Geo-referenced digital photographs with associated GPS waypoints and tracks for terrestrial ecosystem types from south-eastern Victoria Island, 2013

• Main Authors: McLennan, Donald, Buddle, Christopher, Wagner, Johann
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network 2014
• Subjects: Arctic; Cambridge Bay; Ecotype; GIS; Mapping; Satellite imagery; Terrestrial ecosystem; Vegetation; Victoria Island; Polar Knowledge Canada/Canadian High Arctic Research Station; Nunavut; Canada; victoria island
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.21963/11893; https://www.polardata.ca/pdcsearch/?doi_id=11893

Geo-referenced digital photographs with the associated GPS waypoints and tracks of various terrestrial ecosystem types have been taken during the summer of 2013 in south-eastern Victoria Island, around Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The photographs, in combination with additional GPS waypoints and tracks, characterize site, soil and vegetation characteristics of the arctic landscape. The geo-referenced photographs and the GPS data will be entered in a GIS software and overlaid on satellite imagery. By matching pixel colours of the satellite images with different ecosystem types in the field, a model will be developed that will allow the assessment of ecosystem types over large areas, based solely on satellite imagery. The digital photographs were taken from ground with GPS-enabled cameras (geographical coordinates written in the image file's exif information). The GPS Waypoints and tracks files are in both *.gpx and *.txt format. : Purpose: Geo-referenced digital photographs with associated GPS waypoints and tracks of various terrestrial ecosystems have been taken during the summer of 2013 around Cambridge Bay, Nunavut (SE Victoria Island) for the purpose of training a model using Random Forest software aimed at predicting and delineating terrestrial ecosystems over large areas. The model predictors will include data in processed optical satellite imagery (R, G, B, ifR), predictors developed from associated digital elevation models (e.g., slope, elevation, slope position, soil drainage models), as well as predictors developed from archived optical data such as spring snow bank persistence . : Summary: Pictures and the associated geographical coordinates have been taken of the arctic landscape in south-eastern Victoria Island, around Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. These pictures will aid in development of a model which will allow determination of vegetation and habitat types from satellite images.