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TLCC project aims to create the automated land cover classification methodology.

Gisat, Czech leader in remote sensing applications coordinate the TLCC project aiming to create the automated land cover classification methodology. Having on board partners experienced with land cover classification activities both on European and the New Independent States (NIS) level, the Technology of Land Cover Classification (TLCC) project aims to create the standardized, well-documented and formalized model and technology for automated land cover classification. More it aims develop model ensuring classification robustness and guarantee compatibility and quality of land cover production. In order to achieve these objectives, the TLCC project has to investigate the number of fundamental research issues present both at the level of multi-purpose land cover nomenclature specification, class model classification definition as well as practical implementation of such models. In particular, the project will focuse on development and implementation within the OBIA approach framework.
Technology of the Land Cover Classification (TLCC) creation is carried out according to the National Space Program of Ukraine as part of Ukrainian GMES segment. More, the Ukraine national technical committee of standardization is aiming to introduce TLCC as the Ukrainian land cover mapping standard. The project outputs will contribute also into the European GMES land monitoring programme.
Consortia partners include GISAT – Czech Republic (lead), Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences (DIAS) – Denmark, Dniprocosmos State Company (DSC) – Ukraine, Scientific Centre for Aerospace Research of the Earth (CASRE) – Ukraine, IBA – Ukraine and United Institute of Informatics Problems (UIIP) – Belarus.
TLCC project is supported by National Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU), CNES and by INTAS – The International Association for the Promotion of Co-operation with Scientists from the New Independent States (NIS) of the Former Soviet Union. INTAS is an independent International Association formed by the European Community, European Union Member States and like-minded countries to promote East-West scientific co-operation between INTAS members and INTAS-NIS partner countries.
More information: www.gisat.cz or www.intas.be
(Source GISAT)

Gisat is a member of the winning ETC-LUSI consortium in a recent EEA tender

The company was named as one of the key member of the European consortium that won in a prestigious tender recently launched by the European Environmental Agency (EEA)
Gisat experts have been involved for more than a decade in European land cover mapping (CORINE Land Cover programme run by EEA) and various LC/LU data applications including land accounting and indicator development. In 1997-2000, Gisat was a leader of EEA PHARE Topic Link on Land Cover, in 2001 – 2006 it was a member of EEA European Topic Centre on Terrestrial Environment (ETC-TE) and since 2007 it is a member of EEA European Topic Centre on Land Use and Spatial Information (ETC-LUSI).
ETC-LUSI is an international consortium assisting the European Commission and the European Environment Agency in their attempts to achieve sustainable development and to improve European environment. This process involves the European Information and Observation Network (EIONET), in which 33 countries are participating, and other main stakeholders. ETC-LUSI includes a valuable expertise in Europe to handle data in its topic area, and to analyse the environmental data with regards to developments in society and the economy and with regards to environmental and sectoral policies covering the full geographical area of EEA member countries.
The ETC-LUSI is an international consortium composed by 10 organisations from 9 different EU Member States building a bridge between the research and the policy and decision making community. This consortium is led by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) from Spain, UAB was also leading the former European Topic Centre on Terrestrial Environment (ETC-TE), being the new ETC-LUSI the continuation of this consortium work that have been done during last years.
More information can be found at ETC-LUSI web site.
(Source Gisat)

RapidEye, Germany´s first remote-sensing company operating it´s own satellite system, has assembled the first satellite completely. Its testing program has commenced.

Jena Optronics delivered the first payload in February to Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) in England for integration with the satellite bus. “The fact that the first payload has been completed constitute a significant progress for the program. We are looking forward to the other four units to follow quickly.” said Pietro Widmer, Manager for Operations and Engineering at RapidEye.
Integration and testing of the first satellite is proceeding per plan. The second payload has in the mean time also arrived at SSTL. The other four satellites will enter the integration and testing phase in the next couple of months.
Meanwhile the MDA developed image data and DEMs processing and archiving system that also includes the acquisition planning, calibration and order handling functions, underwent in January three weeks of rigorous and successful acceptance testing in Vancouver. This provided the green light for shipping it to RapidEye.
About a dozen crates of equipment arrived at RapidEye Headquarters at the end of February. Installation and another round of acceptance testing confirmed that the system is fully functional and the On-Site Acceptance Test milestone was successfully passed March 15th. This system joins in RapidEye‘s operations facilities the Satellite Control Center system, which had been delivered last September. Integration and test of the overall ground segment has started.
The five RapidEye earth observation satellites are planned to be launched before the end of this year from Baikonur (Kazakhstan).
(Source RapidEye)

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has set in place contracts for a service which will provide EU Member States with processed satellite data for the monitoring and detection of illegal discharges and accidental oil spills at sea.

The focus of the service will be to provide Member States with continuity of service, economies of scale and rapid response times in supplying processed information.
Eurimage S.p.A., as the authorised commercial licence distributor, will provide ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar) images from the European Space Agency (ESA) ENVISAT satellite.
EMSA was tasked under Article 10 of Directive 2005/35/EC of 7th September 2005 on Ship-Source Pollution and on the Introduction of Penalties for Infringements of the European Parliament and Council, to “work with the Member States in developing technical solutions and providing technical assistance in relation to the implementation of this Directive, in actions such as tracing discharges by satellite monitoring and surveillance.”
CleanSeaNet is a European operational system for satellite detection of oil slicks. The service will begin operating in mid-April 2007 and will provide analysed images from ENVISAT and RADARSAT satellites. A network of receiving stations in Norway, Italy and, from 2008, the Azores will receive the data, which will be relayed to control centres for rapid processing and analysis by trained operators, who will assess the images, together with meteorological information, for the possible presence of oil on the sea surface and the source of the pollution. The processed information will be sent simultaneously to the national authorities in the affected Member States and to EMSA. The time from data acquisition by the satellite to the receipt of processed information by pollution control authorities will be a maximum of 30 minutes.
A consortium of service providers, consisting of Kongsberg Satellite Services AS (Norway), Telespazio s.p.A (Italy) and Edisoft (Portugal) will be responsible for the downloading, processing, analysis and dissemination of the images and derived information, including alerts, to participating coastal states and to EMSA.

“This is a first, and significant, step in the process whereby EMSA assists Member States and the Commission in detecting illegal and accidental discharges at sea,”
said EMSA Executive Director, Willem de Ruiter. “The Member States have the responsibility for implementing Directive 2005/35/EC and this service will ensure that they will be given the necessary support so that maritime pollution monitoring and detection can be done on a larger and more sustainable scale.”
Eurimage Managing Director Marcello Maranesi said: “The oil spill service for EMSA is the first operational monitoring service at European level based on Satellite data. Satellite Radar data are going to introduce a temporal dimension in our services and new missions, like Cosmo Sky-Med, Terrasat and Radarsat-2, will soon open up a new operational scenario for operational services.”
(Source Eurimage)

EDISOFT is part of the service providers’ consortium that will be responsible for the development of CleanSeaNet, the European operational system for satellite monitoring and detection of illegal discharges and accidental oil spills at sea.

CleanSeaNet is a European operational system for satellite detection of oil slicks. EDISOFT is part of the service providers consortium that will be responsible for the downloading, processing, analysis and dissemination of the images and derived information, including alerts, to participating coastal states and to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The other members of the consortium are Kongsberg Satellite Services AS (Norway) and Telespazio s.p.A (Italy).
CleanSeaNet will provide EU Member States with processed satellite data for the monitoring and detection of illegal discharges and accidental oil spills at sea. The service will begin operating in mid-April 2007 and will provide analysed images from ENVISAT and RADARSAT satellites. A network of receiving stations in Norway, Italy and the Azores (the latter as of 2008) will receive the satellite data, which will then be relayed to control centres for rapid processing and analysis by trained operators. The operators will assess the images generated, together with external meteorological information, to determine the likelihood of the presence of oil on the sea surface and the source of the pollution. The processed and analysed information will then be sent simultaneously to the national authorities in the affected Member States and to EMSA. The time from data acquisition by the satellite to the receipt of processed information by pollution control authorities will be a maximum of 30 minutes.
EMSA has signed a contract with Eurimage SpA, which is the authorised commercial licence distributor for ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar) images from the European Space Agency (ESA) ENVISAT satellite. For access to RADARSAT data, a contract has been signed with MDA, which is the holder of the distribution rights to Canada‘s RADARSAT-1 satellite and to the future RADARSAT-2 satellite, which is to be launched later this year.
The scope and aims of the service are to provide:
• a European satellite surveillance system for detecting oil slicks at sea, which will be operational from mid-April 2007, and which can respond to requests from all EU and EFTA coastal states and the European Commission.
• a system that is linked to national and regional response chains, and which strengthens operational pollution response when dealing with accidental and deliberate discharges from ships.
• coastal states with the ability to locate and identify polluters in areas under their jurisdiction. They will have access to satellite images and associated information over the web, and will receive alerts when potential slicks are identified.
• geographical coverage of the following sea regions:
- Baltic Sea.
- North Sea and areas around UK, Norway and Iceland.
- West European waters from English Channel to Gibraltar.
- Mediterranean Sea.
- Western Black Sea. – Canary Islands and Atlantic EEZ (from 2008).
(Source Edisoft)

Company names Joel Campbell as Vice President and General Manager USA and David Fullerton as Vice President Worldwide Professional Services

(March 2007) Definiens AG, the number one Enterprise Image Intelligence company, is gearing up for more growth and has formally announced the expansion of its American and global management team. A veteran of GIS modelling and mapping software and technology, Joel Campbell has joined Definiens as Vice President and General Manager USA. Definiens has also appointed David Fullerton as Vice President Worldwide Professional Services. These two key executives supplement the leadership team and demonstrate Definiens’ commitment to the life and earth sciences markets on a global level.
“By adding two experienced professionals to the Definiens management team, we now have more expertise that will pilot us into a successful 2007 and beyond,” said Thomas Heydler, Definiens’ CEO.“ These two leaders bring a tremendous amount of critical knowledge and business perspective that is highly advantageous as we execute on our corporate strategy.”
Joel Campbell, who joined Definiens in 2006, is responsible for the companies operations in USA, focussing on the growth of the company‘s life and earth sciences business in the Americas. He brings over 20 years of experience in the IT industry with him and operated his own consulting firm in the geospatial industry prior to his engagement with Definiens. Mr. Campbell also spent over a decade at Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), serving as Director of US Sales and Manager of the Washington, DC regional office. He was educated in broadcast communications at the University of Maryland and spent 10 years in various positions in the commercial television industry before beginning his career in GIS and information technology.
David Fullerton brings more than 20 years of professional services experience to Definiens and will focus on global customer service activities and engagements. He has led worldwide professional services, support, and training for a number of enterprise technology companies. Previously with Documentum, Mr. Fullerton headed the professional services organization, creating worldwide service centers for consulting, training, and technical support. He also served in a variety of marketing and services roles with Hewlett-Packard. Mr. Fullerton is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University where he holds a degree in Applied Mathematics. He also studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Michigan.
In the second half of 2006, Definiens appointed Peter Rau as Chief Financial Officer and Rene Hermes as Vice President Marketing. With today‘s announcement, Definiens has rounded off its executive management team as the company continues its dynamic growth. Ranked as one of Deloitte‘s “Fast 50”, the Enterprise Image Intelligence company is one of Germany‘s fastest-growing technology companies with a total of eighty employees at its corporate headquarters in Munich, Germany and in its branch offices in the United States.
About Definiens
Definiens is the number one Enterprise Image Intelligence company for analyzing and interpreting images on every scale, from microscopic cell structures to satellite images.
Definiens patented Cognition Network technology has been developed by Nobel Laureate, Prof. Dr. Gerd Binnig and serves as the base of the Definiens eCognition™ platform. The advanced and robust platform is designed to fulfill the image analysis demands of the Earth Sciences and Life Sciences markets. Every industry today relies on digital images which hold a wealth of valuable information. To date, extracting value has been a time-consuming and largely manual task and the volume of image data is growing substantially.
Definiens’ unique Cognition Network Technology offers a highly automated approach to extracting context-sensitive intelligence from image data. The technology is completely different to conventional data analysis because it is modeled on human cognitive processes.
As a result, enterprises can extract fast, accurate, cost effective and consistent insight and intelligence from their images.
Definiens is headquartered in Munich, Germany and has offices throughout the United States.
Definiens, Definiens Cellenger, Definiens Cognition Network Technology, Definiens eCognition, Enterprise Image Intelligence and Understanding Images are trademarks or registered trademarks of Definiens. All other names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Press contacts
Definiens AG
Rene Hermes, Vice President Marketing
rhermes@definiens.com
+49 (0)89 231180-11
Lucy Turpin
Communications GmbH
Nina Wenske
PR & MarCom Manager
definiens@lucyturpin.com
+ 49 (0)89 417761-13
(Source Definiens)

GeoVille and University of Wales, Aberystwyth Announced as Winners of Definiens GMES Innovation & Research Awards 2007 — Recognition for most innovative use of Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence. Suite to provide highly automated services for GMES initiative

(April 2007) Definiens, the number one Enterprise Image Intelligence company, has awarded six organizations with the Definiens GMES Innovation & Research Awards 2007. The top-ranking companies received awards and prizes at a ceremony at Lake Starnberg near Munich last week. GeoVille was selected as the winner in the innovation category; the University of Wales, Aberystwyth was chosen as the winner in the research category.
The winners for each of the two categories were selected by a committee consisting of Mark Doherty, Head of Earth Observation Exploitation and Services Division of the European Space Agency, Christine Bernot, Scientific officer, Space Research and Development of the European Commission and Prof. Gerd Binnig, Nobel Laureate and founder of Definiens. The main evaluation criteria were innovation leading to increased automation and standardization, as well as the GMES service roll-out, customer satisfaction and potential cost savings.
“The Definiens GMES Innovation & Research Award is an excellent initiative that highlights brilliant examples where research teams and industry are using Definiens innovative technology to achieve standards of quality and efficiency in GMES services that would not be possible otherwise,” said Mark Doherty, Head of Earth Observation Exploitation and Services Division of the European Space Agency.
Definiens GMES Innovation & Research Award 2007 winners:
Innovation Award
This award recognizes excellence in developing profitable, highly automated operational GMES services based on the Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence Suite. The winner is Austrian-based GeoVille, a company which specializes in providing a wide range of value-added services for remotely-sensed data and GIS applications to commercial and government organizations worldwide. GeoVille has developed a highly automated and standardized urban landcover mapping service which can be rolled out to serve government bodies and European agencies providing highly accurate and harmonized mapping products across country borders.
GeoVille is proud to have been selected as the winner of the Innovation Award, commented Jorgen Weichselbaum, Head of the Technical Department at GeoVille. We appreciate the support we have received from Definiens; their technology is critical in serving our customers and achieving our current level of success. GeoVille is honored to play a key role in GMES services for land applications related to spatial planning and urban mapping. Our efforts underline the overall goal of GMES for an effective, operational program that will deliver harmonized and standardized applications to regional, national and European customers for cross-border usage.
Research Award
This award recognizes an institute which performed superior research based on the Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence Suite. The winner is the University of Wales, Aberystwyth which has developed a cost-efficient mapping of natural habitats based on multi-temporal satellite imagery. The fully automated image analysis provides detailed and highly accurate information about Welsh habitats. The application has very high potential for successful deployment in other areas within Great Britain, possibly covering the entire country.
“Organizations such as the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) need to map and monitor habitats and landscapes to see the effects of agricultural policies and the response of biodiversity to climate change,” said Dr. Richard Lucas, Reader at the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. “The use of the Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence Suite gives us a remote sensing-based method that captures our intuitive knowledge of landscape ecology and applies this at a regional scale. This gives us results we can understand and update in a natural way. We are pleased that this important work has been recognized by the Definiens GMES Research Award 2007.”
Thomas Heydler, CEO of Definiens commented, It fills us with great satisfaction to work with these first-class organizations. All the awardees contributed outstanding GMES services based on Definiens technology. We hope that the Award becomes a catalyst inspiring other successful and committed organizations to improve the environment and security for the civilian population in Europe.
In the research category, awards were also given to the TU Bergakademie from Germany and Z_GIS of the University of Salzburg Austria. In the innovation category, awards were handed to Eurosense from Belgium and Planetek Italia. The awards recognize organizations that have delivered exceptional GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) services based on the Enterprise Image Intelligence capabilities provided by Definiens.
GMES is a European initiative which aims at developing and implementing information services based on earth observation and ancillary data. The services are used by environmental agencies, local, regional and national authorities, civilian protection organizations, etc. in dealing with environmental and security issues. New observation techniques and data analysis permit these groups to better anticipate potential threats, to intervene quickly and to increase intervention efficiency.
Definiens in Earth Sciences
Definiens supports organizations focused on Earth Sciences to analyze remote sensing imagery which supports the sustainable management of natural resources, future-proof infrastructure planning and defense and security applications. Definiens enables organizations to correlate image analysis with a variety of intelligence sources, providing deeper insights and faster results for better decisions. Definiens applications are highly scalable, integrate easily into existing environments and support all types and combinations of modern spaceborne and airborne sensors, including SAR, Lidar, panchromatic, infrared, single channel, multispectral and hyperspectral sensors.
About Definiens
Definiens is the number one Enterprise Image Intelligence company for analyzing and interpreting images on every scale, from microscopic cell structures to satellite images. The Definiens Cognition Network Technology, developed by Nobel laureate Prof. Gerd Binnig and his team, is an advanced and robust technology designed to fulfill the image analysis requirements of the Life and Earth sciences markets. The technology is modeled on the powerful human cognitive processes of perception to extract value from images. Definiens provides organizations with faster image analysis results, allowing deeper insights enabling better business decisions. Definiens is headquartered in Munich, Germany and has offices throughout the United States.
(Source Definiens)

In order to fight against illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, the IOC* (Indian Ocean
Commission) chose CLS, worldwide leader of satellite-based environmental data collection,
location and ocean observations, to install a Fishing Monitoring Centre in Moroni, Comoros.

(Jan 2007) Tuna and tuna-like resources are either fully or over-exploited (annual captures of 1.5 million
tonnes with associated value of €3 billion), with foreign fishing nations as the predominant
actors. IUU (Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported) fishing accounts is for approximately 10% of
large pelagic captures (tuna and tuna-like fish species). Meanwhile revenue generation,
employment and food security are of critical importance to the coastal states which would also
like to take a much more active role in the fishery industry.
The IOC decided to start a pilot project for tracking, controlling and monitoring large migratory
pelagics in the Indian Ocean.
In this context, the European Union and the Comoros Islands signed a bilateral fishery
agreement authorizing access to the Comorian seas for European fleets. This exploitation
protocol for halieutic resources will allow 40 European tuna boats and 17 European long-liners
to fish in the Comorian maritime area.
In the spirit of sustainable development and exploitation of marine resources, IOC appoints
CLS for the delivery of a turnkey VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) solution. This project will
permit the Comoros Islands to monitor the activity of foreign fishing vessels operating in
Comorian exclusive economic zone and national vessels operating under licence in
Mozambique.
This solution includes a Fishing Monitoring Centre (infrastructure, administration and fisheries
monitoring software, communication network by satellites, training of the Comorian team etc.),
Argos transmitters for Comorian vessels, and complementary services.
CLS already equips 8,000 fishing vessels of all size all over the world (1,500 vessels in
Indonesia, 900 in Peru, 500 in Japan, etc.). CLS is the only satellite operator in the world able
to master/operate/control all the components of the system. The French company specifies
and certifies Argos transmitters. CLS has been the exclusive Argos system operator since
1978 without any interruption. CLS has already developed and installed numerous Fishing
Monitoring Centres in France, Peru, Seychelles, Madagascar, Russia, Mauritania and more
recently in Chile.
*IOC: Indian Ocean Commission – Members States: Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar and France (Reunion).
Press Release
Press contact:
Amélie PROUST
Tel. +33 5 61 39 37 95
Port. +33 6 62 80 45 92
aproust@cls.fr
CLS
8-10 rue Hermès
Parc Technologique du Canal
31520 Ramonville Saint-Agne
France
+ 33 5.61.39.47.00
+ 33 5.61.39.37.91
(Source CLS)

Fueled by annual growth of
more than 40%, C-CORE continues its impressive growth and will break through the $10
million dollar revenue milestone this fiscal year.

(Jan 2007) Dr. Charles Randell, President and
Chief Executive Officer at C-CORE states “these are exciting times at C-CORE as we
continue to evolve our service offerings throughout the world. For the oil and gas
component of our business, we set an ambitious target to double foreign contracts this
year. Through aggressive marketing, defining our niche and doing excellent work, we
have achieved an increase of over 300%”
.
As C-CORE expands it is successfully
recruiting very highly qualified Newfoundlanders and Labradorians from across the
country and around the world to return home to work and grow, not only C-CORE, but
the province’s reputation as a leading player in the development and provision of
advanced engineering services and solutions.

Based in St. John’s, Newfoundland, C-CORE is a global corporation providing innovative engineering
services in the areas of remote sensing, intelligent systems, ice engineering and geotechnical engineering.
For more information, please contact:
C-CORE
David Gullage
St. John’s
709-737-3593
David.Gullage@c-core.ca
(Source C-CORE)

The French daughter of MFB-GeoConsulting, Geosystems France , made a visit in Messen. During the meeting, the most recent technologies in digital image processing, information extraction from satellite data as well as 3-D visualization were discussed.

Patrice Lemire, managing director of Geosystems France, hailed the excellent cooperation. Processing of geo data requests a very high technological know-how related to hard- and software but also project-specific qualifications of the collaborators. The exchange of experiences enables us to recognize new developments and to react in time.
Michael Baumgartner, managing director of MFB-Geo, pointed out the importance of permanent and continuous training of the collaborators. “The training in the most recent technologies for image processing and web technologies is the base for the success of our enterprise”, said Baumgartner
In the field of Earth observation satellite data and the according technologies for processing of geo data, the cooperation of MFB-Geo with Geosystems France, Geosystems Germany, Geosystems Polska and Geosystems Romania means playing a significant role on the European remote sensing market.
(Source: MFB-Geo)