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B.C. Benefits
info@terraengine.com
EDITORS NOTE
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2009
Contents
PUBLISHED FOR:
PUBLISHED BY:
Ruth Kelly
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Daska Davis
IUNCTUS EDITOR
Ryan Johnson
EDITOR
Mifi Purvis
ART DIRECTOR
Charles Burke
DESIGNER
Betty Smith
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS / ILLUSTRATORS/
PHOTOGRAPHERS
6 In Detail
The Red River floods, before
and after; Can you spy on your
neighbour? Update on the
National Imagery Project;
PLUS! Move a satellite with
your telephone
14 Dishing About
Infrastructure
18 Spatial Insight
Printed in Canada.
FEATURES
28 Minding Industry
30 B.C. Benefits
32 Freshwater Mapping
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IN DETAIL
SEEING CANADA
Iunctus Geomatics Corp. is at work on a multiyear
project in conjunction with Natural Resources Canada
and the Centre for Topographical Information Sherbrook (CTIS). Entitled the National Imagery Project,
the ambitious undertaking will provide project partners
with access to unprecedented satellite pictures of
Canada. Basically, we are covering Canada with new satellite imagery taken between 2005 and 2010, says Brett
Michelson, vice-president of sales and business development. Our goal is to provide cloud-free coverage for land
surfaces of Canada. While this kind of coverage is aimed
at surface features, some underwater coastline features,
such as kelp beds, for example, are visible.
Michelson estimates that work on the National
Imagery Project is more than 70 per cent complete.
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Highway 75, the main thoroughfare connecting Winnipeg to the United States, spent time
under several metres of water, more lake
than border crossing.
GEOMATICS GROWS
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If you need an image of the surface of the Earth, Iunctus can help. As a
matter of fact, getting it to train a satellite on a particular corner of the
country is as easy as making a phone call. Depending on the nature of
a clients request, this process can take as little as a few hours or a few
days. Heres how it works:
1. Call or email the Iunctus Canadian Order Desk at 403-381-2800,
ext. 1, or info@terraengine.com.
2. Tell the order desk the specifics of the image youre looking for.
If Iunctus doesnt already have the image you need, the order desk
will arrange to have it captured.
3. Iunctus liaises with partner SPOT Image in Toulouse, France with the
specifics of your image.
4. SPOT Image uploads the information to the appropriate satellite.
5. The satellite takes the picture and downloads the data to the
Lethbridge ground station for storage and processing.
6. Iunctus staff verify that the files are correct before delivering them
to clients.
7. Access your image electronically.
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The Time
is Now
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The main activities of the IRM Centre will be education and training; applied research and development;
pre-commercialization and partnering with/providing services to industry. The centre will ensure real potential for
commercialization by taking a collaborative approach
with industry and clearing paths toward deployment.
The centre will embrace a series of innovative projects
with promise to deliver solutions over a more immediate
horizon. The IRM Centre is focused on inception and
proof-of-concept development.
The IRMs technology commercialization strategy will
play a critical role in helping the centre realize its expected
outcomes: new knowledge, tools, products and processes
that can be commercialized and marketed by the centres
partners both locally and internationally. The IRM
Centre will have several investigative and commercialization thrusts. Among them: multi-scale Earth observation;
historical and real-time monitoring; data integration,
analysis and modelling; and intelligent land and resource
management systems.
Albertas Land Use Framework
The other provincial initiative that is bringing the need
for better geospatial imaging and data management in
Alberta into sharp relief is Albertas Land Use
Framework. The impetus for the framework comes from
the need for accurate, timely and accessible information
when it comes to making decisions about land use.
Government collects information, says Morris
Seiferling, assistant deputy minister, Land Use Secretariat.
Its one thing to collect it and another to be able to use
it effectively. We realized we needed to do a better job.
In an effort to ensure that Albertas planners and decision-makers have timely access to relevant information,
the Government of Alberta plans to create an improved
integrated information management system that moni-
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UPWARDLY MOBILE
Iunctus Geomatics Corp. sets the benchmark in terms of
the imagery, data services and solutions it can provide its
many and varied clients. Brett Michelson, vice-president
business development, explains what puts the company
ahead of the competition.
How would you describe the philosophies that guide
Iunctus?
I think were really customer-focused. We try to ensure that
we get customers what they want and that we do it very
efficiently. We also use technology to our best advantage.
We spend a lot of time and money creating and using technology that works for us and weve been very successful at
it. Weve automated many of our business processes, too.
What parts of your business are automated?
A major part of our business is around spatial data and
services. So, part of our business involves getting data
directly from a satellite and processing that data. We have
that system almost completely automated.
Basically, the imagery is taken by several satellites in the
SPOT constellation that were originally developed by the
French space agency, but are now operated by French company SPOT Image. Satellites send raw data to our receiving
station in Lethbridge, which turns it into an image map.
Because youve got a flat image, when you have a photo of
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Brett Michelson
VP Business Development
Kristin Grant
Canadian Order Desk
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Matt Heffernan
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Len Simpson
Satellite Receiving Station Operator
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Dishing About
Infrastructure
BY DAVID DICENZO
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Spatial
Insight
Its trite but true that a picture paints
a thousand words. Organizations
are relying on satellite imagery
more than ever
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OIL AND GAS FROM ABOVE: Satellite imagery is an integral part of mapping and planning in Canadas oil and gas
industry. Having an up-to-date view of a project area can
be critical for making timely and informed decisions. With
new developments occurring all the time, the landscape is
rapidly changing. To provide a vast archive of current
image data, the SPOT 5 satellite is always acquiring new
images, such as this 2.5-metre resolution black and white
image, over the oil and gas producing areas of Western
Canada.
LOCATION: 5347N, 11704W
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The Service
Solution
BY SAM LIEFF
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Case
Studies
24 Its Good to Work Together
28 Minding Industry
TERA Environmental facilitates and monitors
energy sector commitments
30 B.C. Benefits
Pacific Geomatics Inc. trains pilots, maps
islands and monitors the pine beetle
32 Freshwater Mapping
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Its Good to
Work Together
BY STEPHANIE SPARKS
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Minding Industry
BY LISA OSTROWSKI
IELD BIOLOGIST KRISTEN FOREMAN WAS RECENTly looking to locate a particular plant kind of rare
sand verbena, in Southern Alberta. Using information from the Alberta Natural Heritage Information
Centre (ANHIC), she found accounts of previously
observed occurrences of the plant somewhere in the Taber
area. So she consulted some SPOT 5 satellite imagery from
Iunctus that showed exactly where the sand dunes could be
found. The information from ANHIC, in conjunction with
the imagery, let her locate the sand verbena easily without
having to spend days in the field.
Iunctus Geomatics Corp. has pioneered the use of a
novel satellite imaging technology that has completely
changed the way Alberta-based TERA Environmental
Consultants goes about its environmental assessments and
consulting. TERA was established more than two decades
ago, and it has been involved in many energy sector projects around Alberta, focusing on the environmental
aspects of the energy industry.
Harnessing the power of Iunctus technology, TERA has
had the opportunity to work alongside many hundreds of
energy companies that assess potential environmental
problems which could occur on new projects and postproduction reclamation and restoration projects. TERA
also advises clients about how to lessen the potential negative environmental consequences. Using the most up-todate information available from Iunctuss satellite imaging,
TERA has become a major force for consultations and
assessments in the Alberta energy sector.
SPOT 5 satellites are continuously taking new pictures,
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The up-to-date details of Iunctus images are central to carrying out the field biology that Foreman undertakes. Given
that much of a field biologists time is spent visiting different sites, its important that she be able to find her way
around without difficulty. Iunctus can help. Imagery is
available in great detail, with resolutions ranging from 2.5
metres to 20 metres, which enables biologists like Foreman
to have a more precise idea of site conditions.
Before heading into the field, Im able to plan potential
rare-plant hot spots by interpreting the imagery. I often
make notes directly on the imagery maps, and this proves
extremely useful for when Im compiling the data and writing the report for my clients, she notes, adding that the
Iunctus maps are also beneficial when compared to the
competition because of ease of use. She adds, I love having the imagery. Before I worked with TERA I used topographical maps that were nowhere near as current or
detailed or easy to interpret.
The innovative imagery provided by Iunctus benefits
TERA Environmental Consultants, allowing the company
to streamline its workflow and facilitating some of the
most current and accurate project assessments in the environmental energy sector. Given the importance of this sector to the economy of Alberta, its likely that TERA will
continue to grow, building on its own expertise using
imaging products from Iunctus.
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British Columbia
Benefits
BY ANH CHU
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Freshwater
Mapping
BY ANH CHU
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of grassland communities.
Boychuk credits the images fine resolution, combined with the flexibility of
Iunctus in allowing DUC
to use unconventional programming, for the projects
success.
Conserving wetlands just makes good public sense,
Boychuk says. Every time a wetland gets drained,
degraded or cultivated, society loses the benefits.
Fortunately, DUC, using solutions and imagery
provided by Iunctus Geomatics, is doing what it can
to clear the air and water for Canadians. A beautiful
snapshot, indeed.
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Remotely Close
Satellite technology zooms in on resource management
and conservation
AT
craig.eckart@fusion-capital.ca
FOR MORE INFORMATION.
This information is for reference purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be
any sales of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under
the securities laws of such jurisdiction.
FOR CLIENTS
Brett Michelson, vice-president,
Business Development and Sales
PHONE 780-493-4114
FAX 403-381-2804
EMAIL Brett.Michelson@terraengine.com
ORDER IMAGES
Imagery Order Desk
PHONE 403-381-2800 (ext. 1)
FAX 403-381-2804
EMAIL Imagery Order Desk
info@terraengine.com
FOR INVESTORS
Craig Eckart, president
Fusion Capital Corporation
PHONE 403-836-2958
FAX 403-974-3251
EMAIL craig.eckart@fusion-capital.ca