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Geomatics and Water Policy

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Book cover Water Policy and Governance in Canada

Part of the book series: Global Issues in Water Policy ((GLOB,volume 17))

Abstract

Geomatics including remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) is the geospatial technology for gathering, management, analysis, and dissemination of spatially referenced information. Water policy is the governance framework including legislation/regulation, standard, planning and management of water resources. Water policy involves complex physical, biological, economic, social, and political processes, and manifests at location, subbasin, watershed, regional, national, and international scales. Water policy has an inherently spatial dimension which offers opportunities for Geomatics support. The applications of Geomatics for supporting water management and policy can be classified into three categories: Firstly, Geomatics supports acquisition, storage, management, visualization, and distribution of water and related datasets. Secondly, Geomatics supports spatial analysis of water resources including GIS and water modelling integration. Lastly, Geomatics supports decision making in water policy including the development of water related spatial decision support systems. While Geomatics has a great potential to support water management and policy in Canada, several strategic issues needs to be addressed. A Geomatics framework needs to be developed for water data gathering, analyzing and visualizing. Technology standards need to be developed for integrating Geomatics with water models. Particularly, Geomatics visualization technologies needs to be further developed to improve accessibility of water information for non-technical users.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Rd E, N1G 2W1, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Wanhong Yang

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  1. Wanhong Yang
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Correspondence to Wanhong Yang .

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  1. Department of Economics and Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

    Steven Renzetti

  2. Department of Economics and Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

    Diane P. Dupont

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Yang, W. (2017). Geomatics and Water Policy. In: Renzetti, S., Dupont, D. (eds) Water Policy and Governance in Canada. Global Issues in Water Policy, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42806-2_23

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