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December

PCI Geomatics to Release 32-bit Version of Flagship Geomatica Software Suite

Geomatica 2012 Service Pack 1 Released

PCI Geomatics completes beta development of its ArcGIS Synthetic Aperature Radar tools

November

PCI Geomatics Recognizes Academic Excellence of Carleton University Students

PCI Distributor Geo-Alliance presenting GXL Workshop at the Earth from Space Conference – held in Moscow, Russia

Geomatica 10.3.2 Service Pack 2 Released for 32 bit systems

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(2011-12-21) Metria have on a contract from the World Bank and financed by the European Space Agency mapped rain forest in north western Liberia.

Metria have for the World Bank and financed by the European Space Agency performed a land cover classification of two forest areas, approximately 738,500 ha in north-western Liberia. The work has been conducted together with the Austrian consultancy firm GeoVille to support the government of Liberia and the World Bank with data to implement monitoring of and management for sustainable use of forest resources. Sustainable forest use includes resource extraction, social- and cultural elements as well as nature conservation measures. The EO products of the project are very well suited for the identification of untouched forest areas, with presumably high biodiversity and conservation value. The products will set a benchmark for the level of accuracy, thematic as well as spatial, available for regional forest management and planning in Liberia and West Africa. The products delivered are land cover classification including density classes of the forest as well as land cover of the agricultural domain and a digital elevation model.

The project and the monitoring scheme was presented in November 2011 at the Masasi workshop, an annually occurring dialogue platform for government representatives and researches working with natural resource management in southern Tanzania.

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(2011-12-21) Metria works for WWF, with vegetation mapping and environmental monitoring in the Mtwara Development Corridor in Southern Tanzania. The keystone species of the area is the african elephant currently under great preassure due to increased poaching in the area.

Metria works for WWF on the design of a Wildlife Corridor and an environmental monitoring system in the Mtwara Development Corridor in Southern Tanzania. The monitoring schemes focus on the integrity of the Eastern Selous Niassa Wildlife Corridor, an important conservation goal in WWF’s strategy for the protection of elephants and forests in the Ruvuma wilderness. Metria have within the scope of the project reviewed various monitoring schemes in Tanzania and abroad. The project has resulted in a modified and customized approach for the monitoring of the Mtwara Development Corridor.

The approach blends a combination of field efforts with well as HR and VHR imagery classification combined with vegetation change analysis. Within the framework of the project a vegetation map of the protected areas for the Selous Niassa Wildlife corridor have been produced, greatly enhancing the knowledge base of the land cover in existing protected areas.

The project and the monitoring scheme was presented in November 2011 at the Masasi workshop, an annually occurring dialogue platform for government representatives and researches working with natural resource management in southern Tanzania.

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Kongsberg Spacetec (KSPT) as prime contractor has successfully conducted the factory acceptance test for the Sentinels 1,2 and 3 Demodulation and Front End Processing System (DFEP).

The DFEP consists of the well proven KSPT products MEOS™ Capture HRDFEP, MEOS™ Capture HRTG, and MEOS Control.

For information about our: MEOS™ Data Acquisition systems

In addition it includes the Data Gate & Archive unit manufactured by the Italian company Advanced Computer Systems (ACS).

The acceptance proved that integrating well known and reliable products fulfills the high quality requirements from the customer (European Space Agency). The Sentinels require high performance during operations, and the systems proved to meet these strong requirements.

For more information about the contract: KSPT Modems to ESA Sentinel 1, 2 and 3 Satellites

Sentinels 1,2,3

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GRACE Ltd is pleased to announce the merge of its overall activities within the P.L.A.N. network of consultants.

Starting January 1st, 2012 all the operations held by Grace will be part of P.L.A.N. Europe Ltd, a firm established in Greece in 2010. P.L.A.N. Europe is specialized in providing consulting services on Space Applications including Earth Observation and Meteorology through an extended presence in about 15 countries in the EMEA region. The operations of the firm will integrate the existent Grace activities in Europe and North Africa.

Furthermore, Grace consultants will join P.L.A.N. Consulting Group (PCG), a high-level consultancy team of about 25 people covering the full spectrum of expertise in Space Technologies. With an impressive track record of major and numerous institutional and industrial references, PCG is an expert in capacity building on domains as: Space Policy design and regulatory issues, Space Agency organization and operations, Satellite missions, Space systems, Ground Reception Stations, Earth Observation Data.

For more information, please contact:
P.L.A.N. Europe Ltd
Mr. Dimitris Matsakis, Managing Director
pel@planinc.com

About GRACE

GRACE Ltd is a young and independent technology and consulting services firm established in Athens in July 2008, with the mission to promote and guide space industry development and direct the benefits of Space to the society and the environment in Greece and the greater Eastern Mediterranean region.
The company is a dynamic partner contributing to local capacity building and progress in the Space industry and its applications.

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GAF AG hosted GSE FM REDD Programme in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Congo a REDD+ Side Event at the COP17 in Durban, December 2011

The GMES Service Element on Forest Monitoring (GSE FM) which has been led by GAF AG since 2003 has aimed at providing operational forest services to the forest user community by including them in the design and implementation of the services. One of the main evolving policy segments that the GSE FM supports is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) post-Kyoto Protocol policy process “Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation” (REDD).

The European Space Agency (ESA) supported GSE FM REDD programme in the Congo Basin region is being implemented by GAF AG and partners from 2009-2012. The main objective of the GSE FM REDD Extension in the Republic of Congo and Gabon is to set up pre-operational Earth-Observation (EO) based forest monitoring systems within the REDD framework. Due to the progress made to date on implementing the project activities and the contributions of the project to the national REDD+ process in the Republic of Congo, the Congolese Government in partnership with GAF AG has decided to host a specific REDD+ Side Event at the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) 17 which will take place in Durban. S. Africa in December 2011.

The Republic of Congo REDD+ Day has the main objective to enhance and intensify the international visibility of the Republic of Congo’s REDD+ process. Key issues that will be presented include, the national REDD+ vision and activities that have been undertaken at national level for the institutionalization of a REDD+ framework as well as the development of technical methods to support the process. Methodological accomplishments from the GSE FM REDD, with emphasis on the application of EO data for the estimation of deforestation in the scope of the National Forest Cover Monitoring project will be presented.

The event will take place under the high patronage of the Minister of Sustainable Development, Forest Economy and Environment, H. E. M. Henri Djombo.

About GAF AG: (www.gaf.de)
GAF AG is an international consulting company with leading competence and expertise in applied remote sensing and spatial information systems. GAF has worked in the last 20 years in more than 100 countries throughout Europe, Africa, South-America and Asia. GAF AG offers a comprehensive portfolio of services ranging from supply of geo-data (e.g. satellite and aerial imagery, digital elevation models), and geo-services (e.g. image processing, thematic mapping, GIS/DBMS applications and software development). GAF AG has a proven track-record in performing technical assistance projects in the natural resources and environment sector.

To obtain more information, please contact:
GAF AG
Dr. Thomas Haeusler
Tel. +49 (0) 89 12 15 28 0
www.gaf.de and www.redd-services.info
email: forestry@gaf.de

(Nov2011) In the two years since DMCii added 22m multispectral imagery to its geospatial data portfolio, the detailed satellite views of the Earth’s surface have proved highly-valued tools for farmers facing increasing pressures – not least of which is rising fertiliser costs.

Acquired from the latest generation of DMC imaging satellites – UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1 – this new class of data is employed every season for precision agriculture across numerous countries including the US, Canada, the UK, France, Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, Russia and Japan, and accounts for 50% of DMCii’s annual growth.

In precision agriculture, satellite data is used to gather precise knowledge of a farmer’s land, pinpointing variations in crop growth and condition. The farmer is shown just where fertiliser or crop protection chemicals need to be applied, and in what quantities. GPS-based instructions can be relayed directly to tractors and other automated farm equipment. The aim is to maximise crop yield and quality while minimising production costs and environmental impact.

“There is a general emphasis at the moment on producing more food for the ever-growing world population,” says Paul Stephens, DMCii Director of Marketing. “Monitoring from the high ground of space represents a cost-effective way to help farmers use land and resources more efficiently.”

For the last five years DMC satellite data has been utilised by specialist precision agriculture companies. The imagery comes geo-rectified, as is standard, for integration into users’ Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software. But because the DMC satellites are operated together as a constellation, they offer much more timely data than a single satellite, delivering rapid revisit opportunities every 1-2 days. Compare this to Landsat’s 16 day minimum revisit time which often means months between cloud-free images. The improved-quality 22m data produced by the two newest DMC satellites has opened up new service possibilities for value-adding companies, with more detail making the data suitable for much smaller field sizes. In addition, these higher resolution images now have 10-bit instead of 8-bit pixels, yielding greater sensitivity in the DMC’s three Landsat-compatible spectral bands of red, green and near-infrared.

“In the past, precision agriculture planned what to do in the current year based on last year’s growth patterns,” explains Paul Stephens. “This was down to a lack of availability of up-to-date satellite images. Now the DMC constellation can cover whole countries every 2-3 days which typically means cloud-free imagery every week or so for any given field. This opens the door to near real-time precision agriculture – applying inputs to crops according to their current growth patterns and condition.”

The DMC satellites are unique because they combine relatively high resolution with an extremely wide 650 km swath width. Enhanced onboard storage and downlink bandwidth on the 22m satellites stretch this along-track length up to more than 1200 km.

“The satellites deliver vast area coverage,” adds Paul Stephens. “So a precision farming company in France for example might receive a single image that shows almost the whole of the country. They can analyse hundreds of customers’ farms based on that image alone, as well as market services to other farms who have to sign up.”

The sensors on all satellites a rigorously calibrated so that customers can use the data from any satellite interchangeably and extract quantitative biophysical information about the crop.

2011 will see two new DMC satellites commence operations – Nigeriasat-2 and Nigeriasat-X – with 5m, 32m and 22m imaging resolutions, joining the rest of the internationally-owned, jointly-run DMC constellation.

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 trademark DMC.

Notes to editor:
This press release can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/dmciipr
A print resolution JPEG image showing agriculture in The Great Fen, UK.
Image credit: UK-DMC2 Image © DMCii, 2010
Press contacts:
Robin Wolstenholme, bcm public relations, www.bcmpublicrelations.com
Tel: +44 (0)1306 882288 Email: r.wolstenholme@bcmpublicrelations.com
Paul Stephens, Sales & Marketing Director, DMC International Imaging Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0)1483 804299 Email: p.stephens@dmcii.com

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Critical Software will take part in the conference “Competitive Intelligence – A Strategic Solution”, to be held on January 17th, around 18h00, at the Military Academy (Auditorium 9), in Lisbon, Portugal.

The newly appointed Chairman of Critical Software, Gonçalo Quadros, will represent the company and focus his keynote speech on “Competitive Intelligence – The Role of Companies “.

“Someone once said ‘It is pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised.’ The only companies that don’t need competitive intelligence are those with no competition. In a world of hyper-competition (lower barriers to entry, global marketplace, customer focus, etc.), few companies can abstain from some form of competitive intelligence. Even if you don’t have competition, competitive intelligence will generate numerous benefits: early warning systems, more accurate forecasting, business development, market research, due diligence, among others”, states Gonçalo Quadros.

Competitive Intelligence tries to identify, analyze and deliver information on products, clients and competitors in order to support decision making and the organization’s strategic positioning. In a time of crisis, Competitive Intelligence is a central strategy for companies and other organizations that want to consolidate their value and strengthen their position in global markets.

CIIWAC aims at promoting the research, the debate and the dissemination of knowledge about Competitive Intelligence and the Information War, particularly with the view of making it applicable for economical and social development purposes.

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Brockmann Consult successfully completed the ESA Calvalus project

A demonstration system which performs efficient bulk processing of large amounts of satellite data. Calvalus aims at supporting Earth Observation cal/val activities and algorithm development by providing fast access to mission-wide satellite data and a highly configurable processing environment. The Calvalus system utilises Apache Hadoop and the ESA BEAM development platform and achieves its enhanced performance from the massive parallelisation and data-local execution of processing tasks.

Source Brockmann Consult

The ESA Calvalus Study
Objective
ESA’s Earth Observation (EO) missions provide a unique dataset of observational data of our environment. Calibration of the measured signal and validation of the derived products is an extremely important task for efficient exploitation of EO data and the basis for reliable scientific conclusions. In spite of this importance, the cal/val work is often hindered by insufficient means to access data, time consuming work to identify suitable in-situ data matching the EO data, incompatible software and limited possibilities for rapid prototyping and testing of ideas. In view of the future fleet of satellites and the fast-growing amount of data produced, a very efficient technological backbone is required to maintain the ability of ensuring data quality and algorithm performance.
The announcement of opportunities EO Cal/Val and User Services is a technology study of the ESA LET-SME 2009 call, investigating into an existing leading edge technology (LET) for their applicability in the EO domain. Specifically, LET-SME is a spin-in instrument encouraging the participation of SMEs to ESA technology. The LET-SME focuses on early stage development of Leading Edge Technologies, i.e. the ones likely to become the reference technologies for the near future, and have good chances of being infused into ESA projects and missions.
In accordance with the study’s statement of work, Calvalus is a system that has been proposed to fully support the idea of LET-SME, thus with a strong focus on a selected LET which is described in this report.

(Dec2011).“Nederland van Boven” (The Netherlands from Above) is a new series from VPRO-television showing how the country works, lives and develops.

The best way to see it working is from the sky. It investigates Netherlands’s past and shows how analyzing the country from an aerial perspective can help realizing the future.

Central story in one of the episodes (“knutselland”) tells about the need and the reason of capturing aerial imagery of the Netherlands. Surprisingly for the Dutch, they make use of the knowledge and experience of a company with its main office in Belgium to realize this masterpiece. Since Aerodata has realized nationwide coverages of The Netherlands since many years it was logical that the crew ended up talking to us.

Aerodata provided high resolution aerial imagery as a backdrop for animations and the television crew recently visited Aerodata’s main office. The crew attended an operational aerial survey flight in one of our aircraft and got a brief demonstration and explanation of the image processing process.

To watch the video (in Dutch), please click the following link (Meten en fotograferen)