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Since 1994, the highly specialised Portuguese software engineering company EDISOFT has proven itself as the right partner for the development of important Earth Observation–related programmes, such as LSA SAF or Ocean Eye, a initiative framed by ESA’s Earth Observation GMES effort.

Established in 1988, EDISOFT is a specialised Portuguese software engineering company that leads the national market in military command and control systems, in naval platforms’ information integration and in military logistics systems. EDISOFT also holds unique technical and technological skills for the integration of strategic collective security systems, dedicated to the emergency and civil protection sector, as well as a broad experience in international research and development projects in the Space domain.
Since 1994, EDISOFT has earned a solid reputation in the Space industry, offering software engineering expertise for the Satellite Navigation and Earth Observation fields. Partnering with the world leaders in this area, EDISOFT has thus made significant contributions to Earth Observation related programmes:
LSA SAF
Sponsored by EUMETSAT, project LSA SAF refers to the meteorological satellite applications facility for land surface analysis and the biospheric parameters. Currently at the initial operations phase, the project has the goal to increase the benefits of the Meteosat Second Generation and the EUMETSAT Polar System data gathering of land, land-atmosphere interaction and biosphere applications. EDISOFT has the responsibility of LSA SAF’s Engineering part.
EPS IASI 2 PPF
The EUMETSAT Polar System Infrared Sounding Interferometer Level 2 Product Processing Facility project is one stage in the processing chain converting telemetry data (NOAA and Metop) into products that can be interpreted by end-users. For this project, EDISOFT was responsible for the development of the test tools and the PPF testing and validation activities.
Ocean Eye
Ocean Eye is a feasibility study addressing the development of a multi-purpose oceanic observation, monitoring and surveillance system over the Portuguese Coast, using remote sensing techniques. The study addresses projects and techniques derived from the synergetic use of multi-spectral Envisat data for ocean monitoring and identifies their respective limitations. A thorough analysis highlights algorithms/techniques to be applied in Remote Sensing data processing for ocean monitoring. Similarly, the Ocean Eye’s architecture considers relevant non-Earth Observation systems that may interface with the system. Thus, Ocean Eye encloses a potential contribution to the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative of ESA’s Earth Observation optional programme.
In fact, EDISOFT has dedicated special attention to the GMES effort, namely its Emergency priority guideline, with the development of strategic collective security systems:
CECIS
Under an EC contract, EDISOFT developed an application to reinforce cooperation in civil protection assistance interventions, by ensuring the interconnection of the 25 EU member states’ National Authorities with the responsibility to protect citizens from natural and technological hazards. The network facilitates communication, mutual assistance, and information and experience exchange between those Authorities in emergencies.
SCORE
SCORE offers an operational 112 Emergency Assistance system, using EGNOS and, later on, Galileo, to deliver excellent performance in geo-location accuracy, real-time integrity and availability. This first operational 112 assistance service is a two-folded architecture (emergency call assistance and coordinated search and rescue operations’ management) that serves both the public and the civil protection professionals. EDISOFT’s expertise led to the responsibility in the user needs’ analysis, in the service’s platform and in the implementation of field trials.
OASIS
The OASIS project defines a crisis management system to support response and rescue operations for large-scale disasters. It enables a common and interoperable infrastructure across the EU that provides effective integration and operation of command, control and communications and intelligence and decision support services, supported by a communications middleware interfacing with heterogeneous communication technologies. EDISOFT contributes to this international project implementing GIS services and the operational monitoring and resources management system.
(Credits Edisoft)

ARGOSS was elected the most innovative company in the province Flevoland in the Netherlands.

During the “Flevopenningen Business Gala” dinner event the decision had to be made. A jury of prominent people from the industry and government headed by former Minister Dr Jan Terlouw got the opportunity to cross-examine the nominees.
ARGOSS was selected as winner in this category because of its unique range of products and its capability to implement technical and social innovations in its organization. By making use of satellite observations in combination with mathematical models ARGOSS is not only able to provide innovative solutions for the private sector but also contributes significantly to questions of public concern worldwide.
Contact info:
Postal address: p.o.box 61, 8325 ZH Vollenhove, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 527242299
Fax: + 31 527242016
(Credits Argoss)

Aerodata International Surveys recorded digital aerial photos of the Netherlands on their own initiative.

The imagery was completely acquired with the company’s 90 megapixel UltraCam-D large format digital frame camera, mounted in their fast Fairchild Merlin survey aircraft.
This project is unprecedented in the Netherlands, since it is the first time aerial photos of the entire country have been acquired completely digitally. The 3 months that followed the aerial data acquisition of the 7000 images have now led to one large (850GB) seamless colour aerial photo mosaic with 40cm resolution. It is now the most recent and most detailed country-wide snapshot of the Netherlands.
The use of UltraCam-D digital camera has led to remarkable improvements of the final product, particularly for image purity, clarity, contrast and visibility of details in shadowed areas.
With this product Aerodata has set a new standard for country-wide digital ortho photo databases.
The complete dataset or parts of it are currently being delivered to customers under the brand name “aeroGRID® NL2005”. Later this year Aerodata will make the dataset available on the internet.

Metria Miljöanalys, based in Stockholm, is a service provider that focuses on the operational use of remote sensing and GIS techniques for forestry and environmental applications as well as security-related aspects. The personnel at Metria Miljöanalys have a thorough knowledge and a long-term experience in remote sensing and GIS, and have a combination of academic and professional expertise in various relevant fields. We do business by in-depth understanding of customers need and development of attractive services. Metria has a total staff of 420, of which more than 100 work with EO- and GIS-related tasks.
Metria is one of three divisions within Lantmäteriet, the National Land Survey of Sweden. Lantmäteriet is a Government agency, which overall goal is to support an efficient and sustainable use of land and water. The total staff of Lantmäteriet is over 2,000, and the annual turnover is 160 million Euro, of which 77 percent is generated through charging fees on real property formation, the use of information from databases and on consultancy services. Core grants from the Government are used primarily for producing basic geographic data and managing and maintaining registers and databases.
Metria carries out its services on contract and operates in competition with other Swedish and international companies in national and international markets. Metria has a total staff of 420, of which more then 100 work with EO- and GIS-related tasks. Services and products supplied by Metria include consultancy services in the EO- and GIS-sector, in surveying and mapping, cadastral services, database access via Internet, application and system development. Metria has at its disposal a wide range of resources for geographic data capture, data processing and refinement, and for system development within geographic IT. Metria also offers consultancy services within geographic information technology, which are based on state-of-the-art technology and design, and aimed at the development of customised and integrated system solutions for an efficient use of the geographic information. Metria‘s clients are to be found in both the private sector, such as forestry, utility and telecommunications companies, and in the public sector.
Metria has a long standing experience in the distribution of all kind of satellite data and other geo-data, and is the prime source for satellite data and digital/analogue aerial photography in Sweden. Metria is the Swedish distributor for all the major civilian Earth observation satellite systems such as SPOT, Landsat, Radarsat, Ikonos, QuickBird and other. IMAGE 2000 was led by Metria delivering orthocorrected Landsat data over Europe. Yearly national coverage, 450 000 km2, of SPOT/Landsat data is on-going since 1999 delivered to a wide range of customers, mainly in the forestry domain. Recently Metria acquired an order of nationwide colouring of panchromatic aerial orthophotos with satellite data. This is published on Internet on national search engines for private, commercial and public addresses and telephone numbers. More detailed information than in “Goggle Earth” is now public available for Sweden.

“pan aerial orthophoto coloured by satellite data”
Metria Miljöanalys
Metria is represented in EARSC by Metria Miljöanalys, which is Metria’s unit for Earth Observation applications. Metria Miljöanalys, based in Stockholm, is a service provider that focuses on the operational use of remote sensing and GIS techniques for forestry and environmental applications as well as security-related aspects. The personnel at Metria Miljöanalys have a thorough knowledge and a long-term experience in remote sensing and GIS, and have a combination of academic and professional expertise in various relevant fields. This includes a combination of academic and professional expertise in the fields of biology, ecology, physical geography, forestry, technical engineering, environmental monitoring and management at regional and national levels. Project management skills at regional to international level are also well documented. These past and present engagements have led to a vast network of co-operation partners and well established contacts with users. This user network includes Swedish users from county to national level, as well as users within the Baltic Sea Region. In our entire project portfolio, users play a vital and active role. About 2/3 of Metria Miljöanalys yearly turnaround of about 2.2 MEuro derives from services to customers and 1/3 from R&D funding (national, EU 6th framework etc).
”SPOT-VGT classification of Baltic sea region”

Environmental applications

Environmental applications include mapping of state and changes in the environment. Analyses of requested environmental parameters are also part of delivered services. Most important customers are the Swedish Environment Protection Agency and County administrative boards.
Large areas in Sweden are supposed to be protected until 2010 and to locate potential areas of interest multitemporal satellite data where used to provide customers with an analysis of “large areas of untouched forests”. This was then used in order to find new areas to protect. Metria Miljöanalys has an on-going service where all protected areas (national parks, nature reserves, Natura2000-sites) are mapped on regular basis. This information are also utilised in regional analysis of future needs for protection. Metria is also highly involved in the ongoing Natura2000 mapping in Sweden. Recently also marine and coastal habitats are mapped and analysed by GIS and remote sensing. Nordic co-operation is ongoing within this application.
Metria Miljöanalys was programme manager for the RESE (Remote Sensing for the Environment) programme, 1997-2005. It was the largest research programme for applied remote sensing in Sweden, with an overall budget of 10 MEuro, and included development of user-oriented applications for remote sensing, also for “non-EO experts” within research and private/public organisations.
Metria produced CLC2000 for Sweden, but also developed and produced a more refined land cover product with minimum mapping unit of 1-5 hectares. Both these productions were fully digitally and highly automated. More regional land cover classifications include participation in Global Land Cover 2000 and a regional land cover database, BALANS, both covering the entire Baltic Sea Region. Metria was the coordinator of the latter project, which was financed within the EU framework programme. Metria is a partner in GSE Land and geoland (6th framework) projects.
” Mapping of National park, Tyresta”

Forestry applications

Within the forestry domain the Swedish Forest Agency as well as private forest companies are the most important customers. A wide range of services are offered and used in operational forestry. The Swedish Forest Agency use nationwide satellite data yearly for mapping of forest cuttings, detect need for pre-commercial thinning and as image background in GIS. Metria Miljöanalys have developed a tool, ENFORMA, especially for mapping of forest parameters such as forest cuttings (changes), forest damage and need for other forest operations. This tool is used by non-EO experts at the Forest Agency and forest companies and also used for production of services at Metria for Sweden and abroad. Other services based on EO data for the forestry domain includes mapping of errors in forest stand databases and mapping of forest of interest for timber purchase.
During the large hurricane in Sweden, early 2005, Metria mapped storm felled forest rapidly (part of the International Charter for Disaster) and has also developed a service for power distribution companies to map areas with great risks for power failures in forehand. This service is delivered recurrently.
Metria is a partner in GSE Forest Monitoring and in the EOMD-project Monitor.

“ENFORMA-application”

Security applications
EO services concerning security are both for civilian and military use. Metria supplies the Swedish Armed Forces with EO support, including semi-automatic 3D modelling of urban areas in satellite data. Also the Swedish Rescue services get satellite maps and analyses, for example after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004. A co-operation with the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate has developed the use of EO data for nuclear inspections and Metria Miljöanalys are involved in remote sensing training at IAEA since 2000.
Both development and production of services to humanitarian aid has been ongoing since 1999. A co-operation with UNOSAT and UNHCR has supported the development of requested services, both different types of satellite maps and semi-automatic shelter mapping in very-high resolution satellite data. Metria Miljöanalys is a partner in GSE RISK-EOS, PREVIEW (6th framework), Astro+ (6th framework) and GSE RESPOND.

“ Shelter identifier in VHR EO data”

More ifo at:

Metria Miljöanalys
Contact person: Erik Willén
Address: P.O. Box 24154, SE-104 51 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46-8-579 972 75
Fax: +46-8-579 972 80
E-mail: erik.willen@lm.se
Website: http://www.metria.se/

In this issue of EOMAG, EARSC will have the opportunity to feature an interview with Mr. Peter Williams, the International Marketing Lead for Location Products & Services at Microsoft.

The objective is to raise awareness of the IT specialist’s Mapping products and technologies. These include Microsoft AutoRoute, MapPoint CD, MapPoint Web Services, MapPoint Location Server and Virtual Earth.
First of all, thank you for taking some time from your busy agenda and giving us the occasion to talk about some aspects relevant for the European Earth Observation sector.
Mr Williams first of all, could you briefly describe us your current responsibilities in the Virtual Earth project?
We have just been renamed the Virtual Earth Business Unit, so “Virtual Earth” in at the heart of what we are doing nowadays.
Our products & services encompass everything from our European route planning, consumer cd software which is called “AutoRoute”, that has been in the market now from some 13 years right through to our latest offering “Virtual Earth” which is a web based service. We begin expanding our international coverage for the service from the summer of 2006. We also offer “MapPoint Web Services”, which have been around for two years now, used for more traditional web base geo-location activity like store locators and fleet management. In between we have a business intelligence and analysis offering called “MapPoint CD” , allowing business to visualise their data onto maps which is very interesting for and relevant to industry. Customers & Partners have built numerous solutions & applications on the back of these products.
Microsoft is becoming more involved in the location based sector. The fact that we have a broad range of products & services, all related to mapping clearly shows our level of commitment. From our historical consumer route-planning base we have expanding in more recent years into the commercial sector developing both client base products and web service offerings. Virtual Earth is the latest result of that continuous development and will become familiar through the following:
A) A free to consumer service called “Windows Live Local” (WLL). Available at http://local.live.com this is a location based search enabling webusers to visualise the location of their search results eg. Restaurants, shops, then getting directions.

B) Virtual Earth (VE) as an Application Programme Interface, API. This makes VE a platform more than just a product. It is a tool allowing developers to integrate services allowing them to build up their own applications and solutions (mapping, searching and location functions)
Then, the Microsoft experience has been as a kind of kick off process for moving to geospatial information?
Yes, Microsoft is proud to have been in the geo information business for over 13 years now. Our consumer software, AutoRoute has been the number #1 route planning title in a number of European countries including the UK for over 3yrs and we have experienced much interest and growth with the introduction of our web based services
What is the main purpose of Virtual Earth service? And what are the differences with your competitors, Google and Yahoo?
Virtual Earth is really a platform that is an integrated set of online mapping tools and the idea is that companies, developers and government organizations can create online mapping and research experiences for consumers and commercial applications alike. The Windows Live Local (WLL) is the Microsoft MSN consumer version based on Virtual Earth.
In terms of differences between us and our competitors, I think the key difference is our approach; Virtual Earth is a platform, giving access to visualisation, spatial and data management services. Using Java and map object scripts which make it simple for developers, the API allows integration with existing databases, products and programmes (easily available and simple for people to build on for example ;customer relation management systems) Microsoft also has a huge available partner base, Virtual Earth represents a useful new platform on which they can develop & commercialize solutions.
I believe Microsoft has been dealing with studies; businesses analyses and of course looking for opportunities before Virtual Earth has been launched. What was the idea of the market study strategy on the development of the tool?
The real birth of Virtual Earth is an interesting story. Every year Bill Gates has a “think week”, where he takes time to read documents submitted to him with new ideas for the future. “Virtual Earth” was one of those ideas submitted in 2005 for his consideration on building an online virtual visualization of the world and able to search on that based on the searcher’s location. So, the timing was definitively right. NASA had come up with the visual earth with “Whirlwind” and Google was about to launch Google Earth. Virtual Earth was created by the MapPoint Business Unit and later the team had 80 days to put the concept together (launched in the US last year).
The development steps follow the existing lines: We already had the experience on mapping through the current web services offering. We also have the learnings from the MSN team from a local search perspective, and we know that search was becoming more a more central feature, initially for consumers, but this is a growing requirement in industry as well. The need to find the things based on your location, which is an extremely relevant part of the search, is definitively a very necessary thing. The location piece comes in two parts; the technology (“Locate Me”) offering an IP location (based on IP address) and then the visualization of that location. Finally I think “competition” has played an important part in our development. Microsoft is not doing this in isolation, there is a healthy competitive market for this (both the clientbased products and web based offerings) and that means there is a lot of innovation from all sides.
There is a lot of interest both within the geospatial technology industry and the consumer side. How do you see this technology connecting and impacting the citizen? How popular has the imagery layer been?
This is where for instance Google and Microsoft both have the similar strategy which is; the accessibility to the citizen enabling them to access information. The Virtual Earth platform enables people to have access to information which is already there; aerial photography, satellite imagery, mapping…which has always been available but not necessarily in a very friendly format to the citizen. Now in addition we provide an “engine” to provide additional information on the top of that. For example government organizations can provide the location of possible services including additional information which could improve the life of citizens (urban areas identification; water layers; display risk of flooding areas; insurance prices; etc). The information is not new but it has been put in together in a format which is more understandable, because it is visual and also it is available in a single base; This is certainly where Microsoft is coming from; enabling people “to look for data and at data” in a different way, in a way which is much more understandable.
And how is that success measured or the result monitored?
We are a little early at the moment, we haven’t released nor advertised the consumer version outside of the USA, however the number of people visiting the site today is increasing.
On the commercial side, we made the first API available for free in January of this year. In the United States developers are already building solutions on top of the API. In the summer of this year will be realising the full commercial API and we will measure the success of that result on that based on the number of solutions developed on top of it.
Virtual Earth is free online to the consumer, where is Microsoft going with this product? Who funds the programme? How much does it cost? Which benefits do you get from the use? Is Virtual Earth a value for money?
Basically MSN funds the free beta online system that you can visit today (http://local.live.com) , MSN has offered a free route planning service based on our MapPoint Web Services fro sometime now called “Maps & Directions” and “Windows Live Local” replaces this with exciting additional functionality like aerial imagery. ”Maps & Directions” previously was supported by advertising it offered services; a) finding a location, where people can go and b) getting a route from one place to that location.
“real earth in a virtual way” is your sentence describing “virtual earth”, do you think that EO industry lacks awareness on capabilities of the sector? What about branding ideas?
The capabilities within this sector are expanding rapidly. Broad “awareness” today is in part due to media interest and strong “branding”… It is very interesting that two key worldwide brands have come into the business and therefore partially driven the media interested … but as I have said earlier, competition in this space is healthy.
Do you believe on strategies to gather the public and user awareness?
Totally, we need both industry and consumers perspectives on that. What you can see today on Windows Live Local is already the evolution of what has been running since July last year; getting back the feedback from users, how they are using it, the reasons, etc. A lot of comments have been captured and implemented with one result being the updates to the map navigation on the user interface. In general terms; developers have free access to the API and we have encouraged new types of feature or actions, through online developer sessions called “mash ups”. We have a number of successful “mash up” developers around the world coming up with little applications using this technology to implement new things. For example, they introduced traffic information onto the map, so you can actually see the traffic flow in a particular area which is very useful for consumers planning a journey as well as a business managing a fleet of vehicles.
We do market research focused on consumer areas responding to a large degree to demand of commercial & consumer activities and of course we are taking feedback from our existing customers and we demonstrated to them and explained to them the additional opportunities which they will have with our new platform which they currently do not have with map point services. We definitively have a lot of customer feedback from that perspective as well a continuous awareness on new products; a combination of both things is necessarily.
Virtual earth certainly does some work on knitting the datasets together but for the most part, the company is not in the data creation business, How do you see the EO industry in Europe? Do you think in possible synergies within EO industry? How industry should be evolving? Maybe as providers?
Absolutely, interaction is essential to contact providers and I am sure that with the new platforms new providers will come along…they have the kinds of information useful to consumers and Virtual Earth is the platform which can allow that data to be visualised buy location. Microsoft primarily does business in a way that provides building blocks for other IT organisations , both inhouse and through partners to built solutions for potentially the data providers themselves as well as 3rd parties. For example in the US, there is massive interest in the real estate business for the use of Virtual Earth. We also have a lot of curiosity for government organizations which have already very powerful links with geospatial information systems but they are not accessible to the citizen and the challenge is getting that information displayed visually in a way that a normal citizen can find out, build and control resources (road route developing, etc). Because of that this new platforms will bring part of the solution for local authorities and national governments to be able to display that sort of information and make it available for free or at least in a very easy and low cost way to the citizens and customers.
The focus was primarily within the US, but we are seeing huge and large opportunities outside the US, for example; India, China and countries in South America. In those countries there are a lot of opportunities and interest in new markets looking for solutions for citizens. The market is expanding and they are getting the kind of geospatial information that is required, so the data provision is extremely necessary.
Providers will be necessary to feed with data the new platforms to establish the potential markets.
What is your opinion about Global Earth Observation System of Systems, GEOSS and Global monitoring environment and security, GMES? how can market for GMES should be created in Europe?
From my understanding, the key thing here is that GEOSS and GMES should make available platforms acting as vehicles which enable to understand the chain from data provision and acquiring the data into information giving access to the citizen. It should be also interesting the synergies with potential worldwide brandings to help to make the information available to everybody and expanding the geospatial market generally. Nowadays it is a very exciting time from industry getting data but also having the technology and platforms to deliver the information broadly and going a step further on the market.
In your opinion, what are the main obstacles facing the development of the EO market?
We have seen a few obstacles from our perspective, nowadays it is a question of balancing and prioritisation (how to prioritise the data; too few or too much). Microsoft looks for the perspectives and offerings; it is for others to produce and to incorporate as working solutions. We have commissioned some of the geospatial data for Virtual Earth, but mainly this information is not exclusive for our use. This is short term while we help to kick start some of the data acquisition but we are not in the data creation business.
Let‘s take one step further away, what next for the geospatial marketplace? where do you see the main opportunities for the EO industry in the years to come?
The market potential is enormous. From an industry perspective the geo information pump is primed and for the consumer the possibilities based on location are huge, we could foresee a time when based on where a person is or going to they can easily see meteorological or historical information as well as what is going on at the cinema, football stadium, etc.
Data is not information until there is a way to understand simply and a way for people to access it from anywhere. Helping to drive this conversion and having the chance to do more for improving the life of citizens; decision makers, governments and large institutions is a fantastic challenge. This will undoubtedly create additional demand on data providers and value added solutions.

illustration credits Microsoft
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Microsoft Campus, Thames Valley
Park, Reading, Berkshire,
RG6 1WG,
United Kingdom
Switchboard: +44 870 60 10 100
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GMES is on the headlines in these first months of 2006. Indeed several high level workshop have been taking place, in Toulouse, Paris, Budapest and most recently in Graz. We are providing you with access to their respective contents through our Web Site.
The Paris Workshop in particular, organised by EARSC was dedicated to the role of industry in GMES, a topic which deserves more attention than what was provided so far. Considering the fact that in a large part the success of GMES and GEOSS hinges on a proper and efficient role of industry, it was high time for industry to get together to evaluate the present situation, to make an overall assessment of GMES/GEOSS opportunities in terms of socio – economic and industrial terms as well as to study an action plan which would allow industry to play a role in insuring the success of these initiatives. The event was very well attended and generated ten main recommendations which were fed, on the one hand into the Budapest workshop on “GMES Socio-Economic Benefits”, and on the other hand into the Graz Symposium on “A Market for GMES in Europe and its regions”. In parallel with this gathering of momentum, some initiatives are being launched to find a better name for GMES, an essential step to allow a wide communication on the subject.
While GMES is on the rise, the same can be said of GEOSS, with international relations in Earth Observation getting stronger every day, in the scientific, operational as well as commercial domains (as shown with this month OrbView-3 data buy from the EU).
The global Earth Observation market evolution is nowadays also finding some of its flagship on the Internet with the new GOOGLE Earth and MSN Virtual Earth ventures. These could create new paradigms for the future of the Earth Observation industry. We will continue to keep you posted on those developments through our web site and our newsletter.
In the meantime and on behalf of our Board of Directors I would like to invite all our members to the Annual General Assembly which will take place in Brussels at the end of June with, as usual, a presentation by a Keynote speaker.
We also would like to invite you to participate in the EOVox Stakeholder Workshop which will take place on September 14th at ESRIN and which is dedicated to a wide consultation of the EO industry on industry representation issues. It will be a unique opportunity to interact with most of the EO downstream industry players”.
Spread the EARSC News
Paul Kamoun
EARSC Chairman

The eoVox Consortium is pleased to announce a one-day workshop dedicated to the common interests of the Earth Observation value adding industry. The workshop will be held under the auspices of ESA/ESRIN on 14 September 2006 in Frascati, Italy.

The workshop is an excellent opportunity to capture the views of all stakeholders in the future of the value-added industry in Europe and Canada.
During the day various informative presentations will be offered based on the material produced during the study. The workshop will be structured to ensure that the views of participants can be clearly expressed. The consortium is creating working documents – to be made public in advance of the workshop – that will provide the initial starting point for the debate.
An expression of interest will be appreciated in order to have a good estimate of the number of attendees. Please send your details to eovox@earsc.org
More up to date info at www.eovox.org

The eoVox consortium has conducted a first consultation round with VA companies and trade associations with the aim to identify industry views concerning common issues across the complete EO service sector and collect their views concerning how common industry positions on these issues can be represented via industry trade associations.

A total of 60+ VACs have been interviewed by telephone or face to face meetings (for half of them) by three of the Consortium members with the following geographical distribution: Southern Europe (EARSC); Northern Europe (CONTROLWARE) and Canada (C-CORE). In addition, similarly, more than 10 Trade Associations have been contacted (by LOGICA CMG and EARSC) and contributed to the understanding of the position of such Associations. These include international (e.g. ISPRS, EURISY), European (e.g. EUROGI, EUROSPACE), French (e.g. AFIGEO), Italian (e.g. AIPAS) and North American (the Alliance for Earth Observation) associations.
The main elements of the first consultation report indicate key industry issues including for instance issues associated with the available resources of companies to develop businesses and the level of public support to the EO sector; the lack of awareness of the capabilities of the EO service sector; the access to EO missions data (operational supply of EO data today and continuity of EO missions to meet customer expectations in the longer term).
The main logic behind industry representation appears to be the collective issue that the EO service sector is largely dependent upon public financing; this, rather than downstream sector specific (niche) issues appears a strong and collective driver for representation in the eyes of the respondees. The findings of this first consultation round will be provided to the respondees and made available publicly during the course of May 2006. Further consultation and study reports will be issued by the end of Q2 2006 as part of an Open Review Process which will culminate with an Industry Workshop in September 14.

The Industry role in GMES and GEOSS Workshop was held on March 21 in Paris. The presence of 80 industrial actors and organizations have been remarkable being able to exchange their views and make recommendations to clarify and optimise the position of Industry in those complex initiatives.

The GMES and GEOSS initiatives, in concert with other activities, are creating a paradigm change in geo-spatial and environmental information sharing and recognise that geo-spatial products and services are a key to both economic return and managing global issues. For example, the Geospatial Industry is regarded as one of the top priorities of the US administration High Growth Job Initiative. Earth Observation is an important component of the geospatial industry and consequently an integral part of a Knowledge-driven economy. Nonetheless, these important initiatives are complex. They comprise numerous actors and there is a need for innovative approaches in a wide variety of domains including: political, organisational, technical, economic and financial arrangements.
Since the 1998 Baveno Declaration, European Industry has shown a strong interest in GMES and has supported the steps of the elaboration of a European consensus. However the real present and future role of industry at large in GMES and GEOSS has been little discussed. The success of GMES and GEOSS hinges largely on a proper and efficient role of industry, so that industry must make an overall assessment of GMES/GEOSS opportunities in socio-economic and industrial terms as well as study an action plan which would allow industry to play a role in insuring the success of these initiatives.
To help achieve these objectives the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) recently convened a workshop where industrial actors were able to exchange views and make recommendations to help clarify and optimise the role of Industry. Recommendations are synthesised below.
1. EO industry in Europe is strategically important and has considerable capabilities and levels of excellence but yet is still vulnerable.
GMES is a key to leverage several decades of industry investment. A major achievement already is the evolving user engagement and market pull. Users are identifying the potential of GMES services for their daily work. Consolidation of this demand through GMES will strengthen industry’s capabilities for Europe and globally.
2. GMES is now the main way forward for the sector and it needs strong EU political leadership.
The GMES initiative is the most important step forward to bring Europe into a leading position globally in the field of geo-information. GMES is an opportunity to stabilise the overall value chain for more continuity, to involve national and regional levels along with the European level and to help unlock the intellectual capital contained, but not necessarily accessible, in the research domain. In this undertaking EU must establish coherent synergies with ESA.
3. Policy makers on a wide basis must be informed of the GMES socio-economic benefits, emphasising the high Value-for-Money potential.
Considering the effective demonstration of the technical feasibility of GMES and the on-going user integration, the next big challenge of GMES implementation must be the sustainable allocation of operational budgets, at EC as well as at Member States level. For this, to occur, information on what GMES is, the value for money it represents and in particular the socio-economic benefits, must be prepared and made widely available for policy makers and citizens alike without delay.
4. EU must secure the availability of operational budgets.
To secure continuation and development of the impressive demonstration of GMES and supporting EO industry capabilities to date, the availability and accessibility of operational GMES budgets must be realized through long term user commitments, thereby allowing industry to make suitable planning and investment – from project to services.
5. EU must be more pro-active to aggregate user demand and to foster focused investment.
One of the main aims of GMES is to set up information gathering infrastructures and services, which includes forecasting natural risks, management of resources, monitoring of international agreements amongst others. EU should gather the user needs enabling and fostering focused investment in GMES, and monitor the gradual evolution of users demand. In particular to foster the development of forecasting tools (such as assimilation, modelling and so on) building on GMES services and capabilities.
6. EU has to evolve in the way it procures services.
GMES represents a concerted attempt to produce better policy relevant information, bringing together data and information from a wide variety of sources and making it available to those who need it most. The simultaneous development of common procurement policies for such services across European members states will generate substantial order volumes and give industry a chance to grow.
7. GMES is user driven and EU and European Institutions at large must stimulate interest more widely amongst potential users to take a leading role and to participate in relevant financial schemes. New suitable economic model and financing schemes must be developed.
Joint stakeholders efforts are necessary, with a detailed action plan and visible benefits to all stakeholders.
8. GMES needs to be linked with existing standards and regulations programs such as INSPIRE and the like in Positioning and Telecommunications to foster the development of applications.
9. EU must tackle carefully the issue of public in-sourcing, preserving public out-sourcing to industry.
It is important to develop further GMES applications jointly with all stakeholders including industry. Industry already provides many GMES and GMES-supporting services and it will be important to avoid any unnecessary competition between public and private service providers for operational deliveries.
10. Foster GMES role on Export Competitiveness.
Identify in particular the services which will create positive effects leading to improved competitiveness of enterprises. Be strong in Europe to be strong worldwide. Explore commercial spin-offs.
In Summary
-The Role of Industry in GMES and GEOSS: Recommendations and Synthesis.
-GMES needs a Long Term Commitment from institutions and users to achieve self-sustainability.
-The expected results will be: stimulated economic growth, increased market size, a more structured offer, the creation of innovative services, industry structure consolidation, improvement of competitiveness and last but not least sustainable development. It will also bring more jobs and better decision capability for Europe, in line with the EU Growth Initiative and the Lisbon principles.
-The involvement of Industry as a partner is crucial at all steps of this undertaking.
WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS at historical news search on EARSC website.

EARSC Board is glad to welcome four 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:
MEMBERSHIP

EARSC membership represents the entire spectrum of the Earth Observation industry including all sector chain: providers, stakeholders and users. Membership of EARSC is currently €400 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 is composed by:
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.
More information on membership at EARSC http://www.earsc.org/web/template.php?page=jointous