Coastal zone erosion poses a significant threat to the sustainability and development of the Region of Central Macedonia (RCM), Greece. Natural causes and human activities, combined with the effects of climate change, exacerbate the risk, while the absence of systematic data collection and analysis made it challenging to prevent and address the phenomenon effectively. Consortis Geospatial, on behalf of the RCM, developed an innovative Observatory System for mapping, forecasting, and managing coastal zone erosion.
The combined effects of climate change and human activities has increased the frequency and severity of natural disasters and hazards, resulting in negative impacts on the environment, economy, and human life. To address this issue, many institutions, organizations and stakeholder authorities are shifting their focus from emergency response to disaster risk reduction, planning and mitigation. In this sense, to address the issue of coastal erosion, the Managing Authority of the Central Macedonia Region has funded a project for the creation of a digital Observatory the serves as a source of vital information on the state of coastal erosion within the region.
Consortis, through the project employed advanced geospatial, data processing and erosion vunerabiity algorithms, developed dedicated models, exploited Earth Observation and in-situ data with the aim to enhance knowledge on hazardassessment and vulnerability. The methodology used in this project involved three thematic phases. Phase A focused on designing a web GIS system to host the observatory, its services, and the resulting datasets. Phase B involved creating algorithms and tools to calculate the necessary indicators, and Phase C focused on evaluating the current state of the coastal area and propose alternatives for risk management. Throughout the project, the spatial databases were continuously re-evaluated to accommodate the digital products created by applying specialized algorithms. These algorithms referred to the automated pre- and post-processing of optical images from Sentinel-2 to create timeseries of multiple indeces anf KPIs referring to the land/sea buondary and the marine environment. Sentinel-1 SAR data have been also used to infer land deformation, derive bathymetry estimates and create a time-series, along with Sentinel-2 data, of coastine spatiotemporal variations. Finally, satellite altimetry observations from the Cryosat-2, Jason1/2/3, SARAL and the Sentinel-3a/3b missions were used to monitor Sea Level Anomalies and variations in Sea Surface Temperature. In-situ observations of the coastal area were also conducted, utilizing techniques such as GNSS, UAV mapping, and echo sounding to calculate high-resolution models of the topography and bathymetry.
The indexes and products obtained are frequently updated to display the most recent information about the environmental parameters of the area, creating a digital replica that accurately represents it. To assess the vulnerability of the coastal area due to sea level forcing, simulations have been conducted for both a 50- and 100-year period. Additionally, a tool has been developed that can determine flood mapping passively for four different sea level rise scenarios. These scenarios, which are based on the vulnerability and flooding assessments, are already in use to aid local authorities in making decisions and evaluating alternative strategies for the development of the coastal zone.
Digital Twin of the physical assets (land use, soil moisture, cropsâ irrigation, etc.) for optimal water management at basin level, aimed at supporting the water balance.
The Water Framework Directive (WFD; 2000/60EC) requires Member States to use their River Basin Management Plans and Programmes of Measures to protect and restore water bodies. At National level, the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies established a database of water volumes used for irrigation. The Regions, on their end, must fulfil the validation of such data, and the quantification and update of water volumes.
Digital Twin of the physical assets (land use, soil moisture, cropsâ irrigation, etc.) for optimal water management at basin level, aimed at supporting the water balance.
The Water Framework Directive (WFD; 2000/60EC) requires Member States to use their River Basin Management Plans and Programmes of Measures to protect and restore water bodies. At National level, the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies established a database of water volumes used for irrigation. The Regions, on their end, must fulfil the validation of such data, and the quantification and update of water volumes.
Water Digital Twin (WADIT) is an ongoing project started in 2023 coordinated by the Apulian Aerospace Technology District (DTA) in partnership with Planetek Italia, Sitael, the National Research Council (CNR), and the University of Bari Aldo Moro. Wadit project is co-funded by Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy through the program “Accordi per lâinnovazione”.
The WADIT project objective is to create a Digital Twin of the physical assets (land use, soil moisture, frequency and date of cropsâ irrigation, irrigation techniques, etc.) for water management at basin level, aimed at supporting the water balance. WADIT focuses on analyzing water needs related to water use in agriculture to obtain a reliable estimate of actual water consumption in the cultivated fields.
The models to be studied, designed and implemented experimentally will allow Big Data (multi-platform remotely sensed data, data from agro-meteorological stations, core data from Copernicus services, commercial data, census data) to be processed using artificial intelligence techniques.
The system resulting from the engineering of the studied models, fine-tuned and integrated, will be able to provide, at district/basin level, the estimate of irrigation needs/consumption, periodically updated on the basis of the data acquired and processed in near real time on the area of interest.
WADIT provides:
The production of dynamic land use maps;
The identification of the location and extension of irrigated areas;
The identification, through the use of artificial intelligence algorithms, of irrigated areas with a high probability of unauthorised water use;
The production of KC crop coefficient libraries for different types of crops in different agro-ecological contexts;
The use of weather and climate data, provided by the European Copernicus programme, to feed the models for calculating irrigation requirements;
The creation of a digital infrastructure, the digital twin, to automate the process of processing, analysing and returning summary reports and analytical indicators.
Three study areas of 100 square km have been planned in the Apulia region, Italy: Salento, Northern Barese and Capitanata, in order to represent the different characteristics of the Apulian territory (crops, farm structure, availability of irrigation sources, services and quality of irrigation water). After setting up the models for the three test areas, the system will be applied to the entire regional territory. The digital twin will be able to create scenarios for short term estimation (12 months to take into account the variability of the herbaceous species) or for the simulation of land transformations that lead to radical changes in requirements in the long term (10/20 years as in the case of planting).
Users:
Public and private bodies responsible for water management, which must estimate and evaluate seasonal irrigation needs and consumption at basin/district/region level and, based on availability, plan use;
Irrigation water service management bodies (public and private) as a tool for monitoring and controlling irrigation withdrawals at company level;
Farmers and operators in the agricultural sector for planning investments in the cultivation of agricultural areas, both in the short term for annual crops and in the medium term for tree crops (times of 20/50 years).
Benefits:
The main benefits for those responsible for managing water resources in using WADIT:
Have updated and homogeneous data on the entire territory of interest for dynamic management of the water resource;
Reduce the time for producing the reports required by legislation on the management of water resources;
Carry out estimates and simulations by preparing different scenarios of use and availability of the water resource;
Evaluate the territory’s ability to support crop transformations based on the availability of irrigation resources to direct investments by private operators;
Identify sites with a high probability of unauthorized use of water resources to implement water protection policies.
VIDEO
Watch WADIT presentation at “EO for Agriculture under Pressureâ Workshop organized by ESA, WFP, FAO, GEOGLAM.
Tracasa Global, public company of the Government of Navarre, in Spain, and member of the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) since 2024, is having a major impact in one project of the European 2024 Defence Fund call.
Tracasa Global, public company of the Government of Navarre, in Spain, and member of the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) since 2024, is having a major impact in one project of the European 2024 Defence Fund call.
Recently, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Defence Industry and Space has selected a consortium coordinated by the Tracasa corporate environment, made up of 13 entities from 9 different countries. The consortium, with the name of Argos, will receive 5 million euros in funding and will carry out its work over the next 4 years.
Argos has the aim to improve the defence capabilities of the European Union through the development of solutions based on Artificial Intelligence and satellite images, both optical and radar.
Specifically, Argos participates, together with three other consortia, in a technological challenge in which the groups of participants will have to design, develop and present AI models that solve specific challenges in the field of security and defense, using European assets at all times and contributing, ultimately, to the strengthening of the European Union’s operational autonomy.
Tracasa Global and Tracasa Instrumental, leaders in the processing of satellite images and in the development of solutions with Artificial Intelligence, will tackle different technological challenges until 2029, together with the rest of the entities included in the consortium, with the aim of responding to specific aspects of security and defense challenges, such as target analysis, monitoring, searches, mapping and damage assessment.
Together with Tracasa Instrumental and Tracasa Global, the following entities are part of Argos: Centrum Badan Kosmicznych (Poland), Cubert GMBH (Germany), Evenflow (Belgium), Gisat (Czech Republic), Gmatics (Italy), Indra Espacio (Spain), Joanneum Research (Austria), Metasensing (Netherlands), Planetek Hellas (Greece), Rina Consulting (Italy) and the Universita di Napoli Federico II (Italy).
The work of Tracasa Instrumental and Tracasa Global in the field of security and defense has as its most relevant precedent the IntSen2 project, also led by Tracasa Instrumental, with participation by Tracasa Global. This initiative, promoted by the European Commission, received 3.28 million euros in support from the European Defence Fund 2021, and laid the foundations for the creation of a strategic European security and monitoring service based on satellite images and Artificial Intelligence.
IntSen2: automatic image intelligence powered by Artificial Intelligence exploiting European space assets uses images from the European Union's Sentinel satellites and AI techniques - in which Tracasa Instrumental and Tracasa Global boast recognized experience - to develop a concept for the application of image intelligence.
The project managed to develop a proactive strategic surveillance tool capable of continuous and automated monitoring of areas of interest (air and naval bases), based on AI technology and Sentinel 1 and 2 images. The tool generates a fully automated workflow and is designed to integrate with existing analytics platforms at intelligence services, thereby optimizing the detection and processing of critical information at the strategic level. To achieve its purpose, the project based the research and proposed solutions exclusively on European space assets, with the ultimate goal of supporting and strengthening the European Union’s operational autonomy in defence and security.
Among all the work carried out by Tracasa in the remote sensing field, of special note is all its activity linked to the European Commission’s Copernicus program, being present in most of the services developed, such as atmospheric monitoring, ground surveillance, security, and emergency management. In this area, work has been completed for the Joint Research Center in Ispra, the European Environment Agency, the Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment, SATCEN, and ECMWF.
In this area Tracasa Global currently boasts its own R&D team specialized in advanced analytics and Artificial Intelligence applied to geospatial information (GeoAI), with extensive experience in image analytics. This team has managed to emerge, in collaboration with research centers and universities, as an international leader in the field of remote sensing: the super-resolution of optical data and radar, object segmentation, crop classification and LiDAR point cloud classification.
COTESA has been awarded the asbestos census monitoring project for the province of
Alicante, extending a proven methodology already applied in multiple Spanish cities and
regions.
COTESA, part of Grupo TECOPY, is reinforcing its leadership in applying Earth Observation and Artificial Intelligence to address urgent urban health and safety challenges. The company has recently been awarded the asbestos census monitoring project for the DiputaciĂłn de Alicante, following successful implementations in Madrid, Salamanca, Oviedo, Bilbao, Vila-Real, CeldrĂĄ and across the Principality of Asturias. The solution integrates very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery and four-band aerial photography with advanced AI models. What began as a robust Machine Learning approach has now evolved into state-of-the-art Transformer architectures, significantly boosting accuracy and scalability. These models automatically detect asbestos rooftops, generating centroids for each detected cover. To every centroid, GIS attributes from the building are attachedâ including Spainâs cadastral reference, height, area, year of construction, and whether it is a public building.
This enriched dataset allows COTESA to move beyond simple detection: each building receives a priority score for asbestos removal, depending on its use and risk profile. For instance, public buildings, schools or facilities with high daily attendance, or those located in central urban areas, are ranked as top priority. This directly supports municipalities in planning phased and evidence-based removal strategies.
With a multidisciplinary team of over 60 geospatial experts, COTESAâs Geospatial Analysis and Earth Observation (AGEO) department combines advanced remote sensing, Big Data and AI to automate large-scale cartography and monitoring. This capability has been demonstrated in collaborations with leading institutions such as the European Environment Agency, IGN, Naturgy, EDP and several major Spanish municipalities.
The Alicante project demonstrates the maturity of COTESAâs approach: a scalable, EObased solution that directly contributes to healthier, safer and more sustainable cities.
Discover how Naples-based Latitudo 40 is designing the future of EO and space data by integrating generative AI and Large Language Models by developing a fully functioning AI agent with the purpose to make geospatial insights open to the wider public.
Latitudo 40 is redefining the future of climate innovation through space. At the European Space Agencyâs Acceleration Days in Brussels, the Italian geospatial intelligence company unveiled a groundbreaking AI-powered solution that combines satellite Earth Observation, Large Language Models, and Generative AI to make climate mitigation strategies more accessible, actionable, and impactful for cities, institutions, and businesses.
Latitudo 40, Italian company expert in providing Earth Observation solutions for ESG strategies and decisions, unveiled its new revolutionary product during the European Space Agency’s Acceleration Days.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is the main institution in Europe dedicated to the peaceful exploration and use of space for the benefit of humankind. Through its Acceleration Days, ESA promotes immersive multi-day innovation sprints where industry leaders in the space economy challenge themselves and share expertise to design new solutions that leverage space data and technologies.
For the 5-day innovation sprint hosted in Brussels from September 8th, 2025, to September 12th, 2025, the main goal was to accelerate the green transition for smart cities by unlocking the power of Large Language Models (LLM): advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems trained on vast amounts of text to understand, generate, and process human language.
In this scenario, Latitudo 40 stood out by delivering a fully functioning prototype of its brand-new AI Agent: a conversational chatbot programmed to understand human language and provide actionable geospatial insights without wrestling with complex actions, but just with intuitive, spontaneous conversations. This new technology acts as a true digital assistant for geospatial analysis, combining the power of Earth Observation, Large Language Models, and Generative AI.
The implications of this development are fundamental to making communities and institutions move toward a more sustainable dimension of innovation and growth. Thanks to the new AI agent, for example, urban planners can program climate mitigation interventions with just a simple ask-and-answer exchange. Or, in another scenario, corporate executives with limited expertise in geospatial data can better understand and manage ESG-oriented decisions and strategies, just by chatting.
This achievement â made possible only by Latitudo 40âs blend of high-level expertise, relentless passion, and unstoppable teamwork â is set to be a game-changer for sustainable and resilient economic development.
In the words of Gaetano Volpe, CEO at Latitudo 40, âOur team is creating powerful, customized assets for urban planners, city officers, and real estate developers, helping them make the most of satellite data in ways we’ve never seen before. This is the future of sustainable urban planning!â
An incredible achievement that is not only beneficial to the company itself, but for the whole Campania region. âI firmly believe this is the kind of innovation that can position Campania on the world map as a leader in the geospatial and downstream industries,â outlines Mr. Volpe. âCampania has the potential to be a hub for breakthrough solutions like this, driving sustainable climate resilience and making a real impact globally.â
As the prototyping phase of the new product successfully closed during ESA Acceleration Days, the product is now on its roadmap to reach the wider public for official release on Earth Data Insights, Latitudo 40âs soon-to-be-launched Geospatial Intelligence platform. A Software as a Service (SaaS) based platform which, through the use of satellite imagery, data, and highly performant AI algorithms, provides climate change monitoring on relevant variables and actionable insights for future environmental interventions, estimating the impact of future âwhat ifâ scenarios.
âItâs not just about analyzing historical data; itâs about leveraging Earth Data Insightsâ simulation tools to model and evaluate the best possible solutions, both economically and environmentally,â adds Mr. Volpe, before concluding with a hopeful wish: âWe are designing the best tools to accelerate the green transition. Letâs shape a more sustainable future together!â Watch the full demo for Latitudo 40âs AI agent on their LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7372214904386301952Â
About Latitudo 40 Latitudo 40 is an Italian geospatial intelligence company founded in 2017 and headquartered in Naples, Italy. The company specializes in transforming satellite imagery into actionable insights using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. Latitudo 40 has established itself as a leading provider of cloud-based geospatial analytics, serving municipalities, government agencies, and enterprises across Europe. The company’s solutions address critical challenges in urban planning, climate risk management, infrastructure monitoring, and environmental compliance.
The SDGs-EYES project - a three-year Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (January 2023 â January 2026) - has been actively working to deliver a portfolio of results aimed at strengthening Europeâs capacity to monitor the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via Copernicus services. By combining technical innovation, stakeholder engagement and policy dialogue, the project demonstrates how Earth Observation (EO) and data-driven services can support evidence-based decision making.
The SDGs-EYES project – a three-year Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (January 2023 â January 2026) –Â has been actively working to deliver a portfolio of results aimed at strengthening Europeâs capacity to monitor the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via Copernicus services. By combining technical innovation, stakeholder engagement and policy dialogue, the project demonstrates how Earth Observation (EO) and data-driven services can support evidence-based decision making.
Between January and May 2025, SDGs-EYES hosted a series of User Uptake Webinars, following its co-design workshops and test-validation activities. These events allowed potential users to actively shape and evaluate services in the four EU and non-EU pilot areas – the North Sea, the City of Turin, the Province of Cosenza, and Romania, and the Sahel region. Moreover, to further promote project outcomes, two dissemination webinars showcased how SDGs-EYES services help raise awareness of the impacts of climate change, both to the environment and people.
The projectâs dissemination and outreach activities have also included the publication of two policy briefs up to now: one introducing the FIRE-TRACE tool, which advances greenhouse gas monitoring to support climate-related SDG reporting, and another highlighting how EO-based solutions can fill critical data gaps for SDG 14 indicators (Life Below Water). Three other policy briefs on the services of Climate security, Extreme temperatures risk, and Forest cover and erosion will follow in October 2025. In addition, several scientific publications have been accepted, expanding the projectâs knowledge base and visibility.
At the core of SDGs-EYES is the SDGs-EYES Platform, now publicly released. It features dedicated front-end prototypes shaped by stakeholder needs, demonstrating the innovative SDG indicators, and a JupyterLab environment for scientists and experts to create and test new indicators. A newly launched project video captures the platformâs capabilities and the impact of SDGs-EYES.
As the project enters its final phase, efforts focus on finalising services and promoting their uptake and integration into policy and operational frameworks. The final project event will take place on 26â27 November 2025 in Lecce, Italy, with hybrid participation available. This event will present the projectâs key results, lessons learned and opportunities for the future exploitation and scaling of SDGs-EYES services.
EOMAPâs web app for Satellite-Derived Bathymetry (SDB) offers a new feature for calibration and validation.
Hydrographic surveying often involves high risks, large financial budgets and qualified personnel. Since 2022, eoapp SDB-Online has been a highly efficient solution for targeted planning of survey campaigns, mapping remote or very large areas or filling data gaps. Within hours, users can process bathymetric data in a cloud environment, benefitting them with significant time and cost savings.
Now, eoapp SDB-Online offers a new feature, the integration of Satellite Lidar Bathymetry (SLB) Data. In general, users need no on-site data to obtain valid bathymetry data with eoapp SDB-Online. This is the beauty of EOMAPâs physics-based approach.
However, they can upload own survey data for refinement and validation purposes. Users lacking these data, can now use Satellite Lidar Data from NASAâs ATLAS sensor IceSat-2. This independent validation and calibration data will be directly integrated into AOIs purchased within the eoapp.
eoapp SDB-Online is part of EOMAPâs series of online solutions for decision support leveraging high-quality satellite data.
Menut, a nanosatellite promoted by the Government of Catalonia and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and launched over two years ago, was designed to capture Earth images, with a special focus on the Catalan region. Now, these images are officially accessible to the public through the Menut Viewer, enabling users to explore and download them for a wide range of applications. The IEEC has also just closed a call for the second edition of its âEarth Observation Use Case Ideas competition for the Private Sectorâ which invites companies in the Catalan sector to propose innovative ways they can implement the use of Menut data into their operations. Winners of the competition can receive up to âŹ50,000 in funding to support their projects.
Image rendered by OpenCosmos shows Menut orbiting Earth.
What is Menut?
On 3 January 2023, the Government of Catalonia launched its second nanosatellite from the Cape Canaveral space base in Florida, USA. This satellite was named Menut, which means âsmallâ in Catalan. The mission is managed by the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) with the technical support from the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC), and was awarded to Open Cosmos, the company responsible for its design, manufacturing, and operation.
NewSpace represents a disruption of the use and access of space, allowing start-ups, SMEs and large companies to look for new opportunities in the space sector through the new implementation of nanosatellites, allowing access to space to be cheaper and more manageable. Menut is the first Earth observation mission based on a small satellite developed within the framework of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia promoted by the Catalan Government. It is a nanosatellite based on a 6 CubeSat unit (6U) platform and weighing less than 10kg. It orbits the Earth at a distance of 538 km in a Sun synchronous orbit and with a speed of about 8 km/s, meaning it passes over Catalonia approximately every 5 days. Equipped with a state-of-the-art multispectral camera that operates in the visible and near infra-red spectrum range, Menut is able to acquire images from space with a spatial resolution of up to 5 meters of any location on Earth, while prioritising images from Catalonia.
The IEEC designed and contracted this mission through a service provision framework and owns the Earth observation data over Catalonia. In turn, Open Cosmos retains the ability to commercialize the remaining satellite capacity.
View of the northern region of Catalonia, obtained by the Menut nanosatellite. Credit: image of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), processed by the Cartographic and Geologic Institute of Catalonia (ICGC) and financed by the Government of Catalonia as part of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, under the license CC BY 4.0.
What does Menut do?
Menutâs main mission is the observation of the Earth with a special focus in the region of Catalonia, aimed at enhancing spatial planning and supporting efforts to monitor and mitigate the effects of climate change. The collected data is integrated into services that address critical challenges such as the climate emergency, energy crisis, and the management of natural resources and disasters. Menut also serves as a complementary source of data to larger missions, such as Sentinel-2, providing higher revisit times and added flexibility for regional monitoring needs.
Use cases
Menut was implemented into the first âEarth Observation Use Case Ideas Competition for the Private Sectorâ, an initiative coordinated by the IEEC and promoted by the Government of Catalonia. This competition aimed to enhance the competitiveness of private sector companies by incorporating satellite data technology, offering funding of up to âŹ50,000. Two Earth-observation use cases applicable to the Catalan territory were selected and funded: the projects MARE (company isardSAT) and MOT (company SPASCAT).
On one hand, MARE aims to enhance drought monitoring capabilities in Catalonia through remote sensing-based soil moisture products at high spatial and temporal resolution. MOT, on the other hand, introduces an application designed for agricultural professionals without requiring specialized training. This tool automates field monitoringâspecifically for tree and vineyard farmsâby analyzing spectral data from satellites.
Recently, the second edition of the competition was launched, giving companies the opportunity to submit their proposals until 24 February 2025.
What can you do with Menut?
Examples of what can be done with the images acquired by the Menut nanosatellite. Algebra between spectral bands can be computed to estimate indices to monitor changes in water content or to quantify vegetation density, among other applications. Credit: images of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), processed by the Cartographic and Geologic Institute of Catalonia (ICGC) and financed by the Government of Catalonia as part of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, under the license CC BY 4.0.
Recently, the images from Menut were officially made publicly and freely available to everyone on the Menut Viewer. This interactive tool allows users to visualise and download the images captured by Menut for all purposes, whether business, professional, academic or personal. It was developed by the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC), which has been working closely with the IEEC and Open Cosmos since Menutâs launch to ensure the regular provision of images with the established quality criteria.
Businesses can also benefit from these images by incorporating them into their operations and therefore enhancing their competitiveness in the sector. The use of these images are categorised into 6 different areas:
Outreach: generation of content, news, and illustrations to promote the features, possibilities, and usefulness of this type of data.
Training: creation of educational content to explain the main techniques and methodologies of Earth Observation and to develop teaching and training materials for analysing and processing this data.
Interpretation: visual or digital analysis to determine or delimit landscape elements and identify objects or cover types.
Spectral response analysis: analysis and differentiation of various cover types and the creation of spectral indices that help in understanding the territory and its condition.
Biophysical variable determination: extraction of values for biophysical variables using information gathered from spectral bands. This information can later be validated with field data to establish segmentation of these variable values.
Detection of temporal changes: using data sets taken at different times, changes in the territory can be analysed, both geometric (such as the shape or texture of elements studied) and radiometric.
Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) Esteve Terradas 1, Edifici RDIT, Oficina 212 Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia (PMT), Campus del Baix Llobregat - UPC 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona)
EOMAPâs web app for water quality monitoring convinced the jury and beat out 120 applications.
Global warming puts severe pressure on water bodies. This calls for efficient monitoring of water quality, for example to timely detect harmful algae blooms. Satellite sensors can provide these key parameters in a near-real time - so far for highly specialised analysts only.
With eoapp AQUA, authorities and industry can gain satellite-based information within few mouse clicks. The smart concept and user-friendly dashboards have convinced the jury of the German Innovation Prize 2025 to nominate the web app in the category âmedium-sized enterprisesâ. On 27 March, the final winner will be announced at the award ceremony in Munich. The Prize is a renowned award involving the German business media âWirtschaftswocheâ and âHandelsblattâ. EOMAP is listed next to companies, such as SIEMENS Energy or Infineon.
Eoapp AQUA offers an unprecedented wealth of data and a comprehensive overview of many water bodies at a time. The cloud-based solution includes an intuitive data viewer, a long-term analysis tool (+35 years back) and an alert function. It supports applications, such as bathing waters surveillance, environmental impact monitoring or climate change studies. This leads to safer decision making and to significant time or cost savings.
eoapp AQUA is part of EOMAPâs series of online solutions for decision support leveraging high-quality satellite data.
The H2020 ACCWA project has designed and implemented new methodologies to monitor water use, crop yield and climate hazards from remote sensing data.
This information will improve the reliability of decision-making in agriculture, helping quantify and prevent the impact of climate change, and reinforcing Mediterranean agro-food value chains.
MARCH 2025
The H2020 ACCWA project (Accounting for Climate Change in Water and Agriculture management) has developed monitoring and management tools that will help the Mediterranean agriculture adapt to the impacts of climate change. The project team is composed of eleven EO experts from seven different countries (isardSAT, CIRAD, IRD, IRTA, LabFerrer, AGRHYMET, Observatori de lâEbre, UCAM, UCAR, CEPAVE (Conicet-UNLP), FOOD QUALITY).
The Mediterranean agriculture, under the pressure of new climate conditions
The Mediterranean is one of the regions most sensitive to climate change, facing rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events. These changes will increase crop water needs while reducing soil moisture, putting rain-fed agriculture at high risk of lower yields and poorer quality.
The region is already seeing more erratic rainfall, leading to longer droughts and more intense storms. This makes water management even more challenging in an area already struggling with scarcity. To adapt, agriculture must evolve by changing crop strategies and adopting advanced water management practices and technologies.
Soil moisture and drought index over the Ebro basin
One of the main outputs of the project is the online drought monitoring tool, which provides the Anomaly of Surface Soil Moisture (also known as a drought index) for the Ebre basin (Spain). As the project research demonstrates, analysing the moisture on soil surface is a critical indicator of changes in vegetation and productivity.
The ACCWA team used different sources of Earth Observation data mostly from European Space Agency Copernicus Program, such as Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3, or Earth Explorer missions like SMOS. NASA missions have also been explored, such as SMAP, MODIS or LandSat.
Innovative agriculture management tools
The ACCWA team has developed remote sensing-based tools that improve the reliability of decision-making regarding water use, yield, and hazard prediction in agriculture.
Specifically:
Tools to improve water use allow to estimate irrigation amounts used, irrigations systems in use, and early crop classification.
Tools to monitor drought allow to accurately monitor meteorological, agronomic and hydrological drought.Â
Tools to forecast crop yields and predict locust presence.Â
New validated algorithms
Innovative algorithms to retrieve soil moisture, evapotranspiration and characterise vegetation status from EO data have also been developed, implemented and validated. This algorithms have been validated through several intensive field campaigns, carried out by the ACCWA team throughout the project, which have left an important network of in situ stations for future research.
