For this project, we collected all of our data from open data portals, with the exception of the road network. However, that could also have been obtained from an open data portal.
Wildlife Collision Data¹
Since the main goal of our project was to identify new potential spots for wildlife crossings, we needed to know where animals were trying to cross the roads most frequently. Since this data doesn’t exist, wildlife collision locations acted as a proxy. We obtained the data from the Alberta Open Data Portal. The data contained the coordinates of the collision (latitude & longitude), the month, the year, and the species killed in the collision.
Digital Elevation Model²
In order to calculate suitable locations for the potential crossing sites, we needed elevation and slope data. We obtained elevation data from Atalis, a collaboration between the Alberta Government and Spatial Data Warehouse. The data covered all of Alberta and had a 25m resolution.
Land Use Classification³
Certain types of land use would make building a wildlife crossing there impossible, such as water, or cities, so we needed to know what the land was being used for in the areas around the road. We obtained a land use classification from the Alberta Open Data Portal. The data covered all of Alberta and had a 25m resolution.
Road Network
In order to know where to build the crossings we needed to focus our analysis to the areas immediately beside the roads so we needed a road network. We obtained shapefiles of the Albertan Highway Network from an employee of Alberta Transportation. The shapefile included the highway name, and traffic data for each road segment. We used the traffic data to help pick a location for analysis. However, the shapefile of the Albertan road network⁴, which we used for the and an excel spreadsheet with traffic data⁵ can both be obtained from the Alberta Open Data Portal.
Ecological Importance Data
Since the wildlife crossings are designed to help preserve biodiversity, we needed to know which areas are habitats for important species. We obtained shapefiles of the key wildlife and biodiversity areas, grizzly bear ranges, and mountain goat and sheep ranges from the Alberta government website⁶. We obtained a shapefile of the environmentally significant areas from Alberta Parks⁷.
Banff Crossing Locations
In order to determine the slope attributes of existing wildlife crossings we had to plot them in a mapping software. We obtained a KMZ file of the crossing locations from the Highway Wilding website⁸ which we then used in Google Earth.
Citations
¹Alberta Wildlife Watch. (2019). Alberta Wildlife Watch Animal Carcass Records. Retrieved from https://open.alberta.ca/opendata/alberta-wildlife-watch-animal-carcass-records#summary
²Atalis. (2018). Alberta Provincial 25m Raster DEM. Retrieved from https://www.altalis.com/map;gid=147
³Alberta Environment and Parks. (2018). Alberta Satellite Land Cover. Retrieved from https://open.alberta.ca/opendata/gda-f4c86e0b-be22-4b94-a6a3-754d17518e9d
⁴Alberta Transportation. (2016). National Road Network (NRN) – AB, Alberta. Retrieved from https://open.alberta.ca/opendata/gda-6aa3584c-e1c1-4d9e-879c-082686587608
⁵Alberta Transportation. (2020). Traffic volumes at points on the highway. Retrieved from https://open.alberta.ca/opendata/traffic-volumes-at-points-on-the-highway#summary
⁶Government of Alberta. (n.d.). Wildlife sensitivity maps. Retrieved from https://www.alberta.ca/wildlife-sensitivity-maps.aspx
⁷Alberta Parks. (2009). Environmentally Significant Areas. Retrieved from https://albertaparks.ca/albertaparksca/library/downloadable-data-sets/
⁸Highway Wilding. (n.d.). Google Earth Directory of Wildlife Crossing Structures. Retrieved from http://highwaywilding.org/research.php