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Telespazio Group, along with its parent company Finmeccanica, participates in the Supply, Installation, Maintenance, Training and Financing of Digital Mapping System of the Republic of Panama for the Tommy Guardia National Geographic Institute of Panama (IGNTG), whose generate objective optical imaging radar satellite images 1:5000 and 1:25000 and 1:5000 topographic mapping and 1:25000 vector.

Aurensis is responsible for developing and implementing web portal publication of the images and topographic maps generated which will be sold over the Internet.

AURENSIS is responsible for developing, training and deployment of web portal publication of the images generated by Telespazio Argentina.

The system will manage the images from around the country all 1:25000 and 1:5000 in urban areas, the volume of information will be considerable and therefore arrangements are in place to optimize and streamline the use of the system.

The portal will have the following features:

  • Publication of the optical imaging 1:5000 and 1:25000 SAR
  • Publication of 1:5000 and 1:25000 topographic maps
  • Select products from the mesh of leaves 1:5000 and 1:25000
  • Selection of products by alphanumeric queries
  • Metadata management
  • Direct sales of products available
  • Management tool geographic portal

The system is developed with free software (geographic server, application server, etc..) On an Oracle database and provides Web access via Internet.

At the end of the project (started in September 2011) Tommy Guardia National Geographic Institute will get:

  • The publication fund orthoimagery and topographic mapping vector
  • Have a sales portal mapping products
  • Improve the image and national and international IGNTG

Astrium Services Integrates Global Seeps with TGS’ New Seismic Data


Astrium Services Integrates Global Seeps with TGS’ New Seismic Data to Better Locate Offshore Oil Prospects

  • Nalcor Energy Oil & Gas realises benefits of integrating Global Seeps with seismic data
  • Off-the-shelf oil seeps study available now – Offshore Newfoundland & Labrador

Leicester, UK – 20th March 2012 – Astrium Services’ GEO-Information teams have signed an agreement with TGS, who provides seismic data to oil and gas exploration and production companies worldwide, to utilise Astrium’s Global Seeps to help improve the probability of locating new offshore discoveries.

During a recent joint project, enhanced targeting of potential hydrocarbon prospects was achieved when oil seepage slicks information from Astrium GEO-Information Services’ Global Seeps database was integrated with frontier seismic data. TGS will use Astrium’s offshore oil seepage information products to plan and position seismic surveys. This will enable oil & gas firms to source combined seismic and Global Seeps data, streamline future exploration efforts, and improve the chances of successfully identifying slicks resulting from natural seepage of hydrocarbon reserves.

More info at

Astrium Services takes Satellite-based Monitoring to a new Level with Go Monitor

  • Innovative monitoring concept combines daily coverage, weather-independent acquisitions and high-quality image analysis
  • Customers appreciate fully tailored monitoring programmes, timely email alerts, secure online access and comprehensive change reports
  • 60 off-the-shelf pre-selected monitored sites worldwide

Toulouse, 21 February 2012 – Astrium Services’ GEO-Information team has now taken satellite-based monitoring to a new level. Based on cutting-edge satellite imagery, standard and advanced image analysis, processing and interpretation, the new service Go Monitor provides high-quality change information for any area of interest worldwide on a reliable and cost-effective basis.

No matter how remote or inaccessible a site may be, with daily revisit options and independent of weather conditions, Go Monitor supports users around the globe in their day-to-day operations. Go Monitor helps to effectively monitor activities, to precisely understand the environment in which they operate and to take well-informed decisions.

  • Defence & intelligence bodies observe infrastructure for effective targeting and identification of relevant assets
  • Oil & gas organisations monitor exploration, production and facilities – both onshore and offshore – for the benefit of health, safety and environmental responsibility, as well as improved productivity and the fulfillment of external regulations
  • Civil engineering companies monitor under and above ground construction of infrastructure, both existing and under development, to increase safety and performance.

More info at

“Het Waterschapshuis” has awarded the partnership Cyclomedia-Aerodata a major contract for flying the entire country of The Netherlands (40.000 sqkm) in 2012 & 2013 @ 10cm resolution.

This marks the 4th and 5th time Aerodata will be executing this project (similar previous projects were done in 2009, 2010 & 2011).

All of the approx. 100 000 images will be orthorectified and mosaiced and are made available for stereo map compilation (BGT large scale base map).

End users are the Dutch Kadaster, Provinces, national and regional Water boards and several Ministries.

As before, flights will be executed in both years in the leaf-off season (February -> April).

The data from all projects are off the shelf available to public and private customers.

Source Aerodata

A consortium led by GeoVille and GRAS has been selected to carry out an ESA project in the frame of the TIGER initiative. The objective of TIGER-NET is the contribution to facilitating the African participation in the rapidly evolving global ‘Earth Observing’ system. The project will provide a Water Observation and Information System for water authorities, technical centres and other stakeholders which will be developed in close collaboration with the African users.

ESA realised that the rapidly evolving global earth observing system may provide a significant contribution to the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Africa and consequently launched in 2001 the TIGER initiative. The TIGER initiative supports water authorities, technical centres and other stakeholders in the African water sector to enhance their capacity to collect and use water relevant geo-information to better monitor and assess water resources by exploiting earth observation products and services.

To respond to the urgent information needs for IWRM in Africa, ESA has launched TIGER-NET as a major initiative to develop and demonstrate a user-driven water observation and information system based on earth observation technology, fulfilling operational requirements and providing a solid base for extension and roll-out to other basins in Africa.

The project was officially kicked off at the World Water Forum in Marseilles in March 2012 on a side event chaired by the African Ministerial Conference on Water (AMCOW) and will be running for three years starting 1 April 2012.

TIGER-NET will focus on a number of selected countries and regions with particular attention to major trans-boundary basins in Africa. The initial list of key users includes the Nile Basin Initiative, Lake Chad Basin Commission, Volta Basin Authority, Department of Water Affairs South Africa and the Namibian Ministry of Water. The high level objectives of the project are to enhance the capacity of African water authorities by developing a water observation and information system for monitoring, assessing and inventorying water resources in a cost-effective manner by exploiting the wealth of information that can be extracted from earth observation data.

Example for soil moisture at 1 km – the graphic represents monthly mean of ASAR GM 1 km product from March, 2008

A water observation and information system based on open source software exploiting satellite data will be installed in each of the selected water authorities to monitor and assess water resources and in their river basins. The system will consist of a database module for data storage, EO and GIS modules for processing and analysis of satellite images, a module for hydrological modelling as well as decision support tools for overall management of water resources. Successful and sustainable development of earth observation applications requires dedicated capacity building and training of African scientists and water authorities. Accordingly, capacity building will be an important part of the project.

Partners

As project partners, GeoVille and GRAS will be leading the consortium with support from the following organizations: Institute of Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing, Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna, Austria), Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU ENV, Denmark) and Department of International Health, University of Copenhagen (ISIM, Denmark).

Further information can be found on ESA’s news. A dedicated project website and portal will be launched later.


Tel: +352 26 71 41 35
Fax: +352 26 71 41 35
Email:info@geoville.com
Web: www.geoville.com
GeoVille Group is a private sector enterprise located in Austria and Luxembourg. GeoVille Group specialises in products and services related to Earth Observation (EO) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications.
GeoVille is Europe’s leading company in using satellite data for land monitoring and spatial planning applications.
Our services provide the bridge from user needs to technical implementation – merging geospatial explicit data with statistics – to the analysis of what on-going processes and trends mean for real world applications.

Tel: +45 35 32 41 75
Email:gras@grasdk.com
Web: www.grasdk.com
GRAS is an independent company specialized in earth observation, satellite image processing and Geographic Information Systems. GRAS is part of DHIGROUP, an international consulting and research organization specialized in water, environment and health.
Since 2000, more than 150 projects in more than 50 countries worldwide have been completed. GRAS has a strong background in remote sensing for hydrology, water quality, environmental assessment, and land cover mapping.

ESA’s mission control is working to re-establish contact with the satellite. Although this landmark mission has been in orbit twice as long as it was designed for, ESA hopes to keep the satellite in service until the launch of the successor Sentinel missions.

The first sign that there was a problem came on April 8th when contact with the satellite was unexpectedly lost, preventing the reception of any data as it passed over the Kiruna ground station in Sweden. ESA’s mission control team declared a spacecraft emergency and immediately called for support from additional ESA tracking stations around the world. A team of operations and flight dynamics specialists and engineers was quickly assembled. In a concerted effort, the recovery team, which included experts from industry, spent the next days trying to re-establish communications with the satellite.

While it is known that Envisat remains in a stable orbit around Earth, efforts to resume contact with the satellite have, so far, not been successful. As is standard practice, an anomaly review board is investigating the cause for the break in communications.

Envisat has exceeded its planned life of five years by far. Since it was launched in 2002, this remarkable satellite has orbited Earth more than 50 000 times delivering thousands of images and a wealth of data to study and understand our changing planet, establishing itself as a landmark success in observing Earth from space. As the world’s most complex Earth observation satellite, Envisat carries 10 sophisticated instruments that have provided key information about our land, oceans, ice and atmosphere. Combined with data from the ERS missions since 1991, Envisat has provided precise measurements on climate change over the last 20 years. More than 4000 projects in over 70 countries have been supported with Envisat data. Data in the archives will continue to be available for users.

A contingency agreement with the Canadian Space Agency on Radarsat will be activated in order to continue to serve some of the user requirements if the problem with Envisat persists. Volker Liebig, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, said, “The interruption of the Envisat service shows that the launch of the GMES Sentinel satellites, which are planned to replace Envisat, becomes urgent.”

The first of the new series of Sentinel missions for Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme is ready for launch next year. The Sentinels will provide the data needed for information services to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.

Source ESA

Remote sensing solutions provider DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) has signed a contract with Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) to deliver near real-time satellite imagery to monitor forest clearing in the Amazon rainforest and target illegal logging as it happens.

INPE is leading the world in the use of satellite imagery to monitor deforestation, providing information central to Brazil’s war on deforestation that has cut deforestation rates by 78% since 2004. The space agency’s groundbreaking DETER service uses regular satellite images to detect forest clearance as it happens – rather than surveying the damage afterwards – guiding Brazil’s enforcement officers to provide effective forest clearing control. However in recent years, the authorities have discovered that illegal loggers are clearing smaller areas to evade detection by the 250metre-pixel MODIS data that is currently in use.

The new £2.1m contract signed with DMCii will enable INPE to downlink higher resolution 22metre resolution data directly from the UK-DMC2 satellite to its groundstation at Cuiaba, Brazil. With approximately 130 times as many pixels per hectare as the MODIS images currently in use, the data will detect these smaller clearings and provide more detailed maps. The UK-DMC2 satellite will image the entire Amazon basin every two weeks, so that the authorities are alerted as soon as possible after logging is detected. In a unique agreement, the data covering Brazil will be made freely available on open licence through the INPE website so the general public can follow progress against deforestation.

Dr. Gilberto Camara, Director General of INPE said: “With the recent failure of Landsat 5 it became urgent to increase the supply of satellite imagery to operate our forest monitoring system, and DMC data provides a very cost effective tool. The 650km wide swath DMC imagery provides a frequency of coverage and level of detail which enhances the ability of our DETER system to identify deforestation at an early stage. I am particularly pleased that DMCii has agreed to an open licence so that INPE can make the data freely available through its website – an innovation which has enhanced public monitoring of forest management in Brazil.”

The contract builds on seven years of cooperation with INPE. Paul Stephens, Director of Sales & Marketing at DMCii commented: “DMCii has a commitment to improved forest governance and management through the provision of timely and reliable information. This is especially important for development of effective REDD+ programmes in tropical forested countries. I am delighted to extend our long standing work with INPE, which is the world leader in the fight against deforestation.”

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.

Notes to editor:
This press release can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/dmciipr
High-resolution multi-spectral satellite images showing agriculture in Rio Grande do Sul and forest clearing in Rondonia are available upon request from Robin Wolstenholme.

Press contacts:
Paul Stephens, Sales & Marketing Director, DMC International Imaging Ltd., www.dmcii.com
Tel: +44 (0)1483 804299 Email: p.stephens@dmcii.com

The Oil and Gas Earth Observation group (OGEO) is an initiative, supported by ESA, of representatives from the oil and gas industry and service providers in the earth observation business, to encourage and support their interaction.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

After a successful workshop in 2010 the interest group continues to be active to promote the use of remote sensing in the O&G industry and started to liaise with formalized O&G bodies. The 2011 OGEO objectives were to: * Review progress with respect to the 2010 Action Development Plan * Organize a 2011 workshop * Present work initiated to implement the 2010 Action Development Plan * Present relevant EO applications to the Oil and Gas sector, with special focus on Oil spill response * Establish closer links between the Geology/Mineral EO communities and the Oil and Gas companies.

WORKSHOP OVERVIEW

The 2011 OGEO workshop was composed of four sessions:

  • Session 1: OGEO status and achievements
  • Session 2: Data access, quality and standards
  • Session 3: EO for Oil spill detection, mitigation and response
  • Session 4: EO applications for the Oil and Gas sector

The workshop program is given in Annex A. The individual presentations in the separate sessions that have been cleared for public release are provided at http://earth.eo.esa.int/workshops/grsg2011/index.php?page=224&type=s

The combined OGEO/GRSG workshop was attended by 185 external participants from all around the world.

WORSKSHOP FINDINGS

This workshop report (2011_OGEO_workshop_report_final.pdf) contains a summary of main observations made during the individual presentations and panel discussions.

This report does not contain details on technical discussion in relation to individual presentations. See the abstract booklet for specifics. All 21 presentations – from the OGEO day – have been made available by the authors and can be downloaded from the website

Workshop Presentations

FULL REPORT AVAILABLE AT
2011_OGEO_workshop_report_final.pdf

The fourth edition of the Symposium on Earth Observation Business will take place from September 13 to 14 2012 at its usual venue, the Westin Hotel in Paris.

Organized in synergy with the must-attend World Satellite Business Week, this symposium is a unique forum bringing together over 200 EO community representatives from EO satellite operators, manufacturers, launch service providers, data distributors, service providers and end-users (military, civil government and private).

Lively panel discussions and keynote presentations will be given by over 40 high-level speakers from private and public entities before a crowd of their suppliers, customers and peers.

Themes covered will include:

  • Enterprise User Forum: Delivering solutions to key vertical markets (energy, maritime, LBS)
  • Data distributors’ key role in providing access to local markets
  • Development strategies for moderate and high-resolution EO operators
  • Civil government: Securing access to data and building cooperation

Previous attendees or speakers included leading Earth observation companies or institutions such as ESA, NOAA, EUSC, GEO, CEOS, UNOSAT, Astrium Geo-Information, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, e-GEOS, ImageSat, NGA, German MoD, French MoD, Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, OSC, SSTL, Thales Alenia Space, KSat, Fugro, Google, Microsoft, Total, BP, etc. The umbrella event, the World Satellite Business Week gathered over 450 CEOs, CFOs, Presidents and Directors from key companies such as Gazprom, Boeing, SES, Eutelsat, Iridium, Arianespace, ILS and SpaceX. etc.

The event’s active social program filled with cocktail receptions, coffee breaks and sit-down lunches offers a valuable opportunity to network and meet new business contacts amongst participants that represent the entire EO value chain and all world regions.

To view the detailed agenda including all seven panels, check the event website

For registration or further information, go to http://www.satellite-business.com/registration or contact Ruth Mandeng: mandeng@euroconsult-ec.com (+33 – 1 49 23 – 7524)

Gisat provides services to the European Investment Bank for monitoring of large-scale cement factory in Ethiopia.

Gisat has been selected as one of the European EO services providers within the frame of the joint ESA and the European Investment Bank (EIB) initiative to support the EIB specialists in their independent monitoring capacity building using Earth observation data. In particular, Gisat provides monitoring services for the large-scale cement plant construction and operation in Ethiopia.

The required services consist of land cover / land use change assessment and feature extraction in surroundings of the large-scale cement plant, an adjacent limestone quarry and other related infrastructure constructions. In this value added services, funded under the ESA VAE programme, Gisat capitalizes its long-standing worldwide expertise in EO based land cover / land use applications and also its successful involvement in previous and similar EOWORLD initiative focused on the World Bank support.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term financing institution of the European Union, promoting EU objectives. Outside the EU, the EIB supports the EU’s cooperation and development policies. Regular assessments of the environmental and social impacts of the activities undertaken in connection with the EIB loans are a necessary condition for receiving and maintaining the financing. In this framework, the EIB is keen to have independent monitoring capacity focused both on construction progress as well as on progress on the declared mitigation measures to reduce the environmental impact related to the construction projects.

ESA supported EO-based services are potentially useful tools in providing a wide range of environmental information (retrospective & up-to-date) to support the management of EIB’s projects, across the whole project lifecycle. The focus is on appraisal, monitoring and evaluation phases, providing information that is a) non-intrusive, objective and consistent around the globe, b) retrospective and comparable to the current status (via the mission archives), and c) based on technology ensuring a long-term continuity, especially with the prospect of the European GMES initiative services.

More information at GISAT

The DREAM project aims to define and prototype the operations concept for Decision Support and Real Time EO Data Management.

DREAM contributes to the evolution of standards and technologies needed for Earth Observation data identification, feasibility analysis of satellite acquisitions, product ordering and online Earth Observation product access and delivery. The principal objective of the project is to address the technology, architecture and G/S interfaces needed to streamline the planning, ordering and access to ESA and Third Party Earth Observation Mission for two identified institutions: EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) and EUSC (European Union Satellite Center).

The DREAM prototype shall:

  • Support the EUSC and EMSA business scenarios related to feasibility analysis, ordering and on-line data access of coverages.
  • Demonstrate dynamic data transfer of EO data from the PDGS to these institutions decision support systems.
  • Define the technical interfaces between the components.
  • Propose the interface to be exposed by the Sentinel 1 and 2 mission planning components to ensure future compatibility and “pluggability” of these services in the DREAM architecture.
  • Ensure data integrity and traceability of quality and accuracy metadata throughout the data transfer process.

The ESA GSTP project is led by SPACEBEL as prime contractor and the consortium consists of 12 additional partners from 8 European countries.

Gisat is responsible to develop the NRT (Near Real Time) cloud-mask generation system that will be implemented to allow feasibility analysis in the Feasibility Analysis System and cloud masking functionality in Reference Coverage Server to fulfill the update strategy.

More information at GISAT