GAF AG, an e-GEOS (Telespazio/ASI) company, and a consortium of European partners (VITO, Wageningen University, GFZ, e-GEOS, Meridia, and Terrasphere) have been awarded the ESA WorldAgrocommodities contract following a tendering procedure. The project, with a duration of 24 months, focuses on the EUs Deforestation Free Supply Chain Regulation (EUDR). The objective is to support EU Member States in verifying that imported commodities come from deforestation free areas, and the project will contribute to the EU’s emission reduction policies.
Munich, October 24, 2024
A consortium led by GAF AG, and also includingpartners VITO (Belgium), Wageningen University (Netherlands), GFZ (German), e-GEOS (Italy), Meridia and Terrasphere (Netherlands), has been awarded a contract by the European Space Agency to perform the ESA WorldAgrocommodities project, which started in the first week of September 2024. It has a duration of 24 months and will make a major contribution to the EUs emission reduction policies.
The EUDR requires that all operators that export commodities to the EU, such as cocoa, coffee, soy, oil palm, rubber, cattle and wood (and derived products), have to provide a Due Diligence Report which identifies every parcel of land from which the commodity was sourced, with geolocation information ensuring there has been no deforestation in these areas since 31 December 2020. The main goal of the current ESA project is to support the EU Member States (MS), which monitor compliance with the EUDR, by providing an approach that can be used to help identify and verify the crop type and if the commodity originates from deforestation free areas. This is a core part of the due diligence that has to be performed by commodity suppliers.
GAF AG and the consortium together form a very experienced group in the agro-commodity mapping/traceability and tropical deforestation monitoring domain. With almost 40 years of experience, GAF is one of Europe’s forerunners and market leaders in satellite data reception and distribution, advanced analysis techniques, AI processes and the tailor-made development of geoinformation and software systems, platforms and consulting solutions. The engagement with the Competent National Authorities (CNAs) of the Member States that have to undertake the verification has already started and a consultative process is at the heart of the project.
GAF AG, an e-GEOS (Telespazio/ASI) company based in Munich and Neustrelitz, was founded in Munich in 1985 as the first German company with a focus on applied remote sensing. It is now one of the leading commercial geoinformation service providers in Europe. As part of the e-GEOS/Telespazio group of companies, GAF offers an extensive service portfolio that, in addition to the direct reception and distribution of satellite data, also includes highly developed analysis techniques, AI processes and the tailor-made development of geoinformation and software systems and platforms as well as consulting solutions.The products and services in the sector of Advanced Air Mobility Solutions (drones) cover the entire value chain from data collection to system provision. The areas of thematic expertise for public and private clients worldwide include land monitoring, natural resource management, water and environmental monitoring, agriculture and forestry, mining, emergency management and infrastructure security. GAF is also one of the most experienced European service providers in the EU/ESA Copernicus programme, due to its many years of service implementation for the Copernicus land monitoring service, emergency management service and security and in-situ service components.
Kraków, Poland – October 2024 – On October 8th, the EuroGEO Workshop 2024 hosted the SDGs-EYES Policy Event titled “Harnessing Earth Observation data for Sustainable Development.” The pivotal gathering aimed at exploring the integration of Earth Observation (EO) data into Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) monitoring, trying to assess its interaction with current and future policy frameworks.
This event underscored the critical role of EO technology in enhancing national and regional capacities for SDG reporting, bringing together a diverse audience, including representatives from national statistical offices, policymakers, researchers, and industry experts. The session commenced with presentations from the SDGs-EYES project team: Dr. Manuela Balzarolo (CMCC), project coordinator, presented the overall goal and approach of the project and introduced one of its pilot activities; Mr. Stefano Natali (Sistema) illustrated the SDGs-EYEs user centred platform and its potentialities for expert and non-expert users. These presentations set the stage for a comprehensive discussion on the challenges and opportunities associated with integrating EO data into national and international SDG frameworks.
One of the relevant themes was the importance of developing a multi-scalar approach, ensuring the platform’s tools can be applied effectively at various administrative levels, from local municipalities to international organisations. Indeed, the SDGs-EYES platform and the project tools it hosts, incorporates different satellite and local data, and can present a scalable and adaptable solution aimed at bridging the gap between international standards and local realities.
The following panel discussion chaired by Dr. Passani Antonella (T6 Ecosystems) brought further insights into the integration of EO data for SDG monitoring. The panel included: Mr. Przemysław Slesiński, Remote sensing specialist at Statistics Poland and Expert in geospatial data analysis; Mr. Michele Melchiorri, Project Officer at the EU Joint Research Centre and Responsible for integrating the Global Human Settlement Layer into the Copernicus Emergency Management Service; Mr. Stijn Vermoote, Head of User Outreach and Engagement Section at ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts); Dr. EmmanuelPajot Secretary General of the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC); Dr. Charalampos Haris Kontoes, Research Director at IAASARS/NOA (Astronomy, Astrophysics Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the National Observatory of Athens) and leader of the BEYOND Center for Earth Observation Research. The experts underscored the importance of early user engagement and capacity building to ensure that tools are not only adopted but also optimised for local contexts. The panel stressed that successful implementation hinges on developing effective communication strategies to convey the benefits of EO data.
Flexibility and usability of the SDGs-EYES platform were recurring themes throughout the event. Participants emphasised the need for tools that are not only adaptable to the needs of diverse users but also capable of providing downloadable datasets for further analysis. Such flexibility is vital for making EO data accessible and actionable, fostering data-driven policymaking and enabling precise, localised interventions. The conversation also touched on the development of composite indicators that integrate multiple dimensions of urban risk, providing a holistic view that supports the creation of effective policy scenarios and interventions.
The event concluded with Dr. Balzarolo delivering closing remarks, expressing the SDGs-EYES team’s enthusiasm for the project’s progress and the crucial suggestions provided by the panellists. The collaborative spirit of the event underscored the project’s commitment to refining its platform based on real-world user input, highlighting the importance of continued partnership and stakeholder involvement.
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About SDGs-EYES: SDGs-EYES is a three-year (Starting date: 1 January 2023) European Research and Innovation Action project that aims at boosting the European capacity for monitoring the SDGs based on Copernicus through building a portfolio of decision-making tools to monitor those SDG indicators related to the environment from an inter-sectoral perspective, aligning with the EU Green Deal priorities and challenges.
The SDGs-EYES Project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Programme for research and innovation under project number 101082311.
The EU-funded CREDIBLE project is calling for session proposals for its annual summit on carbon farming, taking place in Dublin from March 4–6, 2025. The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2024. This is the perfect opportunity to shape the future of sustainable agriculture, alongside leaders and innovators in the field.
The 2nd European Carbon Farming Summit: Call for Sessions
After a first event in Valencia, the 2nd European Carbon Farming Summit will be held in Dublin, Ireland, from 4–6 March 2025. The on-site participation of over 500 experts is expected from diverse sectors, including farmers, land managers, scientists, and representatives from various industries, all united around a common ambition: Putting Carbon Farming to Practice.
The summit is envisioned as a space to enable in-depth conversations toward the design and implementation of policy instruments and the deployment of practical solutions. This will be achieved through a combination of sessions that aim to deliver concrete outcomes – such as consensus views, debated topics for further exploration, practical recommendations, and closing knowledge gaps.
Call for Session Proposals
The organisers invite you to propose a session to contribute to this vital conversation. This is your opportunity to share your ideas and insights at the summit. Proposals should align with one of three main themes:
Carbon farming practices for land managers
Rewarding mechanisms for impactful climate actions
Monitoring and verification tools
A detailed list of topics related to the above themes, and of the objectives of the summit itself, can be found on the summit website. In the selection process, priority will be given to applicants that represent multiple stakeholders’ organisations or networking initiatives.
Session Format
Proposed sessions will be 1.5 hours long where multiple voices contribute toward advancing the summit’s goals and objectives.
Hyperspectral remote sensing provides measurements over hundreds of bands from the visible to the infrared. This allows to explore the subtle optical spectral differences, especially in water. Building on this technology, a new generation of space-borne sensors for terrestrial and aquatic applications has been sent to space. In April 2022, Germany's hyperspectral satellite mission “EnMAP” was launched.
For its standard product, EnMAP applies a dedicated water atmospheric correction (AC) called the Modular Inversion Program (MIP), developed by EOMAP physicists.
Why atmospheric correction matters
Being able to accurately predict water reflectances is one of the most important benchmarks of aquatic remote sensing algorithms. Every error in reflectance prediction propagates, thus producing errors in quantities of interest. For users of EO derivatives, such as bathymetry (shown in the figure), water quality parameters, and ocean colour, atmospheric correction routines are key to ensuring standardized and high-quality outputs.
First assessment of water reflectance products
In the journal "Optics Express", 21 scientists from leading European research institutions have published the first extensive assessment of the water reflectance products from EnMAP. The geospatial experts evaluated EnMAP’s standard normalized water leaving reflectance over 17 sites – including Lake Constance, Chesapeake Bay and the Great Barrier Reef - in the first two years of the mission.
MIP technology by EOMAP superior
This intercomparison between three AC methods - MIP, Polymer and Acolite - has shown superior results for MIP (EOMAP’s solution): The data showed very good agreement between in situ hyperspectral match-ups and EnMAP. In addition, the superior performance of MIP was confirmed by the validation results obtained with the multispectral match-up dataset. “The best results were obtained for the MIP AC and demonstrated the robustness of the standard EnMAP [pW]N products”, the scientists conclude.
The study not only testifies EOMAP’s AC method, but also confirms the great potential of EnMAP hyperspectral data for a better understanding of inland and coastal waters.
Read the full paper by Mariana Soppa et al. in Optics Express.
Please reach out to info@eomap.de for further details.
eoapp SDB-Online was launched in 2022 as a cloud-based web app, which allows users to map shallow waters “from the comfort of one’s desk”. eoapp SDB-Online uses multispectral satellite data to create high-resolution bathymetric grids – so called Satellite-Derived Bathymetry (SDB). EOMAP’s physics-based approach to SDB is the key to this offering, which provides high-resolution bathymetric data for shallow waters, quickly and without the need to perform on-site survey or measurement campaigns. It also provides verification and visualization of the bathymetric results. eoapp SDB-Online allows users to generate bathymetric data from the shoreline down to 10 to 20m of water depth, depending on environmental conditions. This is the depth zone where the seabed is most dynamic, and which is of highest importance for multiple applications. In addition, this is the depth zone which is a “white gap” of traditional ship-based surveys. Therefore, the solution not only helps to monitor the coastal seabed movement, but also works synergistically with standard surveys by filling in gaps. These benefits allow survey companies, hydrographers, coastal engineers, government authorities, or coastal zone managers to benefit from quick access to bathymetric data created online: SDB-Online. Now, EOMAP has launched the second round of new features of eoapp SDB-Online. The target: to create an optimal user experience while improving accuracies. The three new tools include the following:
Adjust Water Level: You can adjust the water level of the SDB output to the vertical datum of your choice, based on individual tidal values.
Cut-off Depth Tool: The improved tool can now cut out false positive measurements on both the upper and lower ends of the range.
Manual Cleaning Tool: Using either the freehand or polygon mode, any false positive areas of the bathymetric surface can be masked out to remove them from the final output. SDB-Online is part of the “eoapp” series by EOMAP: Smart web applications offering satellite-based information with a few mouse clicks. Register for free at eoapp SDB-Online or reach out to sdb-online@eomap.de for further details. eomap.com
How can you efficiently use multispectral drone data to map very shallow waters? In the project REMAP, EOMAP teamed up with German Aerospace Center (DLR) and OptoPrecision GmbH. In close collaboration with Fugro, they created a harmonised workflow for extracting bathymetric data from drone imagery. Currently, on-site survey methods for shallow waters require a high effort in equipment and costs. To address this, a concept for using standard drones was the target. These offer precise multispectral sensor systems and positioning and can be operated with standard licences. This implied many modifications to EOMAP’s processing routines. So far, the company’s physics-based algorithms to retrieve depth and water properties rely on multispectral satellite or hyperspectral airborne data. Finally, the results of this drone-based mapping were a positive surprise in many ways:
Multispectral drone data are particularly useful in very shallow waters. Correct calibration, analytics and mosaicking as well as geolocation improvements are of highest importance.
Throughout the project, the developed algorithms and workflows proved reliable on different sites and with three different sensors.
The drone-based system now provides a harmonised workflow with user-friendly handling. It allows for flexible on-site surveys in very high resolution.
This is of particular interest for mapping changes, such as coastal erosion processes for benthic studies. The images show the drone-derived bathymetry with a spatial resolution of 5 cm in Prerow, Germany using a Multispectral Imaging Camera. Now, coastal stakeholders will benefit from flexible – cost-effective – and extremely high-resolution bathymetric data, when surveying coastal and shallow water zones. Complemented by seafloor characterisation, this allows to localise anomalies in the shallow water area critical for navigation. REMAP’s results are another step forward to creating digital twins of coastal areas. In this project, EOMAP received viable support from Fugro, Landesbetrieb für Küstenschutz, Nationalpark und Meeresschutz Schleswig-Holstein and Staatliches Amt für Landwirtschaft und Umwelt Mittleres Mecklenburg. REMAP was co-funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Please reach out to shallowwater@eomap.de for further details.
2024 is a special year for UP42, as we celebrated our fifth anniversary. While we’ve grown as a company, our mission to make access to geospatial data and processing easier has remained the same. To achieve this mission, we continue to advance the UP42 platform—an end-to-end Earth observation platform that simplifies data ordering, management, and processing. Below are some of our highlights.
Data discovery made easy
We continue to enrich our platform with diverse collections and simplify the discovery and acquisition of Earth observation data. We recently integrated Planet SkySat, the world’s largest constellation of high-resolution Earth observation satellites. With 15 SkySat satellites in orbit, Planet offers one of the most frequent revisit capabilities in the commercial sector, capturing insights multiple times daily at 50 cm resolution. With the addition of Wyvern, we introduced hyperspectral data to the platform, offering 23 spectral bands for exact feature detection and classification. You can now access a vast collection of optical (satellite and aerial), SAR, hyperspectral, and elevation data (archive and tasked) from providers such as Airbus, Planet, Vexcel, Hexagon, BlackSky, Intermap, Umbra, and many more, all in one place. Transparent cost estimates early in the process, image previews, and sample data enable easier comparison and more informed decision-making.
UP42 catalog
Hassle-free tasking for your complex, time-sensitive projects
We’ve streamlined the entire process with a single, integrated solution. From finding the right provider, and accepting feasibility and price quotes, to tracking order status, you'll get your imagery with minimal back-and-forth emails. Filter our extensive tasking collections to order the right combination of data for your project. Once you have chosen your provider, upload and instantly check the compatibility of one or multiple complex AOIs. For some providers, you can view the potential order time slots, and see if a feasibility study is required—giving you more visibility. Once you have placed your order, simple tags and streamlined order tracking enable you to manage complex projects more efficiently. When you click on a tasking order, you can view the footprint of acquired scenes and a visual representation of the percentage of the already completed order, as well as download the remaining and covered AOI. If there is a delay from a tasking provider, you just search the catalog for archive imagery covering the pending geometries of your tasking order. This allows for better and faster internal decision-making while dealing with complex orders.
UP42 tasking
Unique data management and streaming capabilities
We've standardized data formats and enabled easier tagging, visualizations, and downstream integrations. Let’s start with the data format. In addition to adopting STAC to ensure consistent metadata and structure across providers, we automatically convert data into a unified format (e.g., cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs and GeoJSONs). This means you can download or stream just the part of the file you need (e.g., into Felt, QGIS, or ArcGIS). Use our map view to search or filter your assets—e.g., by using your order tags to find specific images. View multi-scene deliveries like stereo, tri-stereo, tiled, and temporal data. Or simultaneously display and compare two STAC items (e.g., to see the results of a processing algorithm such as pansharpening).
UP42 data management
A redefined processing experience
Bring your data into the right format or get insights from it using processing algorithms at scale—it only takes a few clicks. We give you compatibility and price estimates early in the process, and let you process as many STAC items as you want. For example, you can improve the resolution of an image with algorithms such as upsampling or pansharpening. Or detect changes or objects with algorithms such as building, car, shadow, and tree detection—especially useful for vegetation management, urban planning, construction, forestry, and infrastructure monitoring.
UP42 processing
Expert customer support
We also wanted to give our customer success team the credit they deserve. They’re here to help you choose the right data for your use case, coordinate urgent tasking projects across multiple providers to ensure the project deadline is met, conduct onboarding and training, as well as support you with developing custom solutions. We recently launched a new premium support offering that includes extended support hours over weekends and holidays, and additional enablement and assistance with critical operations.
Lastly, whether you’re an API user or have a preferred GIS, we have you covered—you can access the UP42 platform through the console, API, Python SDK, or ArcGIS add-in, or as mentioned above, simply copy a streamed URL into your 3rd party tools like QGIS.
As cities and territories across the globe grapple with unprecedented challenges—from climate resilience to efficient resource management—the need for smarter, faster, and more innovative solutions has never been greater. Urban growth and densification, for example, are leading to increased pressure on infrastructure, public services, and housing. This is often exacerbated by climate change, which manifests in rising temperatures, urban heat islands, more frequent flooding, and strained water resources. In the face of these threats, cities are expected to reduce their carbon footprints, manage resources efficiently, and implement sustainable solutions while fostering economic growth and improving the quality of life for residents.
The key challenge lies in the lack of real-time, actionable data. City planners, developers, and private companies often have to work with outdated or fragmented datasets, making it difficult to make informed decisions quickly. As urban spaces become more complex, predictive models and simulations that provide insights into future urban development scenarios are crucial. Without these tools, cities risk falling behind in managing their resources and meeting the demands of a changing environment.
Green infrastructure and sustainability initiatives are also difficult to measure and assess in real time. Cities want to understand the effectiveness of their interventions—whether it’s the cooling effects of new parks or the impact of tree canopies on air quality—but traditional data collection and analysis methods often fail to capture the full picture.
EarthDataPlace (EDP) is a cutting-edge marketplace designed to revolutionise how cities and urban planners manage their data and tackle pressing urban challenges. By leveraging satellite imagery, AI-powered analytics, and geospatial intelligence, EDP offers cities a comprehensive, easy-to-use solution for understanding and predicting urban dynamics.
The EDP marketplace provides access to a wide range of geospatial datasets and analytical tools, enabling users to purchase and download satellite data for urban planning,
environmental monitoring, and decision-making processes. Users can explore and customise their data searches, ensuring they find relevant information for their projects. The platform’s ability to cover both vast geographical regions and specific local areas ensures that it meets the unique needs of its users.
A key feature of EDP is the combination of tasking and archive access. Tasking allows users to commission satellites to capture fresh, high-resolution imagery of any location at a specific moment in the future. This real-time data is crucial for decision-making, whether it’s monitoring urban development, tracking deforestation, or responding to natural disasters. On the other hand, access to an extensive archive of past satellite imagery offers a historical perspective, allowing users to analyse long-term trends. This combination of real-time and retrospective data enables cities to gain insights into how urban areas have developed and how land use has transformed over time.
Latitudo 40’s EarthDataPlace provides access to a variety of high-resolution datasets:
● For instance, Land Surface Temperature (LST) allows cities to monitor and manage urban heat islands more effectively. Rising temperatures, exacerbated by urbanisation, are not just environmental issues but also directly impact energy consumption, public health, and infrastructure. With LST data, city planners can identify areas most affected by heat and strategize on how to reduce its impacts through interventions such as increasing green spaces or using heat-reflective materials in buildings.
● The Urban Heat Island (UHI) Analysis layer builds on this by offering deeper insights into how heat is distributed across different areas of a city. This is particularly important for cities looking to balance development with sustainability. By knowing where heat is most concentrated, officials can target areas for intervention, thereby reducing energy costs and improving the quality of life for residents, particularly during heatwaves.
● Another crucial aspect of urban sustainability is Tree Cover Density, which EDP tracks to help cities manage their green infrastructure. Trees play an essential role in mitigating urban heat, improving air quality, and enhancing the aesthetic value of
cities. With this layer, cities can monitor changes in their green spaces and ensure they are adequately maintained, thus preserving their role in climate resilience. ● Meanwhile, Carbon Storage data provides cities with valuable insights into their carbon sequestration efforts, helping them meet sustainability targets. With many cities pledging to become carbon neutral, understanding how much carbon is stored within urban forests and green spaces is key to tracking progress.
● Flooding Risk Analysis is another essential layer offered by EDP. Cities worldwide are increasingly vulnerable to flooding due to extreme weather events and rising sea levels. EDP’s flood risk layer helps urban planners identify areas that are prone to flooding, allowing them to implement preventative measures and manage resources more effectively in response to natural disasters.
● For cities and urban planners concerned with long-term environmental sustainability, the Greenery Health Trend layer is particularly useful. By categorising vegetation into various health levels, cities can prioritise their green areas that are in need of care, ensuring the long-term sustainability of their green infrastructure. The degradation of green spaces can lead to higher temperatures, poorer air quality, and reduced biodiversity, making this layer indispensable for city planners focused on urban regeneration.
● Moreover, Multispectral Indexes provide comprehensive insights into a range of environmental factors, from vegetation health to water quality. This data is especially valuable for cities aiming to balance urban growth with agricultural sustainability or those looking to conserve vital water resources.
One of the standout features of EarthDataPlace is its ability to enhance satellite imagery using super-resolution technology. This advanced capability allows EDP to transform medium-resolution satellite images into high-resolution data at 1 metre spatial resolution, making it possible to capture finer details across urban landscapes. With super-resolution, cities and urban planners can gain access to much more precise and actionable insights—such as detailed analysis of urban infrastructure, vegetation coverage, and heat islands—without the high costs typically associated with acquiring ultra-high-resolution imagery. This technology empowers decision-makers to monitor developments, assess environmental impacts, and predict future scenarios with unparalleled clarity, helping to optimise urban planning, climate resilience strategies, and resource management.
Potential users and clients of EarthDataPlace span a wide range of sectors, as the platform’s geospatial datasets and analytical tools offer value across various industries. EDP is designed to cater to urban planners, government agencies, real estate developers, environmental consultants, and even private enterprises looking for actionable data to inform their projects and initiatives.
What sets EarthDataPlace apart from other geospatial data platforms is its unique combination of features that deliver unmatched flexibility, accessibility, and precision. Also, it is very important for our capability for open data, making it interoperable with other platforms and open source software, meaning that users can enhance their workflows by integrating EDP's high-resolution satellite data and insights with their preferred tools, streamlining the decision-making process.
EarthDataPlace equips urban planners, policymakers, and city developers with the data they need to make informed decisions that drive sustainability, reduce environmental impact, and enhance quality of life for residents. As cities continue to grow and face more complex environmental challenges, it stands as a vital tool to help them build resilient, future-proof urban landscapes.
Tree Cover Density of the City of Bolzano/Bozen, Italy, 2022
Starion Italia is developing a commercial downstream service for stakeholders affected by the need to preserve cultural heritage and archaeological sites whenever a public or private construction project is planned.
SmartDIG marks yet another step in the journey for Starion Italia, focusing on the provision of downstream commercial services to non-space end-users.
By applying artificial intelligence (AI) to Earth observation (EO) data, SmartDIG will provide faster, more comprehensive information than existing solutions to meet the needs of private and public sector organisations across the construction industry value chain.
Starion is drawing on its expertise in AI and EO to develop an innovative commercial solution for non-space organisations that need to spot, identify and classify cultural heritage sites that may be endangered by building construction and other public works. SmartDIG will support preventative and conservative archaeology needs by leveraging the latest developments in AI and applying them to multiple EO data sources to detect hidden archaeological features, enabling organisations to meet regional, national and European legal requirements and strategic objectives.
Public and private construction projects typically must take account of archaeological features during development, to avoid damaging or destroying cultural heritage sites and preserve historical artifacts. However, some archaeological sites are not visible at ground level, only becoming obvious when seen from above – and even then, the indicators may not be clearly visible or visible all year around.
Remote sensing archaeology using satellites, drones, aircrafts, etc. has enabled better detection of cultural heritage and archaeological sites over the last two decades. In particular, active remote sensing using radar and lidar (light detection and ranging) can be used to detect sites buried in deserts or hidden in forests. However, drone-based services only provide analysis for a specific area at a single point in time, which may not provide accurate detection if, for example, features are covered by seasonal vegetation.
The power of SmartDIG is that by using an innovative AI approach, it can quickly analyse EO imagery of the same spot in different seasons to find the best timeframe for detecting any features and confirm the presence of those features across the year. Also, the service can, if required, analyse locations anywhere in the world with no physical access constraints, unlike drone or aerial services.
By combining AI with traditional in-situ and remote sensing techniques, and using multiple sources of EO data, SmartDIG will provide an efficient, user-friendly tool that significantly speeds up access to the information required by developers, urban planners and government organisations. Data sources will include Copernicus Sentinel-1 and -2, and European Space Agency (ESA) Third-Party Missions including COSMO SkyMed and the ICEYE constellations, as well as other datasets from commercial providers, suitable for archaeological purposes.
Stefano Tatoni, Vice-President of Starion Italia, said: “The SmartDIG service is a brilliant example of the power of combining AI techniques with EO satellite data. It will make the whole identification process much more efficient, benefitting developers, builders and public agencies, and providing a societal benefit by helping to preserve cultural heritage sites and artefacts that historically might have been lost. It is also a clear example of downstream service exploitation in non-space sectors, a new endeavour and milestone for our company that we are eager to undertake. We’re very pleased to have ESA’s support for this initiative and thankful to ASI for granting the required funding, and look forward to providing the service as soon as possible.”
Emiliano Tondi, Legal Representative of POLEIS, an Italian planning consultancy that is supporting the definition and validation of the SmartDIG service, said: “The focus of this project, specifically related to the preventive archaeology procedure of collecting and analysing ground anomalies connected to the presence of underground ancient features in an automated manner, is of paramount interest. Such a service could significantly impact our current practices for space and non-space data collection and image analysis. We are keen to provide a ‘user need’ perspective to this useful tool.”
SmartDIG is being developed through the ESA InCubed Cultural and Natural Heritage Thematic Call, part of the Investing in Industrial Innovation (InCubed) programme. Michele Castorina, Head of the ESA Φ-lab Invest Office, explained: “InCubed is a public-private partnership co-funding programme run by the ESA Φ-lab, whose mission is to accelerate the future of Earth observation through innovations that completely transform or create entire industries via new technologies. As such, this Smart DIG service is a great example of a service that will exploit the value of EO imagery and datasets to benefit not only a specific sector – the construction industry value chain – but also society, through the preservation of important historical sites.”
The 18-month project will deliver a commercial service by 2026 that can be adapted to match regional and national laws and regulations, and could contribute to the implementation of the European Union’s strategic objectives for culture, such as the European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage.
SmartDIG will be available as a customisable one-off or subscription service, or via a dedicated application programming interface (API) for integration into other commercial or customised applications.
Further information
This activity was carried out under a programme of and funded by the European Space Agency. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency.
Tracasa Global is a leading company in the classification of point clouds obtained from aerial LiDAR sensors using Artificial Intelligence. Historically, the task of classifying point clouds to label various categories of elements (buildings, roads, trees, etc.) has been performed manually or semi-automatically. However, due to the vast amount of data, this methodology has become costly, inefficient, and, in some cases, unfeasible. Leveraging its expertise in artificial intelligence, Tracasa Global approaches this task with a supervised automatic focus to achieve a more competitive classification in terms of accuracy, efficiency, time, and cost.
In 2017, Tracasa Global conducted the first data capture in Europe using the SLP 100 (Single Photon LiDAR) sensor. The project involved capturing data from over 13,000 km² covering the entire province of Navarra (Spain) with an average density of more than 14 points per m². This massive amount of information (580 billion points) was impossible to process and classify using “traditional” methods, leading to the development of the first Machine Learning models. This project was executed for the Cartography Service of the Government of Navarra.
In 2020, Tracasa Global captured data from the metropolitan area of Pamplona (approximately 50 km²) using the CityMapper 2 hybrid sensor equipped with a LiDAR sensor, 4 oblique cameras, and a nadir camera. The resulting point cloud had a density of 50 points per m² and was classified using Machine Learning techniques. This work was funded by the Cartography Service of the Government of Navarra.
This allowed Tracasa Global’s Innovation and Production teams to continue advancing in this field of knowledge. In 2022, Deep Learning techniques were introduced into the classification models for the pilot project of classifying LiDAR data from the third coverage of the PNOA (National Aerial Orthophotography Plan) for the National Geographic Institute of Spain. This project was carried out in the community of Castilla y León and aimed to fine-tune the tools for classifying the third LiDAR coverage of the PNOA with a density of 5 points per m². It was a more ambitious project that sought to classify ground, low vegetation, medium/high vegetation, buildings, and a series of minor classes such as power towers, vehicles, power lines, and bridges. Additionally, this project confirmed that this technology allows for the massive classification of point clouds with AI with very good precision results.
In 2024, Tracasa Global was awarded a contract by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to classify LiDAR point clouds from the third LiDAR coverage of the PNOA, covering more than 20,000 km² of Aragón, Comunidad Valenciana, and Región de Murcia. This project has a more demanding legend, proposing the classification of 12 classes: ground, low vegetation, medium/high vegetation, buildings, bridges, railways, roads, vehicles, cars, transmission lines, power towers, and wind turbines.
This contract allows Tracasa Global to showcase the knowledge and specialization of two areas of the company: Territorial and Spatial Engineering and R&D+i, which in recent years has consolidated as a leading and internationally recognized team, with excellent results in various competitions organized in the field of artificial intelligence and land management.
