In 2014, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) initiated a Play-Based Regulation (PBR) pilot project as a step towards implementation of the Unconventional Regulatory Framework. One of the goals of the PBR pilot is to encourage companies in the unconventional play area to work together on plans for surface development to minimize the numbers of facilities and surface impacts. This data set is one of a series created using earth observation imagery to assess surface change caused by energy exploration.
The PBR area extends from Twp. 52, Rge. 7, W 5th Mer. to Twp. 70, Rge. 5, W 6th Mer., covering the towns of Edson, Fox Creek, Mayerthorpe, Whitecourt, Swan Hills, and Valleyview.
This quality evaluation dataset was produced for 2005 Landsat data to identify possible misclassified areas due to sensor noise, cloud, haze, and cloud shadow. These areas are assigned to ‘bad pixels’ or value ‘1’ in the quality evaluation dataset.
Process steps performed in ENVI 5.1 to produce this quality evaluation dataset:
1. Pre-release versions of annual Landsat Best Available Pixel Composite (LBAPC) datasets (1984 to 2012) were obtained from the Natural Resources Canada/Pacific Forestry Centre for testing purposes. Of these, the 2005 LBAPC was used to produce this data quality evaluation.
2. The presence of cloud, haze, cloud shadow, and noise in certain areas of the 2005 LBAPC scene can cause misclassification of Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) types in the final result. Therefore, pixel values in these areas were manually assigned ‘1’ and are classified as ‘bad pixels’. Pixel values in remaining areas were assigned ‘0’ and are classified as ‘good pixels’.