Oil Sands Mines:
This landcover / landuse dataset has been produced and submitted to Alberta Environment to partially fulfill requirements for conservation and reclamation data submission under an Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA) oil sands mine approval. The geographical and temporal extent of the dataset may cover the historical or current spatial extent for any given oil sands mine operator for which mine development approvals have been granted.
In Situ Oil Sands:
The landcover / landuse dataset has been produced by combining industry submitted data with a landcover analysis of remote sensing imagery (SPOT, Landsat, airphoto) for the years 1985, 1998 and 2007. Updates to the in situ footprint dataset are anticipated in the future following development of an automoted landcover classification system.