EDM Environmental Design & Mgmt Limited

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EDM Environmental Design and Management Limited is a planning, design and engineering firm that provides cost effective and sustainable solutions to problems related to the human use of land. The firm uses GIS as a tool to help produce planning and design solutions for clients in the same way that many design firms use CAD systems. The process typically involves a detailed assessment of a planning or design issue, and the identification of key variables that can be modelled in order to provide the client with an appropriate solution. A GIS database is then constructed based on existing data and new data collected by third parties under EDM's direction (e.g., ecosystem classifications, eater quality data, etc.) EDM understands that the cost associated with building a database can take a large portion of any project budget. All too often data are collected because they are available, not because they influence the final planning or design decision. This results in an inefficient use of resources, ultimately increasing the project's cost and time schedule.

Once the database has been built, the firm then uses cartographic modelling techniques to develop suitability maps. These suitability maps rank areas that are appropriate for development and or preservation and are used to inform the physical planning or design process. This provides a scientifically defensible basis for the resulting plans, which are typically more cost effective to build or implement, and result in less impact to the environment.

The following examples provide an indication of the firm's work, and demonstrate its ability to apply the methodology at a variety of project scales (i.e., both large and small projects):
-Watershed Management Plan for Gander Lake. EDM developed a GIS based cartographic model that predicts sediment production in a 1,500 sq. Kilometre catchment by land use, and calibrated the model to suspended solids and phosphorous concentrations in the lake water. This model will be used by planners to assess the impact of various development proposal and land use plans.
-Planning Strategy for North Dartmouth. A land use plan we prepared for 1,700 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to the largest industrial park in Nova Scotia. The client wanted to know where the industrial park could be expanded, while at the same time preserving the environment and keeping site development cost to a minimum. Suitability maps were generated to illustrate areas appropriate for industrial and residential development as well as land preservation.
-Kingswood Subdivision Plan. A master plan we prepared for a 200 acre residential subdivision based on a analysis of the land within a GIS. Suitability maps highlighted areas suitable for road construction (avoiding bedrock, wetlands, steep slopes, etc.) As well as areas suitable for on site sewage disposal
(soil permeability, appropriate slope, etc.).

The firm is also a member of the Canada Geomatics Group, a consortium of four private companies and two government sponsors, that includes over 250 employees throughout Canada. This consortium provides EDM with a wide array of resources from which to draw on in order to provide its clients with a total geomatics solution. Other member firms include: Hauts-Monts (Quebec);
Triathlon Mapping (British Columbia); GeoNet Technologies (PEI);
New Brunswick Geomatics Information Centre; and, Land Records
Management Inc. (Govt.NS). For more information please contact
John Heseltine at 902-425-7900 or john@edm.ca

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