Land Change Analysis
A Powerful Tool for Understanding Changes to the Land
Landscapes are being changed by industrial activities. Our change analyses can detect, measure, and predict these impacts and our disturbance maps can visually depict them.
Communicate the changes you see on land
We help you convey, and show, the combined impacts resulting from past and present development in an area.
A visual aid for discussions
Easily show, and talk about, cumulative effects, changes to habitat, and impacts to traditional resources.
Evidence based, accurate & defensible
We use real satellite photographs to measure changes to the land.
Featured Projects
Rate of Loss of Alberta’s Boreal Forest - Peer-Reviewed Publication
Peer-reviewed, published research suggests that in areas of rapid disturbance, conservation goals can only be achieved if land-use decisions are made with a goal to reduce the rate of loss balanced with measurable targets and realistic schedules to restore disturbed areas to pre-disturbance conditions.
Bison habitat loss in Wood Buffalo National Park UNESCO Study, Alberta
Industrial development is encroaching upon Wood Buffalo National Park and threatening its World Heritage status by UNESCO. To support the Mikisew Cree First Nation’s submission to UNESCO, MSES conducted analyses to examine Ronald Lake Bison Herd habitat use and the viability of the population.
Effects on Traditional Resources - Shell Jackpine Mine Oils Sands Expansion Project, Alberta
Land Change Analysis within Wolastoqey Nation of New Brunswick Traditional Territory, NB (2016)
MSES quantified landscape disturbances within Saint John, Miramichi, Restigouche and Bay of Fundy Watersheds to assist the WNNB in understanding and managing for future developments such as the Energy East project.
“The authors use different resolution imagery to quantify the rate of disturbance in the boreal forests of Alberta. While the analyses are limited to Alberta, their findings (in particular, that fine resolution imagery reveals much faster rates of disturbance) have implications for tracking forest loss globally” – Research Reviewer 2 – Peer reviewed comments from Global Change Biology
