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EARSC Board is glad to welcome three new Companies in our Association.

On EARSC behalf, we are certain that new Members will contribute actively to the aims of EARSC enthusiastically involved in coordinating and strengthening the Earth-observation chain and promoting the European Earth observation industry in programmes such as GMES and GEOSS.
EARSC Membership is nowadays increasing which encourage us in the Board of Directors to continue to do our best to fulfill the tasks that you as members could expect of the association. On EARSC behalf, Welcome!
More information about new members at:
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.
EARSC Membership
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)

VisioTerra gives advice to companies in their use of Google Earth and develops the tools that can enable them to share geolocalised data within the company, with their partners and with the World.

VisioTerra expertise
VisioTerra was set up in May 2004 and has specialized in Science Consulting for Earth Observation. This encompasses expert support for EO programs, remote sensing training and communication, scientific documentation publishing, quality control assessment of instruments and EO products, new products and instruments specification and prototyping, audits as well as the production of GIS-aimed cartographic products .
Google Earth helps to carry out the synergy of Visioterra skills by providing a shared geolocalised data tool.
VisioTerra assists companies in:
* Google Earth use,
* Definition of the Google Earth integration scheme within their organisation
* Development of business data conversion tools,
* geographic quality control,
* connection to their intranet system,
* supply and treatment of satellite or aerial high resolution data,
* maps geocoding and GPS transfer.
Use cases
Share company’s data
Centralize work sites’ data
« At the beginning of any exploration project, we examine all accessible data about the area of interest. Google Earth can help us to visualize at once all the layers and to list the missing we have to obtain ».
Jean-Paul Xavier, Geomatic service Manager for TOTAL.
VisioTerra advises TOTAL about what Google Earth can offer for Total business: work sites preparation, internal and external communication of results, 3D visualization, importing ArcGis data, crisis management.
Capitalize the company expertise
« We have activities all around the World (Soudan, Afghanistan, Liberia, Irak…) and experts on permanent assignment . For each project, we buy satellite images, we take ground samples, hundreds of photos… we want to use Google Earth as an internal exchange platform. For example,very soon, each expert back from mission will be able to provide the team with his GPS points and associated photos on a dedicated intranet space.»
Muralee Thummarukudy, UN, UNEP Post Conflict Branch, Operations Manager.
VisioTerra has given UN experts a GPS and Google Earth training as well as the development of a methodology adapted to the information sharing needs of the service.
Coordinate partners’ activities
Convene an « emergency think tank »
VisioTerra can convene in less than 3 hours an emergency think tank by finding all needed documents from the company database and accessible informations anywhere in the World in a precise geographic zone.
Visio Terra works with GAEL Consultant to get access to satellite images within the 3 hours following their purchase.
GPS monitoring of work sites progression
« I need to anticipate work sites incidents, for example, I want to follow up the real-time progression of my work sites from my office. »
Nabil RIZK, Quality, Environment and Security service Manager, TSO.
VisioTerra proposes to visualize on Google Earth the movements of all GPS-equipped people and vehicles. By catching data from the control room and importing them into Google Earth, we can follow the progression of different sites at the same time.
Capture diversity
Analyze environmental impact
« We want to quickly identify all the sensitive sites which could be disturbed by our industrial activities. With Google Earth we can confront our GIS data with the available database within the Google Earth users community such as, for example, the UNESCO World Heritage List.»
Magali CLERC, GIS HSE service Manager (Hygiene Security Environment) for TOTAL.
Prepare work sites
« Before beginning a work site project, I would like to gather all the environment data such as schools, administrative boundaries, hospitals, old people’s homes… »
Nabil RIZK, Quality and Environment service Manager, TSO
VisioTerra proposes to set up a qualified database for the clients’ zone of interest.
Manage traceability and expertise
“Play-back” work site progression

« I need to report the progression of the work sites to my managers . It would be interesting. to “playback” a work site progression »
Nabil RIZK, Quality and Environment service Director, TSO.
VisioTerra proposes on top of the archiving work sites data, to create “Playbacks” of projects, which could be played on meetings.
Show and control observation features of satellite images

« When delivering SPOT scene to users we could join together an associated Google Earth file showing how the scene has been observed. »

Didier JACOBBO, SPOT IMAGE.
The DIMAP format provides with the auxiliary data from which the scene centre time, the corners coordinates and ephemeris are extracted. The kmz file that has been produced shows the location of the satellite, the viewing vectors and the quick look that has been mapped on-ground.
Communicate with the World
Google Earth links from your web site
« We have set up projects all around the World. I want to show our clients the diversity of their geographic distribution. »
Philippe MOREAU, Architect, LAPIDEM.
VisioTerra has developed HTML pages that supply Google Earth links. The projects are presented in the Google Earth windows with a link to the project description on the web site.
www.lapidem.fr
Google Earth links from your web site

« I want my clients and suppliers to get an easy access to my offices. »
Serge RIAZANOFF, Director, VisioTerra.
VisioTerra has edited a Google Earth link on its web site in order to locate all its offices.
www.visioterra.fr/contact
(Source VisoTerra)

Earth monitoring is no longer a domain of interest for the specialists. Getting acquainted with the climate change and its impact on growth and development, with the economic challenges of achieving stabilisation of greenhouses in the atmosphere, and with the tools used to monitor the planet, is becoming natural for the common citizen of Planet Earth. This is due in particular both to the huge proportions of the recent natural disasters (tsunamis, floods, global warming,…) and to the quick and large dissemination of data around the globe. But this acquaintance with the environmental problems is now also a fact in the industrial world.
More and more, companies in the insurance, off-shore, food, mining, transport, civil engineering, tourism (to name just a few) sectors are attempting to capitalise on the new information that Earth monitoring techniques are able to provide them with. Slowly but surely more and more systems are being set up to monitor the Earth both in-situ and from remote sensing. The GMES (Global Monitoring Environment and Security) program in Europe and GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) worldwide are clearly now on their way. The first call for proposals in the EU 7th Framework Program Space element is now issued and contains a strong support for GMES. On the European Space Agency side the studies to develop the Sentinels satellites are well under way. On the users side several important meetings will take place in 2007 to advance in this endeavour. The next EURISY meeting (also supported by EARSC) on April 16-17 in Barcelona on “Future Challenges for Local and Regional Authorities: How can Space Technology help”, the ENVISAT symposium in Montreux in April 23-26 and the EARSC meeting on the “In-situ monitoring and Earth observation in the framework of GMES and GEOSS” in the end of May (31st) will all participate to awaken even more the community at large to the issues and to the possible solutions to more effectively protect the Earth and benefit from it.
This year will also be a crucial one to prepare the ESA Ministerial conference of 2008. It will also be the time to prepare for the ESA Value-Adding Element of EOEP 3, which is currently being shaped.
Last but not least EARSC will contribute to this wide scale take-off with its new Working Groups. Their first meeting on January 18th have each been attended by more than twenty members which shows both that our industry is conscious of the challenges ahead and that the companies are ready to be pro-active.
With those encouraging facts we look forward to have you join us in the exciting developments due to unfold in our domain.
With best wishes to you all.
On behalf of the Board
EARSC Chairman

Events and Symposia

Start Date End Date Event Web link Venue
20-sep-04 23-sep-06 4th International Conference on Geographic Inf. Science web Muenster, Germany
25-sep-06 26-sep-06 Geo.information for Disaster Management web Goa, India
25-sep-06 27-sep-06 ISPRS Commission V: Image engineering & vision metrology web Dresden, Germany
25-sep-06 29-sep-06 Advanced Training Course in Ocean Remote Sensing web Hamburg, Germany
25-sep-06 29-sep-09 Int. Symposium: Advances in quantitative RS.- RAQRSÍI web Torrent, Spain
26-sep-06 28-sep-06 The ADM- Aeolus workshop web Noordwijk, The Netherlands
26-sep-06 29-sep-06 UFRO Landscape Ecology WG. Consequences of Human management web Bari, Italy
26-sep-06 29-sep-06 URISA´s 44th Annual Conference & Exposition web Vancouver, Canada
28-sep-06 30-sep-06 2nd workshop of EARSeL Special interest group web Bonn, Germany
01-oct-06 08-oct-06 GMOSS summer School web Salzburg, Austria
02-oct-06 06-oct-06 57th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) web Valencia, Spain
01-oct-06 12-oct-06 ENERegion, potentials for renewable energy generation web Salzburg, Austria
03- oct-06 06-oct-06 CEOS SAR cal/val workshop web Edinburgh, UK
04-oct-06 06-oct-06 GIS & RS days web Goettingen, Germany
05-oct-06 06-oct-06 Geographic information facilities supporting the access to
environmental information
web Turku, Finland
10-oct-06 12-oct-06 Intergeo Conference and Trade Fair web Munich, Germany
17-oct-06 19-oct-06 2nd International Workshop “ the Future of Remote
Sensing”
web Antwerp, Belgium
19-oct-06 20-oct-06 GlobWetland Symposium web Frascati, Italy
23-oct-06 25-oct-06 OceanSar 2006 web St.John´s Newfoundland, Canada
26-oct-06 26-oct-06 EUROGI Industry Day web Brussels, Belgium
30-oct-06 02-nov-06 URISA – 3rd GIS event web Bahamas, US
01-nov-06 03-nov-06 Water Resources in the Mediterranean Basin web Tripoli, Lebanon
03-nov-06 11-nov-06 CCT 2006, 9th International Earth Science Congress web Santiago de Chile, Chile
06-nov-06 08-nov-06 GOCE Workshop web Frascati, Italy
09-nov-06 12-nov-06 Earth System Partnerhsip: Global Environmental Change web Beijing, China
06-nov-06 11-nov-06 GSDI Conference web Santiago, Chile
13-nov-06 14-nov-06 Int. Symposium on Geoinformatics in European Nature Protection
Regions
web Dresden, Germany
20-nov-06 21-nov-06 TIGER Workshop 2006 web Cape Town, South Africa
20-nov-06 24-nov-06 Australasian RS & Photogrammetry Confenrece web Canberra, Australia
23-nov-06 25-nov-06 EUROGI Workshop on Addresses web Rome, Italy
27-nov-06 28-nov-06 ESA-EUSC 2006: Image Information Mining for Security and Intelligence web Madrid, Spain
27-nov-06 02-dec-06 Int. Conference on Remote Sensing in Archaeology web Rome, Italy
04- Dec-06 04-dec-06 Wshop Harmonization of forest and land cover clasifications web Dehrandun, India
04-dec-06 05-dec-06 RS for Earth Resources; exploration, extraction &
environmental impacts
web London, UK
04-dec-06 05-dec-06 HALO project web Reading, UK
04-dec-06 06-dec-06 WK on Geostationary Fire Monitoring & Applications web Darmstadt, Germany
05-dec-06 06-dec-06 Advanced RF Sensors for Earth Observation web Noordwijk, The Netherlands
05-dec-06 07-dec-06 ICSSEA 2006, Software & Systems Engineering and applications web Paris, France
06-dec-06 07-dec-06 International Symposium on Operational Applications web Toulouse, France
22-jan-07 26-jan-07 POLinSAR 2007 web ESRIN, Frascati, Italy
07-feb-07 09-feb-07 Int. Workshop on Remote Sensing of Vegetation Fluorescence web Florence, Italy
06-apr-07 07-apr-07 27th EARSeL Sympos “Geoinformation in Europe” web Bolzano, Italy
11-apr-07 13-apr-06 High resolution Earth Imaging for Geospatial Information web Paris, France
23-apr-07 25-apr-07 5th EARSeL SIG-IS work “ Imaging spectroscopy:
innovation in environmental research”
web Bruges, Belgium
23-apr-07 26-apr-07 EarthCARE Workshop web Frascati, Italy
23-apr-07 27-apr-07 Envisat Symposium web Montreux, Switzerland
29-may-07 01-jun-07 ISPRS: High resolution Earth Imaging for geospatial information web Hannover, Germany
03-jul-08 11-jul-08 XXI congress, Int. Society for Photogrammetry & RS web Beijing, China

The Microsoft Virtual Earth Platform is an integrated set of services that combines unique bird’s eye, aerial, and satellite imagery with best-of-breed mapping, location and search functionality. It enables businesses to deliver innovative solutions and breakthrough customer experiences.

Author: Mark Cattini
The high-speed growth of our industry in the last few years shows that the “location intelligence” story is still finding many new readers and listeners. This, of course, is not news to readers of Directions, but “where” is an absolutely critical factor in strategic and operational decisions in virtually all business and public sector organizations. Using economics, demographics, physical geography and other data pertaining to location can yield business insights of extraordinary value in fields ranging from financial services to wireless network planning. We are in a period of rapidly evolving market conditions and technological innovation, and achieving the promised increase in productivity depends upon the adoption of key standards.
When people first learn about geospatial technologies, they are typically amazed to see what a rich set of capabilities lies underneath those appealing maps on the computer screen. Our industry offers an extraordinary set of user-friendly tools for analyzing data and providing easy-to-understand representations of those data that show their underlying but hidden dynamics. Terms like “spatial database operations,” “proximity analysis,” “location-based services,” and “vector overlays on Earth images” are not part of the average person‘s vocabulary. But knowledgeable advocates of spatial intelligence don‘t need much time to show the average person how such capabilities can be applied in solutions to a wide variety of problems.
Organizations change when they begin to see the location components of their data as a hidden asset that can be applied broadly. Working with better intelligence means working more efficiently, providing better service and becoming more competitive. Employees who learn to “think spatially,” with geospatial tools at their fingertips, continue to find new ways to apply those tools and make better use of an organization‘s custom data.
But not all the data are in one place. Within even a relatively small enterprise, it is likely that different kinds of corporate data have been created using different systems, and the data are often stored in different systems. Also, many solutions require additional data that may need to be obtained from data vendors, government data suppliers or business partners.
Particularly with the advent of the Internet and the Web, users who need more data cannot be expected to be content with time-consuming bulk data acquisition and conversion. Consequently, we at MapInfo have worked with users and our competitors in the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) for a decade to address the compelling need for direct communication between software products and online services, regardless of vendor, internal data format, operating system or system architecture. The OGC membership has developed standards – OpenGIS Specifications – that, when implemented in products, make it easy for users to extract the full geospatial value of corporate data stored, for example, in Oracle, DB2 or SAP systems. We have made it easy to integrate spatial capabilities with Web services that employ technologies like XML and Java.
All of this expands the market, of course, which benefits both vendors and users. Open geospatial standards enable new capabilities that no single vendor could invent and market. The OGC‘s “aggregation” of technology providers and major users in an open and formal consensus process makes the OGC the natural forum for initiatives such as the Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) and Geospatial Digital Rights Management (GeoDRM). SWE provides a comprehensive standards platform for Web-resident sensors and imaging devices of all kinds, making such devices and their live and archived data potentially discoverable and usable via standard Web technologies. GeoDRM provides a geospatial digital rights management framework that supports all varieties of for-fee and for-free data and service provision, a key requirement for National Spatial Data Infrastructure development.
The OGC also has an active working group that addresses the difficult but imperative harmonization of standards critical to industries involved in the planning, construction, sale and management of buildings and physical infrastructure: CAD, geospatial technologies, 3D visualization, building information models, and industry foundation classes. The richness of this activity and the increasing acceptance of OGC‘s open framework inspire vendors to innovate, specialize, invest in niche markets (whose standards-supported growth justifies the investment) and, in general, work harder to satisfy our customers.
Virtually all application domains have benefited from this progress. In government, for example, there is a longstanding and increasingly acute need for data sharing within and across agencies and jurisdictions, and with constituents. The cost of sharing and analyzing data from multiple sources and managing them across multiple platforms has finally started to go down, which will save taxpayers billions of dollars over the next few years. The critical requirement for interoperability is recognized and built into the Federal Enterprise Architecture and the Geospatial Enterprise Architecture. As “transactional Web Feature Servers” based on the OpenGIS Web Feature Service Implementation Specification come into wider use, even the thorny problem of semantic non-interoperability will become much less problematic.
The benefits of interoperability-leveraged location intelligence extend to retail, finance, health care, hotels, telecommunications, insurance, media, real estate, restaurants, supermarkets and many other markets. e-Commerce business models involving both desktop systems and mobile devices are rapidly incorporating location-based services that implement standards to draw on multiple online data stores and spatial Web services.
This is an exciting time to be involved in the geospatial technology market. Users and providers of these technologies are benefiting from rapid advances in computing power, bandwidth, storage and broadband wireless coverage. Data streams are multiplying in number and in volume as new sensor technologies and tagging technologies (from RFID to GeoRSS) gain traction in diverse markets, and also as organizations begin to mine the geospatial value of “ordinary” data, such as that produced by credit card transactions. The world is catching on to the importance of “where” in information systems. And many of the key standards that make all of this work together are becoming widely implemented, even as new standards are being developed to address new needs.
The call to action is simply this: Become aware of OGC‘s standards; be sure the products you buy implement them; use them in creating solutions; and if it makes sense for your organization, become involved in their continuing development.
(Source: Directionsmag)

Through the analysis of European satellite imagery, researchers estimate 2006 crop yields to be lower than last year. Scientists have determined that the total area affected by the prevailing drought and heat waves is growing.

It appears Europe‘s farmers will have to ready themselves for a lighter harvest for a second year in a row. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission released updated assessments of European crop yield figures for 2006 indicating a probable decrease in production. This year‘s total cereal production is expected to reap 9 million tonnes, a 3.6% drop compared to last year‘s figures.
According to the report produced by The Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen of the JRC, those countries most affected by the lower than expected yield are Germany, Poland, UK, France and Italy. In terms of individual crops, Poland and Italy stand to lose the most with a 13.4% loss for soft wheat and 25.3% loss for sugar beets respectively. The only crop projected to do better this year than last is durum wheat, with a potential increase of 2%.
These results come from the Commission-funded Crop and Yield Monitoring Action also known as MARS STAT (Monitoring Agriculture with Remote Sensing techniques) project. MARS STAT activities are now part of the AGRIFISH Unit of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the Commission, after being merged with the FISHREG action in June 2004.
The MARS-STAT project originated in 1988 as a way to apply developing satellite technologies to crop areas and yields. Throughout the years it has expanded to provide data concerning efficient and effective management of the EU‘s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), (MARS-PAC Action), foreign aid programs (MARS-FOOD), as well comparable data for the fishing industries. It helps with decision making at the European level by providing lawmakers with the most accurate data available. MARS STAT during FP6 received a budget of around €1.5 million.
The loss in the year‘s output can be attributed to the July heat waves and the continued drought plaguing most of Europe. Current harvest expectations are below the 2001-2005 averages, though not as severe as the conditions experienced during the particularly devastating heat wave in summer 2003. This year‘s harvest is expected be 7% larger than what was collected after that scorching summer.
Even though total yield is above the 2003 numbers, the geographic area affected by lower crop production has increased. This is due to regions in the higher latitudes being hit by higher temperatures earlier in the season when winter crops are in their most sensitive stages of development, i.e. ripening and maturity. However, water shortages didn‘t arrive until later in the year, so overall loss of production is less severe.
Dry conditions also lead to the depletion of water reservoirs and affected permanent forage areas. In response to the ongoing drought, the Commission has exceptionally voted to allow farmers in the most affected regions to open land for feeding where it is normally not permitted.
MARS technology has also proven to be effective outside of crop forecasting. For example, satellite images can also be used in enforcing antifraud initiatives. If a farmer receives subsidies for agreeing not to plant crops in order for natural habitat to take root, MARS can verify if he is indeed holding up his end of the bargain. Such information is useful for politicians when trying to optimise allocation of benefits. Specific techniques used by MARS to monitor crop and yield activity include: agro-meteorological models (Crop Growth Monitoring System – CGMS), low resolution remote sensing methods and area estimates using high resolution data combined with ground surveys.
(Source Europa)

European companies have adjusted their investment strategies to place greater emphasis on research and development, a Commission survey indicates.

The recent survey asks European companies how they see their investment in research and development to progress over the next three years, and respondents indicated that they are planning a much greater increase of R&D investment than in the past.
The report shows that, on average, companies plan to increase their investment in research 5% per year over the next three years. That is in stark contrast to present investment strategies. Current figures contained in the 2005 Scoreboard show that R&D investment increased just 0.7% in 2003-2004.
The survey is the first of its kind giving researchers and policy makers reliable figures of R&D prospects across the EU and across different industry sectors.
The survey, carried out by Seville based JRC think tank The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies as part of the Industrial Research & Innovation Action polled 449 companies from all across Europe operating in ten different industries. The Commission received responses from some of the most important European industry sectors including: automobiles, chemicals, electronics, engineering machinery, food producers, health, IT hardware, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, among others.
The companies who responded to the survey represent nearly €30 billion worth of investment, a significant portion of privately funded research found in Europe.
“If we are to reach our objective of investing 3% of GDP in research and development, we need increased investment by the private sector,” said Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for Science and Research, in a statement. “For this reason the results of this survey are encouraging. We need to maintain and reinforce our efforts at European and national level to make Europe an attractive place for companies to carry out their research. The Commission will be coming forward with some more ideas in this area in autumn 2006.”
One significant difference between FP7 and previous programmes is to encourage greater participation by the private sector in investing in European R&D.
The main reasons for increasing R&D investment include changes in market demand for new products and services, changes in technological opportunities, and changes in company turnover or profit.
When deciding where geographically to place their investment money, industry representatives indicated that access to markets proved to be the deciding factor. Other reasons influencing decisions on where to invest were high availability of researchers, access to specialised R&D knowledge and results, macroeconomic and political stability, and R&D cooperation opportunities.
Despite much ink being spilled during the recent EU enlargement phase about the outsourcing of jobs to the east, labour cost for researchers proved to be of lesser importance. In terms of investing in research personnel, companies seem to understand that quality has a price.
The report also shows that companies prefer to keep investment in their home countries. Germany is the most popular hub for European R&D, followed by the United Kingdom and France. When research is outsourced beyond EU borders, the US is by far most popular, with China a distant second and India coming in third.
Clearly some sectors are expecting to invest more than others. According to the report, of the 449 companies responding to the survey, those from the pharmaceuticals/biotechnology and chemicals sectors represent 60% of the total investment, or around €18 billion.
If such rosy figures are to be believed, for the first time in several years European R&D is expected to do at least as well as that in the United States. The report warns against reading too much into the data, however, saying it is possible that only those companies planning large investment may have responded to the survey, skewing results.
The engineering and machinery sector stands to see the largest percentage increase over current investment. The report shows that over the next three years investment there could be augmented by up to 12% p.a.
The EU Survey on R&D Investment Business Trends was carried out by the European Commission as part of the Commission‘s Industrial Research Investment Monitoring (IRIM) project.
(Source Europa)

ESA announces a new science strategy for the future direction of its Living Planet Programme, addressing the continuing need to further our understanding of the Earth System and the impact that human activity is having.

The Changing Earth: New Scientific Challenges for ESA‘s Living Planet Programme focuses on the most fundamental challenge facing humanity at the beginning of the 21st century – that being global change. As we begin to understand more about the Earth as a system, it is very apparent that human activity is having a profound and negative impact on our environment. For example, our understanding of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, and the strong link between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature both point to human activity leading to a warmer world, unlike anything seen over the last million years. A better knowledge of the Earth System and the impact that increasing human activity is having is of crucial importance in providing the basis for the management of our environment and our ability to derive sustainable benefit.
Since observing the Earth from space first became possible more than forty years ago, satellite missions have become central to monitoring and learning about how the Earth works. Looking to the future, the new strategy for ESA‘s Living Planet Programme aims to assess the most important Earth-science questions to be addressed in the years to come. It outlines the observational challenges that these raise, and the contribution that the Agency can make through the programme. Volker Liebig, ESA Director of Earth Observation stated, “These challenges will guide ESA’s efforts in providing essential Earth-observation information to all relevant user communities, in close cooperation with our international partners.”
Underpinning the new strategy is a set of ambitious objectives, which include:
* Launch a steady flow of missions addressing key issues in Earth science.
* Provide an infrastructure to allow satellite data to be quickly and efficiently exploited in areas of research and applications.
* Provide a unique contribution to global Earth Observation capabilities, complementing satellites operated by other agencies and in-situ observing systems.
* Provide an efficient and cost-effective process whereby science priorities can be rapidly translated into space missions, adequately resourced with associated ground support.
* Support the development of innovative approaches to instrumentation.
ESA has been dedicated to observing the Earth from space ever since the launch of its first meteorological mission, Meteosat, back in 1977. Following the success of this first mission, the subsequent series of Meteosat satellites developed by ESA and operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), together with ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat have been providing us with a wealth of invaluable data about the Earth, its climate and changing environment.
Since its conception in the 1990s, ESA‘s Living Planet Programme has grown to include the family of Earth Explorers, the well-established meteorological missions and the development of the space component for GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), which is a joint initiative between the European Commission and ESA.
When the Living Planet Programme was first established a new approach to satellite observations for Earth science was formed by focusing on the missions being defined, developed and operated in close cooperation with the science community. By involving the science community right from the beginning in the definition of new missions and introducing a peer-reviewed selection process, it is ensures that a resulting mission is developed efficiently and provides the exact data required by the user. So far, this approach has resulted in the selection six Earth Explorer missions with another six currently under assessment study. Two Earth Explorer satellites are scheduled for launch next year – GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) and SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity).
While the Earth Explorer series forms the science and research element of the Living Planet Programme the so-called Earth Watch element is designed to facilitate the delivery of Earth-observation data for use in operational services. Earth Watch includes the well-established meteorological missions with EUMETSAT and new missions focusing on the environment and civil security under GMES. Within this element of the programme, the MetOp mission, which was jointly established by ESA and EUMETSAT, will be Europe‘s first polar-orbiting weather satellite when it is launched in October.
Although the Earth Watch element of the programme is designed to provide data that underpins operational services, it will also contribute significantly to Earth science, in particular through the collection of longer time series of observations than those provided by research missions. In turn, the Earth Explorers will provide new understanding that paves the way for new operational services. This synergy is also highlighted in the Living Planet Programme‘s strategy for the coming years.
With the Living Planet Programme‘s new strategy in place, ESA will build on past success by continuing to play a central role in developing the global capacity to understand planet Earth, predict environmental changes and help mitigate the negative effects of global change on the population.

Valere Moutarlier explains how the European Commission’s ‘GMES Bureau’ is developing a federated and structured demand for Earth Observation (EO) data and information, and promoting fast-track GMES services for 2008.

“The primary objective of the GMES Bureau is to ensure the delivery of fast track EO services by 2008,” explains GMES Bureau Head Valere Moutarlier. “To do so, we first have to get all of the potential users of these services to come together, to create a federated demand, starting within the Commission itself.”
The structure of the Bureau is unique, gathering staff from the Commission’s Directorates-General for Enterprise and Industry, Research, Environment, Information Society, Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, as well as the Joint Research Centre.
Speaking at the Bureau’s 1 June 2006 launch, Commission Vice-President Verheugen said, “Through its conceptual and technical expertise, the GMES Bureau can properly identify the needs and coordinate the GMES related activities of the whole Commission.”
Unique challenge, unique team
Moutarlier says the Bureau’s pan-Commission staff reflects its special role: “While we are a new unit within the Directorate-General for Enterprise, the Bureau was proposed jointly by Vice-President Verheugen, Research Commissioner Potocnik and Environment Commissioner Dimas. Our staff represents all users of GMES services within the European Commission.”
Moutarlier also says part of his role is being a good listener. “We have to remember that GMES is and should be a user-driven project and therefore we have to be receptive to the views and concerns of our partners and stakeholders. Our role is to nurture a spirit of pan-Commission and pan-European teamwork and exchange.”
Widening scope
Recognising the importance of GMES, the EU has set the goal of delivering operational and autonomous GMES services by 2008. These initial ‘fast-track’ services are to include land, marine and emergency response services. Three implementation groups are now busy developing draft guidelines for each of these three services, to be delivered by the end of 2006.
At the same time, the Bureau is also pushing forward on medium-term issues such as the GMES governance structure and longer-term financial sustainability. “Ultimately,” says Moutarlier, “the Bureau’s tasks will include developing proposals for managing GMES service provision beyond the Commission. This will include other EU institutions and bodies, Member States and intergovernmental organisations such as ESA, EUMETSAT, and EUSC.”
More information: * GMES website *
Valere Moutarlier +32 2 296 2162
(Source Europa)

On 22 September 2006, the European Commission released the Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection to tackle soil degradation in the European Union.

In its document aimed at ensuring a sustainable use of soil, the European Commission pleads for the integration of soil protection in the formulation and implementation of national and Community policies.
Against this background, the European Commission proposed a framework Directive requiring Member States to identify, describe and assess the impact of some sectorial policies on soil degradation process with a view to protect soil functions.
Soil Protection is one of the European Policies to be addressed by GMES. Most particularly the land fast-track services will be a useful instrument to support aims and methods set out by this Thematic Strategy.