GeoAI Change Detection for Calgary Buildings, Roads, and Forests, 2011-2021

Temporal analysis of urban development in Calgary, Alberta, using satellite imagery from 2011 and 2021. Natural Resources Canada's GeoAI features automatically extracted from these images are intersected with national building and road databases to detect new construction and forest coverage changes. The dataset is part of the GeoAI - GeoBase Series, last updated in June 2026.

Use Cases

• Detect new building construction based on intersection with Statistics Canada's Open Database of Buildings.
• Analyze new road development based on changes in the National Roads Network segments.
• Quantify gains and losses in forest coverage between two time periods.
• Model urban sprawl indicators by combining building and road change data.

Strengths

• High-resolution temporal analysis enabled by satellite imagery from two distinct years (2011 and 2021).
• Integrates authoritative national datasets like Statistics Canada's Open Database of Buildings and National Roads Network.
• Data is provided by Natural Resources Canada, a federal government organization.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The series is described as 'still fairly new' with limited examples available.

Provenance

Source

Natural Resources Canada

Collection Method

Automated feature extraction (GeoAI) from satellite imagery, intersected with national geospatial databases.

Time Range

2011, 2021

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-29 18:30:45.490739; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Calgary, Alberta, Canada