blog) and recent legal rulings on databases and copyright within Europe (re: British Horse Racing Board).

So, applications such as Google Earth have demonstrated the huge demand for geospatial data, whilst there is considerable unrest within government concerning access to both research outputs and publicly funded data collection. There are clearly challenges ahead for both the government and the OS. Exciting times!

Open access journal publication: methods of implementation and copyright issues

Saturday, 8 January, 2005

M.J. Smith
Society of Cartographers Bulletin, 39, 21-24
Open access journal publication is becoming an increasingly important model for the dissemination of research articles. In the UK this is currently being driven by government requirements for access to research funded by the research councils. Within the context of cartography, the Journal of Maps publishes maps using an open access methodology. This article describes the context for open access publishing and how this model has been adopted by the Journal of Maps. Particular focus is given to the licensing model adopted for open access distribution and the implications to the higher education community in the UK in the use of third party data within maps.

Geomorphological mapping of glacial landforms from remotely sensed data: an evaluation of the principal data sources and an assessment of their quality

Saturday, 8 January, 2005

M.J. Smith, J. Rose and S. Booth
Geomorphology, 76, 148-165


This paper presents the results of an experiment to compare glacial geomorphology mapped from remote sensed imagery with 1:10,560 scale field mapping. The field mapping was validated against high resolution LiDAR imagery of an area glacierized during the Younger Dryas, and found to provide an essentially reliable, if not complete, representation of the glacial geomorphology. The experiment consists of comparing the field mapping with digital elevation models (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission C-Band, Landmap, OS Panorama®, OS Profile®, NEXTMap) and satellite imagery (Landsat Thematic Mapper) of a 100 km2 region of central Scotland, north of Glasgow, that was last glaciated during the Last Glacial Maximum and during the Younger Dryas, respectively c. 14.5 and 11.5 ka BP. For the purposes of the exercise, attention concentrated on glacial lineaments (flutes, drumlins, crag and tail), but attention was also given to moraine ridges and eskers. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons are performed and the results show that of the remotely sensed data sets, only NEXTMap Great Britain™ provided results that show any approximation to the field mapping. OS Panorama® and OS Profile® provide very poor approximations and the other methods fail to provide any information of value. Attention is given to the issues of scale and the differences between a small scale detailed study, such as this experiment, in which a high resolution glacial geomorphological reconstruction is required, and the small scale, wide regional studies where the remote sensing techniques used here provide evidence of regional significance when glaciers formed the largest elements of the landscape. The paper concludes with a consideration of protocols for future geomorphological mapping exercises, and outlines some of the requirements that must be adopted as these protocols are developed.

Avalanche frequency and terrain characteristics at Rogers’ Pass, British Columbia, Canada.

Saturday, 8 January, 2005

M.J. Smith and D.M. McClung
Journal of Glaciology, 43(143), 165-171
The frequency of avalanches at a given location is the primary variable for calculating the risk as input to zoning applications and decisions about avalanche control options. In this paper, we present an in-depth study of avalanche frequency using an extensive data base of avalanche occurrence records from Rogers’ Pass, British Columbia (43 avalanche paths; 24 years of records). This study, the first of its kind for high frequency avalanche paths, yields the result that the frequency of avalanches may be described by a Poisson distribution. Study of the relationship between terrain variables and precipitation estimates shows that avalanche frequency is significantly correlated with path roughness, 30 year maximum water equivalent, east-west location from Rogers’ Pass summit, wind exposure and runout zone elevation and inclination. With the length of avalanche occurrence records and quality of the data, we believe our study is the most comprehensive in existence about avalanche frequency and its relation to terrain variables.

Landmap Strip Data: Planimetric and Height Quality Assessment

Saturday, 8 January, 2005

M.J. Smith and K. Kitmitto
Proceedings of GIS Research UK 10th Annual Conference, 326-330
The Landmap project set out to create an orthorectified digital elevation model (DEM) of the United Kingdom and Ireland using spaceborne SAR interferometry that was free from any inherited copyright. This paper provides an assessment of the planimetric and height accuracy of the Landmap DEM in comparison to the Ordnance Survey Panorama™ DEM product. Significant planimetric errors were located and these were the cause of large height errors. A description of visual artefacts is given and a brief description of surface derivatives calculated from the Landmap DEM. Since this paper was produced all planimetric errors have been corrected.