Research Themes
Geodetic and Surveying Science
- Emerging technology - laser scanning, Network RTK, low-cost GNSS
Earth deformation - measurement, modelling and analysis
- Fiordland – Co-seismic and Post-seismic deformation
In August 2003, a Mw 7.2 earthquake caused horizontal displacements of up to 18cm in Fiordland, New Zealand.
- Southern Alps Geodetic Experiment (SAGENZ)
Using CGPS to measure the rate and distribution of uplift of the Southern Alps
- Strain and Velocity Fields
Using GPS to measure the velocity field throughout the South Island (New Zealand)
- Fiordland – Co-seismic and Post-seismic deformation
Long term sea level change
- Sea Level Rise
Monitoring the land movement at New Zealands long record tide gauges.
- Long-term shoreline mobility
- Sea Level Rise
- Precise gravimetric (quasi)geoid modelling using combined GPS/levelling and gravity data
- Mean sea surface topography derived from altimetry, seaborne gravity and tide gauge data
- Recovery of the Core-Mantle boundary and refinement of the Moho boundary
Land Tenure and Cadastral
- The implication of emerging technologies on Cadastral Systems
Land tenure - persisting land custom and cadastral surveying
Land tenure - indigenous rights, property law and resource allocation
- Indigenous rights in rivers. Case studies in Canada with the Bow River and the Siksika Nation, and in NZ with the Taieri RIver.
- Foreshore and Seabed
- Maori Land
- Figurative language in treaty making
Land Records Management
Research into various aspects of land administration and land records management.
Land and Urban Development
Sustainability and resilience of infrastructural networks
Hydrographic Surveying
- High resolution sea floor imaging using the Benthos C3D side-scan sonar
- Marine mapping standards for the Ocean's 2020 project
- Ocean governance - environmental planning beyond the NZ's territorial sea
Geospatial Science
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Participatory Decision Support for Sustainable Communities - the MapChat tool
- Spatial Decision Support for Sustainable Community Development using Open Source Geospatial tools
- Isotopic Variability of Rainfall across New Zealand
- Community, belonging and common pool resource management of the Bluff wild Oyster Fishery
- Local and scientific knowledge integration for small scale fisheries
Remote Sensing
Glacier and snow monitoring
Research on monitoring of seasonal snow cover using advance remote sensing techniques is conducted with the aim to develop a comprehensive tool that will integrate remotely sensed data, geographic and hydrologic analysis and snowmelt runoff models in order to enable better forecast of stored water resources.
In 1999 an international program "Global Land Ice Measurement from Space" (GLIMS) was initiated by the US Geological Survey with the aim of mapping the world glaciers and extracting glaciological information through the use of satellite imagery. The main purpose of the NZ GLIMS Office, located at the School of Surveying, is to develop land ice and snow research involving the use of geospatial tools. Satellite imagery is currently used to map End-Of-Summer over the Southern Alps, assess glacier hazards, and to map ice-snow faces for glaciological and hydrological studies of snow and glacier melt.
Wildlife management
Increasingly the attention of wildlife scientists is being focused on the spatial dimensions in which animals operate. Satellite imagery now offers the ability to obtain habitat information over large areas and with a very high spatial resolution. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology similarly enables the collection of localized biological information with an accuracy of a few meters or better. The ongoing development of Geographical Information System (GIS) technology allows the integration of remote sensing images with geo-referenced field data. A number of on-going projects aim at increasing our knowledge of the way animals use habitats in relation to their nature and structure, modeling the spatial distribution and estimating abundance of a number of species at various spatial scale. These projects are supported by the recent creation of the Spatial Ecology Research Facility located at the School of Surveying - http://www.otago.ac.nz/erg/facilities.htm.
- Dynamics of Landfast sea ice and polar near surface oceanography