Advancing a 5G Framework for Natural Asset Management
Advancing a 5G Framework for Natural Asset Management
How can we better understand and value the diversity of urban natural assets using a data-driven approach?
Background summary
Canadian municipalities are facing the dual challenges of declining infrastructure quality and threatened ecosystems. UBC and Rogers Canada collaborated for three years to make substantive contributions to sustainability and natural asset management. The goal of this project was to understand and value the diversity of natural assets on campus and in Vancouver through a data-driven approach, by identifying ways to monitor both the social and ecological factors that influence this system and explore use cases in practice.
Activities
- Explore potential uses of anonymized Rogers mobile data
- Analyze how urban forests support health and well-being for urban community resilience
- Apply novel methods for monitoring and managing urban forests and green spaces
- Optimize ground- and tree-based sensor systems to monitor tree and site characteristics
Outcomes
We created a prototype park data visualization with ESRI’s Experience Builder using mobile data from Environics, wearable devices, sports tracking apps, and drone-collected RPAS data.
We developed a high-resolution urban park dataset using RPAS and mobile data, offering urban forest managers in Metro Vancouver insights into canopy cover, tree health and stress, and visitation across 27 parks.
Survey analysis showed that while passive use of urban green spaces offers broad benefits, longer, more impactful visits are enjoyed mostly by those with higher education and income, revealing accessibility inequities.
We optimized ground- and tree-based sensor systems to improve battery life and data processing, creating a tree data dashboard that connects to social media and enabling direct interaction between trees and people through texting or conversational AI.
Time Frame
2020-2023
Location
Vancouver & UBC
Partners
Rogers Communications Inc.
Mitacs
UNL Researchers
Lorien Nesbitt
Sophie Nitoslawski
Johanna Bock
Angela Rout
Funding Sources
Rogers Canada Inc
Mitacs
NSERC CGS-D
Ufor Network
Partners & Funders
