Development Team
Project Inception & Vision
The Early Days
The GCD Software 
was originally developed by Joe Wheaton (Utah State University Department of Watershed Sciences) and James Brasington (University of Waikato, New Zealand).
Joe and James began collaborating on geomorphic change detection in 2004 during Joe's PhD. During his Master's with Greg Pasternack, Joe used James' early work in topographic change detection and surveying (Brasington et al. 2001, 2003). They soon developed the first version of GCD (DoD 1) in Matlab. Originally meant for Joe’s workflow, it quickly proved helpful for the broader geomorphology community.
Evolving Vision
Joe observed that many practitioners weren’t applying even basic minimum levels of detection in their DEM analyses—especially in low-change environments like rivers. By making this easier through software, he aimed to raise standards in geomorphic analysis. GCD would help reduce methodological hurdles and allow users to focus on meaningful interpretation and theory-building.
In 2009, at Utah State University, Joe connected with Paul Grams and received funding for GCD 4. At a 2010 NSF LiDAR workshop, Joe met Philip Bailey, then at ESSA. Joe was teaching DoD 3; Philip, the River Bathymetry Toolkit. Their shared background sparked collaboration, and they have worked on GCD ever since.
Expanding Horizons
In 2015, Joe, James, and Damia Vericat authored a review article on the Morphological Approach (Vericat et al., 2017). This formed the basis of a successful 2016 UK NERC proposal, partnering with New Zealand councils and SEPA to refine GCD for gravel-bed river management.
Development Team
The latest version of GCD is being developed by North Arrow Research and ET-AL.
Since GCD 5, Philip Bailey has led development and architecture. He and Matt Reimer are now the primary developers. Together with Joe, they launched the Riverscapes Consortium.
Other Significant Contributors
- James Hensleigh – GCD 5 & 6, FIS Development Assistant & MBES Tools.
- Frank Poulson – major contributions to GCD 5–7 (formerly ESSA).
- Sara Bangen – FIS models & CHaMP GCD testing.
- Nick Ochoski – early GCD 5 development (formerly ESSA).
- ESSA Technologies – donated dev time to GCD 5.
- Chris Garrard – primary developer of GCD 4.
- Greg Pasternack – advisor & sounding board.
User Support & Testing
We thank our many beta testers and workshop participants, including:
- Sara Bangen
- Rocko Brown
- Nicole Czarnomski
- Kenny DeMeurichy
- Steve Fortney
- Paul Grams
- Andrew Hill
- Alan Kasprak
- Eric Larson
- Ryan Leary
- Chuck Podolack
- Robert Ross
- Keelin Schaffrath
- Carol Volk
- Cara Walter
- Richard Williams
- Damia Vericat