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Graduate Studies Calendar 2022-2023 Courses of Instruction Course Descriptions G Geomatics Engineering ENGO
Geomatics Engineering ENGO

For more information about these courses, see the Department of Geomatics Engineering: schulich.ucalgary.ca/geomatics.

Graduate Courses
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:
3 units; (0-4)
Notes:
Open only to students in the course-based MEng.
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Geomatics Engineering 603       Fundamentals of Infrastructure Asset Management and Sustainability
International standards and guidelines in asset management and sustainable project delivery, effective consultation of stakeholders, the process of establishing asset management plans and inventories, and how these plans tie into ongoing performance monitoring, financial reporting and operational risk mitigation.
Course Hours:
3 units; (3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 605       Advanced Topic in Asset Management - Strategy and Financial
Development of strategic asset management plans and policies. Establishing organizational readiness and capacity for asset management. Assessing ISO 55 000 compliance and auditing asset management plans. Reconciling asset management forecasting with financial reporting. Principles of PSAB 3150, IRFS and GAAP. Accounting for natural assets and environmental, social and governance report impacts on asset management. Asset management frameworks and competency standards.
Course Hours:
3 units; (3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 610       Geospatial Vision
Covers relevant computer vision methods for solving mapping problems. Topics include 2D/3D interest points and feature descriptors, stereo and multi-view stereo, image alignment, 3D reconstruction, range data processing (pre-processing, segmentation and alignment), 3D modelling from point clouds, deep learning for mapping, map inference and map matching.
Course Hours:
3 units; (3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 612       Wellbore Positioning by MWD Sensors in the Directional Drilling
Provides a basic knowledge and techniques of wellbore positioning in the directional drilling by using measurement-while-drilling (MWD) gravity and magnetic sensors.
Course Hours:
3 units; (3-0)
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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:
3 units; (3-0)
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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:
3 units; (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:
3 units; (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:
3 units; (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:
3 units; (3-2)
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Geomatics Engineering 629       Advanced Estimation Methods and Analysis
Introduction of different estimation criteria, error sources in estimation, modelling and testing requirements. Advanced least squares method, estimation equations and analysis. Random processes, dynamic models, Kalman filter equations and analysis. Implementation aspects. Concept of signal, least squares collocation equations and applications. Robust estimation principle and robustified least squares and Kalman filter. Data modelling issue in estimation, functional and stochastic model development for least squares and Kalman filter. Error analysis, conventional and robust statistical testing methods and analysis. Applications to geomatics engineering problems in geodesy, positioning and navigation, photogrammetry, etc.
Course Hours:
3 units; (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:
3 units; (3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 637       Earth Observation for the Environment
Earth Observation for the Environment An introduction to environmental earth observation systems in particular to satellite platforms. Topics include: discussion 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; fusion of multi-dimensional datasets (i.e., multi-spectral, multi-temporal, multi-resolution, and point-source ground data); and application of satellite images in addressing selected environmental issues.
Course Hours:
3 units; (3-0)
Antirequisite(s):
Credit for Geomatics Engineering 637 and any of Geomatics Engineering 619.04, Environmental Engineering 637 or 619.05 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:
3 units; (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:
3 units; (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:
3 units; (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. Topics 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:
3 units; (3-0)
Notes:
Background in programming and statistics is required.
Also known as:
(Environmental Engineering 630)
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Geomatics Engineering 651       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 six major geospatial technologies that characterize the so-called Geospatial Revolution; Geoweb, Virtual Globes, Volunteered Geographic Information, Location-Based Services, Big data and geospatial cyber-infrastructure; data/product quality, privacy and confidentiality, and societal implication of these technologies will be discussed.
Course Hours:
3 units; (2-2)
Also known as:
(Geomatics Engineering 551)
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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:
3 units; (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:
3 units; (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:
3 units; (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:
3 units; (3-0)
Also known as:
(Geophysics 681)
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Geomatics Engineering 691       Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar
Introduction to image formation with polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (POLSAR), theory of polarized electromagnetic waves, polarimetric scattering from targets, POLSAR data models, speckle filtering, data decomposition, classification, and segmentation.
Course Hours:
3 units; (3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 693       Cadastral Information Systems
Cadastral Systems, cadastral data, land registration, data structures and schemas for land administration information, ISO standards, evolutionary models, land tools, effectiveness metrics.
Course Hours:
3 units; (3-0)
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Geomatics Engineering 694       Advanced Topics in Sensor Web and Internet of Things
Overview of the sensor web architecture and algorithms, with a focus on Internet of Things. Topics include: sensor web data management, sensor web search and discovery, sensor web server design and implementation, interoperability issues, sensor-based analytics and visualization, introduction to sensor networks, and trends in sensor web and Internet of Things.
Course Hours:
3 units; (3-0)
Also known as:
(Environmental Engineering 639)
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Geomatics Engineering 697       Directed Studies
Individual project study conducted under the guidance of a faculty member and intended to familiarize the student with the literature and techniques that are required for their research program, but are not available in regular courses.
Course Hours:
3 units; (3-0)
Prerequisite(s):
Consent of the Department Head or Associate Head Graduate Studies.
MAY BE REPEATED FOR CREDIT
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Geomatics Engineering 699       Special Studies
Focus on advanced studies in specialized topics that are not offered in the regular graduate curriculum of the Department.
Course Hours:
3 units; (3-0) or (2-2)
MAY BE REPEATED FOR CREDIT
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