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Please find here for information the Communication from the EC: « GDP and beyond – Measuring progress in a changing world”

See, especially, on page 6:

3.2.1. More timely environmental indicators

Satellites, automatic measurement stations and the internet make it increasingly possible to monitor the environment in real time. The Commission is stepping up efforts to realise this potential. It has taken major steps to employ these technologies with the INSPIRE Directive and GMES.

st12739.en09.pdf

Source ASD-Eurospace

EC updated Sectoral Overview 2009 “European Industry in a changing world”

The aim of this Sectoral Overview is to provide stakeholders and policy makers in the European Institutions or in national administrations with a succinct analysis of the current situation, and the factors affecting competitiveness, in all industrial sectors.

See page 177-180 for information regarding the Space sector, which is seen by the EC as a sector to become even more important in the future “as it will offer new opportunities for business and services for citizens”. The figures regarding the space sector come from Eurospace.

st12539.en09_sectoral overview 2009.pdf

Source Europace

http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/unspider/docs.html

Conferences and Workshops>

1. UN-SPIDER’s SpaceAid Framework operational

2. Bonn to host two key UN Meetings – 10th UNGIWG Plenary and UN-SPIDER Workshop

3. UN-SPIDER Keynote Presentation at the International Symposium in Saudi Arabia

4. UN-SPIDER fortifies Capacity Building Strategy at UNU-ITC Seminar

5. UN-SPIDER staff members put heads together in first programme building retreat

6. UN-SPIDER helps develop guidelines for establishing ACPC Climate Activities Database

7. South Africa’s Sumbandilasat successfully in orbit, awaiting full
activation

8. Micro-satellites MicroGEM offer improved earth monitoring

9. India launches Oceansat-2 for ocean study

10. Amid widespread droughts and crop failures, satellites could help prevent famines

11. Satellite Images from MODIS Sensor Cover Southern California Forest Fires

12. Satellites show ozone layer depletion levelling off

Conferences and Workshops>

AfricaGIS 2009: “Geo-spatial Information and Sustainable Development in Africa” in Kampala, Uganda, 26-30 October 2009

The Third MERIT Technical Meeting, Niger, 9-11 November 2009

Pacific Islands GIS&RS User Conference 2009, in Suva, Fiji, 1- 4 December 2009

The Third African Leadership Conference on Space Science and Technology for Sustainable Development ALC-2009 – Algiers, Algeria 7 – 9 December 2009

The Fourth Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management, Montego Bay, Jamaica 7 – 11 December 2009

For centuries, maps have stirred imaginations and inspired explorations of the unknown. Today, maps are used to help understand relationships across areas and regions. These spatial relationships are analyzed using digital maps within a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment.

GIS in Education

For the past 40 years, GIS has quietly transformed everyday decision making in academia, government, nonprofit, and in business through the manipulation of satellite imagery, maps, graphs, databases, and multimedia in a decision-making framework. Agriculture was one of the first fields to embrace GIS, applied to everything from precision agriculture to invasive weed eradication to sustainable practices.

In the classroom, GIS offers a powerful decision-making toolkit that helps students understand content in a variety of disciplines, such as geography, history, mathematics, language arts, environmental studies, chemistry, biology, and civics. GIS is used as an inquiry-driven, problem-solving, standards-based set of tasks that incorporates fieldwork and provides career pathways that are increasingly in demand. It helps students think critically, use real data, and connects them to their own community. It does so in informal, primary, secondary, and university settings and appeals to today’s visual learners. Geotechnologies, along with biotechnologies and nanotechnologies, are the three key skills and job markets identified by the US Department of Labor for the 21st Century (Gewin 2004). The National Academy of Sciences (2005) identified GIS as being essential to K-12 learning because of its ability to foster spatial thinking (Gersmehl and Gersmehl 2006).
wheat

What is the relationship between birth rate and life expectancy? How does acid mine drainage in a mountain range affect water quality downstream? How will climate change affect global food production? With GIS, students explore the relationships between people, climate, land use, vegetation, river systems, aquifers, landforms, soils, natural hazards, and much more.

Using GIS provides a way of exploring not only a body of content knowledge, but provides a way of thinking about the world. When epidemiologists study the spread of diseases, scientists study climate change, or businesspersons determine where to locate a new retail establishment, they use spatial thinking and analysis. In each case, GIS provides critical tools for studying these issues and for solving very real problems on a daily basis.

GIS-based questions begin with the “whys of where” – why are cities, ecoregions, and earthquakes located where they are, and how are they affected by their proximity to nearby things and by invisible global interconnections and networks? After asking geographic questions, students acquire geographic resources and collect data online and from their own fieldwork. They analyze geographic data and discover relationships across time and space (Bednarz 2004). Geographic investigations are often value-laden and involve critical thinking skills. The following illustrates just one example of how GIS can be used in education.

Analyzing the Pattern of Four Crops in GIS

What did you have to eat today? Where was your food grown? Where was the cotton in your shirt cultivated? An increasing number of books and research initiatives are aimed at helping students to reconnect with the importance of agriculture. A new resource on the ArcLessons library (http://edcommunity.esri.com/arclessons/lesson.cfm?id=416) invites investigation of four different crops—soybeans (shown on the map below), wheat, corn (maize), and cotton – in a spatial context using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology.
Screenshot

Learners work through the following scenario: The US Department of Agriculture has heard about your extensive skills in GIS and spatial analysis, and has hired you to investigate the patterns of 4 crops as part of its National Crop Assessment Program (NCAP). They would like you to produce a report detailing the results of the following investigation: What are the cultural and physical geographic reasons for the spatial distribution, spatial patterns, and the amount of soybeans, cotton, wheat, and corn grown in the USA?

Learners conduct research on the origin of the four crops, examine the spatial distribution of those crops, and investigate the similarities and differences among them. They discover the most productive counties for each crop, and consider the proximity of major cities and the influence of climate on each. They determine which areas are planted with winter wheat versus spring wheat, based on the evidence. GIS skills developed include investigation of the “G” part of GIS (the maps) and the “I” part of GIS (the tables) through constructing queries, sorting, and creating summary statistics. They also select and identify data, create various thematic maps using different classification methods, including natural breaks, quantile, equal area, and standard deviation. Content emphases include national and global considerations of why different crops are grown, the influence on urban areas on crops, and the social and physical reasons for the spatial concentration or diffusion of the cultivation of those crops.
Cottonboll

The resource includes not only the lesson, but the data needed to run the lesson. The data includes agricultural information at the county level from the US Census of Agriculture, climate data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Spatial Climate Analysis Service at Oregon State University, and base layers (states, rivers, roads, lakes) from ESRI. The lesson contains 55 questions, but additional investigation can certainly be done, by students of secondary, university, and informal (such as 4-H) programs.

To find out more about the use of GIS in education, see http://edcommunity.esri.com, and the library of lessons on http://edcommunity.esri.com/arclessons.

References

-Bednarz, Sarah W. 2004. Geographic information systems: A Tool to support geography and environmental education? GeoJournal 60: 191-199.

-Gersmehl, Phil, & Gersmehl, Carol. 2006. Wanted: A concise list of neurologically defensible and assessable spatial thinking skills. Research in Geographic Education 8.

-Gewin, Virginia. 2004. Mapping opportunities. Nature 427: 376-377.

-National Academy of Sciences. 2006. Learning to Think Spatially—GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum. Washington DC: The National Academies Press, 313 p.

By Joseph Kerski, posted on September 23rd, 2009 in Agriculture, Articles, Education, Featured Article
Corn
By Joseph Kerski, Geographer and Education Manager, Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI).

SOURCE

Content for publication is welcomed and can be submitted at any time for consideration. Let us help you bring your article to the world.

EOmag is released every three months, with focus articles on members, news in depth features, achievements, progress reports on programmes, communication and partnership with organisations and events.

The distribution of the Newsletter is based on our stakeholders database (Industry and relevant Institutions worldwide interested in geo-information domain).

The Newsletter is an excellent platform for companies and organizations to communicate on actions and programmes related to geo-information.

Articles:
We would be happy to publish all relevant articles for companies/institutions (max 1000-word articles, preferably with illustrations) for the next issues of the Newsletter

Events:
In order to improve the information offered about the activities of our stakeholders, we are collecting basic data concerning all the already scheduled events. For the purpose, we kindly ask companies and institutions to
provide the following information about each event:

Start Date
End Date
Title
Web
Place – City and Country

Please send this information to EARSC secretariat always stating [Events] as the beginning of your message description at the subject box, in order to help managing and archiving. Since it is intended to keep this list as much updated as possible, please remind to inform Secretariat every time a new event is scheduled.

Optional Information:
Theme
Description
Language
E-mail contact

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to “secretariat-at-earsc.org”:

Many thanks in advance
EARSC secretariat

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)

Directorate General Entreprise is organising seven conferences on “Strengthening European small and medium sized enterprises in the defence sector” in different Member States between October 2009 and June 2010.

In December 2007 the Commission adopted the Defence Package which consists of a Communication and two legislative proposals. The whole Defence Package aims to strengthen the European defence industry and encourages a more European approach to business cooperation in the currently segmented national defence markets. It also contains numerous proposals for the support of SMEs.

Nevertheless, SMEs acting in the defence sector still face significant problems. They lack information on business and clustering/partnering opportunities and they experience difficulties to make primary defence companies and customers aware of their products and services.

In follow-up to the Defence Package, it was agreed to explore concrete ways to support these SMEs through an ongoing study and a series of seven conferences. The conferences shall make SMEs better aware of new opportunities in defence procurement as a result of the Defence Package and to discuss recommendations developed in the above study.

Conferences will take place in Berlin (October 2009), Stockholm (November 2009), Budapest (February 2010), Warsaw (March 2010), Madrid (April 2010) and Athens (May 2010) with participation from industry and particularly SMEs, from Ministries of Defence, Ministries of Economics, European and national industrial associations and from EDA.

The final conference in Brussels in June 2010 will summarize the results and conclusions on the measures to be undertaken.
Downloads

Practical information – October 2009, Berlin PDF (7 Kb) English (en) (EN)
Programme for the Conference in Berlin PDF (107 Kb) English (en) (EN)

SOURCE

FP7 calls for proposals


On this page:
Geo-information provisions
Service Level Agreement)
Access to Earth observation data
Strengthening space foundations
Further guidance

Taking on endless possibilities, € 114 million for space research

Information regarding the third call for proposals under the Space theme of the Seventh Framework Programme

The third call for proposals pdf – 363 KB [363 KB] under the Seventh Framework Programme’s space theme was published on 30 July 2009. The deadline for entries is 8 December 2009. Among other issues, this call addresses the services included in the General Monitoring for Environment and Security programme. Also, the call includes a significant financial envelope in support of the area of Strengthening Space Foundations.

Geo-information provisions

In this call, proposals addressing the “Space-based applications at the service of European Society” area should focus on building on the existing achievements of GMES, in particular the geo-information service provision projects, taking full benefit of the products made available by these.

Aimed at facilitating knowledge sharing between GMES services and downstream GMES projects, the pages below provide information on the geo-information expected to be available from each of the five GMES service domains.

Atmosphere
Emergency Response
Land
Marine
Security

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Some project partners may be linked by means of a Service Level Agreement (SLA). You may find more information about the SLA, including a template for such an agreement, here msw8 – 48 KB [48 KB]

Access to Earth observation data

Project proposers may also consult information on specifications needed from downstream services access to Earth observation data in the document below and its annexes:

Downstream services access to Earth observation data pdf – 15 KB [15 KB]
Annex 1: Guidelines for compiling the service requirements template pdf – 51 KB [51 KB]
Annex 2: Service requirements template msw8 – 104 KB [104 KB]
Annex 3: Current definition of primary products pdf – 13 KB [13 KB]

Strengthening space foundations

The third call for proposals also addresses projects to strengthen the foundations of space science and technology. The support will be given in the following action areas:

* research activities related to space science and exploration
* new concepts in space transportation and space technologies including critical components. Please consult the document European non-dependence on critical space technologies: EC-ESA-EDA list of urgent actions for 2009, EC-ESA-EDA Joint Task Force here pdf – 325 KB [325 KB]
* research into reducing the vulnerability of space-based systems and services. Please consult the document Space situational awareness – Consolidated activity plan for SSA, GSTP and FP7 here pdf – 62 KB [62 KB]

Further guidance

Please consult a PowerPoint presentation by the European Commission to the National Contact Points for Space (NCP) on the content and context of this call here pdf – 7 MB [7 MB]

Also, for advice on how to write a good proposal from project evaluators, success stories from project coordinators, and insights into the current state of play in space research, please consult the web-screening of the “Research Connection 2009” space session, which took place in Prague on 7 May 2009 here

SOURCE

Notice of call for expressions of interest concerning technical assistance in evaluating, monitoring and validating GMES projects and services.

Deadline: 11 May 2012

GMES gradually moves towards operations. This materialises through the launch an increasing number of projects by DG Enterprise and Industry on this theme. The concerned projects will provide, using earth observation data processed at different stages, value-added services and products in the all GMES areas. The purpose of this call is to establish a reserve list of experts whose role is to assist the Commission Services in the evaluation and monitoring of projects in the frame of the GMES initiative, and/or the assessment/validation of products/services offered by those projects. The list of experts will be valid for 3 years from the date of publication of this notice. Any interested candidate may submit an application at any time up to 3 months before the end of its period of validity.

Downloads

Call for expression of interest PDF (63 Kb) English (en) (EN)

Application form PDF (15 Kb) English (en) (EN)

Contact: ENTR-H3-GMES-Experts@ec.europa.eu

SOURCE