New Location for the Canadian Fossil Discovery Center

CFDCMAP

(Click on the map for a full-sized version, or on the link above for a more detailed pdf.)

The Canadian Fossil Discovery Center is currently located in Morden, Manitoba. This part of Manitoba used to be under water many thousands of years ago; this museum actually holds the largest collection of marine reptile fossils in Canada, including “Bruce”, a massive 43 foot Mosasaur. School children are invited to go on fossil digs in the area. It’s a great travel destination for anyone going exploring Manitoba (http://www.discoverfossils.com/).

The museum is looking at a location change, which becomes an educational opportunity for those of us interested in surveying. The five of us in the GIS program at Assiniboine Community College  produced the elevation map shown above on a proposed site just outside Morden. We used a survey-grade GPS system (a base station and rover) and an ATV.

The process was as follows: we first set up the base station in an open area so it would have uninterrupted access to the sky (and the GPS satellites). The rover was another receiver that was mounted on the ATV, which traveled up and down the field. Picking up a correction signal in real time from the base station, the rover took and stored accurate elevation points for the survey area. These points were then downloaded into ESRI’s ArcGIS software, which computed an estimated shape of the entire field.