LIO Website Partnerships and Funding Letter of Intent

Digital Raster Acquisition Project for the East (DRAPE) - Update

The Digital Raster Acquisition Project for the East (DRAPE) has been officially launched, and image acquisition will begin as soon as possible. As an organization who expressed an interest in the acquiring digital Orthophotography in eastern Ontario, Land Information Ontario is providing you with an opportunity to participate in this collaborative effort.

Background

In January 2007, over 90 people representing more than 50 organizations attended a meeting that was held in Winchester, Ontario to determine the interest, need and feasibility of acquiring high resolution digital orthophotography and elevation data across eastern Ontario. A Steering Committee (Appendix 1) was formed that consisted of representatives from municipal, Conservation Authority, provincial, federal, non government and private sector organizations. The objective was to facilitate the development of a consolidated approach to acquire imagery that would satisfy a multitude of business needs, across a large area, through a shared funding model.

The Steering Committee was given a mandate to develop specifications for the imagery products that could satisfy the variety of sectors (public and private). The imagery needed to satisfy municipal and Source Water Protection needs as well as landscape planning and analysis at the provincial levels. Over the past year a number of meetings have been held, funding organizations have been recruited, the geographic extent of the project was defined (Appendix 2), a Request for Proposal was issued, a successful vendor has been awarded the contract and the project is ready to get underway. Groupe Alta, a firm from Quebec City was awarded the contract based on an evaluation of the submitted proposals by the Steering Committee for the project. While the bids were close, the decisions were unanimous that Groupe Alta satisfied the deliverables of the project with the most acceptable price. Groupe Alta has been informed of their selection and has been getting ready to start the acquisition of imagery throughout eastern Ontario as soon as possible.

Products and Deliverables

Specifications for products and deliverables were developed by examining the current organizational needs for high resolution imagery now, and into the next few years. Due to the fact that there was limited coverage of digital Orthophotography in eastern Ontario all municipalities and Conservation Authorities expressed a high interest in acquiring 20 cm resolution true colour Orthophotography for their areas of interest. The goal is to acquire leaf off imagery, which will also benefit utilities, infrastructure and border applications. Details of the deliverables associated with the project can be found in Appendix 3.

Provided that appropriate funding is available, the terrain data is being designed to support the generation of Digital Elevation Models (DEM) and other elevation data product derivatives.

Funding and Partnerships

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A funding model has been developed to ensure that all organizations are contributing to the project based on their area of interest and the number of organizations who are also interested in specific areas. At the present time we have been able to obtain commitments of funding for the 20 cm Orthophotography products, through either Letters of Intent or verbal commitments. There is now an urgent need to ensure that all organizations sign a legal, binding agreement to commit those funds to this project, as soon as possible.

The majority of the Ontario Government contributions, through MNR/LIO, will be put towards covering the initial cost of acquiring unprocessed imagery. This is intended to facilitate the actual costs for flying and will get the planes in the air prior to all other organizations signing their own agreement.

We are still on a path to determine the availability of funding and appropriate interest in elevation products, although due to the costs associated with those products and the lack of interest expressed thus far it may not be likely at this stage. However, all products generated from this project will be provided to funding partners with an unrestricted access license, based on their area of interest and funding amounts. Those products may be used in the future to generate quality elevation data from stereo imagery, on a project by project basis.

We are still actively looking for more participants for this project, and encourage your involvement. All organizations who have an interest in providing funding towards the products being generated in this project should contact Mike Robertson at (705) 755-1280 or email: mike.robertson@ontario for more details.

Meetings

We are now preparing for the launch of the project and would like to host a meeting with all stakeholders to discuss: the project; next steps; contracts and the implementation of the flying. Spring 2008 has been an unusual one, and snow cover is our biggest concern right now. The project requires leaf off and snow free conditions which will be a challenge throughout eastern Ontario this spring.

In terms of meetings and communications, now that the project has been awarded we will be posting updates on the LIO website to keep everyone informed of the progress. Also, we would like to host a bstakeholder meeting that will provide details on the project deliverables, agreements to be signed, funding arrangements and next steps. This meeting will take place on April 23rd , 2008 and will be held at the University of Guelph campus in Kemptville, Ontario from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm (see attached). Anyone wishing to attend the meeting, or receive further information is asked to respond to Mike Robertson (

roader

mike.robertson@ontario.ca) and confirm their attendance and number of people so that the refreshments and lunches can be arranged. Please respond to Mike by April 18th.

Next Steps

Stakeholders will need to sign the contracts associated with the funding of this project and we will need to get those signed as soon as possible. This is a large project with a large number of stakeholders and we need to get organized around how to best consider the logistics of contracts, funding, identification and delivery of the products to the stakeholders as well as the communication aspects. Those aspects of the project will be discussed at the meeting on April 23rd. For more information please contact Mike Robertson at (705) 755-1280 or email: mike.robertson@ontario .

This project promises to be beneficial for all stakeholders contributing to the project. As mentioned above, we are still accepting organizations willing to contribute funding to the DRAPE initiative so please forward this along to others who may be interested. We hope to finalize the stakeholder/contributor list prior to the end of May. The flying will begin as soon as the snow cover is gone and the weather is suitable.

Download the DRAPE presentation

Imagery Projects in Eastern Ontario

Attachments:

• Appendix 1: Steering Committee Members

• Appendix 2: DRAPE Project Area Map

• Appendix 3: DRAPE Deliverables

• Appendix 4: Partnership Principles and Funding

• Appendix 5: Letter of Intent

• Appendix 6: Organizations and benefits

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www.lio.gov.on.ca

Appendix 1: DRAPE Steering Committee Members Last Name

First Name Organization Org Type

Kirkley Dave City of Belleville City Healey Phil City of Kingston City Perkins Stephen City of Ottawa City Whitehead Steve City of Qunite West City Price John Mississippi Valley Conservation Conservation Authority Hamilton Dorothy Raisin Region Conservation Authority Conservation Authority Hardy Ewan Rideau Valley Conservation Conservation Authority Kroetsch David Agriculture Canada Federal Government Quirouette Justin Parks Canada Federal Government Palmer Philippe Public Works and Government Services Federal Government Rowsell Mark Eastern Ontario Model Forest NGO

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Robertson Mike Land Information Ontario Ontario Government

Dalrymple Jennifer St. Lawrence Parks Commission Ontario Government Agency

Hanley Laverne Union Gas Private Sector January Nick County of Hastings Upper Tier Municipality Roy Sonia United Counties of Prescott and Russell Upper Tier Municipality

Ade Sabina United Counties of Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Upper Tier Municipality

Watson Graeme Ministry of Transportation Ontario Government Past Members MacGregor Sue Ministry of Transportation Ontario Government DeChazal Julie United Counties of Prescott and Russell Upper Tier Municipality

Appendix 2: Digital Raster Acquisition Project – East (DRAPE) Area Map

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Appendix 3: Deliverables The Deliverables are further defined in the Request for Proposal 500-5065 issued by Conservation Ontario, dated February 19, 2008 and the proposal response by the Vendor dated March 18, 2008. The current project deliverables consist of:

1. Raw Data a. 20 cm GSD Panchromatic digital orthoimagery b. Raw RGB, NIR digital orthoimagery, as collected by the DMC sensor system c. GPS data d. Camera Attitude (Inertial Measurement Unit) data e. Ephemeral camera parameters f. Pre- and post mission sensor calibration report g. Post accuracy mission reports

2. Derived Data a. Pan sharpened True Colour 20 cm digital orthoimagery produced in 1 km x 1km seamless tiles provided in both

GeoTIFF format and compressed formats b. Pan sharpened True Colour compressed tile mosaics that are constructed to include a seamless grid of tiles that are

20 km x 20 km in dimension.

3. Stereo Data a. Panchromatic with a minimum of 30% and 60% side and forward lap, respectively b. Pan Sharpened True Colour with a minimum of 30% and 60% side and forward overlap, respectively c. Pan sharpened Colour NIR with a minimum of 30% and 60% side and forward overlap, respectively. d. Supporting data files, such as aerial triangulation files, camera report files, model files (.mod) and surface files (.sdt)

are requirements of this contract and must be provided along with the stereoscopic imagery in a format compatible with DiAP, Z/I Imaging and PurView software.

4. Post mission documentation of each flight shall include at minimum:

a. Flight line number(s) and direction b. Frame number(s) c. Date and Time (UTC) d. Altitude (ASL) e. Aperture settings f. Sample Frequency (push broom scanners)

5. Digital Elevation Information

The deliverables below are the products that are still under consideration for acquisition. Stakeholders will be kept informed as the project moves forward. All elevation data is to be provided in 2km x 2km tile in a structure that is consistent with the tile structure being provided with the digital Orthophotography tiles.

a. Digital Photography Derived Elevation Products i. 2m resolution Digital Surface Model Raster ii. 2m resolution Digital Elevation Model Raster iii. 2m Classified Digital Terrain Model Points

b. LiDAR Derived Products i. 2m resolution Digital Surface Model ii. 2m resolution Digital Elevation Model iii. Classified LIDAR Point Cloud

c. Digital Terrain Model Vector Products i. Breakline features as described above

d. Elevation Reporting i. Elevation Processing Report ii. Horizontal and Vertical Elevation Accuracy Report iii. Sensor Calibration Report

6. Metadata

Digital metadata shall be provided by the contractor, compiled to the current US Geological Survey (USGS) Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standards. At a minimum, metadata records for the following project components will be included.

The OMNR will review and approve the metadata template files to be used (see Figure below – Metadata Organizational Diagram). Metadata shall be provided in text and xml format.

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Appendix 4 Digital Raster Acquisition Partnership for the East (DRAPE)

1. Partnership principles:

i. Any organization is eligible to become a partner ii. Organizations who want products are encouraged to become partners in order to realize

the cost benefits and licensing “freedom”. iii. Partners will be encouraged to adopt an access policy to protect the data. This policy will

discourage organizations that try to obtain products that are offered up at no charge. This ensures the integrity of the partnership and preserves future partnership development needed for updating products. While each organization will be able to set their own policy related to the products, it could be detrimental to the overall partnership if all data was available at no cost immediately after the project is completed. Policy issues will be discussed in future meetings.

iv. Those organizations requesting the products after the partnership is formed will likely be required to pay more per sq km than with the partnership.

2. Funding Principles:

The funding principles will follow other imagery projects: • All organizations will be treated fairly. • The IP for the imagery products would reside with the successful vendor, however, all

equitable funding partners will have the same rights and access to the products – dependant on their area of interest – this will be world wide, unrestricted, fully paid, royalty-free access.

3. Funding Formula

The funding contribution level for each individual organization will be finalized through a formula that calculates the number of organizations who are interested in a particular geographic area, divided by the cost of the product(s) per square kilometre. For example: the cost = [#of organizations/cost per sq km] * sq km of Area of Interest is a simplified version of the formula. For each organization, the required geographic area will vary. The proposed funding formula will ensure all partners who are interested in a geographic area contribute funding to that area. The more partners who are interested in a particular area, the less it will cost.

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In order to determine a preliminary figure to work with, the following assumptions will be made for contributions

i. Provincial = minimum of 2 parts and a maximum of 3 parts (3 parts = OPS wide access) If funding is less than 3 parts, access will be restricted to contributing ministries.

ii. Federal = up to 3 parts (3 parts = federal-wide access) If funding is less than 3 parts, access will be restricted to contributing departments

iii. Municipal = one part (Upper Tiers can include Lower Tier contributions in their funding calculations)

iv. Conservation Authorities = one part v. Private Sector = one part per organization/Area of Interest vi. NGO = one part per organization/Area of Interest

(NOTE: The above assumptions are proposed at this time and are subject to approval of the Steering Committee. Should you have any concerns about these proposed allocations please contact Mike Robertson):

b. With the funding formula, and assuming public sector contributions, a maximum “share” would

equate to approximately 1/8th the product cost. This also assumes that the province, federal government and private sector organizations will, collectively, contribute up to 7/8ths of the cost towards the products.

c. Cost quotes from the Request for Proposal will determine the final figures but, for planning

purposes, a conservative estimate on the costs for 20 cm Orthophotography is approximately $30.00 per sq km. Using the formula and assumptions above, this translates to a maximum of $3.75 per sq km for each share. For budgeting purposes, a cushioned cost of $5.00 per square km (to err on the high side) for one share is used for the Letter of Intent.

d. If an organization is interested in acquiring the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) product, please

include the DEM in the Letter of Intent. To calculate the funding requirement for a DEM, use a price of approximately $200.00 per sq km, which would result in an additional cost of approximately $25.00 per sq km as a “share” portion. Therefore each share (for the orthos and DEM products) would be about $30.00 per sq km (maximum values).

e. The Letter of Intent is not binding and calculations will be adjusted based on the partners in the

project and the final bid prices that will be provided through the RFP. Presumably, costs will go down as over 50 organizations have expressed an interest in participating in the project. Land Information Ontario is still actively encouraging others to join in. These calculations are based on the equivalent of having 8 partners in the project.

3. Once the final numbers are calculated, each partner will be required to sign a formal agreement that will

state their commitment to the funding and the products associated with that funding (orthos and/or DEM).

4. All partner organizations will receive a five kilometre buffer of the products they require, with the

exception of those on the exterior boundary of the project, without additional charges (funding calculations will only be applied to the area of interest that is defined).

Organizations who are interested in linear utility or transportation corridors must make sure that all areas of interest (corridors) are well defined (the 5km buffer access will not apply to corridors – a 500 m buffer will be provided to those organizations)

5. Instructions/Next Steps:

Identifying your area of interest:

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i. Please provide a shape file that outlines your area of interest/jurisdiction so that we are able to calculate the appropriate funding requirements for each area.

Shape file should, ideally, be aligned to the provincial base data sets (roads, water, municipal boundaries etc.)

Please make sure that the projection information associated with the file is included,

Send the file to Mike Robertson as soon as possible. b. Calculate your approximate costs for the partnership, complete the Letter of Intent, sign and

mail by May 15, 2008. Mail to: Ministry of Natural Resources Geographic Information Branch 300 Water Street 2nd Floor, North Tower Peterborough, Ontario K9J 8M5 Attention: Mike Robertson Or, send by e-mail to: mike.robertson@ontario.ca

c. Actively engage and seek additional partners.

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Appendix 5 Letter of Intent

Date Ministry of Natural Resources Geographic Information Branch 300 Water Street 2nd Floor, North Tower Peterborough, Ontario K9J 8M5 Attention: Brian Maloney Subject: Letter of Intent to Commit Funding Purpose: Digital Raster Acquisition Project - East Dear Mr. Maloney, This letter is to inform you that (insert your organization’s name) intends to participate in the project to acquire digital Orthophotography and associated data in eastern Ontario in the spring of 2008. It is understood that the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is the lead for this project and requires this Letter of Intent to Commit Funding as the first component of organizing commitment to the project. It is expected that this letter gives the MNR the ability to continue with the management, implementation and formalizing the funding of the project. The amount of $xxxxxx.00 will be designated to this Project. (Insert your organization’s name) agrees that they will genuinely pursue funding and a firm commitment for this project but recognize that should their Council or Board not approve such an expenditure, they will have no legal obligation to provide funding. The estimated funding levels included in this letter are based on information provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources and does/does not include calculations related to the acquisition of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) products. Our organization is/is not interested in a DEM, provided that enough funding is available through the partnership. The undersigned reserves the right to opt out of that aspect of the project should insufficient funding be committed to the acquisition and creation of a DEM, while retaining the right to participate in the acquisition of imagery. It is understood that the amount of funding identified in this Letter of Intent to Commit Funding will be used in conjunction with other partnership funding to determine the total amount of contributions available to support the Project. The final amount required by each participant will be determined once the partnership has reviewed and accepted a Project Proposal. Provided that sufficient funding has been committed by May 31, 2008, to complete the entire project, the undersigned agrees to attempt to formalize the funding commitment through the signature of a legal agreement with the successful vendor. Should insufficient funding be committed, a meeting will be held to determine whether to limit the scope of the project (extent or products), cancel the project, or seek additional funding. In the event that the scope of the project is limited, the commitment above will be reconsidered.

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It is acknowledged that the products and deliverables of the Project will be made available to the funding partners with unrestricted world-wide license to use, copy, adapt, translate, convert, modify, distribute, and sell those products. This partnership presents a unique opportunity for public and private sector organizations to collaborate in a project of this magnitude in order to satisfy a wide variety of business needs. We look forward to seeing this project realized and offer our support in the goals and objectives of developing this partnership. Sincerely, Xxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxx Position Xxxxxxxxxxxx Organization Xxxxxxxxx Address Xxxxxxxxxx e-mail Xxxxxxxxx Phone

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Appendix 6

Potential Project Partner Uses of Imagery Products:

Provincial Government

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources ♦ Ontario Living Legacy ♦ Aggregates and Non-renewable Resources ♦ Wetlands Program ♦ Inventory Monitoring and Assessment Reporting Program ♦ Fish and Wildlife Branch ♦ Base Data Infrastructure Program ♦ Species at Risk Program ♦ Land Use Planning Program ♦ Resource Management Program Land Information Ontario ♦ Coordination of geographic information across Ontario Ontario Ministry of the Environment ♦ Source Water Protection Program ♦ Permits to Take Water Program ♦ Brown Fields Program ♦ Biosolid Management Program ♦ Compliance and Monitoring Program ♦ Landfill sites Program

Ontario Ministry of the Education ♦ Planning for schools sites locations and expansions that fit community need ♦ Safe Travel; Bus Routes, sidewalk locations, barrier identification ♦ Responding the community inquiries Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs ♦ Soils Ontario Program ♦ Nutrient Management Planning Program ♦ Healthy Futures Projects ♦ Rural and Economic Development Program Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines ♦ Quaternary Geology Mapping and updates ♦ Bedrock Geology Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care ♦ West Nile Virus occurrences ♦ Mapping of West Nile virus, mosquito breeding potential areas

Ontario Ministry of Transportation ♦ Provincial Highway Corridors ♦ Highway Expansion Projects

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Federal Government Environment Canada ♦ Environmental studies (Climate, Natural Features, Water Quality etc.) ♦ Program support (Bird Studies Canada, Species at Risk etc.) Parks Canada ♦ Trent Severn Waterway ♦ Rideau Canal ♦ St. Lawrence Park ♦ Natural Resource and Environmental impacts Department of Fisheries and Oceans ♦ Fisheries habitat ♦ Drainage classification Public Works Canada ♦ Asset management Department of National Defense ♦ National Security ♦ Critical infrastructure identification Natural Resources Canada ♦ Forest Inventory ♦ State of the Resources Reporting ♦ Detailed terrain mapping

International Commissions

International Joint Commission ♦ Identification of critical wetland and natural habitat areas in the Great Lake Basin ♦ Shoreline development and reporting Great Lakes Commission ♦ Identification of shoals and other shoreline features on Lake Ontario

Private/Non Government/Foundation Support HydroOne ♦ Asset management ♦ Planning ♦ Emergency Ducks Unlimited ♦ Identification of wetland rehabilitation potential ♦ Natural Resource mapping Nature Conservancy Canada ♦ Project support funding for natural resource and values identification ♦ Project support for species at risk program

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Trillium Foundation ♦ Project support for critical heritage values identification and mapping Canadian National, Canadian Pacific Railway ♦ Asset mapping – rail lines, rail yards ♦ Planning ♦ Emergency response Trans Canada Pipelines ♦ Asset management and mapping ♦ Planning ♦ Emergency response

Local Municipalities ♦ Land use planning and monitoring ♦ Groundwater studies ♦ Resource mapping ♦ Official Plan development ♦ Compliance monitoring ♦ Infrastructure planning Conservation Authorities ♦ Flood and fill line mapping ♦ Water management ♦ Groundwater studies ♦ Resource mapping and reporting

First Nations

♦ Traditional Ecological Knowledge mapping ♦ Land use ♦ Agricultural activities (irrigation, fertilization, nutrient management etc.) ♦ Water quality and quantity ♦ Forestry activities ♦ Resource management (fisheries, wildlife etc.) ♦ Community safety and emergency response ♦ Educational activities ♦ Communications