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Jacqueline McGlade, the Executive Director of the European Environmental Agency called for a comprehensive, integrated and sustained infrastructure for observation and early warning to apprehend natural disasters.

On 20 March 2006, in front of an audience attending a European Parliament Joint Public Hearing on “Natural Disasters – How should Europe respond?”, Jacqueline McGlade, the Executive Director of the European Environmental Agency called for a comprehensive, integrated and sustained infrastructure for observation and early warning to apprehend natural disasters. She also warned on long term gaps if financial mechanisms are not quickly put in place to build and implement satellites and in-situ observing systems.
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Chair,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have heard eloquent testimony this afternoon from the representatives of victims of natural disasters. I am very grateful that the European Environment Agency (EEA) has been invited to add its voice to this important joint hearing on how Europe should respond.
In the time available I would like to address three issues:
First, what are the facts? What do we know about the occurrence of floods, fires and droughts in Europe in recent years?
Second, what can we say about some of the drivers of recent phenomena? Without over-stating the scientific case, I will say a few words here about climate change.
And third, what can we say about the alert systems we have in place to forewarn us and to allow us to take action – where possible – to minimise the effects of natural disasters.
The Facts
So let us start with some facts; In 2003 the European Environment Agency produced a report “Mapping the impacts of recent natural disasters and technological accidents in Europe”. Copies of this report have been made available for this hearing.
The report looked beyond floods, fires and droughts to also focus on storms, landslides, snow avalanches as well as technological accidents such as oil spills, industrial accidents and mining accidents.
Although the report did not try to discern trends in extreme events themselves, for instance whether they are becoming more frequent, it did map the human, economic and environmental impacts of such events in Europe over the period 1998-2003.
So what has been happening in terms of floods, fires and droughts in the last couple of years?
Flooding:
Between 1998 and 2005, Europe suffered about 100 damaging floods causing some 700 fatalities, the displacement of about half a million people and at least 25 billion EUR in insured economic losses.
Around 1.5 % of the population of Europe was affected.
Looking at the flood events recorded between 1975 and 2005 in EM-DAT, the number of flood events per year increased over the period. However, the number of deaths per flood event decreased somewhat, probably due to improved warning and rescue systems.
Fires:
Turning to the subject of fires, in the five Mediterranean Member States of what was the EU-15 – France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain – the area burnt in forest fires has varied between 200 000 and 600 000 hectares a year over the past 25 years.
In that period the total number of fires reported has risen sharply from around 20 000/year to 60 000/year, although this may partly reflect improved reporting procedures.
The summer of 2003 was particularly bad for forest fires in much of southern Europe.
Portugal, for example, experienced its worst forest fire season in 23 years as at least 215 000 hectares (5.6 % of its total forest area) burned. Forest fires often claim human victims, not least among fire fighters. The summer 2003 fires in Portugal, for instance, caused 15 deaths.
Economic losses generated by fires are estimated at 1 000-5 000 euro/hectare burnt but this figure may underestimate other costs such as landscape loss, with consequences for rural and eco-tourism, that are much harder to quantify. The Portuguese government has estimated the cost of the summer 2003 fires at 925 million euros.
Droughts:
Turning now to droughts, over the past decade severe episodes have taken place across Europe. This is not a phenomenon isolated in a few Member States. Droughts have occurred from Finland to Portugal and from the United Kingdom to Greece.
In the summer of 2003, for example, record low water flows were recorded in the River Danube in Bulgaria. Other European rivers, such as the Rhine, also had unusually low water levels. This situation contrasted with heavy flooding the summer before.
In Europe, droughts do not trigger famines and so they do not kill people. However, human, environmental and economic impacts can be devastating, especially when droughts are associated with heat waves. The fatal effects of heat waves were demonstrated during the summer of 2003, when temperatures in some areas (France, western Germany, south-west England) climbed to record highs. A heat wave across much of Europe during August 2003, considered the warmest August month on record in the northern hemisphere, claimed possibly as many as 35 000 lives, with France alone recording almost 15 000 deaths, mostly among elderly people.
The Science
These are some of the facts. But what does the science tell us?
It is not the role of the European Environment Agency to stand before you and make predictions of doom. If we take a longer time perspective, we see that Europe has always experienced floods, fires and droughts. But our analysis tells us that the pattern of land use in Europe means that we are exposing ourselves more to risk to natural disasters than in the past. In other words, our behaviour puts us at risk – we are living on and cultivating space which is more susceptible to natural disasters.
Climate Change
Climate change is of course an area in which we can say more. Four months ago, in December 2005 EEA published a report and a briefing on adaptation to climate change in Europe.
In Europe, mountain regions, coastal zones, wetlands and the Mediterranean region are particularly vulnerable. Although there could be some positive effects, many impacts are likely to be adverse. Existing adaptive measures are concentrated in flood defence, so there is considerable scope for adaptation planning and implementation in other areas, such as public health, water resources and management of ecosystems.
It is also becoming increasingly accepted that climate change is behind the increase in extreme weather events.
For example, climate change is likely to increase the frequency of extreme flood events in Europe, in particular the frequency of flash floods, which have the highest risk of fatality.
I have already mentioned the summer heat wave of 2003. It is very likely that greenhouse gases have doubled the risk of summer temperatures as hot as 2003.
For example, it is estimated that such a heat wave is now four times more likely. By 2050 every second summer could be as hot as 2003.
The observation and warning Infrastructure
So, to echo the title of this hearing – “how should Europe respond”?
I will leave it to others to speak about the new climate change programme, flood defences, financial solidarity mechanisms, forest fire monitoring, civil protection mechanisms and the range of European financial and legislative responses. I would like to use the remainder of the time available to me to address the question of the observation and early warning infrastructure.
Natural disasters will of course continue to take place. In order to best plan for their impact we need to have in place the infrastructure to better understand their causes, to better predict their likely occurrence and to provide early warnings of their onset. Achieving these goals requires that we have in place a comprehensive, integrated and sustained infrastructure for observation and early warning. Since many of the natural disasters of which I have spoken are driven by global rather than local phenomena integrated observation and warning systems are needed at global, regional and local scales.
It would be a disaster of a different sort – but a disaster nonetheless – if we failed to invest in building and sustaining the systems that helps us to understand, predict and respond to catastrophic natural events.
This infrastructure is complex and of necessity multinational. Maintenance of existing systems and the implementation of new improved capability depend of long-term funding and global collaboration. Neither should be taken for granted.
At present large elements of the infrastructure needed to achieve effective long-tern integrated observation and early warning are at an experimental or pre-operational stage and are funded from research budgets rather than being treated as critical infrastructure. Despite this, these capabilities already form a critical part of our observation and early warning infrastructure which is sometimes taken for granted. Unless financial mechanisms are quickly put into place to ensure long-term operation we are likely to find that critical gaps appear – gaps that may take long time to fill given the time taken to build and implement satellite observing systems and complex in-situ observation networks.
Divergent national policies on sharing of data and information also threaten to undermine capability. We must rise above these differences if we are to build and sustain the best possible capacity to observe the Earth and respond effectively to the threat of natural disasters that have no respect for national boundaries.
(Credits EEA)

The European Commission is to boost resources devoted the development of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative. In a decision taken on 8 March 2006, the Commission has established a new focal point for its GMES-related activities.

To be known as the GMES Bureau, the new body will be responsible for creating an implementation strategy for GMES, developing a federated and structured demand for GMES services across the Commission and promoting GMES to both stakeholders and the wider general public.
The Bureau’s pan-Commission role will be reflected in its staffing. While it will comprise a new unit within the Directorate-General for Enterprise, the decision itself has been proposed jointly by Vice-President Günter Verheugen and Commissioners Janez Potocnik and Stavros Dimas. Staff working within or associated with the Bureau will be drawn from several Directorates-General, including users of GMES services, such as the Agriculture and Rural Development, and Fisheries and Maritime Affairs DGs.
GMES moves up a gear
Set for a 1 June 2006 launch, the Bureau will be guided by a Steering Committee composed of representatives of all Directorates-General with an active interest in GMES. The Commission has already commenced internal recruitment procedures to ensure a timely appointment of the head of the Bureau.
The Commission’s Decision also looks ahead to the next phase of the GMES initiative. The Bureau’s tasks will include developing proposals for managing GMES service provision beyond the Commission to include other EU institutions and bodies. The Bureau should therefore have the capability to encompass other participants, including the Member States.
(Credits Europa)

Sympoisum on Key Trends and Challenges in the Global Marketplace, September 2006

Don’t miss this opportunity to network and be a part of an international dialogue
on:
• Commercial Remote Sensing Policy
• The Business Landscape of Commercial Remote Sensing
• What’s next? Bringing Commercial Remote Sensing to Market
• Commercial Remote Sensing in a Global Context: Trends from Outside the U.S.
• The Role of Commercial Remote Sensing in Natural Disaster Assessment and Response
GEOSS and the Commercial Remote Sensing Sector
• The Industry View: An International Dialogue with CEOs
When?
September 13-15, 2006
Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC
Event details can be found at: www.CRSSymposium.com

A frieze depicting planet Earth, assembled from satellite pictures on a scale of 1:1,000,000,000 will be unfurled around UNESCO’s Paris Headquarters as part of the Organization’s 60th birthday celebrations.

The “Belle île en ciel” exhibition, which offers visitors a voyage around the world in 600 metres, has been opened on 29 March (5p.m.) by Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director-General of the European Space Agency; and Jean Mallot, President of Vulcania European Park.
The exhibition, supported by the European Space Agency, the Parc européen Vulcania, PlanetObserver, Spot Image, RATP (Paris public transport authority) and L’Express magazine, raises awareness of the Earth’s fragility. Assembled from pictures in the PlanetObserver database, the frieze will go on display with 60 panels illustrating the major challenges facing humanity and the protection of its heritage; from water cycle management to biodiversity, pollution, deforestation, global warming and natural disasters, as well as education, communication, dialogue between civilizations and the preservation of human cultures.
Humanity’s most important heritage is the Earth, “a beautiful island in the sky” where, for better or worse, over 6.5 billion people live. The advent of observation satellites has helped to raise awareness of our home planet’s limits. Study of our environment, using satellites such as Meteosat, ERS and the ESA’s Envisat polar platform, has helped to shed light on major climate changes underway. The data gathered enables scientists to model those changes’ long-term impact. To improve and feed the models, the ESA has set up satellite projects in the framework of the “Living Planet” programme intended to enhance our knowledge about such major issues as ocean circulation, ocean salinity, atmospheric dynamics and the melting of the polar ice caps. In addition, with the European Union it is planning the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) initiative in order to coordinate observations from space for the protection of the environment and people.
The themes dealt with in the exhibition highlight the issues on which UNESCO and the ESA have been cooperating since 2000. Those projects use aerospace technologies to meet humanitarian needs, protect the environment, manage natural disasters, improve education and preserve culture. The satellites’ global coverage and ability to fly over the same regions on a regular basis make them a key tool for managing the planet.
In 2001, for example, the ESA and UNESCO launched the BEGo (Build Environment for Gorillas) project, which uses optical imagery and radar by satellite to help protect mountain gorilla habitats in Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo. Special products have been developed from the data in cooperation with the main organizations involved in protecting the gorillas, such as the WWF, International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) and WildLife Conservation Society.
In 2002, after the Johannesburg World Summit for Sustainable Development, the ESA and UNESCO launched the TIGER initiative, which uses satellite data to manage water resources in Africa. Designed to meet Africa’s water needs, TIGER brings together over 150 organizations – water agencies, remote detection centres and universities — that take part in its various activities, workshops and training sessions. In this way, TIGER supports decision-making processes and contributes to technical, human and institutional capacity-building to ensure sustainable water resources management.
Since 2003, the ESA has also participated in the protection of the 812 World Heritage Sites, under a cooperation agreement that enables UNESCO to use satellite data to help monitor and manage the sites
Contact
Press Relations Section,
tel. +33 (0)1 45 68 17 06
(Credits UNESCO)

Earth‘s wetlands are vital to the water cycle and havens for wildlife, but they are under threat. GlobWetland, an ESA-led initiative in collaboration with the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, has been addressing this issue by using satellite imagery to provide detailed wide-area views of individual wetlands to aid national and local conservation efforts.

Because the success of wetland conservation ultimately comes down to individual wetland managers, the GlobWetland products and services are user-oriented and based on specific requests of users across 50 sites in 21 countries worldwide.
Based on user requirements, GlobWetland products include base maps, land use-land cover (LULC) maps and change detection maps – with historical Earth Observation (EO) satellite images being compared with current acquisitions to see what changes have occurred during the last ten years or more.
Integrating the EO-derived products and services into the user’s traditional working procedures requires training to secure capacity building and to achieve a well-defined amount of competence. This is especially important in Africa where the lack of updated geo-information and the inefficient in-situ monitoring networks hinder the conservation efforts of wetland managers and water authorities.
In support of all African countries participating in the project, GlobWetland – which is funded by ESA’s Data User Element (DUE) – hosted a five-day training seminar, developed jointly by Wetlands International and Vexcel, last week from 24-28 April in Lake Naivasha, Kenya, for users to understand and integrate the EO-derived products and services into their work.
Participants from Algeria, Egypt, Lake Chad, Senegal, South Africa and Kenya attended the training which featured lectures, ‘hands-on’ work with sample products and field work methods carried out in an area adjacent to the training facility.
Remote Sensing Officer for the Lake Chad Basin Commission Garba Sambo Hassan, said: “The training has been really stimulating. I used to perform these tasks manually, which is tedious and cumbersome. I am now anxious to get back to the office and use these products to update my past work. It is marvellous.”
The seminar also sought to help African users critically assess their requirements, suggest new products, identify inefficiencies and take over the process. All the training materials were consolidated on a CD and given to all African end users at the close of the session. In addition, all attendees received an ESA TIGER initiative training kit. GlobWetland makes up an integral part of the TIGER initiative, which focuses on the use of EO data for improving water resource management in Africa.
Abundant water makes wetlands the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth, more productive even than tropical rainforests. Unlike rainforests, they are scattered across the world, providing regional flood and erosion prevention, water purification and nutrient recycling.
For much of the 20th Century, wetlands were drained or otherwise degraded. However, growing understanding of the vital importance of wetlands led to the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 1971.
Today more than 1 424 wetlands – a total area of 129 million hectares – have been designated as Wetlands of International Importance. The Ramsar Convention‘s 145 national signatories have committed to maintaining the ecological character and are obliged to report on the state of listed wetlands they have designated.
(Credits ESA)

Validity of the Politecnico di Milano’s European Patent No. 1,183,551 entitled “Process for Radar Measurement of the Movement of City Area and Landsliding Zones”

March
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Tele-Rilevamento Europa s.r.l., Dr. Alessandro Ferretti, Managing Director of TRE, is pleased to announce to its customers that the validity of the Politecnico di Milano’s European Patent No.
1,183,551 entitled “Process for Radar Measurement of the Movement of
City Area and Landsliding Zones”
was upheld by the European Patent Office in Munich, Germany, on 16 March 2006.
TRE is the leading global provider of commercial InSAR processing services. A spin-off company of Polimi, it has the global exclusive license to use PSInSAR™. In its own right, it is developing proprietary software, software systems and hardware to enhance PS analysis. TRE’s services have been used throughout Europe, in North America and in Asia.
(Credits TRE)

Officially opened in early February, the satellite receiving station on CNES-CSG Montabo hill in Cayenne, French Guiana, is now receiving ASAR images from ESA’s Envisat radar satellite and from the CNES‘s SPOT 2, SPOT 4 and SPOT 5 optical satellites.

Receiving terminals and an image processing centre have been set up at the unit belonging to France’s IRD1 development research institute near the receiving antenna, where a joint IRD-Spot Image team is managing operations.
This receiving station is an exceptional source of data for French Guiana, unique in South America. It will make it possible to build up a large bank of satellite imagery, in particular to enhance understanding and monitoring of the dynamics driving change in the Amazon and Caribbean environments, and to gain closer insights into ecosystems, manage natural resources and support land-planning decisions.
This technology platform set up by IRD was co-funded chiefly by the French Guiana regional council, CNES, the French government and European funds (ERDF2), and is being operated under a close scientific partnership between IRD and Spot Image. The other project partners are the French Guiana general council, the Université des Antilles et de la Guyane, the French Guiana university cluster, ESA and the Guyane Technopole association.
The SEAS3 receiving station in Cayenne has a threefold objective:
• give French Guiana and its universities a technology platform providing local capabilities to exploit satellite imagery and integrate it in all application areas where it is needed
• meet the demand for imagery in a region where frequent cloud cover calls for repeated acquisitions to piece together a clear picture of territories
• launch concrete application projects involving the research community, local authorities and industry
A permanent call for projects will allow the Guianese scientific community, local authorities and government agencies to propose applications using imagery collected in French Guiana and made available by the project partners.
Training and technology exploitation involving public organizations and ground-breaking firms are an important feature of the project. It is hoped that this effort will encourage teams in French Guiana to participate in national and international programmes, spur regional cooperation—particularly with regions in northern Brazil—and create the conditions to nurture value-added firms working on Amazon applications.
1 Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
2 European Regional Development Fund
3 Surveillance de l’Environnement Amazonien par Satellite
(Credits Spot Image)

A satellite-based rapid mapping service developed to support civil defence activities in eastern France is ready and on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The pioneering service has been designed to manage flood events – the world‘s most widespread category of natural disaster.

Optical satellite view of the Meuse River flooding the town of Sedan
during 4 January 2002. This SPOT image shows urbanised areas in red,
and towns under threat named and indicated. A new ESA-backed service
provides satellite-derived flood maps for civil protection across
France‘s Eastern defence zone, covering 18 departments. This image was
produced by project partner SERTIT. Credits: SERTIT
A satellite-based rapid mapping service developed to support civil defence activities in eastern France is ready and on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The pioneering service has been designed to manage flood events – the world´s most widespread category of natural disaster.

As well as being applied to risk assessment and prevention efforts, the ESA-backed Flood Plain Monitoring Service aims to deliver map products to end users within six hours during times of crisis, giving emergency responders the ability to track the full extent of floods as they occur.

Developed over three years through the ESA Earth Observation Market Development (EOMD) programme, the service was consolidated with the France‘s Eastern Defence Zone (EDZ), which is made up of 18 departments with a total area of 105 000 sq. km and a population of 8.3 million people. It also includes four major hydrological basins potentially vulnerable to flooding. The service provider is Strasbourg–based rapid mapping specialist firm SERTIT, with the EDZ Prefecture as partner end-user.
“We are one of France‘s seven national civil defence zones,” explained Colonel François Maurer on behalf of the French Directorate of Civil Defence and Security (DDSC), Chief of Staff (Chef d‘état-major) of the EDZ.
The ESA-backed Flood Plain Monitoring Service has been designed to manage flood events and deliver map products, based on satellite data, giving emergency responders the ability to track the full extent of floods as they occur. Credits: SERTIT
“Our role is to carry out emergency planning, and, in the event of an incident, coordinate the response activities of the various departments. Department prefects are the main decision makers who activate the emergency services but may not have specialist knowledge in the field, so we advise them as needed.”
The service is based on two types of satellite data. High-resolution imagery from optical satellites is combined with satellite radar imagery which can be acquired even at night or through heavy cloud or rainfall.
The large amount of detail found in optical images is used in advance to create reference land cover maps that can be combined when needed with radar images that are highly sensitive to waterlogged surfaces. These images can also be utilised in conjunction with digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from radar data to help model which areas are most at risk.
“We don‘t mind which satellites are used, we just want the maps,” said Colonel Maurer. “Our key issue is time – but very quickly the satellite maps give us an impression of the flood extent, and the areas that are affected. The maps can support high-level decision making and the best use possible of human and material resources.
The flooding of the Meuse River Credits: SERTIT
“We can interpret them to see the extent to which the water is going to extend, to help steer our teams around and figure out where best to deploy our pumps and sandbags, where to evacuate first. New buildings may not have made it yet onto standard paper maps, but might still need priority evacuation: hospitals, for example, or homes for the elderly. It is better to perform something like that well in advance rather than when feet are already in the water!”
The service was initially designed for flood crisis mapping, but it was soon realised the products would also be relevant for other flood management phases: the post-crisis clean up, prevention and forecasting. Some 80 agencies involved in flood management within the EDZ – such as regional water agencies and flood forecast services – have therefore been briefed on utilising the service.
During the last decade floods have affected approximately 1.5 billion people – more than 75% of the total number of people reported as affected as natural disasters worldwide. They are catastrophic events affecting large areas at once, which can make them difficult to predict and monitor.
Traditional flood forecasting is carried out using river height and rainfall measurements – often only sparsely available – assimilated into hydrological models. Flood extent is often calculated through historical analysis of maps of past events, or model calculations. ‘Real-time’ flood measurements, if made at all, are carried out through expensive and weather-dependent aerial photography campaigns. Post-crisis damage mapping traditionally relies on ground surveys, projections from population statistics and insurance damage claims.
“One of the objectives is to keep detailed satellite-derived maps of past flood events and their evolution, to build an accurate memory of what has happened across our area of interest,” added Colonel Maurer.
The Flood Plain Monitoring Service has yet to be used in a flood situation within the EDZ, although satellite images are regularly acquired for reference mapping and risk analysis. SERTIT has carried out crisis mapping for a number of flood situations further afield, in locations from Germany to China, often in support of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters, which prioritises the acquisition of satellite imagery for disaster relief operations.
“The use of satellite imagery has recently been added to the operational Civil Protection procedures,” concluded Colonel Maurer. “This integration represents a big achievement for the three years of our activity, and shows how the demand for this type of data is here to stay.”
This achievement has led to the rapid mapping service continuing its development within the framework of ESA‘s Earthwatch GMES Services Elements (GSE), Risk-EOS and Respond, responding to natural disasters and humanitarian aid situations worldwide providing services to the humanitarian aid community to civil defence agencies.
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This activity has been carried out as part of a Flood Plain Monitoring project within ESA‘s EOMD Programme, aimed at strengthening European and Canadian capacities for the provision of geo-information services based mainly on Earth Observation data. To find out more about using Earth Observation for flood mapping, or further opportunities with EOMD, please contact eomd@esa.int.
(Credits ESA- SERTIT)

RSI, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITT Industries, Inc. (NYSE: ITT) announces the upcoming release of a key imagery analysis tool to the ENVI remote sensing exploitation product line, the ENVI Spatial Feature Extraction Module.

This new add-on module to ENVI will automate the process of extracting specific features in high resolution panchromatic and multispectral images. The ENVI Spatial Feature Extraction Module reflects RSI’s commitment to provide imagery analysts and GIS users from the defense and intelligence, planning and natural resources communities with easy-to-use tools for exploiting imagery from commonly available sources.
The ENVI Spatial Feature Extraction Module will provide a suite of tools for extracting linear and area-based features from imagery using both spatial and spectral information. Currently analysts who need to identify occurrences of features in images, such as aircraft, roads, and buildings, must find features manually by analyzing an image pixel by pixel, which is both a time consuming and costly process.
“The new ENVI module will provide imagery analysts, regardless of skill level, with semi-automated tools to quickly extract the information from large images needed to make timely strategic and tactical decisions,” said Dr. Peg Shippert, RSI’s ENVI Technical Product Manager. “This functionality is appealing to users in defense and GIS who need to make critical decisions based on their analyses.”
The ENVI Spatial Feature Extraction Module has a host of applications, particularly in defense, intelligence and GIS. Defense and intelligence analysts will use feature extraction capabilities for mission and intelligence operations. Strategic implementations include locating roads, buildings and vehicles, identifying potential aircraft landing strips in forested areas, and locating camp areas.
GIS analysts and imagery scientists will use the module to locate water bodies, wetlands, forests or grasslands for development planning and utility placement, as well as to identify areas of deforestation, updating road maps, creating map lake boundaries and monitoring water level changes.
About RSI
RSI, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITT Industries, provides integrated software solutions that help scientists, engineers, researchers and medical professionals turn complex data into useful information. RSI‘s 150,000 customers from over 80 countries use IDL and ENVI to visualize and analyze data and imagery and to deploy imaging applications. RSI’s solutions are used in a variety of industries, including remote sensing, engineering, earth sciences, aerospace and defense, medical imaging, oil and gas exploration and biotechnology. Combined with a host of support services including training, consulting and technical support, RSI offers the most complete data visualization and image analysis solutions available.
Sierra Atlantic is the sole direct distributor and exclusive business partner in India for the global Industry leaders companies in a range of scientific application software. They offer commercial off-the-shelf solutions, as well as custom application development for the entire suite of RSI products, including ENVI and IDL. The Imaging Solutions Division (ISD) Group offers services in the fields of remote sensing, image processing, spatial analysis and modeling, content based image retrieval, GIS application development and software customization.
Media Contact:
Lori Thompson, RSI 303-402-4664
lthompson@rsinc.com
(Credits RSI)

In Bulgaria, the preparation of the country toward the accession in the EU is related with the readiness of the administration to meet the requirement for technical and operational capacity to manage and control the agriculture subsidies.

After the successful implementation of the Control with Remote Sensing /CwRS/ pilot project in Bulgaria, financed by JRC in 2005, ReSAC continues to provide technical, operational and methodological assistance to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, responsible for the establishment of IACS/LPIS.
This process is an important step of Bulgaria towards the introduction of the common agriculture policy of the European Union.
A project was implemented in 2005-2006 with the support of JRC and financed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry for the area of Assenovgrad, Bulgaria. The project objective were:
• Processing / Orthorectification of VHR satellite data (Quickbird)
GPS ground control points collection
• Processing of SPOT Ref3D DEM, Comparison between the available DEMs for the purpose of LPIS
• Creation of reference parcels based on CAPI of orthoimages on selected municipalities, belonging to the test area
• Integration of cadastral data base with the LPIS database, linkage with the farmer register
• Definition of the overall strategy for the implementation of the LPIS in Bulgaria
• Preparation of technical recommendation for block CAPI and reference parcel definition, elaboration of user guide
The type of services provided were as follows:
• Set up of the project (technical, management, and organisation)
• Image processing and photointerpretation
GIS and statistical analysis
• Field work, GPS measurements
• Analyse and synthesis for a national deployment of LPIS (methodology, technical specifications, training)
• Recommendation and user manual for the block CAPI
An important prerequisite for the preparation of the LPIS and provision of enough data to farmer during the declaration process, is the production of high-accurate orthophoto/orthoimage coverage of the entire country.
For this purpose the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry opened an international tender for delivery and production of orthoimages on the base of VHR satellite data. The project was awarded to an international Consortium lead by the Bulgarian organization Agency for Sustainable Development and Eurointegration /ASDE/ and the major European satellite providers – European Space Imaging GmbH (representing also INTA Space Turk), Eurimage S.p.a., SPOT Image. As a local geodetic company in the Consortium was included Dian Zlatev Ltd.
Eurimage, EUSI and SPOT Image perform their activities of data delivery and satellite products generation. The VHR data is derived from IKONOS and Quickbird; the DEM is provided by SPOT Image.
The orthorectification, image processing and quality control is done by ASDE, through its specialised unit ReSAC. The final product is in scale 1:10.000. The initial area covered by the project is 32 985 km2. and is covering 10 regions of Southern Bulgaria. The work should be carried out until the end of June 2006.
Coverage of the project area with archive VHR satellite data.
(Credits ReSAC)