FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Updated: June 17, 2020
FireFringe™ Platform
To learn more about the web platform, view the Instruction Manual.
Go to www.firefringe.com click the button labelled "Try it Out" and the following web page will open. The user will see the platform in FIREFRINGE GUEST mode.
In Guest Mode users can see a North America wide Basemap provided by Sentinel 2 and a Open Street Map (also known as OSM). Users can also surface the following Raster layers (which are defined and explained below) across Canada: Terrain, Active Fires, and the FBP fuel map. The other Raster layers: Enhanced fuel map, FireFringe Fire Location highlighter, FireFringe severity, and FireFringe hotspots are only available to signed in subscribers who are experiencing a fire in their subscribed area(s) of interest. We have made examples of those Raster layers available in a demonstration tile located over the Prince Albert area of Saskatchewan.
In Guest Mode, users can use the toolbar floating on the top of the map to:
- Measure the distance in kilometers between two or more points using the measuring tool
- Create and download a PDF map from your screen
- Re-orient the map to a country-wide view
- Re-orient the map to your location by pressing the 'my-location' button
Basemaps are a reference map on which you overlay data from layers and visualize geographic information. An individual basemap can be made of multiple feature, raster, or web layers.
Subscribers of a particular area or areas of interest will receive updated Sentinel 2 satellite imagery of their area produced with 10 meter raster pixels. This imagery is updated as often as possible. The Sentinel 2 satellite passes over an individual area once per week. If the image it captures is cloud free, we will update your subscribed area with the new cloud free image. If your area is naturally prone to cloudy weather, this could take some weeks to update. In our experience we are able to update every tile at least monthly, sometimes more frequently depending on the weather. Below is an example:
Unsubscribed users can see a mosaic of cloud free images taken at different times of the year, around Canada.
Raster layers are images created by pixels which are layered on top of basemaps to provide geographic information to the user.
We provide the following Raster Layers:
- Terrain Layer
- Enhanced Fuel Map
- Fire Location Highlighter
- Severity Layer
- Hotspots Layer
- Blazing Fire Locations
The Terrain layer shows the user a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the selected area. The DTM is produced using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data provided by NASA. For more information, see: https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/. This is useful for planning safe ways for people and machines to access the fire site. It is also a useful map of where water is available for fire fighting, and can help predict the speed at which the fire will move through an area based on the slope of the surrounding terrain, and the potential for moist areas in valleys. This model is produced at a 30 meter raster pixel resolution, meaning each pixel on the map is accurate to within 30 meters of what you would see standing there.
Using proprietary SkyForest™ technology, we have produced an enhanced version of the FBP fuel map. We have updated the spatial resolution of the map to 10 meters from 250 meters. This shows the user a greater variety of tree types in any particular area of the country. This information is available across the country, but is only available to subscribers.
Below is an example of the enhanced fuel map of the same area mapped by the FBP fuel map. Notice the differences are quite striking:
This is a raster layer where each cloud free acquisition over your Area of Interest (AOI) by the Sentinel 2 satellite will highlight the fire location areas (if any) by using various band combinations. If there is a fire, this layer will help the user to see the smoke and fire location areas in 10 meter pixels.
Using 10 meter resolution satellite imagery we can measure the hottest zones of the fire compared to the coolest zones, and can produce this raster layer of the fire area to indicate which areas burned the most severely. This is useful for post-fire analysis. It is useful for finding burned timber which can be salvaged and made into Forest Products. This is especially useful to find areas of the fire where trees were not burned.
We detect fire hotspots using MODIS and VIIRS satellite imagery. We pass over these same hotspots with the Sentinel 2 satellite and can collect detailed imagery about the burning area. The Sentinel 2 satellite passes over the area roughly once per week, and if the area is largely cloud free we use our proprietary algorithms to "see" through the smoke and can produce visual maps of the burning areas of the fire. We date each image we capture, so as in the example below you can also map when the fire 'jumps' from one area to another. This can be useful to observe the burning area from a distance, and can help with planning fire suppression activities.
FireFringe uses satellites to show us burning hot areas around the world like forest fires, grass fires, or volcanic lava; including hot areas caused by oil rigs, smelters and other industries. Active fire location points from a selected date or period will display on the map. Guest Users can observe blazing fire locations around the world. We detect blazing fire locations using MODIS and VIIRS satellite hotspot imagery. The Blazing Fire Locations are points on the map produced at 1 km (MODIS) and 375 meter (VIIRS) resolution. Users can select a particular date range where they want to see the blazing fire locations by clicking the "clock symbol" as shown in image below:
A vector feature can have a geometry type of point, line or a polygon. Each vector feature has attribute data that describes it. A vector layer is composed of one or more vector features.
We provide the following Vector Layers:
- My Areas
- Sentinel Tile Grid
After you have selected your Area of Interest (AOI) and subscribed to a tile for a period of monitoring of no less than one month, you will be able to easily find your subscribed areas on subsequent logins. The tiles you have subscribed to will appear in green, as per the below screenshot:
These tiles correspond to data provided by the Sentinel 2 satellite and it is where the Raster Layers will surface and be updated frequently.
To subscribe to your Area of Interest (AOI); click the "Select tiles" button (under the Basket tab) to activate the "Sentinel Tilegrid" layer. The 100x100 Km size tile grid will appear on the map. Select the tile(s) you need to cover your AOI. A count of selected tiles will appear in the "Selected tiles" field below the basket. Next, select the start and end dates for which you want to monitor the selected AOI, as shown below:
Next click "Show basket" and it will show you a summary of the tiles you want to subscribe to. To proceed you will need to agree to the end user license agreement and our privacy policy by reviewing the provided documents, and clicking the applicable check boxes.
Provide a valid email address and after clicking "Purchase tiles" you will receive a confirmation email with your subscription and login credentials (user name and password). Your subscription to FireFringe has begun! You can now log back into the platform with your provided credentials, and access your subscribed tiles.
If the number of tiles you wish to subscribe to is more than 4, or the monitoring period is longer than 2 months you will have to follow a slightly different process. After filling your basket with the tiles you want to subscribe to, you’ll need to review and accept our end user license agreement and privacy policy. You will also need to provide a valid email address in the box provided. Next, please click on "Request for order" instead of "Purchase tiles". Our sales team will receive your order details and will contact you shortly to discuss setting up your subscription to FireFringe.
After receiving your welcome email, open the login link provided and sign in with the credentials provided in the welcome email. This time instead of "FIREFRINGE GUEST" you will see your email address and user name. If you click the "My areas" Vector layer the platform will highlight all your AOIs with a green outline just like the example below:
Click on your AOI (green polygon) and it will open the information tab with all the subscription related details. Please see our example below:
After logging in a subscribed user will immediately be able to see the data from the static Raster layers: Terrain, FBP fuel map and Enhanced fuel map. However, the sentinel-2 based products (FireFringe RGB composite, FireFringe severity and FireFringe hotspots) will only be available following a cloud free satellite data acquisition. Each time new data is available and processed by our Platform, the user will get a notification that new data is available by email.