The Canadian National Topographic DataBase and mountain cartography Roger Wheate, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada

The Canadian National Topographic DataBase (NTDB) contains digital versions of 13,377 1:50,000 map sheets, completed in 2012. These include all vector layers: roads, hydrography, contours, forests etc.., plus raster map scan, DEM/DTM and Landsat satellite image for each map. This talk will show examples how these data can be used to enhance cartographic depiction in Canada’s mountain landscapes

10th Mountain Cartography workshop, Austrian / German Alps, April 2016 The Canadian National Topographic DataBase and mountain cartography

Pre 1940: All mountain cartography was by photo- topographic surveyors, using oblique ground photos e.g. A.O.Wheeler

Athabasca Glacier 1911

Post 1945, all topographic mapping at 1:50,000 was from air photography, by returning war veterans and planes; completed for all maps 2012

Athabasca Glacier, 1958 The National Topographic System (NTS)

http://atlas.gc.ca/site/english/toporama/index.html

Total 1:50,000 Canada map sheets = 13,377 http://geogratis.ca All data free to download since 2009

- Download by map sheet or Area of Interest (AOI) - Select topographic map vectors, raster map scan, DTM, Landsat - DTM can be as interpolated raster or from contour vectors Map sheet examples used in this presentation:

1. Pyramid Mountain, Axel Heiberg Island Arctic cordillera

2. Andrei Icefield, Coast Mtns

3. Mt. Robson, Rocky Mtns Area 1: Pyramid Peak, Axel Heiberg Island

NTS map 059H12

Pyramid Peak (2012) Landsat 7 ETM 2000 3D perspective using DEM

McGill Arctic Research Station (MARS), Axel Heiberg Island Map subset area Hillshade 50% transparency map scan with shading Land beige / glaciers azure Contours and ice intersected To enable bi-colour contours Tundra grasses in yellow plus index contours labels Parks Canada Banff Park, 1995 map

Glaciers in purple to increase contrast with lakes and water

Might this work at larger scales with NTDB data ? Perhaps not here …. NTDB data main processing steps

Download map sheet or AOI from geogratis.ca

Contours -> generate DTM

Create and add hillshade (relief shading) with transparency

Overlay / intersect glaciers with contours to colour contours

Use minimum threshold length contour segments for labels

Add land cover (mostly ice) – and vegetation from satellite image

Add selected lettering from annotation layer (not done here) Area 2. Andrei Icefield (Coast Mtns) Photo: Laura Thomson Map sheet 104B13: Printed 1975 from 1965 photos

5 km Map sheet 104B13 with shaded relief Shaded relief and hydrography + glaciers and gravel beds + forest cover + alpine meadows 2013

5 km

Landsat 5 TM image used to create alpine meadows + index contours for illustration Ongoing issues for map updating and design

DEM/DTM data are from the first mapping (1965)

Glacier extents … ~20 metre retreat per year

Glacier downwasting – up to 5m per year

: can use SRTM DTM (2000) or ASTER for updated DEM Area 3. Mt. Robson, Berg Lake, Canadian Rocky Mountains

This is the most popular hike in the Canadian Rockies Robson Glacier 1911-2011 Byron Harmon 1911

Sign: glacier was here in 1911

Roger Wheate 2011 Glacier extents 1923-2005 (Laura Thomson), base map: A. O. Wheeler, Boundary Commission, 1923 Robson (1975 photos / printed 95) + shaded relief DEM shows BC / AB ‘join’ This 30m break is repeated on Google Earth AB/BC

AB BC +30m Achtung, der Überhang DEM generated from contours + hydrography and glaciers Landsat 2015 and Robson Glacier 1923 Coniferous / deciduous vegetation from Landsat greenness Selected names from annotation layer Berg Glacier, and side of Mt. Robson in background; RW and DAAD/RISE Interns

Birte Kulla (Bonn) and Christina Kramer (Berlin) RISE interns 2015