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GIM is an internationally operating EO and GIS services company based in Heverlee near Leuven in Belgium. The company provides consultancy, software development services and products in the geo-spatial domain. GIM specializes in remote sensing services and GIS applications as well as value adding data services and geo-spatial web applications.

Since its start of activities in 1995, GIM has been able to establish a broad international customer base and has successfully participated in more than 500 local, national, and European projects. GIMs customers are to be found in private industry and public organisations ranging from international to local level. GIM is providing a wide range of value added services for remotely sensed data and GIS applications in segments such as urban planning, precision farming, geomarketing, natural resources and environmental monitoring, world heritage information management and defence.

The GIM team has expertise in managing and executing national and international projects. At present, GIM is employing a staff of 30 experts and consultants graduated in earth sciences, engineering and informatics.

GIM uses cutting edge GIS and image processing software and provides consultancy, processing and bespoke development services on the basis of software components from both the major commercial GIS and remote sensing software vendors as well as Open Source solutions.


Fig1:Left/right – Extraction of Building Footprints and integration with the GIM Building Typologies classification scheme / © GIM & EUSI. The LEFT image shows the building footprints that have been extracted from WorldView-2 50 cm satellite imagery over Zaventem (Belgium). The RIGHT image shows the classification of buildings into different types based on their physical characteristics and other contextual information

GIM builds Spatial Data Infrastructures compliant with international Open Standards and provides consultancy and training services on the implementation of Web Service technology, Open Standards and the application of interoperable metadata and data models.

GIM is an official distributor of optical and radar satellite images

Very high resolution imagery

Very high resolution optical images (e.g. QuickBird, IKONOS, WorldView, GeoEye) have a spatial resolution below 2.5 m where single buildings, roads, vehicles, and even individual trees are identifiable. Applications include urban planning, forestry, agriculture, hydrology or cartography.

High and medium resolution imagery

High and medium Resolution Satellite imagery from sensors such as SPOT, ASTER, LANDSAT and MERIS has a spatial resolution ranging from 5 to 300 m. These images have a much larger extent and a higher revisit rate which makes them suitable for small scale land use mapping and frequent monitoring of events or natural processes.

Radar imagery

Imaging radar systems differ from optical systems because they generate their own electromagnetic waves. The main advantage is that such a system allows day and night-time operation under virtually all atmospheric conditions. They can “see” through haze, light rain and snow, clouds and smoke, because active microwaves are used.

GIM distributes TerraSAR-X images with a resolution of 1 m. Furthermore ERS or ASAR data sets are available.


Fig2

Earth Observation services

Satellite Imagery is often distributed at a basic pre-processing level and can therefore not be used as such in a Geographic Information System (GIS). At first, GIM offers a number of Earth Observation services to correct the imagery and prepare it for further processing. This is done with dedicated software applications and includes the following operations:
• Radiometric and atmospheric corrections of crucial importance for time series analysis;
• Geometric corrections such as georeferencing and orthorectification as well as images co-registration;
• Images mosaicking and pansharpening.

GIM also creates Digital Elevation Models and 3D visualisation. In addition, GIM specialises since several years in information extraction and analysis from Earth Observation data.

GIM has indeed built an extensive expertise on the development of robust and transferable semi-automated processing chains on the basis of the Object-Based Image Analysis methodology. The latter does not consider an image as a matrix of pixels with specific spectral values but rather as a collection of meaningful objects with specific colour, shape, texture and relation to neighbouring objects. This improves the processing efficiency and allows to deliver high quality results for applications such as:
• Land use / land cover or soil sealing mapping,
• Spatial refinement and updating of existing statistical data sets using dasymetric mapping techniques,
• Specific object extraction (e.g. isolated trees for the elaboration of an urban tree cadastre or specific target detection and recognition for security and defence applications),
• Change detection to update large geographical data bases,
• Elaboration of relevant indicators for geomarketing applications such as building typologies, wealth indicators (e.g. presence of swimming pools and size of the garden), etc.
Fig3: Dasymetric mapping of population provided per commune using ASTER LULC maps (MMU 25 ha) / © GIM & e-GEOS. Dasymetric mapping allows to reflect the reality in a better way by redistributing any statistical data on a higher resolution scale using relevant and objective information extracted from earth observation images

Example of Earth Observation service: Slum Mapping – Monitoring of informal settlements

Based on aerial or satellite imagery with sub-metre resolution, suitable information for the characterization of human informal settlements (“slums”) is provided, e.g. the number of dwellings, the size of dwellings, the distance between dwellings (size of open spaces), the number of inhabitants etc. This information can be used in many applications such as housing allocation programs, rehousing decisions, property development, update of census data, etc.


Fig4: 1- Aerial imagery (25cm resolution), 3 bands (blue, green, red), Rundu, Namibia © N.A.D.A.R. 2- Results of building detection algorithm (polygons) © GIM & N.A.D.A.R. 3- Results of building detection algorithm (points, thematic representation based on area of dwellings) © GIM & N.A.D.A.R.

GIM is also active in the precision farming sector with the development of specific crop monitoring services based on an in depth analysis of very high resolution image time series.

The extracted information can then be directly integrated into the client GIS application or delivered as customized maps.

GeoICT services

GIM customises GIS and EO software tools, both commercial off-the-shelf and Open Source, to make them exactly meet the customer requirements.

Since 2005, GIM specialises in the design, implementation and operation of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) for a variety of regional, national and European organisations. Offered services range from training sessions over the compilation of implementation roadmaps to the full implementation of Web Portals and discovery, view, download and transformation services.

To facilitate the deployment of an SDI for organisations with a variety of data offerings, GIM has developed its GeoCMS that allows efficient distributed management of datasets and easy configuration of modern Web Mapping applications.


Fig5

We also operate a set of Web Services (Map services offering EO and GIS data, geocoding, reverse geocoding, address generalisation, web processing) that allow our customers to integrate GIS and EO data and GIS application logic in a variety of software applications.

GIM is also active on the standardisation front and helps designing and testing community profiles of Web Service interfaces and (meta-) data models. An example of such an activity is the set of Application Profiles that detail how to employ the Observations and Measurements, Catalogue Service for the Web and Web Coverage Service standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) in the Earth Observation domain.

Since 1995 GIM has acquired an expertise in Geographic Information Systems, Earth observation applications, WebGIS and Web Services. As a company GIM is committed to supply products and services to allow our customers to manage and leverage their spatial information.

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CONTACT
GIM – Patricia Desmet
Researchpark Haasrode 1505
Interleuvenlaan 5
BE-3001 Heverlee
tel.: +32 16 40 30 39 / fax: +32 16 40 69 39
info@gim.be

secrets_of_earths_surface_with_gimOK.pdf

Grace News

GRACE Ltd, an Athens-based Space consultancy firm displays its moderate optimism for 2011 even through the particularly harsh conditions, results of the current economic crisis.

The last quarter of 2010 has been a period of investment and consolidation for this Greek SME, whose operations are concentrated in the zone of Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans area.

Funded by the European Commission in the framework of Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme in 2010, the firm has been particularly active in achieving substantial partnerships with several industry actors.

Taking profit of its strong knowledge of the regional market and its marketing capabilities, GRACE joined P.L.A.N. consulting group: www.planinc.com, a network of high-profile consulting companies and experts in Space applications and Earth Observation sectors. This team is a leading actor in marketing and capacity building, with more than 20 years of experience in its zone of operations which covers more than 15 countries.
Through the EC Entrepreneurship Programme, GRACE became a partner of Mea Intuis: www.earth-observation.com, a consulting firm with an outstanding expertise and long worldwide experience in Earth Observation matters.

In parallel the firm participated in major Space-related events and conferences in Europe and continues to successfully market the survey on the Greek market “Space Technologies and Applications in Greece: A Market Study”, available since the beginning of 2010.

Due to its presence in the export markets and its valuable partnerships with top-caliber actors including first-size industries, GRACE welcomes 2011 with hope and confidence in supporting the development and the progress.

Contact:
www.graceapplications.com

The European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) is the European organization which – on a non-profit basis – coordinates and promotes activities of their members in the area of services based on the delivery of geo-information products on customer demand.


EARSC´s MISSION is to foster development of European geo-information service industry.
Its VISION is a sustainable market for geo-information services, using remote sensing data, which is openly accessible to all members.
To achieve this EARSC will focus on: Customer awareness and acceptance of Earth observation and remote sensing
Improving Market access for our members

Nowadays, EARSC is embarking on a new strategy of Earth observation awareness and raising to industry the importance of working together for a better future. It is definitively becoming a real point of contact for Earth Observation Industry in Europe

Following a good year for EARSC, with significant achievements spreading the voice of the geo-information services industry, the Board of Directors is delighted to inform you that 2011 will start from a position of further strength: It is our great pleasure to announce the appointment of Mr. Geoff Sawyer as the new Secretary General of EARSC.

Geoff has recently taken an early retirement from industry, and now joins EARSC to embark upon a new challenge to drive forward the development of the geo-information services industry.

During his long and varied career, Geoff has held senior management positions in the space industry as well as numerous representative positions in the UK and Europe including 3 years as the chairman of EARSC (from 1991 to 1995) and as a member of several EU consultative bodies such as Spassec (for space and security) and the SecAG (Security Advisory Group). In addition to his extensive industrial experience, Geoff also spent 3 years working for the European Commission where he was responsible for supporting space policy and in particular the creation of the GMES initiative.

Geoff is very well known to many in the space and earth observation sectors and brings this deep wealth of experience and knowledge to support the ambitions of the geo-information industry that EARSC represents. Through his long and varied career, he has always been engaged in fostering innovative capabilities including some related to downstream applications markets.

The Board of Directors is very excited to have been able to appoint him as Secretary General and we really look forward to working with him in this new role.

EARSC Secretary General
Mr Geoff Sawyer
Contact: + 32 476737564
geoff.sawyer@earsc.org
www.earsc.org

EARSC Secretary General Press Release Jan2011.pdf

In this issue of EOMAG, EARSC had the opportunity to discuss with Ms. Berg some relevant questions about the European Earth Observation Programme (GMES).

What are the objectives of the GMES bureau in the short and long term? How do you work with other players in the European Commission given the relevance of EU information for many different policy fields? What are your relations with other stakeholders in the Member States?

2011 will be a challenging year for the GMES Bureau. First, we have to implement the European Earth monitoring programme and its initial operations which have been adopted by the Council and the European Parliament in 2010. This is one of the many stepping stones of GMES. The programme has a small budget, but an important governance scheme has been set up with it: this means that the bureau has to set up and run new committees like the GMES programme committee that brings together all EU Member states having mobilised funds for the initial operations phase of GMES. Together we have to agree on priorities and make sure that the GMES activities funded by the EU for the very first time outside the research domain dovetail well with what is continued in terms of GMES development projects funded by the EU and by the ESA members. We will also set up the users’ forum in order to validate user requirements for permanent GMES services. This will be an ongoing process as technology evolves as do user needs. But development cycles in relation to space infrastructure are long and therefore it is essential that the key users have a common understanding on what can be delivered by GMES. Second, we have to prepare the long term future for GMES by fitting the EU financial contribution into the EU´s budget for the years 2014-18 and beyond. We will have to design a programme, evaluate its impact, including on the downstream Earth Observation (EO) services market.

The fact that EO data can be used in many different areas is reflected in the GMES Bureau: our team consists of colleagues from different Commission departments (DGs) who work with experts from Member States and international organisations as well as European agencies. The Bureau’s work is guided by a steering committee in which most of the current and future “user departments” of the European Commission are represented. We meet regularly as a group or bilaterally to check evolving user needs and monitor the progress of GMES services development. For contacts with stakeholders outside the Commission we regularly organise meetings with the GMES Partners Board, the committee and of course the Users Forum who will start meeting in 2011. We also attend national user forums and are pleased to see that more and more of them are set up by our partners in the Member States.

How do you see the cooperation with the EO service industry evolving? What role can EARSC, the European service industry association play to support GMES and the work of the Bureau?

The EO market is an innovative market. Your industry has all the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit needed for developing services for citizens and companies most people could never dream of. The challenge for us is to understand the characteristics, requirements and potential size of the market so that we can better justify public investments in the basic EO infrastructure and design a data policy which stimulates the downstream service market whilst for instance responding to legitimate security concerns of public institutions. EARSC will therefore continue to play an important role in sharing their views with us as users and data providers. EARSC would also be helpful by up-dating us regularly on market developments such as new service providers having been started up and jobs created by relevant industry. Such information would help the European Commission to design other than space infrastructure related support instruments: the EU framework programme for competitiveness and innovation is a good example in this regard. It provides venture capital for innovative industries and helps young entrepreneurs to start up their businesses. The EO service industry should make its voice heard in the consultations for a successor programme.

In your opinion, what kind of downstream service industry would Europe benefit from? What are your expectations of EU developments for the citizen?

I think that Europe’s downstream Earth Observation (EO) businesses will size their own opportunities.
Europe’s businesses will have to make an impact on the challenges we (and the planet) are facing: we need to decarbonise our economy in order to mitigate climate change and if it is not to be stopped then we need to adapt to it; the world will need to feed an increasing population and in Europe we will have to cope with an ageing population. All this will open up new markets which in the one or other form can be assisted by EO services. The monitoring of the atmospheric composition, of the state of the seas and of land use, coping with all sorts of emergency situations as well as all sorts of services to enhance convenience in our daily live will drive the EO market. Like in the IT and telecommunications field the EO market will probably also witness convergence with the communication and navigation sectors. Which individual citizen would have thought of having the vast amount of smart services at his or her disposal one or two generations ago?

Why did you find the Head of GMES position attractive? Did you have any exposure to or past experience with the space or EO sector?

I was attracted by the cross-cutting use one can make of EO data and the complex nature of GMES. I have spent the past five years in the energy policy domain building up an energy market observatory. In this capacity I have come across geospatial information and remote sensing data. The energy industry is more and more dependent on information from geological surveys, the monitoring of sea state conditions around drilling rigs and oil platforms, the detection of oil spills, or wind and solar radiation forecasts. Scarce conventional resources and an increasingly important renewable energy sector together with a shared concern for the climate have raised my awareness for the importance of the EO business and for EO services which help public authorities to better define and implement policies. On top of that I hope that having a long a diverse experience in the European Commission combining regulatory policy development, negotiations and the design of support tools for enterprises will contribute to the further deployment of a programme with as many facettes as GMES.

Related links
EC website
Activities of the GMES services
CIP programme

Thank you for your time Ms. Berg…, and specially for sharing your thoughts and comments with the EOmag readers.

Eomag!24_Interview with Christine-Berg, Head GMES Bureau.pdf

Events Winter 2010 / 2011


Start Date End Date Event Web Venue
05-jan-11 07-jan-11 GeoDesign Summit web California, U.S.A.
17-jan-11 19-jan-11 Infrastructure Middle East 2011 web The Gulf Hotel, Bahrain
17-jan-11 21-jan-11 1st Advanced Course on Radar Polarimetry web Frascati, Italy
18-jan-11 19-jan-11 GIS in Mining and Exploration Europe web Stockholm, Sweden
18-jan-11 18-jan-11 Civil Contingency web London, UK
18-jan-11 21-jan-11 Geospatial World Forum web Hyderabab, India
19-jan-11 20-jan-11 Coastal Futures web London, UK
19-jan-11 21-jan-11 Esri Federal User Conference web Washington, DC, U.S.A.
24-jan-11 27-jan-11 Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) 2011 web London, UK
24-jan-11 28-jan-11 PolInSAR 2011 Workshop web Frascati, Italy
25-jan-11 26-jan-11 Navigation Strategies USA web San Jose, USA
01-feb-11 01-feb-11 UAV NAV Symposium web London, UK
01-feb-11 03-feb-11 CryoSat Validation Workshop web Frascati, Italy
01-feb-11 03-feb-11 Imagina web Monaco, Monaco
07-feb-11 09-feb-11 11th International LiDAR Mapping Forum web New Orleans, LA,U.S.A
07-feb-11 09-feb-11 6th EARSeL Workshop Remote Sensing of Snow and Glaciers: Cryosphere, Hydrology and Climate Interactions web Cape Town, South Africa
07-feb-11 18-feb-11 Water Scarcity Winter School web Salzburg, Austria
13-feb-11 19-feb-11 Internationale Geodätische Woche web Obergurgl, Austria
15-feb-11 17-feb-11 ISU 15th Annual International Symposium: “The International Space Station: Maximizing the Return from Extended Operations” web Strasbourg, France
21-feb-11 24-feb-11 Int Symposium on sensing in Agriculture web Haifa, Israel
23-feb-11 24-feb-11 Smart Cities web Rotterdam, Netherlands
23-feb-11 28-feb-11 GEOProcessing 2011: The Third International Conference on Advanced
Geographic Information Systems, Applications, and Services
web Gosier, Guadeloupe, France
01-mar-11 03-mar-11 Munich Satellite Navigation Summit 2011 web Munich, Germany
02-mar-11 03-mar-11 Data Centre World web London, UK
02-mar-11 03-mar-11 3D-ARCH 2011 web Trento, Italy
03-mar-11 03-mar-11 2nd HUNAGI conference &6 Plan4all Workshop web Budapest, Hungary
03-mar-11 04-mar-11 W2GIS 2011 Web & Wireless Geographical Information Systems web Kyoto, Japan
08-mar-11 10-mar-11 GEWEX/ESA DUE GlobVapour Workshop web Frascati, Italy
07-mar-11 10-mar-11 Esri Developer Summit web Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.
10-mar-11 11mar-11 GeoViz Hamburg 2011: Linking Geovisualization with Spatial Analysis and Modeling web Hamburg, Germany
14-mar-11 15mar-11 European Smart Grid Cyber Security Forum web London, UK
15-mar-11 18-mar-11 8th International Specialized Forum GEOFORM+\‘2011 web Moscow, Russia
17-mar-11 18-mar-11 Second Earth Observation-Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Operational Capacity Workshop web Sofia, Bulgaria
21-mar-11 23-mar-11 Data flow from space to earth: application and interoperability web Venize, Italy
21-mar-11 24-mar-11 SPAR, International 2011 web Texas, U.S.A
22-mar-11 23-mar-11 Earth Observation Seminars for the Gulf Cooperative Council Region (GCC) web Dubai, UAE
22-mar-11 24-mar-11 Sentinel potential science products assessment and consolidation workshop web Frascati, Italy
22-mar-11 25-mar-11 Sentinel Scientific Products for Land, Ocean, and Cryosphere web Frascati, Italy
22-mar-11 25-mar-11 SCENES Final Conference and workshop on future waters for Europe web Budapest, Hungary
23-mar-11 25-mar-11 Spatial Statistics 2011 web Enschede, The Netherlands
28-mar-11 31-mar-11 CalGIS 2011 – 17th Annual California GIS Conference web Fresno, CA, U.S.A.
30-mar-11 30-mar-11 GeoDATA 2011 web London, UK
30-mar-11 31-mar-11 Enterprise Strategies for Location Intelligence USA web Chicago, U.S.A
30-mar-11 31-mar-11 MCERTS web Telford, UK
30-mar-11 01-apr-11 ESA EUSC JRC 2011 Conference on Image Information Mining web Ispra, Italy
31-mar-11 01-apr-11 4th International GOCE User Workshop web Munich, Germany
spring-10 spring-10 Development and cooperation in the Mediterranean region using satellite services web Rabat, Morocco
03-apr-11 08-apr-11 European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2011 web Vienna, Austria
05-apr-11 05-apr-11 GeoDATA 2011 web Birmingham, U.K.
05-apr-11 07-apr-11 Ocean Business 2011 – The ocean technology training and procurement forum web Southampton, U.K.
05-apr-11 07-apr-11 QA4EO workshop web Oxford, UK
06-apr-11 07-apr-11 Offshore Survey 2011 – Technical Conference web Southampton, U.K.
06-apr-11 07-apr-11 GEO-11 A World of Geomatics With GIS Innovations web London Elstree, U.K.
06-apr-11 09-apr-11 RIN 11 – Birds, Humans and Other Animals Conference web University of Reading, UK
07-apr-11 07-apr-11 GeoDATA 2011 web Leeds, U.K.
10-apr-11 14-apr-11 Geospatial Soutions Conference 2011 web Dallas, U.S.A.
10-apr-11 15-apr-11 34th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment web Sydney, Australia
11-apr-11 12-apr-11 Energy Efficiency for Business web London, UK
11-apr-11 13-apr-11 EUMETSAT/ESA Scatterometer Science Conference 2011 web Darmstadt, Germany
11-apr-11 13-apr-11 JURSE 2011 – Joint Urban Remote Sensing Event web Munich, Germany
11-apr-11 13-apr-11 EARSeL 7th Workshop of EARSeL Special Interest Group “Imaging Spectroscopy” web Edinburgh, UK
11-apr-11 13-apr-11 Spaceborne Scatterometer Science Conference web Darmstadt, Germany
12-apr-11 16-apr-11 Symposium on Space-Time Integration in GIS and GIScience web Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
13-apr-11 14-apr-11 IDER 2011 web Florence, Italy
13-apr-11 15-apr-11 V Anniversary International Conference “Remote Sensing – the Synergy of High Technologies” web Moscow, Rusia
18-apr-11 18-apr-11 Integrating Sensor-Web and Web-based Geoprocessing – workshop @ AGILE 2011 web Utrecht, the
Netherlands
18-apr-11 21-apr-11 14th AGILE International Conference on Geographic Information Science web Utrecht, the
Netherlands
18-apr-11 23-apr-11 3rd iLEAPS International Science Conference web Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
19-apr-11 21-apr-11 4th Italian gvSIG Conference web Udine, Italy
19-apr-11 23-apr-11 Fringe Workshop 2011 web Frascati, Italy
20-apr-11 22-apr-11 3rd International Conference on Advanced Space Technologies for Humankind Prosperity (Space Technologies: present and future) web Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
25-apr-11 29-apr-11 SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing web Orlando, Fl, U.S.A.
27-apr-11 29-apr-11 GEO-Siberia 2011 web Novosibirsk, ITE Siberian Fair, Russia
01-may-11 05-may-11 ASPRS 2011 Annual Conference web Milwaukee,U.S.A.
03-may-11 08-may-11 Gi4DM 2011 web Antalya, Turkey
08-may-11 11-may-11 ISCRAM 2011 web Lisbon, Portugal
09-may-11 11-may-11 Global Space and Satellite Forum (GSSF) web Abu Dhabi, UAE
09-may-11 13-may-11 Wildfire 2011 web Sun City, South Africa
10-may-11 11-may-11 IF&GIS 2011 5th International Workshop on Information Fusion and Geographical Information Systems: Towards the Digital Ocean web Brest, France
10-may-11 12-may-11 2011 Smallworld EMEAI Conference web Salzburg, Austria
10-may-11 13-may-11 World Reconstruction Conference web Geneva, Switzerland
10-may-11 13-may-11 1st International Geomatics Symposium ‘Geomatics Technologies in the City’ web Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
12-may-11 13-may-11 Let’s embrace space – FP7 space conference 2011 web Budapest, Hungary
15-may-11 17-may-11 TRANS-NAV 2011 web Gdynia, Poland
16-may-11 17-may-11 Esri UK Annual Conference web London, UK
16-may-11 18-may-11 Hyperspectral Imaging Conference (HSI 2011) web Glasgow, UK
18-may-11 19-may-11 European Demand Response and Dynamic Pricing web London, UK
18-may-11 20-may-11 REAL CORP 2011 web Westphalia, Germany
18-may-11 22-may-11 FIG Working Week – Bridging the Gap Between Cultures web Marrakech, Morocco
19-may-11 20-may-11 GIS in Central Asia Conference 2011 web Almaty, Kazakhstan
23-may-11 25-may-11 20th Ozone World Congress and 6th Ultraviolet World Congress web Paris, France
23-may-11 26-may-11 Be Together: The Bentley User Conference web Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
23-may-11 27-may-11 MACC Conference on Monitoring and Forecasting Atmospheric Composition web Utrecht, The Netherlands
24-may-11 25-may-11 The Location Business Summit web Amsterdam, The Netherlands
26-may-11 27-may-11 In-situ Environmental Monitoring and Policy Symposium web Gent, Belgium
30-may-11 02-jun-11 31st EARSeL Symposium “Remote Sensing and Geoinformation not only for Scientific Cooperation” web Prague, Czech Republic
31-may-11 01-jun-11 3rd EARSeL Workshop on Remote Sensing in Education and Training web Prague, Czech Republic
31-may-11 02-may-11 AfricaGEO web Capetown, SA
31-may-11 03-may-11 Optech’ s Innovative Lidar Solutions Conference 2011 web Toronto, Canada
01-jun-11 03-jun-11 2nd Annual Geospatial Intelligence Summit web Budapest, Hungary
01-jun-11 03-jun-11 4th EARSeL Workshop on Remote Sensing for Land Use & Land Cover web Prague, Czech Republic
01-jun-11 03-jun-11 5th EARSeL Workshop on Remote Sensing of the Coastal Zone web Prague, Czech Republic
02-jun-11 03-jun-11 1st EARSeL SIG Forestry workshop: Operational remote sensing in forest management web Prague, Czech Republic
05-jun-11 11-jun-11 Summer Institute on “Volunteered Geographic Information” web Florence, Italy
06-jun-11 09-jun-11 HEXAGON 2011, Building a Smarter World (Leica, ERDAS, Intergraph & Hexagon Metrology) web Orlando, U.S.A.
07-jun-11 10-jun-11 TIEMS 18th Annual Conference 2011 web Bucharest, Romania
08-jun-11 10-jun-11 The Power of The Image The British Cartographic Society Annual Symposium web Cheshire, U.K.
13-jun-11 17-jun-11 URISA Leadership Academy web St Louis MO, USA
14-jun-11 17-jun-11 AIMS 2011 web Aachen, Germany
14-jun-11 17-jun-11 WG IV/2 Workshop ‘High Resolution Earth Imaging for Geospatial Information’ web Hannover, Germany
15-jun-11 16-jun-11 Navigation Strategies Europe 2011 web Berlin, Germany
15-jun-11 17-jun-11 TRANS-NAV 2011 web Gdynia, Poland
16-jun-11 17-jun-11 GMES for Climate Change web Helsinki, Finland
19-jun-11 22-jun-11 World Conference on Disaster Management – WCDM2011 web Toronto, Canada
19-jun-11 25-jun-11 11th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geo-Conference and Expo – SGEM 2011 web Albena, Bulgaria
22-jun-11 23-jun-11 The Geodetic Infrastructure in Europe web Umea, Sweden
22-jun-11 24-jun-11 11th SEASC 2011 and 13th ISC 2011 web Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
27-jun-11 30-jun-11 GIS in Public Health Conference web Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.
27-jun-11 01-jul-11 INSPIRE Conference 2011 web Edinburgh, UK
27-jun-11 08-july-11 Summer School on “Spatial Data Infrastructure for environmental datasets” EnviSDI web Salzburg, Austria
27-jun-11 08-july-11 GISLERS Summer School 2011 web Salzburg, Austria
28-jun-11 29-jun-11 Symposium on Environmental Protection and Planning (ISEPP): Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) Applications web Izmir, Turkey
29-jun-11 01-july-11 ICSDM 2011 and BJ-IWGIS 2011 web Fuzhou, China
03-july-11 08-july-11 ICC 2011 – 25th International Cartographic Conference web Paris, France
05-july-11 08-july-11 GI Forum web Salzburg, Austria
09-july-11 12-july-11 ESRI Survey Summit web San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
11-july-11 15-july-11 Esri UC web San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
05-aug-11 06-aug-11 Health GIS 2011 web New Delhi, India
09-aug-11 11-aug-11 The 2011 International Symposium on Image and Data Fusion web Yunnan, China
15-aug-11 18-aug-11 URISA/NENA Addressing Conference web New Orleans, LA, U.S.A.
15-aug-11 19-aug-11 AGSE 2011 “Geoinformation for a better world” web Nairobi, Kenya
21-aug-11 25-aug-11 SPIE Optics + Photonics 2011 web San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
21-aug-11 27-aug-11 World Water Week “Responding to Global Change – Water in an Urbanising World” web Stockholm, Sweden
23-aug-11 25-aug-11 ISDE7 web Perth, Australia
29-aug-11 31-aug-11 ISPRS Laser Scanning 2011 Workshop web Calgary, Canada
05-sep-11 07-sep-11 SoC2011: Society of Cartographers’ 47th Annual Summer School web Plymouth, U.K.
05-sep-11 08-sep-11 “CoastGis 2011 – Marine and Coastal Spatial Planning” web Oostende, Belgium
05-sep-11 09-sep-11 IAMG 2011 (Mathematical Geosciences at the Crossroads of theory and practice) web Salzburg, Austria
07-sep-11 09-sep-11 BioMarine Business Convention web Nantes & Saint-Nazaire, France
12-sep-11 14-sep-11 GIS in Public Transportation Conference web St. Petersburg, FL, U.S.A.
12-sep-11 16-sep-11 FOSS4G 2011 web Denver, CO, U.S.A.
13-sep-11 15-sep-11 Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society Annual Conference, 2011 web Bournemouth University, UK
19-sep-11 21-sep-11 International Congress Natural Cataclysms and Global Problems of the Modern Civilization
GEOCATACLYSM-2011
web Istanbul, Turkey
19-sep-11 22-sep-11 11th International Scientific and Technical Conference “From imagery to map: digital photogrammetric technologies” web Tossa de Mar, Spain
21-sep-11 23-sep-11 Space Access International Conference web Paris, France
27-sep-11 29-sep-11 Intergeo 2011 web Nuremberg, Germany
28-sep-11 30-sep-11 UDMS 2011 28th Urban Data Management Symposium web Delft, The Netherlands
05-oct-11 07-oct-11 CEM 2011 web Prague, Czech Republic
11-oct-11 12-oct-11 EMEC Europa web Munich, Germany
12-oct-11 14-oct-11 7th International Symposium on Spatial Data Quality web Coimbra, Portugal
16-oct-11 20-oct-11 SilviLaser 2011 web University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
26-oct-11 28-oct-11 2011 Esri European User Conference EFEMA web Madrid, Spain
01-nov-11 04-nov-11 GIS-Pro 2011: URISA’s 49th Annual Conference for GIS Professionals web Indianapolis, IN, U.S.A.
08-nov-11 09-nov-11 SPAR Europe/Plant-Tech 2011 web The Netherlands
14-nov-11 17-nov-11 ASPRS 2011 Fall Pecora Conference web Herndon, WV, U.S.A
14-nov-11 18-nov-11 UGI 2011 – Regional Geographic Conference web Chile
28-nov-11 02-dec-11 The Earth from space – the most effective solutions web Vatutinki RC, Moscow Region, Russia

Eomag Events Winter 2010-2011.pdf

Event calendar published 17 January 2011

September issue

Arctic Sovereignty, Ecosystem and Resources: PM Announces Support for the Canadian Next Generation RADARSAT Satellites

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced support for the next phase of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, a system of three advanced remote sensing satellites. The RADARSAT Constellation is a fleet of three state-of-the-art remote-sensing satellites, the successors of the RADARSAT-1 and RADARSAT-2 satellites. They will extend the 15-year archive of RADARSAT images, a rich source of geophysical information of Canada and the world. These images are a critical resource of information documenting environmental changes and human habitation and are of key interest to government and university researchers, scientists, and policy makers. Images supplied by the Constellation will also support the sustainable management, development and use of natural resources, enhance weather monitoring, support the enforcement of fisheries and environmental regulations, secure the safety of navigation in our coastal waters and provide support for disaster management, humanitarian and relief efforts. On August 25, For more information, please visit

International Assistance: Canada’s response to the floods in Pakistan with RADARSAT-2

Heavy monsoon rains, which began on July 21, 2010, affected many regions of Pakistan causing significant flooding and landslides. More than 1,500 people have lost their lives, 4 million are homeless and more than 17 million people have been affected by the floods. Extensive damage to infrastructure and transportation routes has been reported and may hamper the provision of essential services. The Government of Canada will provide up to $33 million to respond to the most urgent needs of flood-affected populations in Pakistan. Canada is monitoring the situation very closely and working with local authorities. RADARSAT-2 images of affected regions were acquired. To view example of flood products derived from RADARSAT imagery to better manage the event, please visit

visit

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Canadian Earth Observation Technology: SMOS satellite Used For Tracking The Pakistan Floods

The SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) satellite, which was launched on 2 November 2009, has been used for monitoring the heavy monsoon rains which hit Pakistan at the end of July. The unique instrument on board of SMOS (an 8m-wide interferometric radiometer) has studied the water content in the soils of the affected area. The acquired data has been processed to make a series of maps showing how the Earth became saturated as a result of the rains. Radar data, in particular, is used to identify the presence and extent of floodwater in cases of floods. In the case of the Pakistan floods, the SMOS team has been particularly encouraged to have got good results out of a mountainous area, a type of terrain from which it is difficult to retrieve soil moisture values from space. Canada is a cooperating member of ESA and contributed to the development of SMOS. Array Systems Computing Inc. (Toronto, Canada) in collaboration with the Expert Support Labs (ESL), ESA and CSA, has successfully developed the SMOS Level 2 Soil Moisture processor. To learn more and to view SMOS soil moisture products of Pakistan, please visit the BBC web site

To learn more about the Canadian Space Agency Government Related Initiatives Program (GRIP) SMOS activities, visit

Arctic Monitoring: Greenland Glacier Gives Birth to Giant Iceberg

Envisat has been observing a rare event in the Arctic since early August – a giant iceberg breaking off the Petermann glacier in North-West Greenland. The Petermann glacier is one of the largest glaciers connecting the Greenland inland ice sheet with the Arctic Ocean. Upon reaching the sea, a number of these large outlet glaciers extend into the water with a floating ‘ice tongue’. An animation was created by combining three Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) acquisitions (31 July, 4 August and 7 August 2010) taken over the same area. The breaking of the glacier tongue and the movement of the iceberg can be clearly seen in this sequence. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) contributed to the development of Envisat. To view the animation, please visit

Earth’s Climate and Ice Thickness: Scientists Receive First CryoSat-2 Data

A better understanding of how Earth’s ice fields are changing has come another step closer as the first data from the new CryoSat-2 ice mission are released to selected scientists around the world for fine-tuning. This release, which comes just three months after CryoSat-2 was launched, is the first milestone in the scientific exploitation of the mission’s data. These data are essential for determining tiny variations in the thickness of ice floating in the polar oceans and in the large ice sheets that blanket the Arctic and Antarctica. Around 150 scientists from about 40 research institutes now have access to the data. As part of the calibration and validation procedure, it is their job to help ensure these measurements meet the mission’s exacting standards before the data are released to the wider scientific community later this year. For more information, please visit

To learn more on the Canadian participation to CryoSat-2, please visit the GRIP web page

3rd RADARSAT-2 Workshop: On-line Registration Now Available

The third RADARSAT-2 Workshop, will take place at the Canadian Space Agency, St-Hubert, Quebec, Sept 27 – Oct 1 2010. The main objective of the Workshop is to inform all potential users of the utilizations of RADARSAT-2 data from an operational, commercial and R&D perspectives. The on-line registration and the final program are available on the webpage

Seats are limited, please register now if you want to attend. For more information, please contact Daniel De Lisle (SymposiumRadarsat2@asc-csa.gc.ca).

Latest findings on Earth’s environment using Earth Observation satellites: Revisit the Living Planet Symposium

Nearly 1200 scientific researchers and operational users attended ESA’s Living Planet Symposium in Bergen, Norway, from 28 June – 2 July 2010, to present their latest findings on Earth’s environment and climate using data from Earth Observation satellites. Selected highlights from the symposium were streamed live on the web and are now available for replay (i.e. Data policies, GMES session, Sentinels session, oil spills session, etc.): website

Air Quality: Russian Forest Fires Smoke Plumes Tracked With Canadian Earth Observation Technology

Central Russia and the Moscow region experienced their hottest July in history, with record temperatures reaching over 35ºC posing a high fire risk. Several large smoke plumes originating from burning peat fields and forest fires are visible in this Envisat image covering the area east of Moscow. The smoke plumes stretched over several hundred kilometres and, combined with the normal air pollution in the city, caused pollution levels ten times the normal levels for the capital. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) contributed to the development of Envisat. During the development of Envisat, ABB Bomem of Quebec City (Quebec, Canada), developed software to allow the selection and generation of the MERIS instrument products. To view the MERIS image acquired on July 29 2010 at a resolution of 300 meters, please visit

Contributing to Global Security: South China benefits From Canadian Earth Observation technology During Floods

A severe flood affected Southern China on July 19. More than 52.000 people and 72 counties have been affected by the heavy rains in Jiunjian and more than 40 000 people were relocated. RADARSAT images of affected regions were acquired before and after the event to better manage the event. The products were sent to the China National Committee for Disaster Reduction. To learn more or to view the products, please visit

disastercahrter

A new and interesting geospatial book titled “Why ‘Where’ Matters: Understanding and Profiting from GPS, GIS and Remote Sensing” has been published.

The tag line is “Practical Advice for Individuals, Communities, Companies and Countries.” No other book or publication in our field brings together the technology, its history, applications, and associated policy that demonstrates the importance of geospatial as well as this one does. It is written to be highly readable and it has the ringing endorsement of a highly respected high level politician as well as one of the leading thinkers and academics in the geospatial field.

What some leaders and experts are saying about this book:

“This book is both a technology primer and a fascinating source of analysis of advanced applications of geo-information. It should be read by anyone who wants or needs to understand the sweeping implications for individuals, governments, and business of the modern use of geographically based information.” John Manley, P.C., O.C., President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada

“A timely and important contribution to the geomatics literature by two experienced and well respected professionals. The book provides a comprehensive overview of current geospatial technologies, data sources and applications; and effectively addresses a number of important policy issues. It is highly recommended as an introductory text for both policy makers and professionals seeking further insight into the opportunities afforded by the intelligent application of geomatics technologies.” John McLaughlin, Professor and President Emeritus, University of New Brunswick

See the Book! Over 25 pages of the pre-publication version of the book are on display on the web site: www.geoeconomy.com

Focus on the benefits of an ‘open-standards approach’. Promoting geo capability across the security sector utilising ERDAS

SymetriGEO Services, part of Astrium Services’ GEO-Information division, is supporting the Geospatial and Situational Awareness Demonstration, which is part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) sponsored Common Geospatial Tool Set (CGTS) research project.

The objective of CGTS, which is being delivered by the Lockheed Martin (UK) led Team SPARTA, is to de-risk future geospatial capability procurement options and to support the delivery of a coherent geospatial capability across the UK MOD.

Earlier this year SymetriGEO was involved in the delivery of a demonstration highlighting “the art of the possible” in 2012, based on a Homeland Security scenario and focusing on the operational benefits of an open-standards based approach.

Phil Cooper, SymetriGEO’s business manager commented:“we are delighted to see ERDAS products, and especially ERDAS APOLLO, utilised within a fully collaborative environment and we are fully committed to help ensure the success of the CGTS capability demonstration.”

John Tate from Lockheed Martin noted: “the support received from SymetriGEO has assisted in the illustration of the delivery of an open-standards based geo capability across the security sector and UK MOD.”

The third and final demonstration will take place at Lockheed Martin (UK)‘s Swift facility (Farnborough) until the 15th October, and will focus on interoperability and include geospatial capability investigations, such as cross-country movement, cultural geography and uncertainty.

Taking full advantage of the fully-integrated combined resources and skills of its Spot Image and Infoterra subsidiaries, the GEO-Information division of Astrium Services has become a recognised world leader in the geo-information market by offering decision-makers sustainable one-stop-shop solutions to increase security, protect the environment, and better manage natural resources. It has exclusive access to SPOT and TerraSAR-X satellite data, while also calling on a full gamut of space data sources and airborne acquisition capabilities, enabling it to offer an unrivalled combination of Earth observation products and services. Its portfolio spans the entire geo-information value chain.

By building on the synergy of Astrium Services, the GEO-Information division can also develop innovative solutions combining Earth observation, navigation and communication applications at competitive prices.

About Astrium

Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and services. In 2009, Astrium had a turnover of 4.8 billion euros and more than 15,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Its three main areas of activity are Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure, Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment, and Astrium Services for comprehensive value-added end-to-end solutions of secure and commercial satcoms and networks, high security satellite communications equipment, geo-information fully integrated one-stop-shop offerings, and navigation services.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2009, EADS generated revenues of 42.8 billion euros and employed a workforce of more than 119,000.

www.astrium.eads.net
www.infoterra.co.uk

For further press information, please contact:
Cheryl Billson, PR Infoterra – 07791 720460
cheryl.billson@commacomms.com

The US Federal Geographic Data Committee (http://www.fgdc.gov ) (FGDC) Steering Committee has officially endorsed a group of OGC standards along with other standards developed externally to FGDC.

These standards play an important role in enabling interoperability as part of the Geospatial Platform for GeoOneStop, place-based initiatives, and other potential future programs of the FGDC.

The Steering Committee endorsed standards (http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/fgdc-endorsed-external-standards/index_html) from the OGC, ISO TC211 and ANSI (INCITS L1) standards development organizations.

OGC’s interface and encoding standards are an essential part of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. They play a key role in providing technical interoperability among geospatial systems used at all levels of government,” said Ivan DeLoatch, Executive Director of the FGDC. “We encourage government agencies to include these standards, as well as FGDC’s data standards, in the language of software and data procurement documents.”

The FGDC Standards Working Group will revisit the list every year as part of its standards life-cycle management activities.

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is an interagency committee that promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis. This nationwide data publishing effort is known as the National Spatial Data Infrastructure [http://www.fgdc.gov/nsdi/nsdi.html] (NSDI). The NSDI is a physical, organizational, and virtual network designed to enable the development and sharing of this nation’s digital geographic information resources. FGDC activities are administered through the FGDC Secretariat, hosted by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The OGC is an international consortium of more than 395 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OGC Standards support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/contact.

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