GIS – Geographic Information Systems allow users to quickly and accurately assess spatial data and make informed decisions in the face of complex data sets. Our specialized GIS team provides critical support and value to all of our services and supplements our field and conceptual work with real-world visual representation. We use up-to-date industry software and tools to provide clients with relevant, crucial spatial context.
- GIS Analysis
- Desktop Biological Resources Assessment
- Computer-Based Cartography
- Lidar Data Acquisition and Analysis
GIS Analysis
Environmental Mapping and analysis cover a broad range of services using geospatial data and the capabilities of the ARC GIS software including:
- Mapping hydrology features and analyzing water run-off patterns relative to geographic features such as roads and structures;
- Analyzing and mapping land usage relative to other geographic features such as soil type;
- Identifying and mapping the best lands for species habitat conservancy based on a number of geographic selection criteria such as level and type of vegetation, distance from roadways, population density, adjacent land use, terrain and land slope, etc.;
- Determining how future land development and population growth will affect species conservancy areas;
- Selecting the best lands for agricultural purchase and development in a region based on a number of geographic selection criteria such as zoning, hydrology, soil type, terrain and land slope, rainfall, average temperatures, days above freezing, etc.;
- Preparing maps of species distribution, soil types, terrain and hydrology for analyzing and planning land development projects; and
- Analyzing zoning, terrain, vegetation, and hydrology for park development.
Lidar Data Acquisition and Analysis
LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing technology used to create a three-dimensional mapping of the Earth’s surface. LIDAR emits high-frequency light most commonly from an overhead laser on an aircraft or helicopter and measures its reflectance with a scanner to produce an accurate, geo-referenced location of each point or object on the earth’s surface, as well as its height. The result is a dense, three-dimensional point cloud of an area that can be used with photogrammetry to produce highly accurate three-dimensional digital elevation and digital terrain models (DEM and DTM).
TerraWest Consulting has experience in using LIDAR point cloud data to prepare 3D DEMs and DTMs and manipulating them to analyze flood inundation, building heights and line of sight, parkland topography, and trail location, in corridor mapping, and building and feature extrusion. We are also skilled in using LiDAR for vegetation analysis, changes in forestation, and site selection.