Skip to content

Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service is pleased to deliver a New Service Release from 13 April 2016.

As of today, a new service release of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) is available to users.

This new release offers improvements related to the product and service portfolios, such as period extension for reanalyses or addition of new variables (“Mixed Layer Depth” and “Bottom Temperature”) in models .

In total:
18 new products have been added to the CMEMS catalogue;
18 products have been removed from the catalogue;
82 products have been updated.

A detailed description of these evolutions is available here.

Source

EARSC is participating to the next Living Planet Symposium
We will present two papers and will be exhibiting during the conference.

ESA will be hosting the next Living Planet Symposium on 9–13 May in Prague, Czech Republic.

The event brings together scientists and users to present their latest findings on Earth’s environment and climate derived from satellite data. It also provides an opportunity to introduce missions in development from ESA – such as the Sentinels, Earth Explorers and meteorological missions – as well as from national space agencies. With over 3000 participants expected to attend, it will be the world’s biggest conference on Earth observation to date.

EARSC is participating to this conference:

EARSC papers

EARSC will present two papers at LPS16, on Thursday 12 May.

EARSC will be exhibiting during the conference

Come see us at booth No.24 and learn more about EARSC activities, its members, the marketplace alliance and our brokerage service EOpages
The booth will also serve as a meeting place for the European companies.

We look forward to seeing you at our Stand!

MARKHAM, Ontario, Canada – April 14, 2016: PCI Geomatics, a world leading developer of remote sensing and photogrammetric software and systems, announced today a renewed partnership with its reseller for Southern Africa.

MapAfrika, a well-established company based in Johannesburg, has been providing land surveying services, camera systems and software to the Southern African region for many years. In addition, MapAfrika provides Geomatica and GXL image production systems and solutions to a growing number of customers who are leveraging the power of the satellite and aerial image processing technology developed by PCI Geomatics.

“Geomatica is fast becoming the chosen remote sensing and photogrammetry solution for universities, government agencies and mapping companies throughout Africa”, said Kevin Melhuish, President and Owner of MapAfrika.

The increased use of Geomatica in the region can be traced back to key initiatives such as the one initiated in March 2015, which established a unique partnership between PCI Geomatics, MapAfrika, and Stellenbosh University. An Education Alliance agreement was implemented to promote cooperation and information exchange between top researchers and industrial partners to advance remote sensing and image processing methods.

“PCI greatly values the contributions of higher-learning institutions to advance our collective knowledge of remote sensing science and applications,” said Arnold Hougham, VP of Sales and Marketing at PCI Geomatics. “Our partnership with Stellenbosch University, which includes the participation of our reseller MapAfrika, has already yielded excellent collaboration on our latest DEM extraction research and product releases. Feedback has been collected from top researchers to further improve specific algorithms in Geomatica”.

MapAfrika will be responsible for customers from an increased number of countries in Africa, including South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritius, DR Congo, Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

About PCI Geomatics

PCI Geomatics is a world-leading developer of software and systems for remote sensing, geo-image processing, and photogrammetry. With more than 30 years of experience in the geospatial industry, PCI is recognized globally for its excellence in providing software for accurately and rapidly processing satellite and aerial imagery. There are more than 30,000 PCI licenses, in over 150 countries worldwide.

Find out more about PCI Geomatics at www.pcigeomatics.com.

About MapAfrika
MapAfrika was founded in Johannesburg, South Africa as a surveying company serving South Africa and its neighbouring countries, providing engineering, topographic and cadastral surveying services. In 2000, MapAfrika was appointed as reseller for PCI Geomatics in Southern Africa and has been selling Geomatica and GXL licenses to companies, universities and government institutions in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique. MapAfrika has also been a Vexcel sales partner for Southern Africa since 2011, selling Ultracam digital aerial cameras. The mix of surveying services with remote sensing and photogrammetry make a good combination.
Find out more about MapAfrika at http://go.pcigeomatics.com/e/13502/2016-04-14/2ckshp/271051962

© VITO. Milestones in scientific modeling of urban dynamics in book by Canadian and VITO experts

Long before cities got overcrowded and landscapes were threatened to disappear, scientists looked for the best way to understand the development of changes in land use, integrating all connected parameters. Accurate predictor models are essential as decision support systems for policy makers. Hence, twenty years ago, Roger White (Honorary Research Professor at the Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland Canada), Guy Engelen and Inge Uljee (researchers at VITO’s Environmental Modeling Unit) established the field of cellular automata (CA) modeling of urban dynamics. White, Engelen and Uljee recently have published their work in a ground-breaking book on urban and regional modeling: “Modeling Cities and Regions as Complex Systems: From Theory to Planning Applications”, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA, 332p.

In this book they demonstrate their deep understanding of the recent developments of land use change and integrated models, as well as spatial decision support systems. The book introduces in a stepwise manner one of the most advanced land use models, discusses the dynamics of populations and economic activities, describes the integration with models in other domains such as economics, demography and transportation, and presents their use in practical planning and policy applications, many of which have been developed at VITO. The result is an abundant and realistic representation of the spatial dynamics of a variety of urban phenomena. The book is unique in its coverage of both the general issues associated with complex self-organizing systems and the specifics of designing and implementing models of such systems.

Essential reading for urbanists as well as planners and policy makers alike who are tackling the problems of urban growth and scenario analysis.

More info on the book

This book describes the theory and practice of modeling the spatial dynamics of urban growth and transformation. As cities are complex, adaptive, self-organizing systems, the most appropriate modeling framework is one based on the theory of self-organizing systems — an approach already used in such fields as physics and ecology. The book presents a series of models, most of them developed using cellular automata, which are inherently spatial and computationally efficient. Case studies illustrate the use of these models for real-life urban and regional planning problems. Finally, the book presents a new, dynamic theory of urban spatial structure that emerges from the models and their applications.

Source

Within the framework of the Next Generation Copernicus Space Component contract launched by DG GROW in June 2015 SpaceTec, with the support of Noveltis and FDC, organised a workshop aimed at identifying specific needs and expectations and likely evolution scenarios for Climate Change-related users in the post-2022 timeframe.

The workshop took place in the auditorium of the EC’s Breydel building on 11 March 2016. The main stage saw the presence of international experts from the EC, ECMWF, GCOS, ESA, EUMETSAT, and from the NEXTSPACE consortium, of which SpaceTec is a partner. More than 100 participants from all over Europe had the unique opportunity to express their needs in terms of data, products and information at large and provide them to the EC.

The presentations and the photos of the event are available at: http://www.copernicus.eu/C3S-User-Consultation-Workshop

Source

(April 2016) A low cost, domestic launch capability will be of significant strategic value to the UK space sector achieving its ambitious growth target, according to a new report published today by the Satellite Applications Catapult.

The ‘IGS Low Cost Access to Space’ report focuses on the UK’s expertise in the small satellite market – a growing segment of the space sector, for which low cost access to space is crucial.

Identified as a priority market within the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy (IGS), the report highlights the UK’s world-leading capability in all parts of the satellite industry, except for launch. It emphasises the strategic significance of a low cost, domestic launch capability in contributing to the UK space sector’s ambitious growth target of 10% of the global space market, estimated to be £400 billion by 2030.

The report recommends actions for industry, Government, the Satellite Applications Catapult and academia, which will be required to capitalise on existing UK strengths in small satellite manufacturing, satellite applications and services, and future demand for commercial human spaceflight and microgravity research.

The key findings of the report are:

  • Low cost access to space is fundamental to the UK’s growing small satellite industry
  • An operational spaceport in the UK to support orbital access is a top priority

Stuart Martin, CEO of the Satellite Applications Catapult and Chairman of the Space Leadership Council Industry Advisory Group on Low Cost Access to Space, said: “The challenge of securing reliable, low-cost access to space creates a real opportunity for a complete end-to-end service from the UK. This report addresses market opportunities that low cost access to space can offer, for small satellite launch, commercial human spaceflight, and for microgravity science research – not just for the UK, but for Europe as a whole.”

The IGS Low Cost Access to Space report is available from https://sa.catapult.org.uk/market-reports.

Source

A collaborative working environment and the open exchange of design information and data are essential for the successful implementation of any project.

The Concurrent Design methodology promotes the collaboration between multidisciplinary teams, facilitating the agreement and interchange between the different parties involved. The methodology also helps to streamline the design process by integrating and meeting the final customer requirements from the very beginning. This allows the engineering design team to have a comprehensive method of all lifecycle perspective from the start which helps to identify the trends that might later invalidate the design of a system or product.

The Concurrent Design Platform (CDP)™ is an internet enabled distributed software providing the required integrated design and modelling capabilities to support a multidisciplinary team in the execution of Concurrent Design activities. Designed by RHEA Group’s Concurrent Design engineers, the tool offers a fully scalable and customizable platform where the different teams can create and share up-to-date design information in collaboration with the final customer.

1. Reduce design time, production costs, lead time, and time to market

The CDP™ brings multidisciplinary teams together to include all life cycle perspectives from the start, reducing the number of changes during later design phases. This means less time and costs required to bring a product or system to the market.

2. Increase customer satisfaction

The CDP™ offers the team the possibility to create a structured list of user requirements together with the customer, and to continuously monitor the status of the design and evaluate it against those requirements. This supports the customer to take a decision on the most promising solution direction for the project.

3. Facilitate decision-making and risk management processes

The CDP™ provides an overview of the Concurrent Design activity information on all levels for all team members and supports the exchange of design data, the assessment of the various design solutions and the monitoring of the progress of the design work.

4. Increase employee efficiency

Engaging and managing the multidisciplinary team during the design activity is one of the biggest challenges when applying the Concurrent Design methodology. The CDP™ enables the users to define different roles and tasks within the team according to the needs of the organization or project.

5. Increase design control and audit trail

The CDP™ Document Management System allows users to control the flow of information exchange, and to store and manage additional sources of design information and data.

See more at

Energy companies need multiple tools for managing, maintaining and planning their resources.

Our GIS vertical solution for energy sector easily integrates into your existing workflow and into your current IT solution – so your specialists can focus on their jobs and work more efficiently.

Our strength – offering full cycle service to energy companies, comes from the excellence in software development that is combined with the innovative data inputs and usage of Big Data. We focus on data handling processes, quality and validation and visualize this into meaningful and easy-to-understand solution that opens up totally new possibilities for planning, operating and maintaining infrastructure in the energy sector.

​We provide tools to cover the full cycle, from data gathering to managing and decision making in complex GIS environments. Using satellite data to monitor the effects of forces of nature over vast areas or using your own maintenance work process as an input to get crucial information of your infrastructure and use this for further analysis are only some examples.

​For Planning

There are certain parts in the planning process where using GIS tools and best practices is unavoidable. To meet the growing demand for faster and more accurate information, Reach-U provides infrastructure planning solutions that rely on remote sensing solutions with combination of national level registry data and population data from anonymous mobile positioning.

By combining this environment and resource mapping dataset, legislative restrictions and information about land and infrastructure ownership, we can provide software solutions from browser-based web applications to complex corporate level GIS input. There is no need to worry about inputs, data formats and how to align it all together – we help you find a solution that is the best fit for your company to make infrastructure planning and decision making as easy as possible.

For Operation

The key to successful operation is the right use of data at the right time. We help solving the problem of having too many data inputs and overlapping information when the actual decision making is on a very simple level. This is achieved by using a combination of different data layers and visualization in a way that only the required and relevant part is shown.

Another crucial thing is to focus on data quality. With our automatic compliance checks, comparisons of control points and other reference data we guarantee that the risk of misleading information is minimal for decision makers (who obviously have no time to evaluate all the inputs and data sources).

Example: Complex GIS solution (Powerlines asset management)
Client: Elering AS (an independent electricity system operator in Estonia)

For Maintenance

The main focus of infrastructure maintenance processes is to provide the best quality and secure service while reducing maintenance costs. Reach-U offers a three step solution to achieve both: the quality and readiness in case of unexpected events and reduction of costs.

As the first step, we provide inputs for infrastructure monitoring – 24/7 reference data and weekly environment maps (from Copernicus radar data) of powerlines.
The second step is providing data collection and management tools for mobile fieldwork systems so that the data collected on-site reaches company databases with no time delays. By combining LIDAR and satellite data it is possible to generate a dataset that can be used for management and data gathering without leaving the office.
As the third step, our fleet and workforce management solutions help to plan and operate on-site works and save time and efforts by using reference data to plan and execute tasks.

Example: Fieldwork management tool

Example: Forest change detection for powerlines


Source

Since January, we are pleased to welcome the latest companies as EARSC members:


  • earth-i Ltd
    Earth-i supplies 1 metre resolution (GSD) optical satellite imagery and remote sensing products. “We supply very high resolution satellite images from the new DMC3 / TripleSat Constellation, consisting of 3 identical British multispectral
    optical satellites”
  • GEO4i
    Geo4i is specialized in geospatial data management, valorization of geospatial information and imagery analysis in the fields of defence and security. The expertise of Geo4i embraces different fields like imagery intelligence, geospatial intelligence, geospatial data management, data mining and open sources data.
  • Kapitech
    Kapitech is the polish subsidiary of Capital High Tech. This independent SME, space agencies’ partner, is serving EO data users, allying scientific research and project management of complex environmental systems.
  • Noveltis S.A.S.
    NOVELTIS, a French independent private company created in 1998, performs innovative scientific engineering studies and implements customised end-user solutions in the fields of Space, the Environment and Sustainable Development
  • PlanetObserver
    PlanetObserver products, including PlanetSAT satellite imagery, PlanetDEM elevation data and PlanetAIR aerial photography, are available off-the-shelf, ready to be integrated in any software and application
  • TerraSIGNA
    The TERRASIGNA applications represent innovative solutions for: risk assessment evaluation regarding the natural phenomena (flood, drought, landslides); environmental monitoring in areas affected by human activities (deforestation, underground mining, oil and gas extraction, CO2 storage); heavy infrastructure monitoring (urban areas, bridges, water dams, critical infrastructure like nuclear power plants); environment monitoring (wet zones, marine, etc.); state of the art applications for precision agriculture