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(17/09/2012) Compliance with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards accredited by the supervisory audit.

The supervisory audit extended the certification of internal Quality Management System and company’s Environmental Management System according to the ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 1400:2000 standards.

Gisat has successfully confirmed its commitment to maintain and continuously improve the quality of provided services and products and its awareness of increasing importance of environmental issues and principles of sustainable development.

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Astrium Services has posted the first images from the SPOT 6 satellite, just 3 days after its launch on 9 September.

SPOT 6 will assure continuity of data from the series of satellites operating since 1986, along with many technological innovations.
Its unique responsiveness and acquisition capacity are set to benefit a broad spectrum of operational applications.

These first images present very varied landscapes, highlighting SPOT 6’s potential for applications like urban and natural resource mapping or agricultural and environmental monitoring.

The wide imaging swath (60km), identical to that of the other SPOT satellites, makes SPOT 6 an ideal tool for covering vast territories,
while its 1.5m resolution – against 2.5m on SPOT 5 – enables it to distinguish smaller features than ever before.

To post the images, all operational systems swung smoothly into action, from satellite tasking to image acquisition, reception and processing.

In January 2014, the arrival of SPOT 7 will bring more new services including daily revisits.
Together, the SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 constellation will assure continued availability of high-resolution, wide-area products through to 2024.

Credits Astrium

(09/2012). RapidEye is a constellation of 5 multispectral remote sensing satellites launched on the 29th of August 2008.

As they are equally spaced on a single orbit, daily image of any point on the Earth can be collected. This constellation is also particularly suited for rapid large area collection. RapidEye provides images with a spatial resolution of 5 m in five spectral bands. It was the first commercial satellite to offer a red-edge band. This band is really useful for measuring variances in vegetation and monitoring vegetation growth and health.

  • Launch date : 29th August 2008
  • Orbit : 97,8°, sun-synchronous
  • Orbital altitude : 630 km
  • Viewing angle : Max +/- 25° off-nadir
  • Equator crossing time : 11.00 am solar time
  • Revisit time : dayly (off nadir / 5,5 days (at nadir)
  • Swath width : 77 km at nadir
  • Resolution : 6,5 m (5 m after resampling)
  • Radiometric resolution : 12 bits per pixel
  • Geolocational accuracy (without GCP) : 12,7 m CE90%
  • Spectral range :
    0,440 – 0,510 µm (blue)
    0,520 – 0,590 µm (green)
    0,630 – 0,685 µm (red)
    0,690 – 0,730 µm (red edge)
    0,760 – 0,850 µm (near infrared)
  • Product types : Basic and Ortho products, stereo are available
  • Price : pricing per km²
  • Area of interest: Irregular polygon, minimum width 10 km², no donut shapes
  • Minimum order size :
    500 km² for archive imagery
    3500 km² for new acquistions
  • Standard acquisition window new imagery: 45 days
  • Tasking : Possible
  • Application examples :
    Topographic mapping up to 1:25.000
    Damage assessment
    Crop mapping
    Change detection

Source

(08/08/2012) GeoVille has been awarded a service contract to update a series of ESPON maps and related data on natural hazards.

The work includes data collection on 11 natural hazards (including avalanches, floods, forest fires, drought potential, etc.), indicator development as well as an analysis of its territorial dynamics and policy impacts.

(06/09/2012) GAF GeoMap is a GIS desktop application for visualization, analysis and acquisition of raster and vector data as well as map generation and 3D visualization.

The user-friendly software is easy to use – also for non GIS-specialists. Further predefined functionality for more experienced users can be switched on in addition.

GeoMap is developed OGC-conform – also with respect to INSPIRE guidelines – and in compliance with certified ISO 9001:2008 procedures and common standards. The Software is programmed in Visual C# under the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0. It is based on disposable openSource components (GDAL) and own developed class libraries. Through the use of the Microsoft DirectX library a high performance visualization of data in 2D and 3D is achieved.

Selected features/Key facts:

  • Simple and intuitive operability, ease of use also for users without detailed GIS knowledge
  • Flexible user oriented license models, also in terms of source code
  • No charged license of other parties incurred
  • Multilingualism
  • Linkable multi document interface
  • Modular architecture and extensibility
  • Modules and additional functions activatable
  • Contextual menu navigation
  • Management of standard and user related settings
  • Support of common raster and vector formats
  • Support of numerous geographic and projected reference systems as well as transformations in between
  • Geometry and topology operations
  • Integration and composition of graphic elements
  • Representation and analysis of elevation data in 2D and 3D, hillshades, slopes, contour levels, cross sections, line of sight, perspective and 3D views, anaglyphs
  • Hillshades and anaglyphs on-the-fly
  • High performance 3D visualization with unrestricted movement
  • Map generation with map grids, legends, further text and graphic elements
  • Usage of predefined and self-defined layouts, storage of templates
  • Real time access to GPS information and full-time navigation
  • Support of OGC conform data access (database and web services)
  • On-line help / tooltips
    System requirements:
    Windows XP/Vista/7, Microsoft .NET Framework from Version 4.0 and above, DirectX 9.0c

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(10/08/2012) Recently EUROSENSE EOOD successfully completed the pilot project in Bulgaria “Aerial surveying of the terrain and preparation of digital terrain model of flood plains of the Bulgarian bank of the Danube River” for the Ministry of Environment and Water.

The project is a part of the EU Danube Region Strategy (DRS) and aims to develop a uniform methodology for calculating the risk of flooding and the level of vulnerability of territories along the Danube in the eight participating countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia and Serbia and to create maps of the danger and risk. The project includes the elaboration of a Digital Terrain Model and a Digital Surface Model by Airborne Laser Scanning as well as an elaboration of orthophotos with a resolution of 40 cm of the flood plains of the Bulgarian bank of the Danube River. The area of interest (2500 km2) was covered with a density of 3 points/m2.

Source Eurosense EOOD

Other News

Photogrammetry conference

This year Eurosense EOOD hosted the National Photogrammetry Conference on “Photogrammetry technologies for spatial data” which was held on Tuesday 3rd of July in Sofia in the building of the National House of Science and Technique. The event’s organizer was the “Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing” section of the Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria. The conference was attended by 65 people from 22 companies and several governmental institutions. The event started with an opening speech by Plamen Maldjanski, vice-rector for international relations and postgraduate qualification of the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG). The first participant at the conference was Danail Evtimov – Head of the department of Photogrammetry of the Eurosense Group. He gave a presentation entitled “Eurosense technological solutions for geospatial data”. The conference was closed with a cocktail organized by Eurosense EOOD.

(18 September 2012) From the end of September 2012 on, the citizens of Tervuren can obtain an indication of the roof insulation quality of their house.

The municipality of Tervuren aims to sensitize their citizens about the efficient use of energy. Since a sufficient roof insulation has been identified as a crucial component in the battle for energy efficiency, investments in a well-installed roof insulation should be promoted. In order to come out with an interesting eye-catcher to bring this message, the municipality of Tervuren awarded EUROSENSE at the beginning of 2012 with a project for the creation of a thermographic map on the municipality.

In the cold winter night of the 8th on the 9th of March 2012, EUROSENSE flew with one of its airplanes equipped with a thermal camera over the entire territory of Tervuren, hereby capturing ca. 4500 images. At the same time, approximately 50 volunteers made a temperature measurement in the room(s) under their roof, and completed an inquiry on the composition of their building/roof, the use of the rooms under their roof, and so on. Experts from EUROSENSE processed the imagery in such a way that a georeferenced and homogeneous thermographic map of the entire municipality was created.

A correct interpretation of a thermographic map is crucial since the colours on the map depend on a variety of factors. Based upon the measurements executed by the volunteers, EUROSENSE established an interpretation key with easy-to-answer questions leading to a legend with a correct indication of the roof insulation quality. Furthermore, several people of the municipality were trained by the experts of EUROSENSE in the interpretation and possible exceptions of the thermographic map.

From the end of the month of September 2012, citizens can pass by at the municipality hall to check out the results of their own house and will also receive the necessary information on the available subsidies from the municipality officer. On the 26th of September (at 20h00), the thermographic map will be officially released during a press conference at the Administrative Centre (Markt 7A) of Tervuren.

Source Eurosense

(August 2012) Over the last few days, the Deimos-1 Earth Observation satellite, launched in space by Elecnor Deimos in July 2009, is monitoring the reactivation of the forest fire that broke out last Saturday on August the 4th, in the island of La Gomera. Fire flames have affected to a significantly important protected area of the National Park of Garajonay.

As can be seen in the image taken by Deimos-1 (Figure 1) on the 13th of August 2012 at 12:53 local time, the fire was reactivated and at least 10 smoke plumes (Figures 2 and 3) can be seen in the image. The smoke plumes imply new burned areas to be added to the surface that was significantly affected until the 9th of August. Damaged areas are easily detectable from space. The fire that broke out in La Gomera affects within part of the National Park of Garajonay, reserve of the nature declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. The reserve of the nature is located north to the already burned area. By using background satellite data, before and during the fire, two images captured on the 9th and 11th of July 2012, at 12:26 and 12:30 local time correspondingly, Elecnor Deimos Imaging shows the burned area during this fire as well as its evolution since the starting (Figures 4 and 5).

Figure 1. Burned area in the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), captured on the 13th of August 2012 by the satellite Deimos-1. (Archive: Fig_1_2012-08-13_Deimos1_True_Colour.jpg)
Figure 2. Smoke plumes over the new burned area in the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), captured on the 13th of August 2012 by the satellite Deimos-1. (Archive: Fig_2_2012-08-13_Deimos1_Penachos.jpg)
Figure 3. Recount summarizing the number of smoke plumes over the new burned area in the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), captured on the 13th of August 2012 by the satellite Deimos-1. The ellipse in blue shows a flame front and the circles in red show the smoke plumes detected. (Archive: Fig_3_2012-08-13_Deimos1_Resumen_Penachos.jpg)
Figure 4.Multitemporal composition that identifies the burned area from the beginning of the fire that broke out in the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), to the 9th of August. As well as its evolution between the 9th and the 13th of August as detected by Deimos-1 images. (Archive: Fig_4_2012-08-13_Deimos1_Fire.jpg)
Figure 5. Multitemporal composition that identifies the burned area from the beginning of the fire that broke out in the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), to the 9th of August. As well as its evolution between the 9th and the 13th of August as detected by Deimos-1 images (Greater detail). (Archive: Fig_5_2012-08-13_Detalle_Deimos1_Fire.jpg)

The Deimos-1 Earth Observation system, comprising the satellite and its whole ground segment, is fully owned by Elecnor Deimos, the technology division of Elecnor. Elecnor Deimos Imaging, the Remote Sensing branch of Elecnor Deimos, operates and manages all the assets of the mission in order to generate and market high-resolution images and derived products characterising Earth’s surface. Their use covers various applications, such as agriculture, environment monitoring, climate change, security, deforestation and water resources control, and the support to relief activities during natural disasters.

The imaging instrument on-board the Deimos-1 satellite produces images of the Earth surface in three different spectral bands with a detail of 22 metres, and a large swath that covers up to 620 km. The satellite circles the Earth 15 times per day, and is capable of acquiring an image of any area of the world every three days.

Copyright Notice
The publicly released Elecnor Deimos images may be reproduced without fee for educational or informational purposes, on the condition of crediting Elecnor Deimos as the source of the images. Examples: Photo: Elecnor Deimos; Photo: Elecnor Deimos / Deimos-1
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(10 September 2012) PERILS AG, the independent Zurich-based company providing industry-wide European catastrophe insurance data, has today announced a new initiative, in collaboration with the insurance industry and the European Space Agency (ESA), which will make available satellite-based flood footprints during and after major flood events.

The project will enable industry participants to download flood footprints. These footprints can then be used for rapid flood impact assessments and will facilitate the understanding of insured flood risk and ultimately help to broaden the range of flood insurance solutions.

The project is a joint effort involving satellite operators, earth observation service providers and the insurance industry. It is supported by Allianz, EQECAT, ESA, Guy Carpenter, Munich Re, PERILS, SERTIT, Swiss Re, Vista and Willis.

Commenting on the project, Luzi Hitz, CEO of PERILS, said: “We are glad to be able to act as a distribution platform for satellite earth observation information for major global flood events. This fits perfectly with PERILS’ overall strategy to provide ready-to-use data to the insurance industry to help improve the understanding of Nat Cat risk.”

Eduard Held, Head of Products at PERILS, added: “This project is going to satisfy a longstanding industry need for detailed flood information during and after large events. While it has been possible to access satellite images in the past, this is the first time that insurers will be able to access images which have been standardized to better suit their specific requirements.”

Dependent on the scale and duration of flood events, high-resolution flood boundaries will be made available on a daily basis while events are developing, facilitating an immediate assessment of the possible impact of the events. In addition, after the flood event, a map showing the maximum extent of the flooding during the entire lifetime of the event will be produced.

During an initial 12-month trial period all interested parties will be able to download the flood footprint information free of charge.

About PERILS

PERILS is an independent Zurich-based organisation providing industry-wide natural catastrophe exposure and claims data. The PERILS Industry Exposure & Loss Database is available to all interested parties via annual subscription. The database contains industry property sums insured and loss information for eleven European countries on a CRESTA zone level and per property line of business. PERILS industry loss estimates, provided via the PERILS Industry Loss Index Service, can be used as triggers in insurance risk transactions such as industry loss warranty contracts (ILW) or insurance-linked securities (ILS).

(source: PERILS)

(11/09/12) British satellite imaging company DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) has launched launching a ground-breaking project with support from the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board to provide more accurate and reliable information about land carbon storage and how it changes over time.

By building on established carbon modelling and satellite remote sensing techniques, this initiative will provide scientifically validated carbon market intelligence and an automated Monitoring, Verification and Reporting (MRV) system to help organisations in their efforts to reduce deforestation and degradation. This system is designed for use in supporting REDD+ initiatives and aims to significantly reduce the transaction costs incurred in trading forest based carbon.

An important differentiator for this project is that the team will conduct rigorous scientific analysis of the carbon intelligence from the data sources (satellite images and ground samples) throughout the processing chain and will use carbon models to quantify the uncertainties involved and supply users with valuable quality assurance information.

Head of DMCii Product Development, Adina Gillespie, explains: “Earth observation-based carbon models are proven effective for MRV, but we have to accept that we don’t yet have a perfect system. We set out by asking ourselves: How can policy makers and carbon markets put their trust in an MRV system without knowing the uncertainties involved? With this in mind, we will employ end-to-end quality assurance and make the accuracy of the carbon market intelligence from this system available to the user.”

The system will use high–resolution satellite images to produce detailed carbon inventory maps, and will incorporate frequently updated images from Earth observation satellites to determine changes (deforestation, degradation) in forest cover or land use – and therefore the carbon flux – over time.

This innovative project was made possible with investment from the Technology Strategy Board, and brings together carbon intelligence provider Carbon Associates Limited and world renowned remote sensing and carbon sequestration researchers from University College London (UCL) under the leadership of satellite operator and remote sensing solution provider DMCii. The resulting carbon market intelligence products address a market estimated at £16 billion for which the UK has a strong base of skills, experience, research and technology.

Patrick Newton, acting Chief Executive Officer of Carbon Associates, commented, “we are very pleased to have been selected as a consortium partner alongside DMCii and UCL in this Technology Strategy Board backed project. We look forward to delivering increasingly accurate carbon stock accounting data to project developers, financiers and forest owners as they look to trade forest based carbon credits in the voluntary markets and take advantage of the enhanced Carbon Market Intelligence this project will deliver”.

Carbon market intelligence is continuously developing as the science matures and new techniques are developed. By employing rigorous quality assurance throughout its system, the team will be able to test how future improvements influence the reliability of data as the science and techniques of carbon modelling and remote sensing evolve.

About DMC International Imaging Ltd

DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) is a UK based supplier of remote sensing data products and services for international Earth Observation (EO) markets. DMCii supplies programmed and archived optical satellite imagery provided by the multi-satellite Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). DMCii’s data is used extensively in a wide variety of commercial and government applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping.

In partnership with the UK Space Agency and the other Disaster Monitoring Constellation member nations (Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain), DMCii works with the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ to provide free satellite imagery for humanitarian use in the event of major international disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, fires and flooding.

DMCii was formed in October 2004 and is a subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), the world leader in small satellite technology. SSTL designed and built the Disaster Monitoring Constellation with the support of the UK Space Agency and in conjunction with the other Disaster Monitoring Constellation Consortium member nations listed above.

DMC International Imaging Ltd is not affiliated in any way with Intergraph Corp., Z/I Imaging Corp., or their registered trade mark DMC.

About Carbon Associates Limited (CAL)

CAL is a value added processor of remote sensing and ground collected data. CAL applies its proprietary algorithms and statistical analysis to big data sets in order to calculate carbon stock values – and changes in those values over time – for forested and agricultural land. CAL provides processed data sets and index based products to users as a managed service for the delivery of Carbon Market Intelligence.

Carbon Associates Limited is UK based and private equity backed.

About the Technology Strategy Board

The Technology Strategy Board is the UK’s innovation agency; its goal is to accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation. Sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Technology Strategy Board brings together business, research and the public sector, supporting and accelerating the development of innovative products and services to meet market needs, tackle major societal challenges and help build the future economy. For more information please visit: www.innovateuk.org

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