Usher Canada Limited, Calgary, Alberta

Address: 5151-3 St SE
Calgary, AB T2H 2X6
CA

Mailling Address: 5151-3 St SE
Calgary, AB T2H 2X6
CA

Phone: (403) 640-9002

Fax: (403) 640-9005

Usher Canada Limited

Usher Canada Limited
Usher Canada Limited (UCL) is an independent Canadian company
offering comprehensive professional geomatics services for
individual land owners, the private sector business community and
all levels of government, across Canada and internationally. UCL
was incorporated in its present form in 1957 and is the successor
of a company started in Edmonton in 1928. UCL has full time
offices, staffed by Alberta land surveyors and professional
engineers, in Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray. Our President
and General Manager, Mr. R.W. Leeman, P.Eng, ALS, resides in our
Calgary office. Mr. H.W. Janes, P.Eng, CLS, M.Sc.Eng. manages the
Edmonton branch office. Our branch office in Fort McMurray
(formally Murray Associates Surveys Ltd.) is managed by Brent
Murray, ALS; the former owner of MASL. Mr. Murray has been
resident and conducting surveys in the Fort McMurray area for the
past 20 years.

The nature of most assignments undertaken by Usher Canada Limited
require the provision of a wide range of geomatics services to
comprehensively satisfy the needs of its various clients. In its
early years, UCL specialized primarily in cadastral surveying and
continues to do so with right-of-way, subdivision and oil field
surveys making up a large part of the firm's work. However, in
more recent years, the firm's work has expanded to include
construction, geodetic, precise engineering, deformation, and
hydrographic surveys, as well as, GPS satellite positioning and
navigation, industrial metrology, software development,
geographic information systems, image processing and project
management. Usher Canada Limited has been exporting services for
approximately 15 years and has successfully completed projects in
several countries worldwide since that time.

Usher Canada Limited has been actively involved with the Global
Positioning System (GPS) since 1983 and was one of the first
companies in the world to utilize GPS technology for production
geomatics services. The Company presently owns and operates
approximately 30 GPS receivers of all makes and models. This
technology is supported by a strong systems development group
continually striving to develop improved systems and
methodologies for delivery of efficient, cost effective solutions
to our clients. This group undertook a 2.5 year R&D project,
funded by the National Research Council of Canada, whereby the
utilization of GPS for the purposes of high accuracy engineering
applications was investigated.

In the last few years, UCL has been using GPS technology to
conduct GPS controlled aerial photography (GCAP). This technique
uses GPS equipment in the photo aircraft to position each photo
center as the aerial photography is conducted. This eliminates
or greatly reduces the need for conventional ground control
previously needed to control aerial photography.

UCL, through a subsidiary company, presently operates full time
Differential GPS (DGPS) service in Alberta. Base stations
located at our office facilities in Calgary, Edmonton and Fort
McMurray provide DGPS corrections to correct data collected by
our clients using roving GPS field receivers throughout the
Province, as well as, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Clients
are currently using the data from this DGPS service for
surveying, mapping, forest inventory, aerial photography,
environmental assessment and facilities management for both post
processed and real-time applications. Differentially corrected
position information from these projects are being combined with
other data in GIS applications.

Usher Canada Limited's Geographic Information Management Group
provides consultation, analysis and a full range of digital and
hardcopy products to address the issues of data acquisition, data
integration, date presentation and data structuring facing the
users of land based data. UCL provides a full range of image
handling capabilities which have been instrumental in enhanced
data presentation and the implementation of many cost saving
measures for its clients.

Experience - GCAP & Orthophotos
Usher Canada Limited has been providing Imperial Oil Limited, as
well as a number of other clients, with Orthophoto services for
the past 3 years. UCL has a unique method of data capture that
utilizes GPS Controlled Aerial Photography (GCAP) in combination
with aerial photography equipment. The following diagram
illustrates the GCAP process that involves the installation of a
dual frequency geodetic quality GPS receiver in the aircraft
conducting the aerial photography. The GPS receiver is interfaced
with the photogrammetric aerial camera to enable the exact time
pulse of every photograph to be recorded. This in turn enables
the GPS position of each photograph to be computed. By
differentially correcting the GPS data collected in the aircraft
with data collected at a GPS base station located near the
project area precise photo coordinates are determined while
greatly reducing or eliminating the need for expensive ground
control stations.

The GCAP method provides an effective tool for controlling
photography as well as providing other numerous benefits. These
benefits include:

Reduced ground control
Limited access required to site
Time savings
Accurate results
Cost savings for the client

After going through the orthophoto creation process, we have
discovered a number of benefits by combining these orthophotos
with other sources of data. For example, this combination of
data sets allows us to produce a number of thematic maps. These
maps of varying scales and degrees of information have been a
benefit to a number of different groups within a resource
organization as shown in Table 1.1. A few examples of the types
of information that we have provided with orthophotos includes:

Digital InformationAccuracy
Facility Information+/-0.10 m
Survey Information+/-0.10 m
Parcel Mapping +/-5 - 10 m
DEM+/-3 - 4 m
Energy & Utility Board +/-20 - 40 m
Seismic +/-20 - 100 m
Geotechnical +/-100 m

Combining these different data sets can create numerous problems,
even with data produced within a single organization. These
problems include incompatibilities due to differences in
coordinate systems, varying data accuracies and different data
formats. Usher Canada Limited has extensive experience in
solving these types of problems and can produce a professional
product that is suited for a wide range of uses. These uses
include anything from public presentations to engineering design.

Table 1.1 Benefits of Using Orthophotography with other Digital
Data Sets
USERTASKBENEFITS
Drilling Drilling and completing Detailed drawing
for access well programs
Surface restrictions
Environmental concerns addressed
GeotechnicalDetermine reservoir Ability to relate
subsurface information with terrain
Project engineering Execution of corporate objective
Preliminary alignment drawings
Project management / progress
Improve ability to accurately cost projects
Environmental concerns addressed

Process engineeringDesign components of projectDetailed
profiles for pipelines
Length of pipeline known
Accurately define pipe sizing
EnvironmentalMinimize impact to environmentAccurate
environmental assessments
Presentation to public and government
Habitat monitoring
Hydrological evaluation
Address environmental concerns
Survey ActivitiesLayout all facilities includingReduced
time in doing survey investigation
wellsites / pipelinesAble to preplan many activities

GPS Experience
Usher Canada Limited has been actively involved with the Global
Positioning System (GPS) since 1983 and was one of the first
(most survey companies seem to say this - we really were)
companies in the world to utilize GPS technology for production
geomatics services. We have completed literally hundreds of
surveys worldwide using a wide variety of GPS systems, and have
established an industry wide reputation in the GPS field based
upon a solid track record of innovation and success. The Company
presently owns and operates more than 30 GPS receivers of all
makes and models. This technology is supported by a strong
systems development group continually striving to develop
improved systems and methodologies for delivery of efficient,
cost effective solutions to our clients. This group undertook a
2.5 year R&D project, funded by the National Research Council of
Canada, whereby the utilization of GPS for the purposes of high
accuracy engineering applications was investigated.

In the last five years, UCL has been using GPS technology to
conduct GPS controlled aerial photography (GCAP). This technique
uses GPS equipment in the photo aircraft to position each photo
center as the aerial photography is conducted. This eliminates
or greatly reduces the need for conventional ground control
previously needed to control aerial photography. We have utilized
this photography to produce digital orthophotos for several of
our oil field clients.

Pleiades Data Corp.
UCL, through a subsidiary company, Pleiades Data Corp.
(www.pleiadesdata.com), presently operates a full time
Differential GPS (DGPS) service in Alberta. Computer controlled
base stations located at UCL office facilities in Calgary,
Edmonton and Fort McMurray provide DGPS corrections to correct
data collected by our clients using roving GPS field receivers
throughout the province, as well as, Saskatchewan and British
Columbia. This is the only service of its kind in Alberta.
Clients are currently using the data from this station for
surveying, mapping, forest inventory, aerial photography,
environmental assessment and facilities management applications.
Differentially corrected position information from these projects
is being combined with other data in GIS applications.

Real-Time DGPS
UCL, through Pleiades Data Corp. (PDC) has recently implemented a
real time DGPS service. This service is available through a
partnership between PDC and Telus Mobility. The DGPS corrections
are broadcast using a new digital cellular technology known as
Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD). CDPD coverage is not
available throughout the entire Province.

Safety
UCL is a member of the Alberta Construction Safety Association
(ACSA). We are currently actively managing our safety program in
accordance with ACSA guidelines. Our safety manual, training and
monitoring procedures, and reporting structure are in place. We
have recently completed both our final internal audit and our
external audit. OH&S have advised us that they consider the
certificate of recognition issued by the ACSA as equivalent to
the OH&S Partnership in Health & Safety Certification. We have
every confidence that our commitment to safety will meet or
exceed our client's expectations.

UCL has adopted the environmental practice guidelines of the
Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and
Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA) as the basis of our
environmental policy. We have supplemented this policy with
additional procedures and requirements adopted in consultation
with Alberta Environmental Protection and our clients in the
forestry and oil & gas resource sectors.

Aboriginal Involvement
Usher Canada Limited employs three full time First Nations people
in our Fort McMurray office.

Company Details

Year Established: 1957

Total Sales ($CDN): $200,000 - $500,000

Number of Employees: 41

Services

Surveying And Mapping - Cadastral Surveys

Surveying And Mapping - Geodesy And Control Surveys

Surveying And Mapping - Hydrography/Oceanography Usher Canada Limited utilizes GPS positioning technology to provide a hydrographic survey capability over inshore and near offshore waters. The positioning system may be interfaced with a variety of secondary sensors such as depth sounders, side scan sonars, seismic arrays or other instruments to gather data of particular interest to the: Navigator, Engineer, Geophysicist, Geologist, Oceanographer. The hydrographic system utilized by UCL lends itself to the survey of lakes, streams and harbours for navigational charting, engineering studies or construction monitoring.

Surveying And Mapping - Geographic Information Services Geographic Information Management has brought several new technical issues to the surveying industry: data issues which for the most part were transparent to surveyors in the world of the hard copy map. Issues such as data acquisition techniques, data accuracy, data format, data structure, datum transformations and map projections did not concern the user of the paper map. Surveyors were generally interested in the scale and perhaps the contour interval. The map represented a point of departure for the user to start work on his/her application on the assumption that the map and its components were a single homogeneous whole to an accuracy consistent with the proposed use. In general, this assumption was valid because the spatial issues surrounding the data were being handled by the spatial data experts. Digital map data can be obtained from a number of government and private sources. GIS software packages will combine and overlay this data from disparate sources, on different datums, to different accuracies, and generally make the assumption that it is homogeneous structured whole. Consequently, a number of users are finding they are spending an inordinately large amount of time on the spatial data issues and a disproportionately small amount of time on their application because the data they are attempting to use is not GIS ready. Usher Canada Limited's Geographic Information Management team provides consultation, analysis and a full range of digital and hardcopy products to address the issues of Data Acquisition, Data Integration, Data Presentation, and Data Structuring facing the users of land-based data.

Surveying And Mapping - Engineering Surveys Engineering surveys are performed to provide a framework for the design, construction, and monitoring of various structures. These surveys are an essential component of all major construction and resource development projects and encompass a variety of survey activities, including: Topographic detail surveys, Horizontal and vertical control surveys, Construction surveys, As-built surveys, and Monitoring surveys. Usher Canada Limited has provided site survey management and engineering surveys on several large development projects, and has the knowledge, experience and expertise required to plan, manage and execute surveys in an economic, reliable, and timely manner.

Surveying And Mapping - Mining Surveys

Surveying And Mapping - Geophysical Surveys

Surveying And Mapping - Other (specify)

Surveying And Mapping - Training Usher Canada Limited, has been providing GPS training to its clients since 1986. The training involves all aspects of GPS projects including project planning and logistics, data collection, data processing and analysis, and network adjustments and analysis. In addition to this project oriented training UCL has provided the following more formal training courses. UCL has developed a one day Introduction GPS course that was presented at the High on Energy Conference 1997, hosted by the Alberta Land Surveyors' Association. This course covers both theoretical and practical considerations that all GPS users should be aware of when selecting and using GPS equipment. UCL has co-developed and co-presented a two-day course on The Technique of Least Squares Adjustment Applied to Cadastral Surveying sponsored by the Alberta Land Surveyors' Association. GPS and conventional survey training were provided to approximately 40 British and Cameroonian surveyors in support of the Chad Cameroon Pipeline Project. Training included GPS theory, receiver operation (post processed and real time), GPS data processing and analysis, total station operation and conventional data processing. The training was provided for the Leica System 300 GPS receivers, SKI GPS processing software, Leica TC1800 total station, and LISCAD software.

Surveying And Mapping - Oil & Gas Surveys Usher Canada Limited provides geomatics services to oil & gas corporations including well sites and pipelines in western and northern Canada, as well as, internationally.

Usher Canada Limited

Usher Canada Limited

Company Details

Company Information

Services