Vernal Pool Mapping

The Client: Town of Bar Harbor, ME

The Project: Mapping of Bar Harbor’s wetlands and vernal pools to help city officials make balanced land use decisions that accurately reflected the interests of developers, property owners, and natural areas that might need protection. Bar Harbor also wanted true color imagery to complement its existing Geographic Information System, a forward-thinking request for a Maine town.

Our Work: Kappa Mapping provided color infrared imagery and technical support for Stantec, a wetlands consulting firm, which created the vernal pool mapping.

To best meet the client’s goals, Kappa used an Intergraph Digital Mapping Camera (DMC) to

• Capture multiple bands of imagery simultaneously — panchromatic, natural color, and color infrared.
• Provide image clarity not possible with film-based photography.
• Reduce ground control requirements for high-accuracy mapping since the DMC integrates with Airborne GPS.

Use of the DMC-supported vernal pool mapping

• Provided Bar Harbor with information needed to balance natural resource protection with economic development.
• Made all imagery available to the public — on Bar Harbor’s website and on the MEGIS web server.
• Provided Bar Harbor’s police and fire departments with updated imagery of newly built roads.

Client Benefits:

• Since the images – including aerial photos of landowners’ property – were available to the public, community members felt assured that officials had complete and essential information and that their decisions were, therefore, fair and consistent.
• Bar Harbor has used the data provided by Kappa to enhance its GIS systems in several departments; to update shore, land, and resource protection zoning districts; to update assessment records for new construction; to update parcel addresses and locations; and to increase public awareness about natural lands that need protection.