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In the next issue of EOMAG, EARSC had the opportunity to discuss with Mr. Haverkamp from Munich RE some relevant questions for the Insurance sector and its possible partnership with Geo-information service providers.


UNDERSTANDING THE SECTOR

From the point of view of geo-information, how can EO service industry better understand the Insurance sector (business structure, strategy, potential growth technologies and prospects)?

The insurance sector is dynamic and has introduced a great variety of new insurance products in recent decades. Each line of business is very specific in terms of technical requirements. Therefore it would be interesting for the EO industry to gain a deeper insight into those lines using geo-related information and identify common business opportunities. Due to risk capital requirements, the insurance industry is always interested in maximum precision in risk evaluation. If this is not possible, the insurance industry may be prevented from servicing certain lines of business or regions. The EO service industry has the potential to improve risk evaluation or even make it possible in the first place.

As your role within your company, what challenges have you faced in this position and what in your background prepared you to meet the challenges of partnership within geo-information sector?

There are very well-informed experts in the geo-information sector and in the insurance industry. However, the two worlds are completely different, so it is not unlikely that people will be talking at cross purposes. As I also have some experience in programming GIS-based modelling software, it is an interesting challenge to interface the geo-information sector with the insurance industry’s needs.

Briefly, what the insurance sector needs and better understand how it uses or wants to use geo-information, such that we can align our services appropriately

Insurance products with geo-information components require a reliable input data supply. Clearly, the supply of geo-information has been substantially improved during the last few years. The crucial thing is that what the insurance industry needs is not raw data but information and intelligence. In the process of comprehensive risk evaluation, certain geo-related parameter values can have a huge impact on the overall analysis result. The insurance industry is striving to translate these parameters into risk information, such as premium rates or amount of losses. Technically, this translation is usually processed by very specific GIS-based models. In summary, the value of geo-information for the insurance sector will substantially increase when appropriate model applications can be provided along with spatial input data.

COOPERATION & PARTNERSHIP WITH EO INDUSTRY

In your opinion…

Is there a role for geo-information community inside insurance sector? Could both sectors work together? What type of dialogue mechanism already exists or could take place with the EO service industry? What is your opinion in future alliances/collaborations with industry players?

Yes, there are some geo-information communities inside the insurance sector. Insurance and reinsurance companies that are substantially involved in geo-related insurance products are staffed with experts in geo-information technology. These experts sometimes team up for joint projects with insurance-specific objectives. Munich RE also offers advanced training courses on geo insurance applications for our clients.

Where is your company announcing opportunities for the EO service industry and what can you advice to our members who like to start business with you? Would there be a role for EARSC to help finding potential contractors for doing business?

It is still difficult for both parties to identify the appropriate business partners. Usually we are not interested in off-the-shelf products and thus have to do some research about a companies’ capabilities and interests before we enter into a contract. It would be a great step forward if EARSC could provide a catalogue of service providers, including a summary of their expertise in the insurance sector. For example, Munich Re is looking for a company with additional dedicated yield modelling and system development capabilities for our agricultural insurance division .

Are there new upcoming opportunities from Climate Change? Increasing demand due to increasing awareness of the citizens? Increasing environmental risks? New opportunities – e.g. transportation along the North Eastern Passage?

It is foreseeable that climate change and increasing environmental risks will give rise to new insurance products in many markets. In the last few decades, the insurance sector has already had to cope with the effects of climate change. For example, in some agricultural production areas, typical precipitation and temperature patterns have changed. This has a substantial impact on crop production. Consequently the extent of insurance coverage and rates have to be adjusted. Terms and conditions of these insurance products are directly related to the variability of all influencing production factors like precipitation, temperature, soil, management, etc. Thus the technical analysis requires plenty of geo-information data on a high temporal and spatial resolution scale. It is very likely that we will need further specific tools for environmental risk evaluation.

SERVICES

Innovation within the insurance sector is usually important, can we (EO service industry and oil and gas) do take actions to bring the research and industry in both sectors together? Do you co-operate with industry to improve and innovate in terms of your products?

The insurance sector has two major objectives: first, increased efficiency of existing processes and, second, development of new insurance markets. Especially the latter is a concrete example of where there can be cooperation. Munich RE’s role is to establish a sustainable insurance system, which would pave the way for the EO industry to develop appropriate applications. We also need to define the insurance-related parts of the concept. In order to complete the cooperation, the EO service industry needs to contribute its technical expertise. Both industry sectors would benefit. The return for the EO sector is generated from selling applications and EO information periodically, whereas our income is generated from traditional insurance business. Both sectors need to keep an eye on the economics of their initial investments. The expected return from new business has to be sufficient in relation to development expenses.

FUTURE & SOCIETY

At the end of the interview, we would like to ask you for your overall recommendations on the future development of the geo-information service sector, and would like to ask to give some hopefully positive messages to the members of EARSC

We see a high potential for the geo-information sector to service the insurance industry. The key to success will be the capability to provide services of value for daily insurance business. Therefore it is essential to improve communication. It is still a difficult task to identify EO companies that are in a position to provide the services we need. My view is that companies capable of providing interdisciplinary competence can easily introduce valuable innovations to the insurance sector. Frequency, resolution and coverage of geo information data have been improved, which implies high potential benefits for the EO service industry. There are plenty of unexplored opportunities.

About Mr. Haverkamp
As a senior underwriter, Dr. Haverkamp is responsible for acquiring and developing agricultural business on behalf of Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurance company and leading agricultural reinsurer.
After two years of military service, he began his studies in agriculture and computer sciences in 1991. During this time, he also worked for the United States Department of Agriculture (TX), German Federal Ministry of Agriculture and an insurance company (LVM) in Germany. In 2000, he completed his academic education with a PhD thesis about method development for large-scale hydrologic models. Prior to the start of his reinsurance career in 2002, Dr. Haverkamp worked as a software engineer for Daimler-Benz InterServices (debis).

Eomag!23_Interview with Dr.Stephan Haverkamp, Munich RE.pdf

Monday, 29 November 2010. IET London: Savoy Place

This action packed seminar is your chance to discover what’s happening at the ‘EO Hub’, network with the industry’s leading manufacturers, developers and researchers and meet the spectrum of EO end-users.The event will feature invited world-class experts in EO technologies as well as industry regulators, manufacturers of EO technologies and industry analysts.

Speakers include

•Martin Ditter, Head of the ESA Harwell Centre, ESA
•Dr Barbara Ghinelli, Head of Business Development, CEO Office, Science and Technology Facility Council (STFC)
•Professor Alan O’Neill, Director, National Centre for Earth Observation
•Wing Commander Gordon MacLeod, JARIC
•Dr David Williams, Chief Executive, UK Space Agency
•David Purll, Head of Optical Systems, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL)

Call for Posters – your chance to take part

If you have new research and results within EO technology, share them with the wider community by submitting a poster. We welcome contributions until 29 October.

Registration discounts available for EARSC members! As a supporter of the event, EARSC members are entitled to register at the IET Member rate – saving you £80 per place. 3 for 2 group rates are also available

To join key names in Earth Observation technology, register online at www.theiet.org/eo-satellites or call us on 0845 644 3830 for more information.

More information IET Seminar

Hundreds of geo capability specialists, C4ISR and architect commanders will be gathering at Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) 2011, January 24-27th in London to discuss how GEOINT is affecting and impacting every aspect of the worlds armed forces.

“Embedding geo capabilities into every command and control system will increase the requirement for accurate, fully attributed data as well as up-to-data imagery. Data management will become the key to success and the demand for Geo Technician will increase (and has increased) as systems come on-line. Data available could become the key factor in conducting operations.”

Lt. Col. Michael Cairns, Commanding Officer Mapping & Charting Establishment, Commandant School of Military, National Defence, Canada

Hundreds of geo capability specialists, C4ISR and architect commanders will be gathering at Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) 2011, January 24-27th in London to discuss how GEOINT is affecting and impacting every aspect of the worlds armed forces. Geo capabilities are quickly becoming part of every day operations in all sections of a defence organisation. Armies are moving from having a small team of geo specialists to having every soldier, every staff officer and every civilian in the HQ use geo capabilities as a basis for decision-making.

“ It is important to understand that, for us, it’s not technology that will make a difference now. It’s how we use the technology within defence. It’s how we make sure that we get information to people; it’s how we make sure that all information is specially referenced in some way so we can use it in GIS. A whole range of images and data needs to be referenced in some way to be used effectively.”

Colonel John Kedar, Former Commander, JAGO, UK MOD

The question of effective delivery of imagery and analysis tools to the operator in-theatre remains key to every defence organisation. Every event happens in space and time. Accurate and timely imagery needs to not only arrive at the right destination on time, but to be used in concert with the available analysis and decision-making tools. Dozens of presentations at Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) 2011 will be focusing on the latest use of GIS software, imagery and imagery analysis tools in war, in national security operations and in strategic planning. Although most defence and national security organisations are drowning in too much available imagery, it is the photographs, the images and the satellite views, that will give them the all important perspective and data to help make those life-death decisions.

As GEOINT becomes the starting point and the operating basis of every battle, command and control is quickly embracing the latest geo strategies. Air Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Chief of Joint Operations at the UK MOD will be opening the conference to speak about his vision for geo capabilities in modern warfare, in command and control and in-theatre. Air Marshal Peach is responsible for the planning and execution of all UK military operations. He will be giving insight into the strategic role of geo capabilities in defence intelligence collection and analysis, as well as showing examples of effective use of GEOINT.

The morning opening session of Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) 2011 will feature a guest keynote address from Vanessa Lawrence, Director General and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey. Given the key role Ordnance Survey in the London 2012 Olympic Games, Vanessa Lawrence is an ideal source of information, strategies, plans and new ideas for using geographic information systems and geospatial intelligence in the national security operations in the UK.

One of the biggest aspects of this year’s Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) 2011 conference is human terrain analysis. Knowing everything about the landscape is vital. Knowing everything about the people who live in the landscape turns out to be even more important. Winning battles doesn’t win wars any more. The enemy has become very sophisticated and is probably also using the latest and most sophisticated war equipment, tools and data. The Allied Forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and many other in-theatre operations are working hard on winning the hearts and minds of the locals, as that seems to be the most effective and pain-free way of winning a war these days. The HTA focus day on January 27th will share the latest experiences, strategies and success stories of using the “people knowledge” in-theatre. Senior commanders and strategists from UK, US and other countries will debate the best ways of collecting, managing, analysing and disseminating the human terrain data.

The Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) 2011 team has recently interviewed a number of senior military staff to find out what they see as most important and challenging in the GEOINT community. Below are some of the answers to just one question.

To find out more and to read full interviews visit the DGI 2011 website: www.defencegeospatial.com

QUESTION:
If you had a magic wand and could change only one thing in the way GEOINT world operates, what would you do?

ANSWERS:

Michael W. Powers, Technical Director, Geospatial Research and Engineering, US ARMY

“I would place more emphasis on the expanded collection of cartographic features, physical and human environments and the methods to ensure topologically “clean” data.”

Steve Pyatt, Director, GEOINT Policy and Plans, New Zealand MoD

“Multi-level security and connectivity i.e. the ability to have a master geodatabase which holds data at the lowest appropriate classification level and then serve data and products upwards into the higher domains to save replicating and even re-creating everything for each level.”

Col. (ret) Neil Thompson, Managing Director, WC Group, Canada

“The Geospatial Intelligence community is slowly moving towards a more “joined up” Geospatial Intelligence enterprise approach. If we can accelerate the pace of using all types of imagery and data (space based, all types of air breathing, handheld, crowd sourcing and other open source Geospatial Intelligence) we can provide world class geospatial intelligence products to the entire customer base. By leveraging the incredible capabilities of both the geospatial and imagery analysts, we can enable them to work more effectively in this new “dynamic geospatial intelligence environment”. The incredible advancement in software applications coupled with the increased demand for rapid generation of geospatial products have allowed or even pushed us to move toward a dynamic geospatial intelligence enterprise solution.”

Lt. Col. Michael Cairns, Commanding Officer Mapping & Charting Establishment, Commandant School of Military, National Defence, Canada

“I would increase bandwidth and storage capacity so that data could be seamlessly shared and distributed.”

Col Mark Burrows, Head of JAGO, UK MOD

“Being somewhat greedy I would be after 2 changes: – The first would be to improve interoperability, storage and access and this includes the management of data – and more human beings are needed for this. – Second, based on COIN and current ‘ops amongst the people, I would like to resource the lowest Tactical level (companies and platoons) with GIS sensors, so as to empower BG Comds & maximise ground truth.This would support low level tactical decision making whilst giving a recognised picture up the chain, thus garnering support as required (this assuming the networked ability to share Information with higher HQs/neighbouring units formations). It is at the Lowest Tactical level that people are influenced for the good or the bad of the overall campaign. Part of our problem is that we have been slow to acknowledge AFG is a COIN campaign and our resourcing is still stuck in a conventional mindset with control of assets and decision action cycle set too high.”

Captain Kjetil Utne, Director, Norwegian Military Geographic Service

“A common service oriented network solution, where information and services might be published and made available across all domains, would certainly be appreciated. However, there are many factors, related to releasability, intellectual property rights, costs etc. that the wand then will have to cut through…”

Colonel John Fitzgerald, Senior Staff Officer Intelligence Policy, (Geospatial/ Imagery/ JISR), International Military Staff, HQ NATO

“Whilst continuing to demand excellence in the geospatial and imagery sciences, and providing robust services for C2 and other functions, I would focus on requirements, processes and support to customers, especially through better engaging intelligence collection management.”

Lt. Col. Babis Paraschou, Chief Geospatial Officer, European Union Force

“I would like to change the way that high-rank military decision makers think of geoint; Geoint products need special equipment and special trained people. Sometimes the answer to a simple question of “what will happen if we open or destroy a port?” needs a very specialised person, often more than a usual well-trained Geoint person. I ‘d like every brigadier general and above to be trained by magic in the complex theory of Geoint, intelligence and technical-scientific work.”

Gp Capt Harry Kemsley RAF, Dep Hd DPD, Cap Sponsor ISTAR, UK MOD

“Adherence to agreed standards.”

Brig. General (ret) Amnon Sofrin, Head of The Intelligence Directorate, Israeli Intelligence Service (ISIS)

“If I could change one thing, I would like to make it possible that the relevant Geo – Information could be given to the Junior Commanders in the battlefield (Platoon Leaders) , in order to reduce the ambiguity and the uncertainty in this Area of Operations.”

Brig. Gen. Schmidt-Bleker, Director, Bundeswehr Geoinformation Office (BGIO), Germany

“I wish we had a much broader approach throughout NATO than just the stove-piped support to one customer such as the intelligence community.”

For more information:
Visit www.DefenceGeospatial.com
Email dgi@wbr.co.uk
Call +44 (0) 207 368 9465
To find out more and to read full interviews visit the DGI 2011 website: www.defencegeospatial.com

I recently attended the workshop organised by ESRIN focused on EO services and the oil & gas industry. Han Wensink (EARSC Chairman) was a member of the organizing committee and the 2 day meeting involved about 100 experts coming from the two industries. Credit and thanks to ESA and Steve Coulson and his team for taking this initiative which led to many very interesting discussions.

Satellite data has been used in EO services for the oil & gas industry for many years. Examples include exploration both on land and at sea, monitoring of sea state conditions for off-shore installations during both design and operations phases, monitoring of sea ice and icebergs for rig protection and of course most topically, monitoring of oil spills. In respect of the latter we heard a fascinating account of the operations conducted in the gulf to provide daily surveillance of the oil leaking from the Macondo well using up to 47 aircraft and several satellites. It was organised almost like a military operation.

Despite this long history of working together both oil and EO services industries experts were calling for a closer dialogue; oil industry was saying “tell us what you can do”, and the EO service providers were saying “tell us what you need”. And this was between two sectors which have already experience of working together.

I was also a few days later at the annual Security Research Conference. This event is organised in the autumn by the current EU presidency – so in this case it was held in Ostend in Belgium. It is the 5th such event and is generally focused on the activities surrounding the European Security Research programme (ESRP) funded under the EU Framework Programme 7.

Here, the sectors representing supply and users are far less familiar with each other and there are similar calls to understand better what each expects/needs/wants. Whilst users are often included in the teams for research projects as advisors, or sounding boards, this is not sufficient to develop sustainable products adapted to a European market. The lack of common requirements amongst the large number of users means that products become bespoke and not very competitive. A common theme is the lack of resources within users’ organizations to look ahead at the products that could help in their jobs.

In both cases one solution to me seems to be somewhat similar. That is to create fora whereby supply and demand can meet in a neutral arena. In so doing we can learn each others language and develop a far better mutual understanding in a non-competitive environment. At the same time participation of many players also avoids a narrow view and possibly restrictive solutions.

EARSC has a strong role to play in this respect as do other umbrella bodies on both sides of the business and hopefully, in the months to come, we can find ways to offer members the possibility to engage with one or more user communities.


Geoff Sawyer
EARSC Director

Eomag_Editorial, Issue 23_Autumn 2010.pdf.pdf

The British Association of Remote Sensing Companies (BARSC) is a highly proactive organisation that represents the interests of commercial organisations involved in remote sensing. Formed in 1985, BARSC has an impressive track record of serving the interests of major companies, small and medium enterprises and independent consultants. The Executive Committee of BARSC works tirelessly to create an informative and valuable calendar of events for the members and these are always well attended.

Once a specialist application, remote sensing technology has grown in use throughout a wide range of industries. This growth means that the presentations, representation and consulting work that BARSC conducts on behalf of its members has become even more important. The Executive Committee of the Association recognised that communication between themselves, members, prospective members and third party remote sensing organisations will be vital if BARSC is to meet the challenges of the coming years.

BARSC has contracted specialist geo-Sales & Marketing agency; Quarry One Eleven to ensure that this crucial communication work is carried out. Quarry One Eleven will be tasked with improving all aspects of marketing communication for BARSC including online, direct and media channels.

Talking about the coming year, Chairman of the British Association of Remote Sensing Companies, David Hodgson said “Communicating the vital role and value of commercial remote sensing and the interests of our members is what BARSC is all about. It is important for us to work with an organisation such as Quarry One Eleven that has a deep understanding of our industry and the opportunities and challenges we face.”

Alistair Maclenan, Managing Director of Quarry One Eleven commented on the partnership; “Quarry One Eleven was (and continues to be) a member of BARSC before we started working for them. I was hugely impressed with what the organisation was doing and really wanted to help where we could. Our role is to be an effective communications link between their members and those who should be members. It is so refreshing to work with an organisation that understands communication is a key component of any successful organisation.”

LizardTech®, a division of Celartem Inc. and a provider of software solutions for managing and distributing geospatial content, announced the integration of its MrSID® Generation 4 Decode SDK (MG4 DSDK) into Overwatch’s LIDAR Analyst® software application.

LIDAR Analyst is produced by Overwatch, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. company, and leading provider of imagery and geospatial solutions to the Department of Defense and Intelligence Communities. LIDAR Analyst is a plug-in for ArcGIS and ERDAS IMAGINE that provides tools for automatically extracting bare earth terrain, 3D buildings, trees/forests, contour lines, and terrain characteristics. In addition, it provides a rich set of data conversion tools, terrain editing tools, and 3D vector editing tools. The software is the premiere 3D feature extraction solution for airborne LiDAR data that supports Homeland Security, Defense and Intelligence, Forestry and other user communities requiring high-resolution terrain information. With the release of version 5.0, LIDAR Analyst customers will have the ability to efficiently process LIDAR data that has been compressed using LizardTech’s LiDAR Compressor™ software.

“The MrSID format is best in class for raster imagery compression and we are quite pleased with LizardTech’s specific innovations in point cloud compression,” said Matt Morris, LIDAR Analyst product manager.

“Our customers within the Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community have frequently requested support for MG4 in LIDAR Analyst,” said Jon Skiffington, LizardTech’s director of marketing. “We’re pleased that this integration will provide them with the ability to efficiently compress their LiDAR files and utilize them in one of their most commonly used applications.”

News from 3 last months

16.09.2010: New MERIS L1 processor and updates for BEAM 4.8.

The MERIS L1 Equalization processor, a new processor for MERIS Level 1 data products, is now available. It performs a radiometric equalization of the MERIS L1b products. It reduces detector-to-detector and camera-to-camera systematic radiometric differences and results into a diminution of the vertical stripping observed on MERIS L1b products.

Additionally, several modules of BEAM have been updated.The changes are listed in the issue summary

16.09.2010: German online magazine Golem.de refers to CalVal Portal

31.07.2010: New BEAM 4.8, GlobToolbox 2.0, SMOS-Box 2.1, CHRIS-Box 1.5.2, and EPR-API 2.2 have been released

In the BEAM 4.8 release we have added a number of new readers to enable BEAM to work with even more remote sensing products. In particular we have added readers for products originating from the SPOT VEGETATION programme, for Landsat TM products in GeoTIFF format, for HDF-EOS gridded products, and a reader for generic NetCDF/CF-products. BEAM 4.8 also allows to export products to the widely used data format NetCDF/CF. As another feature it is now possible to apply “auto-grouping” in the product tree; that is, product nodes whose names start with the same character sequence are automatically put into a common group.

GlobToolbox 2.0 extends the first version of the GlobToolbox by a number of tools tackling the time dimension. First of all, a time series manager allows to define and edit time series. A time series player allows vividly visualising a time series by providing the control elements for navigating through a time series, either manually or automatically. And a time series graph has been developed which may be used to compare values of different measures, such as TSM or SST, for a specified time series. Apart from time series, the GlobToolbox 2.0 additionally allows to export arbitrary global products to the widely used NetCDF/CF-format.

Release 2.1 of the SMOS-Box is a maintenance release. The main new feature is the export of grid points in the Earth Explorer format.

CHRIS-Box 1.5.2 is a release which allows the CHRIS-Box to run properly with BEAM 4.8.

The release 2.2 of the Envisat Reader API now functions correctly on 64-bit architectures.

The respective installers can be downloaded from website.

BMT ARGOSS, a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, has launched a dedicated 24/7, 365 days a year operational, maritime weather forecasting centre which will provide vital support for its customer’s operations such as platform installations and maintenance, near shore cable lay operations, dredging works, ship to ship transfers, ongoing LNG terminal operations and port monitoring.

The services offered by the centre will help to optimise operability and minimise risks due to unexpected and unfavourable weather conditions.

Utilising advanced in-house operational, numerical modelling at global, regional and local scales, together with satellite observations and in-situ real-time measurements, BMT ARGOSS’ forecasting services are tailored to individual client requirements. Backed by extensive IT and data management infrastructure, its model systems are routinely and continuously calibrated and validated against independent observations to ensure optimal performance.

Jean-Paul Lindeboom, Senior Meteorologist and heading the centre at BMT ARGOSS explains: “This centre is an exciting step forward for us to support our clients in their business. Understanding customers’ businesses and needs is a vital ingredient to a successful relationship and we recognise that detailed and accurate forecasts of the environmental conditions are critical to our clients and their operations. Through our expert in-house team who have over 25 years’ experience, we are fully committed to ensuring we help minimise the risks involved, by providing high quality meteorological, wave, current and water level forecasting services.”

A key aspect of the services offered by BMT ARGOSS will be its ability to provide forecasters licenced to work onsite, which will be particularly advantageous for special offshore operations such as derrick replacements and the installation of Wellhead protectors in order to enhance operational efficiency and most importantly, minimise any possible safety risks to employees.

Source

Aratos recent news

14th of September

articipation of Aratos Technologies S.A. on United Nations/Turkey/European Space Agency Workshop on “Space Technology Applications for Socio-Economic Benefits”

Aratos Technologies S.A. participated in the Workshop which took place at Istanbul, from 14 to 17 September 2010. It was a United Nations / Turkey / European Space Agency Workshop on Space Technology Applications for Socio-Economic Benefits hosted by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) in cooperation with International Society For Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (http://www.tubitak.gov.tr/spaceworkshop)

3rd of September

Aratos Technologies S.A. uses satellite data to accurately estimate the extension of the fire of Mesologgi

Aratos Technologies S.A. has created Rapid Damage Assessment for every fire which has taken place in Greece. Our company offers them free of charge in sympathy with the fire-stricken areas.

On August 31st a great fire took place at Agrilia, a village near of Mesologgi. The Technical Department of Aratos Technologies S.A. estimated with great accuracy the extension of the fire and the size of the burnt areas, using satellite data and satellite images.

A depicted a map of the burnt areas coudl be found at Aratos

24th of August

Aratos Technologies S.A. Fire Detection Algorithm™

Aratos Technologies S.A. has recently implemented its own algorithm, Aratos Fire Detection Algorithm™ , to be used in the processes of real time detection of fires.

The algorithm was designed by taking under consideration the company’s technical knowledge and experience in the field of fire detections and uses real time satellite data which are being combined with regard to the environmental factors contributing to the cause, expansion and/or maintenance of a fire.

The results acquired from the algorithm’s performance were highly successful and are going to be united with the detection systems that the company already runs in its products for monitoring and protecting private and public areas, Aratos Disaster ControlΤΜ and European Fire Guard Alarm SystemΤΜ.

23rd of August

Fires hit Greece for another summer

For another summer continuous fires occur in Greece, causing catastrophic damage to agricultural, forest and residential areas. Some examples are the fires at Samos, Kithira and East Attica.

In such cases, the earlier the fire is detected, the better it is. The Crisis Management System developed by Aratos Technologies S.A., Aratos Disaster Control, detected the majority of the fires which occurred this summer in Greece and sent early warnings.

Moreover, our company continues to send “Rapid Damage Assessment” for every detected fire, free of charge, in sympathy with the fire-stricken areas.

19th of July

Aratos Technologies S.A. supports municipalities against fires

Aratos Technologies S.A. continues to support the greek municipalities against fires, as it did last year. Aratos Disaster Control continues to detect possible fires and send warnings in order to great disasters be avoided. Moreover, Rapid Damage Assessment for each fire is sent, for free, with valuable information for the burnt area.

An example is depicted in Aratos website

AnsuR is particularly proud of leading an international project for creating a sustainable solutions for image communcations integrated with satellite earth observation for emergency and disaster management.

The major users group represented in this project is the United Nations for global humanitarian operations, EU Civil Protection and Govt of Amazonas for Environmental disaster management. The project is co-funded by the partners themselves and the EU under the FP7 program.