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Graduate Studies Calendar 2014-2015 Courses of Instruction Course Descriptions G Geomatics Engineering ENGO
Geomatics Engineering ENGO

Instruction offered by members of the Department of Geomatics Engineering in the Schulich School of Engineering.

Department Head – D. Lichti

Associate Heads – K. O'Keefe, D.J. Marceau

Geomatics Engineering 500       Geomatics Engineering Project
Principles of project management and applications in geomatics projects. Group project, under the supervision of a faculty member, on an assigned Geomatics Engineering topic. The project will normally involve a literature review, theoretical work, and laboratory or field work. Submission and defence of progress reports and a final report are required.
Course Hours:
F(1-5)
Prerequisite(s):
Communications Studies 363.
Corequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 501.
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Geomatics Engineering 501       Field Surveys
Field exercises include: instrument calibration, cadastral retracement, determination of astronomic azimuth, conventional control survey for deformation analysis, real time kinematic surveying, geodetic control using static GPS, precise levelling, hydrographic surveying, and geographic information systems and data management. This course adopts a team-based learning approach and emphasis is placed on practical professional experience, planning, and logistic for field survey operations. Each team is required to produce a fieldwork report for each field activity, and each student is responsible for a chapter, detailing one of the exercises, of the primary team report describing all of the work accomplished by the team during the course. The course concludes with a half-day seminar that focuses on the practice and profession of Land Surveying.
Course Hours:
H(152 hours)
Prerequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 419, 435, 455, 465 and 451 or 443.     
Notes:
A two-week field camp will be held at the Biogeoscience Institute at Barrier Lake prior to the start of the Fall Term lectures.
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Geomatics Engineering 531       Advanced Photogrammetric and Ranging Techniques
Analogue and digital imaging systems, frame versus line cameras, stereo-coverage configurations of line cameras, geometric modelling of line cameras (rigorous versus approximate sensor modelling), geo-referencing requirements of frame and line cameras, high-resolution imaging satellites, active imaging systems (LIDAR/RADAR), data integration and fusion.
Course Hours:
H(2-2)
Prerequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 421, 431, and 435.
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Geomatics Engineering 545       Hydrographic Surveying
Water levels and flow. Underwater acoustics including velocity and system parameters. Sonar and echosounder systems. Acoustic positioning concepts. Vertical positioning and datums. Types of surveys and specifications. Practical examples and survey data processing.
Course Hours:
H(2-2)
Prerequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 361 and 465.
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Geomatics Engineering 551       Advanced Geospatial Topics
Progress in research, development and applications in the field of Geospatial technologies; Importance of geospatial knowledge and evolution of geospatial technologies in the last decades; Focus on five major geospatial technologies that characterize the so-called Geospatial Revolution; Geoweb, Virtual Globes, Volunteered Geographic Information, Location-Based Services, and Geospatial cyber-infrastructure; Data/product quality, privacy and confidentiality, and societal implication of these technologies will be discussed.
Course Hours:
H(2-2)
Prerequisite(s):
Fourth Year Standing.
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Geomatics Engineering 559       Digital Imaging and Applications
An introduction to digital image processing (IP) and computer vision (CV) concepts, methods and algorithms which will enable the students to implement IP/CV systems or use IP/CV software with emphasis on remote-sensing and photogrammetry applications and problem solving. Course components include: digital image acquisition and sampling, image enhancement in the spatial and frequency domain, colour image processing, image restoration, image segmentation, image compression and multi-source image/data fusion.
Course Hours:
H(2-2)
Prerequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 435 and one of Geomatics Engineering 327 or Electrical Engineering 327.
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Geomatics Engineering 563       Data Analysis in Engineering
Fundamental of matrix theory, linear systems, probability and statistics. Data classification, analysis and bias identification. Random data acquisition, qualification and analysis. Least squares estimation and data analysis. Random process, stationarity test and kinematic modelling. Kalman filtering and real-time data analysis. Introduction to signal processing and time series analysis. Practical applications of data analysis and processing in geomatics engineering.
Course Hours:
H(2-2)
Prerequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 361.
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Geomatics Engineering 567       High-Precision Surveys
Instrument systems and procedures for high-precision surveys: precise levels, high-precision theodolites, electronic distance measurement instruments. High-precision industrial surveys: computation of three-dimensional orientations and rotations by autoreflection and autocollimation; computation of three-dimensional co-ordinates and co-ordinate changes by theodolite intersection methods, total station methods, scale bar on target methods, digital camera methods, laser scanner methods; systematic errors and their control; geometric form fitting. Case studies in high precision surveys.
Course Hours:
H(2-3)
Prerequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 343, 361 and 419.
Corequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 501.
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Geomatics Engineering 573       Digital Terrain Modelling
Digital Terrain Modelling (DTM, DEM, DHM, DTEM) concepts and their implementation and applications in geomatics engineering and other disciplines. Emphasis will be on mathematical techniques used in the acquisition (e.g. photogrammetric data capture, digitized cartographic data sources capturing, other methods: IFSAR, and laser altimeters) processing, storage, manipulation, and applications of DTM. Models of DTM (Grids, Contours, and TINS). Surface representation from point data using moving averages, linear projection, and Kriging techniques. Grid resampling methods and search algorithms used in gridding and interpolation. DTM derivatives (slope maps, aspect maps, viewsheds, and watershed). Applications of DTM in volume computation, orthophotos and drainage networks.
Course Hours:
H(2-2)
Prerequisite(s):
Engineering 407 and Geomatics Engineering 431.
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Geomatics Engineering 579       Survey Law and Practice
Review of legislation, standards of practice and case law affecting property interests, property boundaries and boundary surveys. Evidence and Boundary Survey Principles, Riparian rights, Title to land, Canada lands, Aboriginal rights, inter-jurisdictional boundaries. Reforms in the Surveying Profession. Field exercises may take place off campus over weekends.
Course Hours:
H(2-3)
Prerequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 455 and 443.
Corequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 501.
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Geomatics Engineering 581       Land Use Planning
Theoretical and historical bases of planning. Urban reform and development of planning in Canada. Sustainable development. Subdivision planning process. Provincial and municipal planning approval requirements. Public participation. Site assessments. Field exercises may take place off campus over weekends.
Course Hours:
H(2-2)
Prerequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 455.
Corequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 579.
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Geomatics Engineering 583       Environmental Modelling
Nature and purpose of environmental modelling; the top-down and the bottom-up approaches; typology of environmental models; definition of fundamental concepts; steps involved in designing and building a model; calibration, verification and validation of models; scale dependency; sensitivity analysis; characteristics, architecture and functioning of selected environmental models.
Course Hours:
H(2-2)
Prerequisite(s):
Fourth year standing.
Also known as:
(Environmental Engineering 635)
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Geomatics Engineering 585       Wireless Location
Fundamentals of radio-frequency propagation, principles of radio-frequency positioning, observations  and their associated error sources. Introduction to self-contained inertial sensors including odometers, gyros, accelerometers, and augmentation of RF methods with self-contained sensors and other data sources. Current systems: Assisted GPS, cellular telephone location techniques, pseudolites, location with wireless computer networks, ultra-wideband. Applications: outdoor and indoor personal location, asset tracking.
Course Hours:
H(2-2)
Prerequisite(s):
Geomatics Engineering 465 and one of Geomatics Engineering 327 or Electrical Engineering 327.
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Graduate Courses

Following are the graduate courses normally offered in the Department. Additional courses are also offered by visiting international lecturers. Please refer to the Department website (http://www.geomatics.ucalgary.ca) for current course listings.

Geomatics Engineering 601       Graduate Project
Individual project in the student's area of specialization under the guidance of the student's supervisor. A written proposal, one or more written progress reports, and a final written report are required. An oral presentation is required upon completion of the course.
Course Hours:
H(0-4)
Notes:
Open only to students in the course-only route MEng.
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Geomatics Engineering 605       Research Seminar I
Seminar presentation of studies related to the student's research.
Course Hours:
Q(0-1S)
Notes:
Compulsory for all MSc graduate students.
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA
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Geomatics Engineering 607       Research Seminar II
Seminar presentation of studies related to the student's research. Should not normally be taken in the same term as Geomatics Engineering 609.
Course Hours:
Q(0-1S)
Notes:
Compulsory for all PhD graduate students.
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA
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Geomatics Engineering 609       Research Seminar III
Seminar presentation of studies related to the student's research. Should not normally be taken in the same term as Geomatics Engineering 607.
Course Hours:
Q(0-1S)
Notes:
Compulsory for all PhD graduate students.
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA
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Geomatics Engineering 615       Advanced Physical Geodesy
Potential theory and geodetic boundary value problems (GBVPs). Solution approaches to the Molodensky problem. Least-squares collocation (LSC). Hilbert spaces with kernel functions. Variational principles, improperly posed problems and regularization. The altimetry-gravimetry and overdetermined GBVPs. Solution of GBVPs by integral techniques, fast Fourier transforms and LSC. Use of heterogeneous data sets and noise propagation. Applications to gravity prediction, geoid determination, deflection estimation, satellite altimetry and airborne gravimetry and gradiometry. Current research activities.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
Antirequisite(s):
Not open to students with credit in Geomatics Engineering 611 or 617.
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Geomatics Engineering 617       Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS)
Introduction of methods to engage in effective dialogue and advocacy through the adoption of Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS). Approaches learned to safeguard culturally sensitive information from external misuse and exploitation; methods to ensure traditional custodians maintain control of their spatial information; methods for producing, georeferencing and visualizing (indigenous) spatial knowledge that promote peer-to-peer dialogue, and their aspirations and concerns with higher-level authorities. The course will be a workshop forward that incorporates readings and various group exercises to provide students with a road make to undertaking PGIS.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 620        Estimation for Navigation
Overview of estimation fundamentals including stochastic processes, covariance matrices, auto-correlation functions, power spectral densities, and error propagation. Review of least-squares estimation, summation of normals and sequential least-squares formulations, and role of measurement geometry in least-squares position estimation. Constraints and implementations. Concept of Kalman filtering; relationship between Kalman filtering and least-squares; linear, linearized and extended Kalman filter formulations; system model formulation; process noise model determination; measurement models, and effect of time-correlated measurements and possible remedies. Numerical stability issues in estimation and possible solutions. Statistical reliability in least-squares and Kalman filtering and related RAIM concepts. Introduction to other estimation techniques including unscented Kalman filters and particle filters. Application of above topics to relevant navigation estimation problems.
Course Hours:
H(2-2)
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Geomatics Engineering 623       Inertial Surveying and INS/GPS Integration
Inertial sensors and their application in inertial navigation, existing inertial systems, new developments in strapdown technology. Practical aspects of inertial positioning definition of an operational inertial frame, inertial error models. Effect of inertial sensor errors on the derived navigation parameters, performance characteristics of inertial sensors, calibration of inertial sensors. Mechanization equations in different co-ordinate frames, step by step computation of the navigation parameters from the inertial sensor data introduction to Kalman filtering for optimal error estimation, modelling INS errors by linear state equations, practical issues for the implementation of update measurements (ZUPT, CUPT, Integrated systems), current research activities.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 625       Advanced GNSS Theory and Applications
Overview of space positioning and navigation systems; concepts and general description. Global Navigation Satellite System signal description. Receiver and antenna characteristics and capabilities; signal measurements indoor; GNSS error sources and biases; atmospheric delays, signal reflection and countermeasures. Mathematical models for static point and relative positioning. Kinematic single point and differential post mission and real time positioning, navigation and location. Augmentation methods. Land, marine, airborne and indoor applications. Case studies.
Course Hours:
H(3-2)
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Geomatics Engineering 629       Advanced Estimation Methods and Analysis
Concepts of optimal estimation and different optimization criteria. Least squares estimation and different adjustment models. Fundamental of random process and kinematic modelling. Development of the Kalman filter equations. Implementation aspects of Kalman filtering. Concept of signal and least squares collocation. Robust estimation and analysis. Error analysis and advanced statistical testing. Applications to geomatics engineering problems.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 633       Atmospheric Effects on Satellite Navigation Systems
Theoretical and observed aspects of radio wave propagation in the ionosphere and troposphere, with an emphasis on L-band (GPS) signals. Fundamentals of absorption, attenuation, depolarization, and defraction will be covered, in addition to characteristics and physical properties of the propagation medium and atmospheric constituents. The impact of such effects, and methods of mitigation, will be interpreted with respect to satellite navigation applications.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 637       Earth Observation for the Environment

An introduction to environmental earth observation systems in particular to satellite platforms.  Technique for fusing multi-dimensional datasets (i.e., multi-spectral, multi-temporal, multi-resolution, and point-source ground data).  A number of environmental issues will be discussed, including carbon sequestration, advanced techniques for estimating biophysical variables that are integral parts of various environmental models; vegetation phenology; and understanding of climatic influence on forested and polar ecosystems, etc.


Course Hours:
H (3-0)
Antirequisite(s):
Credit for any of Environmental Engineering 637 or 619.05 and Geomatics Engineering 637 will not be allowed.
Also known as:
(Environmental Engineering 637)
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Geomatics Engineering 638       GNSS Receiver Design
Global Navigation Satellite System signal structure, overview of receiver architecture, measurements, antenna design, receiver front-end, reference oscillator, sampling and quantization, phase lock loops, frequency lock loops and delay lock loops, tracking loop design and errors, signal acquisition and detection, interference effects.
Course Hours:
H(2.5-1)
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Geomatics Engineering 639       Advanced Topics in Digital Image Processing
Review of basic digital imaging; advanced topics in multispectral or hyperspectral analysis, multiresolution analysis, image segmentation, image transform, data fusion, pattern recognition or feature matching; current research applications especially in Geomatics.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 642       Optical Imaging Metrology
Optical imaging methods for precise close-range measurement.  Photogrammetric techniques with emphasis on the bundle adjustment.  Photogrammetric datum definition, network design and quality measures.  Principles of laser rangefinding and laser scanning.  Imaging distortions, sensor modelling and system self-calibration for a variety of imaging sensors including digital cameras, panoramic cameras, 3D laser scanners and 3D range cameras.  Automated point cloud processing methods; registration, modelling and segmentation.  Selected case studies.
Course Hours:
H (3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 645       Spatial Databases and Data Mining
Comprehensive overview of spatial database management systems and issues related to spatial data mining. The topics that will be covered include: overview of spatial databases, spatial concepts and data models, spatial query languages, spatial storage and indexing, spatial networks, spatial data mining, and trends in spatial databases.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 655       Advanced Remote Sensing
Advanced techniques for analysis and interpretation of remotely sensed imagery, with emphasis on data acquired from satellite and airborne platforms. Topics include: review of physical principles, including governing equations; imaging system geometries; radiometric corrections, including calibration and atmospheric correction; spatial filtering for noise removal and information extraction; geometric corrections, including rectification and registration; geophysical algorithms such as leaf area index and biomass and land cover classification algorithms.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 658       Geocomputation

Overview of the fundamental concepts, approaches, techniques, and applications in the field of Geocomputation. Topics being discussed include Geocomputation, Computational intelligence, Complex Systems theory, Cellular automata modelling, Multi-agent system modelling, Calibration and validation of dynamic models, Scale, Artificial neural network, Data mining and knowledge discovery, Geovisualization, and Post-normal science. Individual projects involving the application of Geocomputational techniques and models are conducted.


Course Hours:
H(3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 667       Advanced Topics in Photogrammetry
Overview of aerial triangulation procedures (strip triangulation, block adjustment of independent models, bundle block adjustment, automatic aerial triangulation, direct versus indirect orientation). Mapping from space (modelling the perspective geometry of line cameras, epipolar geometry for line cameras). Multi-sensor aerial triangulation (integrating aerial and satellite imagery with navigation data). Photogrammetric products (Digital Elevation Models, ortho-photos). The role of features in photogrammetric operations (utilizing road network captured by terrestrial navigation systems in various orientation procedures).
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 675       Spatial Statistics
Spatial phenomena and spatial processes. Spatial data analysis and the importance of spatial data in scientific research. Methods will range from exploratory spatial data analysis through to recent developments such as nonparametric semivariogram modelling, generalized linear mixed models, estimation and modelling of nonstationary covariances, and spatio-temporal processes.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 681       Advanced Global Geophysics and Geodynamics
Elasticity, figure of the Earth, Earth structure and seismology, gravity and its temporal variations, isostasy, tides, Earth rotation and orientation, time, plate flexure, glacial rebound, continental drift, geodetic observation methods for geodynamics.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
Also known as:
(Geophysics 681)
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Geomatics Engineering 699       Special Studies
Focus on advanced studies in specialized topics. Students may also conduct individual studies under the direction of a faculty member.
Course Hours:
H(3-0)
MAY BE REPEATED FOR CREDIT
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