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EARSC is a non-profit-making organisation created in 1989. The mission of EARSC is to foster the development of European Geo-Information Service Industry. Our main objective is to stimulate a sustainable market for geo-information services using EO data, which is openly accessible to all members.

We all know quite well that it took many more years for the market itself to mature pushing many to forget some of their illusions on the way. However realizing that maturity and market expansion could only happen little by little in this complex domain EARSC has been sticking to its goal of helping develop the European remote sensing industry, reaching today 80 members, and being a recognized association worldwide. All the major European industrial actors of remote sensing are EARSC members and are involved in numerous ways to foster the development of the domain together with European institutions. Lately the EARSC strategy has evolved one step further to account for the geospatial information revolution of the 21st century.

EARSC is representing the European providers of geo-information services in its broadest sense creating a network between industry, decision makers and users. It is a crucial stage of maturing of the sector as nowadays Earth observation is used more frequently by society and adds positive value to our daily lives.

At the same time, an active participation from all of our members is the best guarantee that EARSC will play an important role on the European Earth observation and geo-information arena. For our members, the annual membership dues are a cost-effective way to stay informed, promote their company, political and institutional representation, networking opportunities with industry players and help to support the future of geo-information Industry: “industry stakeholders together could transform activities into meaningful action on behalf of our sector”.

Internally EARSC informs and involves its members though the website, newsletter, directorate and the organization of more numerous events. This will allow us to be more present on the European and International scene and to contribute more efficiently to the implementation of European programmes.

To get more information on EARSC membership, please contact us at

EARSC membership

EARSC membership represents the entire spectrum of the Earth Observation industry including all sector chain: providers, stakeholders and users. Membership of EARSC is currently 500 Euros per annum. For our members, the annual membership dues are a cost-effective way to stay informed, promote their company, political and institutional representation, networking opportunities with industry players and help support the future of Earth Observation. Industry together could transform activities into meaningful action on behalf of our sector

Full Members
Any commercial European company or partnership offering and undertaking consulting and contracting services or supplying equipment in the field of remote sensing which is based in a European Country which contributes to the European Space Agency or which is a member of the European Community shall be eligible for membership.

Observer Members
Companies from countries associated to European programs but not eligible for full membership. Any active representative organization, institution or association party in the field of Earth observation and not engaged in commercial or profit-making activities such as Public/Governmental Bodies, International Organisation, International Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Private Non Profit Organisation/Foundation, Network/Association/Aggregation of Intermediaries(profit or non profit), Business Association, Universities, other?) with interest in Earth Observation.

(Source EARSC)

In the next issue of EOMAG, EARSC we had the opportunity to feature an interview with Mr GAZTELU Deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice President Verheugen responsible for EC Enterprise and Industry asking some questions relevant for the European Earth Observation programme and its impacts to the geo-information service provider sector.


EUROPEAN EARTH OBSERVATION PROGRAMME (GMES)

How would you explain in a few words the benefits of the GMES programme for the citizen? Could you explain the benefits of GMES on the political, economic, social and scientific levels?

The independent data and information that GMES provides have a strategic value for EU policies and priorities and strengthens EU leadership in climate change adaptation and mitigation. Economic benefits in a variety of fields will result from improved policy-making, better-informed planning and decision-making, and improved monitoring of implementation and compliance. Just to mention two concrete examples: GMES has already since several years been delivering air pollution forecasts which are particularly useful for people with asthma, and supported emergency management, e.g. during the fires around Genova in September and the flood in Ireland end of November last year. GMES will also enable innovation and growth in the downstream sector and thereby strengthen Europe’s services market and knowledge economy. Especially SMEs, which form the backbone of the Earth observation industry in Europe, will benefit from the certainty of future data continuity without which they cannot afford to invest in service development and infrastructure. The reduced data costs will enable them to provide services at more competitive prices, while more frequent observations and improved data quality will increase the value of existing services and facilitate the development of new ones. This, in turn, will significantly contribute to job creation in a high-tech sector of strategic importance. Additionally, the free and open availability of Sentinel data could be instrumental in reducing the disparities between Member States, since economically weaker MS will be able to reap the same economic benefits resulting from increased data availability as those owning EO space infrastructure. In particular, downstream services market development in countries with a weaker industrial base will most likely accelerate with the full and open access to Sentinel data. European scientists, not only remote sensing experts but from a number of scientific communities, will benefit from improved access to a larger amount of better-quality data. The value of long-term continuity of data series is here obvious, in particular for climate change science.

Governance (or ownership) was identified as a key challenge for GMES. Concerning the GMES Space Infrastructure, the situation seems to be clear at least at a first glance (ESA’s responsibility during an interim phase), governance issues are much more complicated and diverse in the service sector. What is your idea for the GMES governance scheme?

As programme manager, the Commission ensures the overall coordination of the EU Earth Observation programme (GMES), and will make sure that the programme is driven by user needs. Therefore, a strong coordination will be ensured with various DG’s within the Commission. At the same time, the Commission relies on existing technical expertise in Europe, including ESA, EUMETSAT and Member States for the Space Component. ESA is responsible for the overall coordination of the GMES Space Component, and is also development and procurement agent on behalf of the EU. ESA (ad interim) and EUMETSAT ensure, on behalf of the EU, the operations of the Sentinels. For the in-situ component the EEA is expected to play an important role, in coordination with the Commission, in relation to the supervision of some services and coordination with user communities under the SEIS umbrella. Some specific coordination activities could be delegated to other existing relevant coordination bodies. For the services different tailored approaches will be applied. To ensure the provision of operational marine and atmosphere services the Commission suggests establishing a network of technical centres at EU level. The European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) could be given an important coordination role. Land, emergency and security services should be provided in a decentralised way. Consequently a shared methodology will be needed so that services can be integrated and aggregated at European level following the successful agriculture model. The Commission is ready to contribute to the development of a common methodology for service delivery and aggregation of geo-information products. In the context of the consolidation of crisis management activities, the Emergency Service will be made available to various emergency response actors at EU and Member States levels, including through the civil protection response instrument, humanitarian aid interventions and crisis management operations.

COOPERATION & PARTNERSHIP WITH EO INDUSTRY

A recent study from Euroconsult states: “to compete against free and low-cost government data solutions, commercial operators must develop and expand their service offerings by providing complete geoinformation solutions, a move which will lead to increased pressure on the already-fragmented value-added services industry”. What is your opinion on this analysis?

I think we will on one hand see “integrated” companies possessing the entire value-adding chain from sales of raw data to delivering user-tailored services with a large amount of value-adding. On the other hand, I think we will see the development of SMEs specialising in a thematic field, with a better knowledge of a particular market and its needs. They will be able to adopt a completely user-driven approach without any push to adopt a certain technology or data. The improved availability of free or low-cost data will further improve their competitiveness SMEs with a prominent remote sensing expertise will have to find ways of collaborating or joining with information service providers specialising in a certain market.

FUNDING

What in your opinion is a suitable budget envelope for the years to come to launch the operationality for GMES? How do you see the future financing steps for the GMES?

Based on an ESA technical analysis, the overall cost of the Space Component would represent a total investment of €4 Billion for the period 2014/2020, meaning an estimated annual average of € 430 Million in operation costs and €170 Million for R&D from the EU and ESA. The European Environment Agency (EEA) will perform an analysis of in-situ costs in the context of a Specific support action funded through FP7; this will be the main input for estimating costs of the in-situ component of GMES. The cost of the service component is being estimated on the basis of technical inputs by the FP7 Core service projects validated by the Implementation Group experts. It is on this basis, and after an ex-ante budgetary evaluation, that the EU contribution will be assessed in the context of the preparation of the next multiannual financial framework.

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.

President Barroso announced he intends to launch a major initiative to help the EU anticipate the changes that need to be made so that we can cope with climate change. This work will involve marshalling all the necessary scientific and economic data that exists to help the EU to adapt its policies to the challenge of climate change. I’m convinced that GMES, as a knowledge-based system, should be at the heart of this vision. For President Barroso, GMES will be amongst the priorities actions, as stated in his mission letter for Mr Tajani, the future Commissioner in charge of the Industry and Entrepreneurship portfolio:

The Lisbon Treaty has given the Commission more competences vis-à-vis space policy. This is a long term agenda for which I would ask you to bring GMES to maturity, outsourcing gradually the operational elements to the European Space Agency.
The geo-information service sector should take the opportunity of this high priority given to GMES and the resulting improved long-term availability of data and information, and adapt as needed to the expected boost in the market. GMES remains situated inside the Directorate General in charge of industry and entrepreneurship. Other priority actions of this DG, such as the fostering of the development of SMEs in Europe and the development of an integrated industrial policy taking into account input from stakeholders, European industry and SMEs will also be of direct relevance for GMES.

Eomag!20_Interview with Francisco Gastelu, Deputy Head of cabinet of Vice President Verheugen.pdf

The EARSC BoD is set to re-launch the process to recruit a Secretary General as was announced at the AGM in June 2009. The results of the Eovox 1 study and the first findings in Eovox 2 will inform the board in its quest to find the right person for the association. Members and stakeholders are invited to promote any candidates of whom they may be aware.


The European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC), based in Brussels, is inviting applications for the position of Secretary General.

Overall, the Secretary-General will have the goal to promote awareness of the EO sector (including geo-information) and create/enable new business opportunities in particular with European and International public sector organisations. Their main Responsibilities will be to:

Responsibilities:
• Promote EARSC activities and image
• Raise awareness of EARSC, its members and the sector
• Represent EARSC towards European, National and International Institutions

Main tasks:
• Develop and maintain contacts with decision takers as well as those responsible for implementing the actions of public authorities.
• Drive EARSC events, workshops, etc.
• Run the activities of the Association including Working Groups
• Federate views amongst EARSC members and establishing commonly agreed positions.
• Write position papers on behalf of the Association

Administration:
• Organise meetings and keep official filing of Minutes of Meeting and other official documents; i.e. BoD records.
• Ensure EARSC compliance with legal obligations (AGM, VAT, accounting, etc.)

Preferably based in, or within easy reach of, Brussels, he or she will report to the EARSC Board of Directors (BoD).

Competencies and Skills:
• Established network in GMES and EO institutional community
• Capable of working independently to meet the organization objectives
• Excellent communications skills, both written and oral, in English. Any other European language is a plus.
• The applicant must have more than ten years experience in the remote sensing business as well as in Earth Observation international programs. Moreover a very good knowledge of the European Union and European Space Agency policies and programs is desired.

Deadline for expression of interest: April 30th 2010

Part time position

Applications including (Letter of Interest and candidate CV. Short list of referees is welcome) must be sent to:
Email Ref: [EARSC SG 2010]
Att. Mrs Mónica Miguel-Lago
EARSC Executive Secretary
Email: secretariat_at_earsc.org

Aratos Technologies S.A. was founded in 1995 is one of the first European downstream value-added services company in the space sector.

The company has more than 10 years of research in the field of Environmental Protection, Land Use and Urban Planning, Disaster Management, Agricultural sector monitoring and Security using space and satellite technologies. During the last five years Aratos Technologies S.A. has developed some innovator systems and services to be able to provide satellite Earth Observation data.

Earth Observation

Satellites are capable of obtaining global spatial coverage and provide unique measurements of solar output, the Earth’s radiation budget, vegetation cover, oceans biomass productivity, atmospheric zone, greenhouse gas distributions, sea level, ocean surface conditions. Earth Observation satellite applications are very useful in the company because include: hazard monitoring and disaster assessment and they have proven their abilities to accurately monitor. Moreover Earth Observation satellites remain in place for long periods of time and they can highlight environmental changes occurring gradually. All these applications are used by the systems of Aratos Technologies S.A to deliver information about extreme events such as floods and droughts, the ozone hole, biological activity, coastal zones, deforestation, forest fires, urban development. These various observations are used extensively in real-time decision making and can be provide at the Local Authorities that have signed an agreement with the company.

Aratos Disaster Control System™ and Green SSLM are systems of Aratos Technologies S.A.
Aratos Disaster Control System™ provides prevention, response and recovery through high quality satellite data. The main objective of Aratos Disaster Control System is to manage natural disasters and monitor the area of interest in a 24 hours base through satellite. The last successful agreement signed a few days ago, when the company called to renew the agreement that had been signed a year ago for the first time with the prefecture of Grevena. The main users are Civil Protection Services, Local Authorities and Governments. Prefecture of Kozani,, Magnesia and Florina are some of the users of the system. The company the last five years makes very important agreements with the Local Authorities of Greece but also with companies and organizations, specialized in space sector in Europe.

Aratos Disaster Control works in three stages Prevention, Crisis Management and Damage Assessment. Monitoring using satellite is made daily every 15 minutes for all stages of the system. This moment Aratos Technologies S.A. receives data through privately owned station to receive data from 26 satellites. Aratos Disaster Control uses data which are collected from a ground reception station for satellite data. Satellite data are processed with specialized software.

During the Pre-Fire phase a regularly updated cartography of a region is provided, accompanied by high resolution digital maps.

The service includes:
•Detail mapping of concrete regions (urban, semi-urban, rural, forestalls etc.) and infrastructures (buildings, populated centers, other infrastructures) using recent satellite imageries.
•Estimation of fire risk index, that is based in various parameters like the vegetation index, the ground topology, the infrastructure of the area, the human intervention in the nature, the temperature, the force and direction of wind.
The services provided for the response phase (CRISIS) involve:
•Rapid fire mapping for large fire events, delivering mapping products and damage assessment for fire events with highest update rate 15-30 minutes and
•SMS-Email alert to registered users.

The set of services provided for the recovery phase (POST-FIRE) involve:
•High Accuracy Burn Scan Mapping.
•Assessment of cultivatable and forest areas affected.
•Categorization of burned areas (forestal, agricultural, inhabited regions).
•Complete damage assessment and mapping of the affected region. The mapping is produced on scale: 1:5000, 1:25000, 1:100000, depending on the requirements and the needs.

Green SSLM (Green Space Services for Local Monitoring) is an efficient and useful service of environment using satellite data. The Green Space Services for Local Monitoring (GreenSSLM) utilize the cutting edge technology based on satellite born data and integrate the complex data and models in order to provide useful and easy to understand indicators for decision makers, society and individuals.

The area of Prespes in Greece which is an area protected by the Ramsar Convention and characterized as Nationals Park uses Green SSLM system because needs special treatment. Green SSLM is especially designed for monitoring the environment and the environmental changes. It is an efficient and useful system which can provide to the area of Prespes information for the sustainable growth. This system uses indicators which are based on DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressure, State, Impact, Response) framework used by most international institutions. The indicators are describing what is happening to the environment in the area of Prespes and they can calculate what is needed.

The monitoring process is done using advanced Earth Observation satellites and techniques, combined with in-situ data and measurements. The complexity of the processing such huge and often confusing data is hidden to the user and a valuable and easy to understand indicators are presented to him. In addition a thematic digital and hardcopy maps of the region are produced from which a non specialist could easily determine the situation in the region, as well as, to decide if needed on specific measures and actions.

Events

The main aim of Aratos Technologies S.A. is the civil protection and for this reason participated in Polis 2009, from 26 to 29 November 2009 Aratos Technologies S.A., the 7th International Exhibition of Local Authorities, public-social sectors and private companies, which took place in the International Exhibition Center of Thessaloniki. The exhibition was about modern services and products which aim at a better quality of life of the citizens.

News

Furthermore Aratos Technologies S.A. has signed an agreement with Antrix Corporation Limited to provide for the next 5 years, high quality satellite imagery from the Satellite Cartosat-2. With this agreement Aratos Technologies S.A. will provide satellite imagery in order to monitor the environmental situation of an area, cartography.
Aratos Technologies S.A. is also a reseller in Greece of the products and services of Flyby and WFS.

Project SEOCA

SEOCA is an EU-funded project of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and its main objective is to further strengthen the cooperation between Europe and the countries of Central Asia within GEO (Group on Earth Observations) by implementing a set of activities aimed at building GEO-related capacity in the domain of Earth Observation in the target countries. SEOCA intends to promote European GEO-technologies in the region of Central Asia as a platform solution for the regional development challenges. Totally, there are eight participating countries in SEOCA; Germany, Turkey, Greece, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Furthermore, SEOCA focuses on the study and evaluation of the existing needs and capacities of the Central Asian countries for EO (Earth Observation) information application, gathering and distribution. As a result the consortium expects that SEOCA will radically increase acceptance of GEOSS (The Global Earth Observation System of Systems) technologies by the regional governments for national environmental services, meteorology, natural hazards prevention, geological explorations, etc. Finally, SEOCA is going to start in February 2010.

Aratos Technologies S.A. – the company specialized in space sector and satellites- is a private company located in Patras, Greece, has been included among the top companies in Europe and ensures totally quality services and products in space sector.

PCI News Winter 2009/2010

PCI Geomatics Sponsors DGI Europe 2010 (London – January 25 – 27)

Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) is Europe’s largest annual gathering dedicated to high-level discussion addressing the major challenges of the defence and government geospatial intelligence community. Join Allan Place, Director of Global Sales at PCI Geomatics as a Keynote Speaker where he will be discussing: Deriving accurate, mission critical intelligence from satellite and aerial imagery using automated, high speed image processing solutions.

While at DGI, learn more about PCI’s award winning GPU enabled solution, the GeoImaging Accelerator (GXL), which uses accelerated GPU technology and grid cloud computing to process through terabytes of data in record time at Booth #35.

Geomatica 10.3 is Available – Now with Imaging Tools for GIS

The latest version of Geomatica®, PCI’s image-centric desktop software is now available and includes imaging tools for GIS. Geomatica 10.3 is a complete set of software for remote sensing, digital photogrammetry, raster spatial analysis, mosaicking and automated production workflows. Version 10.3 includes support for ESRI® ArcGIS® Server Image Extension, as well as multi-sensor support through OrthoEngine for ArcGIS users. These users can now rely upon PCI’s OrthoEngine technology to accurately and efficiently correct raw satellite imagery, opening new doors for the integration of remotely sensed imagery into GIS workflows.

For more information on Geomatica 10.3

PCI Geomatics Software Assists with European Security and Emergency Management

The National Survey and Cadastre in Denmark (KMS), has selected PCI’s GeoConference software to assist with the planning, monitoring and coordination of land security and environmental activities.
GeoConference is a live geospatial meeting system that operates via the internet, and allows users to share maps, imagery and data simultaneously and interactively in real-time. KMS has used and evaluated GeoConference for exercises related to oil spills at sea as well as security events that involved multiple agencies within Denmark.

For more information on GeoConference

PCI Geomatics Offers Additional Sensor Support
PCI Geomatics is an industry leader in sensor support and is pleased to offer support for the Leica Geosystems ADS40 and ADS80 Digital Aerial Camera within its Geomatica® software.
PCI Geomatics has included support for the import and orthorectification of ADS40 and ADS80 level 1 data within Geomatica OrthoEngine, a collection of powerful, automated tools for aerial photos and satellite imagery.

For additional information on PCI Geomatics’ sensor support

PCI

WALPHOT is active in the Wallonia World Wide Space Application (3WSA) project. Within this project WALPHOT provides spaceborne/airborne-based services to support the responsible governmental institutions in industrial crisis prevention. Data derived from satellite observations and aerial platforms are made accessible to the whole project in standard formats. A first SEVESO test-case is analyzed in Engis (Belgium)

3WSA is a large project of the Skywin Belgian Aerospace cluster labelled by the Walloon Region Government. The project creates a center of services involving nine Walloon partners in order to implement new crisis management techniques combining existing communication and information technologies and space infrastructures.

Technological risks due to strong concentration of industrial activities and the often complex transportation and communication network should be taken into account by the responsibles in Security, Environment and Mobility. Even for small industries, local physical/environmental damage, pollution and potential victims could be much higher than expected because of the high density of population and vicinity of distribution channels (rivers, railways, airports …).

First outputs refer to the definition and prototypes of spaceborne or airborne geographical data information layers that are useful for crises response. The first step of prototypes development is an in-depth evaluation of legal framework, emergency plans and various users’ requirements. These users can be public authorities (Municipalities, provinces, regions and states), firemen, police officers, civil protection, army … The “Agence Prévention et Sécurité” (Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium) helps the consortium to define crisis experts’ needs in terms of spatial data. Some examples of products & services based on very high resolution remote sensing data or aerial photos are:

• detection & delineation of the SEVESO industry,
• land use/land cover maps (Figure 1),
• population density maps (Figure 2),
• indicators & statistics about accessibility.


Figure 1: Aerial orthophotos-based land cover products (1km and 10km) for a specific SEVESO-type industry in Engis (Belgium)

Real world entities may be modeled spatially either as continuous functions varying along some surface (called “field”) or as discrete entities with identifiable boundaries and identity (called “object”). The object/vector representations store geographic data in terms of points, lines and polygons (areas). Fields can be represented by “vector” but are often represented by a “raster” structure (or regular grid cells, called pixel). EO derived products are raster geo-referenced images. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) store and combine the different kind of data in a common format.

In 3WSA, demographic data provided by the National Institute for Statistics for each administrative unit are geo-referenced with a higher resolution (“upscaling”) by combination with Land Cover (LC) classes. The demographic data is “weighted” over the LC classification and converted to a grid format with a cell size of 100*100m. Each grid cell is attributed an estimation of the number of people living in that area. This information is then visualized in 3dimensions (Figure 2).


Figure 2: Spatial disaggregation of population data on the 10km area around a SEVESO-type industry in Engis (Belgium)

WALPHOT is a Belgian company specialized in the production and the use of geographical data from both airborne and spaceborne sensors since 1973. All services offered by WALPHOT are fully integrated within the company: aerial photography, photo interpretation, processing and interpretation of digital satellite images, cartography, environmental studies, Geographic Information Systems, and lots of other geo-related activities. For more information on these services, we refer to the following contact information:

Walphot s.a.
Address: Rue Van Opré 97 ; 5100 Namur, BELGIUM
Phone: + 32 (0) 81 30 24 01
Fax: +32 (0) 81 30 41 67
E-mail: walphot@skynet.be
Website: http://www.walphot.com

Latest news on INSPIRE

07-Jan-10 Corrigendum to INSPIRE Metadata Regulation published in the Official Journal

14-Dec-09 Deadline extended: Call for Expression of Interest for participation in development of INSPIRE data specifications for Annex II & III Data Themes l

14-Dec-09 INSPIRE Implementing Rules on interoperability of spatial data sets and services have been approved by the INSPIRE Committee

14-Dec-09 Amendment of the INSPIRE Network Services Regulation for Download and Transformation approved

07-Dec-09 INSPIRE Conference 2010: Call for papers

03-Dec-09 INSPIRE Forum: Connecting people and sharing knowledge

Draft COMMISSION REGULATION implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 14.12.2009=

Draft COMMISSION REGULATION amending Regulation (EC) No 976/2009 as regards download services and transformation services 14.12.2009

In Europe a major recent development has been the entering in force of the INSPIRE Directive in May 2007, establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in Europe to support Community environmental policies, and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment.

INSPIRE is based on the infrastructures for spatial information established and operated by the 27 Member States of the European Union. The Directive addresses 34 spatial data themes needed for environmental applications, with key components specified through technical implementing rules. This makes INSPIRE a unique example of a legislative “regional” approach.
Legislation

Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) was published in the official Journal on the 25th April 2007. The INSPIRE Directive entered into force on the 15th May 2007

To ensure that the spatial data infrastructures of the Member States are compatible and usable in a Community and transboundary context, the Directive requires that common Implementing Rules (IR) are adopted in a number of specific areas (Metadata, Data Specifications, Network Services, Data and Service Sharing and Monitoring and Reporting). These IRs are adopted as Commission Decisions or Regulations, and are binding in their entirety. The Commission is assisted in the process of adopting such rules by a regulatory committee composed of representatives of the Member States and chaired by a representative of the Commission (this is known as the Comitology procedure).

SOURCE

Events Winter 2009 / 2010


Start Date End Date Event Web Venue
17-jan-10 20-jan-10 GIS in Oil & Gas 2010 web Dubai, U.A.E.
18-jan-10 21-jan-10 DGI web London, UK
19-jan-10 21-jan-10 Map India 2010 web Gurgaon, India
24-jan-10 27-jan-10 GIS Ostrava 2010 web Ostrava, Czech Republic
25-jan-10 27-jan-10 DGI Europe 2010 web London, UK
25-jan-10 29-jan-10 SeaSAR 2010 web Frascati, Italy
26-jan-10 26-jan-10 Civil Contingencies Conference web London, UK
02-feb-10 02-feb-10 Improving Efficiency in Water Systems web Cyprus, Cyprus
02-feb-10 04-feb-10 Gi4DM web Torino, Italy
02-feb-10 06-feb-10 Special Session on Access, quality, processing and applications of satellite imagery at the International Conference on Personal Satellite Services 2010 web Rome, Italy
03-feb-10 05-feb-10 Imagina web Monaco, Monaco
04-feb-10 06-feb-10 SAT Expo Europe web Rome, Italy
08-feb-10 10-feb-10 SPAR 2010 web Texas, USA
09-feb-10 09-feb-10 Les techniques de positionnement au service de l´eau web Cologne, Germany
09-feb-10 10-feb-10 Cross-system data management and data quality in geographic information systems (GIS) web Cologne, Germany
10-feb-10 10-feb-10 EuroCOW 2010 web Barcelona, Spain
16-feb-10 18-feb-10 ISU´s 14th annual International Symposium “The Public face of space” web Strasburg, France
17-feb-10 19-feb-10 ESRI Federal User Conference web Washington D.C., U.S.A
21-feb-10 25-feb-10 2nd Annual GIS World 2010 web Dubai, United Arab Emirates
22-feb-10 24-feb-10 2010 ESRI Petroleum User Group Conference web Houston, USA
24-feb-10 25-feb-10 AIE 2010 web London,UK
03-mar-10 05-mar-10 2010 Smallworld™ EMEAI Conference web Noordwijk, The Netherlands
03-mar-10 05-mar-10 The International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2010 – Tenth Anniversary Event! web Denver, U.S.A.
06-mar-10 10-mar-10 CZMRDLLC 2010 web Alexandria, Egypt
07-mar-10 10-mar-10 GEO 2010 web Bahrain, Bahrain
08-mar-10 11-mar-10 15th GIS Advanced Training Seminar in Munich web Munich, Germany
09-mar-10 11-mar-10 Oi10 – Oceanology International web London Excel, U.K.
09-mar-10 11-mar-10 Munich Satellite Navigation
Summit 2010
web Munich, Germany
11-mar-10 12-mar-10 AIP Service Architecture web Frascati, Italy
15-mar-10 17-mar-10 ISPRS JOINT WORKSHOP on:“Core Spatial Databases – Updating, Maintenance and Services – from Theory to Practice” web Haifa, Israel
16-mar-10 17-mar-10 9th International 3D-Forum web Lindau, Germany
16-mar-10 18-mar-10 BASE – Business and a Sustainable Environment web London, UK
23-mar-10 26-mar-10 Fifth International Workshop on Geographical Analysis, Urban Modeling, Spatial Statistics web Fukuoka, Japan
24-mar-10 25-mar-10 GEO-10 The complete GEO Event web Coventry, UK
24-mar-10 25-mar-10 Sixth Geoland Forum web Toulouse, France
25-mar-10 26-mar-10 GMES Operational capacity workshop web Sofia, Bulgaria
31-mar-10 01-apr-10 Joint SAC/SEPA Biennial Conference 2010 – Climate, Water & Soil: Science, Policy & Practice web Edinburgh, UK
31-mar-10 01-apr-10 Monaco Blue Initiative web Monaco, Monaco
08-apr-10 09-apr-10 ISPRS/ESPI/IAA Conference ″Current Issues in Regulating Satellite Earth Observation″ web Vienna, Austria
10-apr-10 15-apr-10 34th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment (ISRSE2011) web Sydney, Australia
11-apr-10 13-apr-10 JURSE 2011 – Joint Urban Remote Sensing Event (URBAN 2011 + URS 2011) web Munich, Germany
11-apr-10 14-apr-10 Geospatial Intelligence Middle East 2010 web Bahrain, UAE
11-apr-10 16-apr-10 XXIV FIG International Congress 2010 web Sydney, Australia
12-apr-10 15-apr-10 5th EGEE User Forum web Uppsala, Sweden
13-apr-10 15-apr-10 3rd Conference on Earth Observation for Global Changes (EOGC2011) web Munich, Germany
14-apr-10 15-apr-10 HR GEO User Consultation Workshop web Frascati, Italy
14-apr-10 16-apr-10 IV International conference Remote sensing – the synergy of high technologies web Moscow, Russia
14-apr-10 16-apr-10 The Sustainable City 2010 web La Coruña, Spain
15-apr-10 15-apr-10 Nereus AGM web Andalusia, Spain
15-apr-10 15-apr-10 Expectations to the Climate Change Monitoring using EO satellites web Tokyo, Japan
15-apr-10 15-apr-10 LIMES Final End User Workshop web Farnborough, United Kingdom
15-apr-10 30-apr-10 Urban Atlas Exhibition web Brussels, Belgium
16-apr-10 16-apr-10 GIM/WorldView Global Alliance: Worldview-2 seminar web Heverlee, Belgium
20-apr-10 22-apr-10 Advanced Space Technologies for the Humankind Prosperity web Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
20-apr-10 24-apr-10 15th International Conference Geoforum 2010 web Lviv, Ukraine
22-apr-10 22-apr-10 Euradin, 1st Address Conference web Brussels,Belgium
22-apr-10 23-apr-10 Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI) Annual Conference web Warwick, UK
26-apr-10 28-apr-10 Integrated River Basin Management Conference web Lille, France
26-apr-10 30-apr-10 “Oceans from Space” Symposium web Venica, Italy
26-apr-10 30-apr-10 ASPRS Annual Conference 2010 web San Diego, CA-USA
27-apr-10 29-apr-10 GEO-Siberia 2010 web Novosibirsk, Russia
02-may-10 07-may-10 European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2010 web Vienna, Austria
03-may-10 03-may-10 GEOSS Workshop XXXIVa – Bringing GEOSS Services to Practice, a hand-on workshop of the EnviroGRIDS project web Bucharest, Romania
04-may-10 04-may-10 GEOSS Workshop XXXIVb: GEOSS for Decision Makers in the Black Sea area, a workshop of the EnviroGRIDS Project web Bucharest, Romania
04-may-10 04-may-10 Governance of European Space Programmes web Segovia, Spain
05-may-10 07-may-10 INTERGEO East web Instanbul, Turkey
05-may-10 06-may-10 Space Downstream Services 2010 Conference web Tallinn, Estonia
06-may-10 07-may-10 Boosting the Competitiveness of Business & Science: Satellite Services in Modern Society web Tallinn, Estonia
06-may-10 07-may-10 Paving the Future. Conference organised by CLGE, APCGC, NACLR and URG web Bucharest, Romania
06-may-10 07-may-10 LIMES Workshop “Space Monitoring for Complex Crisis Management” web L’Aquila, Italy
06-may-10 11-may-10 FIG Working Week & General Assembly web Rome, Italy
07-may-10 07-may-10 CGS Conference 2010 web Ljubljana, Slovenia
10-may-10 11-may-10 ESRI (UK) Annual Conference web London, UK
10-may-10 11-may-10 International Land Management Symposium on “Strategies for Improving Urban – Rural Inter-Relationships, Best Practice and Regional Solutions” web Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany
11-may-10 12-may-10 European conference Information Systems in Agriculture and Forestry ISZL 2010 web Prague, Czech Republic
13-may-10 16-may-10 Surveying and GIS Hungarian Tehnical Scientific Society of Transylvania, the Geodesy Convention (EMT) web Nagybánya, Romania
14-may-10 15-may-10 10th Anniversary of GI2010-Symposium Europe of regions – 10 years saxonian GIS-forum Sustainability of inter-regional collaboration web Dresden, Germany
14-may-10 15-may-10 GeoCAD’2010 Geodesy, Topography, Cadastre and Land Registry web Alba Iulia, Romania
17-may-10 21-may-10 UN/Moldova/United States of America/European Space Agency Workshop on the Applications of Global Navigation Satellite Systems web Chisinau, Moldova
19-may-10 21-may-10 European Maritime Day Conference web Gijón, Spain
19-may-10 21-may-10 ″InterGeo-East 2010″ Trade Fair & Conference for Landmanagement, Geoinformation, Building Industry, Environment web Istanbul, Turkey
25-may-10 28-may-10 Regional Africa Workshop web Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
26-may-10 27-may-10 AIMS – Aachen International Mining Symposia web Aachen, Germany
27-may-10 28-may-10 Central Asia GIS Conference – GISCA 2010 web Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
30-may-10 03-jun-10 IDRC Davos 2010 web Davos, Switzerland
31-may-10 01-jun-10 Local and regional authorities mitigating and adapting to climate change using satellite services web Ljubljana, Slovenia
31-may-10 03-jun-10 30th EARSeL SYMPOSIUM “Remote Sensing for Science, Education, and Natural and Cultural Heritage” web Paris, France
01-jun-10 05-jun-10 31st Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing – The Prairie Summit web Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
08-jun-10 11-jun-10 Toulouse Space Show web Toulouse, France
12-jun-10 14-jun-10 Digital Earth Summit web Nessebar, Bulgaria
14-jun-10 16-jun-10 IEEE Whispers 2nd Workshop on Hyperspectral Image & Signal Processing: Evolution in Remote Sensing web Reykjavik, Iceland
15-jun-10 20-jun-10 3rd International Conference on Cartography and GIS web Nessebar, Bulgaria
20-jun-10 26-jun-10 International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference & EXPOSGEM 2010 web Albena Resort, Bulgaria
21-jun-10 22-jun-10 The Second Open Source GIS UK Conference web Nottingham, UK
21-jun-10 24-jun-10 GISDECO/EARSeL SIG Developing Countries Conference
Applying Remote Sensing and GIS in Disaster Management
web Yogyakarta, Indonesia
22-jun-10 22-jun-10 EARSC AGM + Seminar web Brussels, Belgium
22-jun-10 25-jun-10 INSPIRE as a Framework for Cooperation web Krakow, Poland
23-jun-10 25-jun-10 GEOSS Workshop XXXVI – has become “INSPIRE in the Global dimension” web Krakow, Poland
27-jun-10 01-jul-10 Novatech 2010 web Lyon, France
28-jun-10 01-jul-10 6th International Symposium on Ozone Applications and V International Symposium on Environment web Habana, Cuba
28-jun-10 02-jul-10 ESA Living Planet web Bergen, Norway
29-jun-10 02-jul-10 GEOBIA2010 web Ghent, Belgium
01-jul-10 07-jul-10 ISPRS Centenary Celebration framed by ISPRS Commission VII Symposium & German-Austrian-Swiss Conference for photogrammetry, remote sensing, & spatial information science web Vienna, Austria
04-jul-10 04-jul-10 100 Years ISPRS Centenary Celebrations including ISPRS TC VII Symposium “100 Years ISPRS – Advancing Remote Sensing Science“ web Vienna, Austria
06-jul-10 09-jul-10 GI_Forum 2010 web Salzburg, Austria
10-jul-10 16-jul-10 ESRI 2010 Summits web San Diego, CA, U.S.A
18-jul-10 25-jul-10 COSPAR web Bremen, Germany
07-ago-10 12-ago-10 GIslands 2010 – International Summer School on Marine Spatial Planning web Ponta Delgada, Azores
14-ago-10 19-ago-10 HUNGEO 2010 World Meeting of Hungarian Geoscientists web Szombathely, Hungary
26-ago-10 27-ago-10 WG IV/5 1st International Workshop on Pervasive Web Mapping, Geo-processing & Services (WebMGS 2010) web Como, Italy
26-ago-10 27-ago-10 International Interdisciplinary CODATA Workshop on RISK Models and Applications web Berlin, Germany
01-sep-10 03-sep-10 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC COMPUTER VISION and IMAGE ANALYSIS Conference
ISPRS Technical Commission III Symposium
web Paris, France
06-sep-10 09-sep-10 FOSS4G web Barcelona, Spain
07-sep-10 10-sep-10 Forestsat 2010 web Santiago de Compostela, Spain
09-sep-10 10-sep-10 2nd Symposium on Earth Observation business web Paris, France
11-sep-10 16-sep-10 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress web Vancouver, Canada
13-sep-10 15-sep-10 8th International Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Applications web Gent, Belgium
14-sep-10 15-sep-10 ESA oil and gas workshop web Frascati, Italy
15-sep-10 17-sep-10 International Conference on Spatial Data Infrastructures 2010 web Skopje, Macedonia
20-sep-10 23-sep-10 SPIE 2010 web Toulouse, France
20-sep-10 24-sep-10 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference web Córdoba, , Spain
21-sep-10 24-sep-10 2nd United Nations/Austria/ESA Symposium on Small Satellite Programmes for Sustainable Development web Graz, Austria
22-sep-10 24-sep-10 GEO India 2010 web New Delhi, India
22-sep-10 24-sep-10 2nd Joint EARSeL Special Interest Groups Workshop web Ghent, Belgium
24-sep-10 25-sep-10 20th United Nations/ International Astronautical Federation Workshop on GNSS Applications for Human Benefit and Development web Prague, Czech Republic
27-sep-10 30-sep-10 Remote Sensing & Hydrology Symposium 2010 web WY, USA
27-sep-10 01-oct-10 9th EUMETSAT User Forum in Africa web Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
28-sep-10 28-sep-10 11th United Nations/International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Workshop on Small Satellites in the Service of Developing Countries web Prague, Czech Republic
28-sep-10 01-oct-10 GIS-Pro 2010: URISA’s 48th Annual Conference for GIS Professionals web Florida, USA
11-oct-10 13-oct-10 ISPRS WG I/4 Workshop on Modeling of Optical Airborne & Space Borne Sensors web Istambul, Turkey
14-oct-10 15-oct-10 Development and cooperation in the Mediterranean region using satellite services web Rabat, Morocco
14-oct-10 17-oct-10 Joint FIG Commission 3 and Commission Workshop “Information and Land Management. A Decade after the Millennium” web Sofia, Bulgaria
14-oct-10 19-oct-10 WG V/2 Workshop on “Advances in Cultural Heritage Measurement Techniques” with International Conference on “Digital Preservation of Archaeological Heritage” web Kanpur, India
19-oct-10 22-oct-10 GSDI 12 World Conference : Realizing Spatially Enabled Societies web Singapure, Singapure
20-oct-10 23-oct-10 The 16th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia web Seoul, Korea
25-oct-10 29-oct-10 8th International Conference of the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE2010) web Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
01-nov-10 01-nov-10 Earth Observation Satellites web London, UK
01-nov-10 05-nov-10 31st Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS2010) web Hanoi, Vietnam

21 – 24 February 2010, Dubai, UAE

The GIS World 2010 conference will provide a platform to share the latest developments in the GIS, Geospatial and the Geo-information field

The 2010 programme promises a pan industry view of these subjects as well as burning issues involved in GIS including lack of geospatial understanding, challenges with executive buy-in, data sharing policies, lack of funding, data maintenance and emergency management. Hear from leading speakers presenting world class case studies including Dylan Lorima from Google Enterprise, Eng. Mohammed Hammod, GIS Team Leader and Expert of Ajman Municipality, UAE as well as Prof. Dr. Jonathan Li, Associate professor Department of Geography at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

Do not miss this event and its take home tools to:
-Improve your data quality so that the right decisions are made
-Increase the interoperability of your systems
-Examine how you can secure your share of IT budget for your GIS projects
-Prove the real (quantified) value of a GIS-related investment
-Discover the future of GIS integration
-Benchmark your GIS performance against your peers efficiently

For more information about GIS World 2010, visit our website www.iirme.com/gisworld

SOURCE IIRME

Directions Magazine interviewed Fred Hagman, managing director at Aerodata International Surveys, about the company’s operations, products and services, its membership in the aeroGRID consortium, and the growing demand for aerial imagery. The company, headquartered at the Antwerp Airport in Belgium, is an independent, private airborne surveying and mapping company founded in 1992.

Directions Magazine (DM): What is the main focus of Aerodata International Surveys? What geographies do you cover?

Fred Hagman (FH): Aerodata International Surveys is well-known throughout Europe for its ability to capture high quality aerial imagery and turn it into geo-information products. Aerodata operates a fleet of five aircraft and uses multiple digital cameras and other sensors including three of the latest Vexcel Ultracam X-Prime frame cameras. Aerodata’s imagery is used for a wide range of applications and appears in a broad range of media including applications such as Google Earth.

Aerodata’s activities are based on three pillars:

1. Airborne data collection and processing (project based)
2. Off-the-shelf delivery of readily available imagery (aeroGRID : Aerodata Geo Referenced Image Database)
3. Consultancy and technical support

We also operate from time to time outside Europe in the Middle East (Yemen, Qatar, Lebanon and Bahrain) and in Africa (Gambia, Mali, Benin, Libya, Congo-Brazzaville and Cape Verde Islands).

DM: Where do you primarily see the demand growing for your off-the-shelf product, aeroGRID? What is driving that demand?

FH: Increased use of aerial imagery throughout society is leading toward an increasing demand for quick and easy solutions for obtaining this type of product. The growing demand is fueled by wide-spread home and business use of high-speed Internet and popular applications like Google Earth and Bing Maps.

Professionals in all sectors realize much information is geo-located and the combination of various data sources can lead to greater insight and add value to products. Many of these users are looking for readily available, current, high resolution imagery, which represents the real world and shows a tremendous amount of detail, ready for interpretation and mapping. Aerodata offers quick access on a 24/7 basis via browser-based service, thus making it easy to provide whatever the user needs at any given time.

These professional users include city planning specialists, real estate agencies, publishing companies and news agencies, environmentalists, land surveyors, engineering companies, insurance companies, geo marketing organizations and many others.

DM: What technology have you implemented to enable users to easily access the data archive via the Internet?

FH: Aerodata has dedicated servers available which are connected to the backbone of the Internet. The servers are operated by the Enterprise Orbit Server software. The software supports a wide variety of client desktop and Internet applications.

It is not only technology but also organization! There are already a lot of data available, but not easily accessible. Therefore cross border questions for aerial data throughout Europe and beyond have led to the implementation of the aeroGRID consortium of companies in order to serve clients with Pan European datasets and more that are not in Aerodata’s portfolio. aeroGRID Ltd. was founded by Aerodata (Belgium), Getmapping (United Kingdom) and Geocontent (Germany) and has partner relationships with many more suppliers of imagery content.

At this moment aeroGRID supplies high resolution data for over 20 countries across Europe and North America. A recent agreement with DigitalGlobe extends its coverage of up-to-date imagery across the world. The archive holds high quality aerial photography of various kinds: color and color infrared, orthophotomosaics and stereo models at a variety of resolutions (GSD) ranging from 2.5cm to 70cm. Most of these datasets are available both offline and online.

Offline distribution is mostly used for large ortho datasets and for stereomodels with exterior orientation data. Online availability is aimed at quick and easy self-service solutions. Consumers go to a simple but fast browser-based platform for viewing, buying and downloading aerial imagery. It is set up to enable easy navigation, very economical pricing and only five steps from start to finish. Professionals are served via the Pro-version with more options and pricing schemes for obtaining the datasets they need. The viewers are using the latest Flash technology to ensure a good user experience. We evaluated different options and had to go for the fastest viewer we could find to ensure an optimal user experience.The Click and Buy payment module enables every buyer to use the most appropriate payment method (credit card, bank).

DM: What has been the role of standards in the delivery of data?

FH: The open standard, like WMS A Web mapping service (WMS) is operational for use of the datasets in GIS and CAD applications. Also an API enabling third parties to embed aeroGRID imagery into their own websites is available. It is clear that these services are based on Open GIS standards.

We are currently working on the options for the user to pick other formats, projection systems and increased file sizes for downloads.

DM: What technology have you implemented internally to manage and serve the data to customers?

FH: Data has to be reformatted internally to obtain maximum Flash viewer performance. Since we are dealing with many different datasets, data management has become a major issue. Aerodata is using scalable computing power and storage capacity. Currently, the total storage capacity is approximately half a petabyte and multiple quad core processing units lead to over 600 Ghz CPU power.

SOURCE DirectionsMag