A Class-Oriented Strategy for Features Extraction from Multidate ASTER Imagery

In this paper we propose a hybrid classification method, adopting the best features extraction strategy for each land cover class on multidate ASTER data. To enable an effective comparison among images, Multivariate Alteration Detection (MAD) transformation was applied in the pre-processing phase, because of its high level of automation and reliability in the enhancement of change information among different images. Consequently, different features identification procedures, both spectral and object-based, were implemented to overcome problems of misclassification among classes with similar spectral response. Lastly, a post-classification comparison was performed on multidate ASTER-derived land cover (LC) maps to evaluate the effects of change in the study area

Marion Nicoll

Marion Nicoll (1909-1985) is a widely acknowledged and important founder of Alberta art and certainly one of a dedicated few that brought abstraction into practice in the province. Her life and career is a story of determination, of dedication to her vision regardless of professional or personal challenges. Nicoll became the first woman instructor hired at the Provincial Institute of Art and Technology (now the Alberta College of Art and Design) - and although limited to teaching craft and design, she became a significant mentor for generations of artists. Contributions by Ann Davis, Elizabeth Herbert, and Jennifer Salahub

SunSpot: A Spatial Decision Support Web-Application for Exploring Urban Solar Energy Potential

The growing necessity for meaningful climate change response has encouraged the development of global warming mitigation and adaptation initiatives. Urban solar energy generation is one opportunity that has been investigated by numerous cities through various solar potential Web-applications. However, as solar feasibility can vary considerably across a small geographic area due to variations in local topography and feature shading, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to be implemented. This thesis investigates how a Web-based spatial decision support system (SDSS) can enable non-experts to explore urban solar feasibility and, to a lesser extent, issues related to urban heat. First, a conceptual framework is developed that investigates the linkages between SDSS, Web technologies, public participation, volunteered geographic information, and existing green energy initiatives. This framework identifies the relevance between these fields of study as well as a number of opportunities for improving on past work and taking advantage of new technical capabilities. Second, in order to test the opportunities identified, SunSpot was developed. This Web-SDSS investigates rooftop solar feasibility as well as land cover and surface temperature dynamics relating to the urban heat-island effect in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A number of solar resource datasets were developed in order to facilitate the decision making capabilities of SunSpot. This was done using a combination of different topographical data sources, atmospheric data, and a raster-based irradiance model called Solar Analyst. Third, a number of in-person workshops were conducted to obtain feedback on SunSpot’s usability and ability for users to understand the visual layers and results. Finally, this feedback was analyzed to identify the successes and challenges of SunSpot’s capabilities and design. This revealed a number of recommendations for further development of SunSpot, as well as opportunities for future research relating to the development of local scale solar resource data and the development of similar Web-SDSS applications

Digital sculpting for historical representation: Neville tomb case study

Despite digital 3D polygon modelling applications providing a common and powerful tool-set for archaeological, architectural and historical visualisation over recent years, digital deformation sculpting tools are little used at present within the area of historical visualisation. More commonly applied within the video games and TV/motion picture industries, the intention of this research is to combine such tools and methodologies with existing scanned data and historical knowledge to remediate and re-imagine lost sculptural form. The aim would be to support both academic and public understanding of such missing artefacts. In addition, the research may promote alternative methods of prototyping within traditional stone carving industries and further provide an opportunity to critically evaluate approaches to deliberately mediated sculptural surrogates and their location within historical representation. The intended research will focus on an examination and partial re-construction of the Neville tomb at Durham Cathedral. An example of cultural vandalism, the tomb has been damaged at key moments throughout several hundred years of social and religious upheaval. It will provide the researcher with an opportunity to re-create and interpret some of the lost sculptural forms carved upon it. In addition, it affords the opportunity to further explore the use of polychrome on medieval stone carving

The numinous land : examples of sacred geometry and geopiety in formalist and landscape paintings of the prairies

Landscape painting and formalist painting, both terms taken in their broadest possible sense, have been the predominant forms of painting on the prairie, particularly in Saskatchewan, for several decades. The two tendencies are not diametrically opposed, but related as parts of a spectrum; in the work of some artists both tendencies are plainly present. In an effort to understand the nature and endurance of this peculiar relationship, I interviewed a variety of prairie artists and discovered a significant yet unexamined aspect of prairie painting that may be considered an underlying cause. Based on the testimony of these and other artists, as well as an examination of their work, I reached the conclusion that it is possible to regard many examples of prairie painting as responses to encounters with the spiritual forces that inhabit familiar locales. If the land is sacred, then it is not surprising that representations of the land–and it can be argued that all paintings are ultimately derived from our experiential awareness of the earth–have a spiritual aspect based on the structure of the land. The evidence for this awareness of the sacred is found in archetypal geometric structures within the paintings and frequently in statements by the artists. Three of these archetypal forms, examples of a sacred geometry, are the Mandala or Medicine Wheel, the Horizon, and the Axis Mundi or World Tree. Sacred geometry occurs across cultural boundaries, within the Academy, in the work of unschooled artists, in innovative and traditional art forms, with or without the conscious intention of the artist. Because it springs from a poignant awareness of the physical environment it suggests an elevated reverence or geopiety that promises hope for ecological and cultural healing and wholeness