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(Published Sep 28, 2017. by Nicolo’ Andreula and Fraser Thompson from AlphaBeta) With Google Maps, we’re committed to creating a rich, deep, and detailed understanding of the world. By digitizing and providing access to a wealth of information about the real world, we allow people to easily explore the world around them, provide tools for businesses to attract and connect with customers, power map and location experiences for third party apps and websites, and enable NGOs and governments to leverage our map and resources to tackle real-world challenges like urban planning or emergency response…

At AlphaBeta, we’re passionate about identifying the forces shaping global markets and developing practical plans to create prosperity and well-being. We believe that geospatial technology is one of these forces, which is why we recently undertook research, commissioned by Google, to evaluate the impact of digital maps and their underlying technologies.

We asked ourselves: what is the full value of digital maps for users? How is this technology affecting the broader economic environment? How can societies make the most out of it?

We used consumer surveys across 22 countries spanning six regions, and other estimation approaches (such as big data analysis of online job postings), and found that geospatial services make an impact in three key ways:

Consumer benefits

Maps help people move and shop in a faster and more efficient way. For example, not only do digital maps reduce travel time, they also help people save time on purchases by providing information like directions and product availability. By helping people plan routes in areas they aren’t familiar with, maps also improve public safety.

Business benefits

Maps help make small and large businesses more visible, productive and profitable. By providing useful facts such as store hours, contact information and reviews, maps help drive sales—particularly important for small businesses that may find potential new customers without incurring additional advertising costs. Geospatial services also play a strategic role in helping companies in sectors covering approximately three quarters of the world’s GDP raise revenues and/or diminish costs. For example, retail companies use digital maps for market research and to identify the most profitable locations for their network of stores.

Societal benefits

Finally, maps have positive spillover effects on the environment and societies around the world—for example, by creating jobs and reducing CO2 emissions through more efficient vehicle trips and easier identification of alternative transportation options. Geospatial technology can also play a role in emergencies—such as helping people prepare for a natural disaster by highlighting flood-risk areas.

The impact of geospatial services also varies from country to country—showing that there’s still room in many places to maximize the benefits of geospatial services for everyone. To do so, the geospatial industry, businesses, NGOs and governments in these areas will need to work together to promote, adopt and implement existing and new applications of geospatial technology.

To find out more, visit www.valueoftheweb.com.

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On 13 September, in his annual State of the Union address, President Jean-Claude Juncker stated: “I want to make our industry stronger and more competitive. The new Industrial Policy Strategy we are presenting today will help our industries stay or become the world leader in innovation, digitisation and decarbonisation.”

The renewed EU Industrial Policy Strategy brings together all existing and new horizontal and sector-specific initiatives into a comprehensive industrial strategy. It also clarifies the tasks ahead for all actors involved and sets out the fora – an annual Industry Day, the first edition of which took place in February 2017, and a High Level Industrial Roundtable – that will allow in particular industry and civil society to steer industrial policy actions in the future.

Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Jyrki Katainen said: “By embracing technological change, converting research investments into innovative business ideas, and continuing to pioneer the low-carbon and circular economy we will pave the way for a smart, innovative and sustainable industry in Europe.”

Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, added: “Many European industries are at a turning point. In our day and age, industrial policy is about empowering our industries to continue delivering sustainable growth and jobs for our regions and citizens.”

The main new elements of the EU Industrial Policy Strategy include:

  • A comprehensive package to reinforce our industry’s cybersecurity. It includes the creation of a European Cybersecurity Research and Competence Centre to support the development of technology and industrial capabilities in cybersecurity, as well as an EU-wide certification scheme for products and services, recognised in all Member States (adopted on 13 September 2017).
  • A proposal for a Regulation on the free flow of non-personal data that will enable data to circulate freely across borders, helping to modernise industry and create a truly common European data space (adopted on 13 September 2017).
  • A new series of actions on Circular Economy, including a strategy on plastics and measures to improve the production of renewable biological resources and their conversion into bio-based products and bio-energy (autumn 2017).
  • A set of initiatives to modernise the Intellectual Property Framework, including a report on the functioning of the Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights and a Communication on a balanced, clear and predictable European licensing framework for Standard Essential Patents (autumn 2017).
  • An initiative to improve the functioning of public procurement in the EU, including a voluntary mechanism to provide clarity and guidance to authorities planning large infrastructure projects (autumn 2017).
  • Extension of the Skills Agenda to new key industry sectors, such as construction, steel, paper, green technologies and renewable energies, manufacturing and maritime shipping (autumn 2017).
  • A strategy on sustainable finance to better orient private capital flows to more sustainable investments (early 2018).
  • Initiatives for a balanced and progressive trade policy and a European framework for the screening of foreign direct investments that may pose a threat to security or public order (adopted on 13 September 2017).
  • A revised list of critical raw materials where the Commission will continue to help ensure the secure, sustainable and affordable supply for the EU manufacturing industry (adopted on 13 September 2017).
  • New proposals for clean, competitive and connected mobility, including tightened CO2 emissions standards for cars and vans, an Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Action Plan to support the deployment of charging infrastructure, and actions to foster autonomous driving (autumn 2017).

Putting this holistic strategy into practice is a shared responsibility. Its success depends on the efforts and cooperation of the EU institutions, Member States, regions and most importantly on the active role of industry itself.
Background

Europe’s industry is strong and has retained a leading position in many sectors in global markets. Industry accounts for two thirds of the EU’s exports and provides jobs for 32 million people, with 1.5 million of these jobs created since 2013. But to maintain and reinforce its competitive advantage, an important modernisation effort is required. That is why industry is at the heart of the Juncker Commission’s political priorities. All Commission policies are geared toempower industry to create jobs and boost Europe’s competitiveness, foster investment and innovation in clean and digital technologies and defend Europe’s regions and workers most affected by industrial change.

New production technologies are changing Europe’s industrial landscape and play an increasingly important role in determining the ability of European business to compete globally. They will create jobs through a number of channels, and technologies delivering higher productivity can benefit the wider economy. They may also have a deeper impact on the nature and availability of work. The future of Europe’s industry will depend on its ability to continuously adapt and innovate by investing in new technologies and embracing changes brought on by increased digitisation and the transition to low-carbon and circular economy. At the same time, global competition is higher than before and the benefits from globalisation and technological progress are unevenly spread across our societies. The Juncker Commission wants to address this.

President Juncker’s Political Guidelines have underlined the importance of a strong and high performing industry for the future of Europe’s economy. The creation of jobs and growth through innovation and investment has since been at the centre of the Commission’s key initiatives. The Juncker Plan (the Investment Plan for Europe) and the Capital Markets Union help to mobilise resources to boost economic recovery; EU support for innovation helps industry and in particular SMEs play to their strengths; Europe is at the forefront of the global push for a low-carbon and circular economy through its circular economy, clean energy and low carbon economy initiatives; key enabling technologies help industry compete globally; the Digital Single Market Strategy, the accompanying Digitisation of Industry Strategy and the Action Plan on 5G for Europe help businesses take advantage of new developments and create a properly functioning data economy; the Single Market Strategy makes it possible for industry to access a market of 500 million consumers and to connect in value chains free from customs or technical barriers; and the New Skills Agenda for Europe helps equip the people behind our industry with better skills.

These horizontal policies that concern all industries are complemented by a number of specific policies for strategic sectors, including a Space Strategy to further build on Europe’s strong and competitive space industry, a proposal for a European Defence Fund which will act as a catalyst for a competitive and innovative European defence industry, and a wide range of initiatives for clean, sustainable and competitive car industry (including the Europe on the Move initiative, actions to curb air pollution by cars and GEAR2030 action), and a Communication on steel to ensure Europe’s steel industry can compete fairly in world markets.

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The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) organized a day-long consultation and user engagement workshop on collaborative development of agricultural drought monitoring services in Bangladesh on 17 August 2017. The event took place at the BARC campus in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The workshop was organized under the USAID-funded SERVIR-Hindu Kush Himalaya (SERVIR-HKH) initiative and the Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD) in South Asia partnership.

The workshop brought together key partners to discuss anticipated methods, work plans, and the user engagement process for the effective development and long-term sustainability of the agricultural drought monitoring service. The northern region of Bangladesh has been facing agricultural droughts. This can reduce the productivity of farming communities, especially where irrigation is not available. Climate change projections suggest a future decrease in precipitation in the dry season, with uncertainties for the spatial location of precipitation in the future monsoon season. Where farmers are unable to adapt, bottlenecks in crop productivity and increased livelihood vulnerability are likely to result.

During the inaugural session of the workshop, Muhammad Jalal Uddin, Executive Chairman of BARC said that the country’s agricultural institutions are committed to ending hunger and poverty. He added that with the adoption of improved agricultural practices, Bangladesh has become self-sufficient in rice, and that further work is needed to attain overall nutrition sufficiency. Jalal Uddin also discussed Bangladesh’s vision for 2030 and its strategy to realize the vision. Referring to the loss of life and property the ongoing flooding has caused, Jala Uddin emphasized on the need to adopt new technologies, including remote sensing applications, to improve the predictability of climate hazards, including floods and droughts. He also thanked the leadership at the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) for their efforts in establishing the necessary climate services.

Shams Uddin Ahmed, Director of BMD, extended his full support to establishing agricultural climate services to benefit farmers in Bangladesh. He noted that recurrent droughts in parts of Bangladesh have caused severe groundwater depletion. Citing the case of the High Barind Tract, where groundwater accessibility is a growing concern due to continued drought, he shared that the government has posed restrictions on deep well extraction—allowing the practice only for drinking water extraction—to conserve crucial groundwater resources. He added that access to good quality drought monitoring and early warning information could help develop climate services that can be used to help farmers adapt to these challenges. As such, institutions involved in agro-meteorological prediction bear the responsibility of helping facilitate improved information flow and climate advisories to farmers across Bangladesh.

Timothy J Krupnik, Systems Agronomist with CIMMYT and Project Leader for CSRD in South Asia and Bangladesh, briefed the participants on the CSRD programme. He said that as an international public-private partnership dedicated to promoting and enabling climate services that increase farmers’ resilience to the impacts of climate variability and climate change, the programme can positively change behaviour and affect policy in developing countries.

Birendra Bajracharya, Regional Programme Manager, Mountain Environment Regional Information System (MENRIS) at ICIMOD, highlighted the opportunities earth observation data products present for addressing societal challenges. He emphasized that the user-centric “services” approach of the SERVIR-HKH initiative at ICIMOD is guided by the overarching goal of increasing the sustainable use of earth observation information and geospatial technologies for environmental management and improved resilience to climate change in the region.

Through CSRD and SERVIR-HKH, efforts are underway to strengthen existing or establish new drought monitoring and early warning systems by incorporating suitable earth observation datasets and linking them to information on local cropping systems in South Asia. The collaborators are working together to establish information communication technology (ICT)-based platforms for the provisioning of user oriented, easily accessible, timely, and decision-relevant scientific information in the form of climate services. Under this partnership, BARC is working to strengthen the capacities of national research and agricultural extension institutes in terms of using geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing approaches for drought risk management.

ICIMOD hosts the SERVIR-HKH hub and is part of a larger SERVIR network—a joint development initiative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). CSRD brings together public and private organizations and agencies committed to realizing the potential of enhancing climate resilience and climate-smart policies and practices throughout the world, particularly in developing countries. As a public-private partnership, CSRD is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UK AID, the UK Met Office, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), ESRI, Google, the American Red Cross, and the Skoll Global Threats Fund.

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27 July 2017. Precision farming is set to become even more precise with a new camera drawing on satellite imaging. Thanks to research with ESA on new cameras, hyperspectral cameras flying on drones are now able to see details as small as 4–5 cm.

Three customers are already using the first version of the ButterflEYE LS camera: in Denmark for biological diversity studies, in Australia for agricultural research, and in Italy for providing commercial data to farmers.
The experiences will be fed back into the final commercial version.

“Our first customers were really keen on getting the high resolution, which is the best you can currently get from a hyperspectral product,” notes René Michels, CEO of Germany’s airborne specialist Cubert, who collaborated with Belgium’s VITO Remote Sensing and imec for the camera development.

The camera exploits the potential of a novel hyperspectral imaging chip from imec by combining it with VITO’s image processing honed by working with ESA on remote sensing satellites. Weighing just 400g, the powerful camera fits easily on a small unmanned aircraft to deliver detailed measurements for precision agriculture but it has also potential in forestry, biomass monitoring, waste and pollution management.

Harnessing the power of colour
“Hyperspectral imaging captures many very narrow wavelength bands in the visible and near-infrared instead of the more typical three or four broad spectral bands: red, green, blue and, sometimes, infrared.”


Fireblight disease detection in pear orchards in St Truiden, Belgium, achieved by analysis based on RGB and hyperspectral data taken from a drone. Credit: VITO Remote Sensing

“By imaging the world in more colours, you can detect certain phenomena faster and more exactly,” explains Bavo Delauré from VITO Remote Sensing. “A camera that is more sensitive to subtle differences in colour allows you to identify problems that you can’t see with your naked eye or a normal camera until it’s too late to do anything about it.”

Historically, a prism has been used to separate the colours but this results in complex optics and larger cameras. Following VITO’s work on the Proba-V satellite, ESA’s Luca Maresi set the company a challenge of producing a lightweight hyperspectral camera based on a different technology.

The initial approach uses a variable filter in front of the detector, creating an instrument as compact as a standard colour camera and therefore suitable for use on small satellites and drones. One is used by Dutch Cosine Research in their HyperScout camera for the GomX-4B CubeSat, to be launched this year.

Space spin-off helps on Earth

To make the camera even more versatile and suitable for mass production, imec created an ultra-small sensor with the hyperspectral filter incorporated. Cubert used this filter-in-chip sensor in their new ButterflEYE LS camera.
Hyperspectral cameras produce huge amounts of data that have to be downloaded to VITO’s cloud computing environment to be processed to produce the required information, including action maps to help the customer.

“You need to know where in the colour spectrum to look in order to identify the changes you are seeking and derive the required information,” explains Bavo.

“In addition, drone-based imaging is, in some respects, more complicated because satellites fly in a smooth trajectory, whereas rotary and fixed wing systems are more sensitive to air movements and less stable than satellites,” adds René from Cubert. “It produces a huge amount of data that is complex to work with, and we could not have achieved this without VITO’s competence in image processing.”


Hyperspectral imagery of strawberry fields in St Truiden, Belgium. Credit: VITO Remote Sensing

Earth observation is more than just image processing

“Many people fly drones and think they can now do Earth observation, but it’s much more complicated than that,” points out Sam Waes from Belgian company Verhaert, part of ESA’s technology transfer programme network.

VITO has detailed knowledge of how to extract information from hyperspectral data and had already developed a prototype camera. So we did some marketing feasibility studies with them to identify opportunities for taking this to market. The end result is very exciting. Now we have an extremely small and efficient camera for local agriculture observations from the reuse of space technology, a camera that can provide more detailed and exact measurements compared to what has been available until now.”

Further advances underway with ESA

The next step is to add standalone processing, which VITO and Cubert hope to do by the time the ButterflEYE LS moves to a fully commercial offering in 2018. Then the users can do the processing themselves, instead of now with the support from VITO.

A consortium involving VITO has already been working with ESA to optimise the software for satellites, with the result that the HyperScout instrument now has its own onboard processing.

“This is a big revolution in the way we operate satellites. Now we have a very tiny system that can deliver realtime information ready to use, for example on forest fires or natural disasters,” explains Luca Maresi.

Other planned developments include a much more sensitive chip – 12 megapixels instead of the current 2 megapixels – which is now being developed under an ESA contract by a VITO-led consortium.

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The new platform provides a wealth of information on key Earth Observation (EO) stakeholders from North Africa, Middle East and the Balkans.

The users can navigate through the profiles of stakeholders and be informed on the existing networks, capacities, skills, etc. in the combined region. Whilst the platform is primarily targeting stakeholders from the region, organisations from other countries are invited to become part of the network. Interested stakeholders can easily complete their profile by providing their credentials and filling in a quick survey. The survey is split in five main sections: Contact Details, Activity Focus, Capacities, National Activities, Engagement in GEO-CRADLE.

The platform offers an intuitive interface whereby visitors can browse the stakeholder profiles using three mechanisms: the map filters; the “search by keyword” option; and the advanced search page.

The map offers three filters “Country”, “Organisation Name” and “Thematic Area” and displays the results on the map. The search by keyword mechanism offers a quick search using one or more keywords separated by a comma. The Advanced search page contains 10 filters regarding the main questions in the GEO-CRADLE Survey in combination with a search by keyword mechanism on the top of the page, to add any other word of interest. The user can also browse all profiles from the “Profiles” tab. The “User Manual” is offered to help visitors understand how to exploit the searching-tools offered on the platform. Improvements to the functionalities and content of the platform will continue in the months to come.

Discover the networking platform (http://geocradle.eu/platform/) and make the most of this opportunity to network with key stakeholders in the region!

More info

July 2017
Start Date End Date Name Locality Country
July 19, 2017 July 21, 2017 Prague Czech Rep.
July 20, 2017 July 21, 2017 Munich Germany
July 21, 2017 July 26, 2017 Honolulu, Hawaii USA
July 23, 2017 July 28, 2017 Fort Worth (TX) USA
August 2017
Start Date End Date Name Locality Country
August 14, 2017 August 19, 2017 Boston USA
August 22, 2017 August 24, 2017 Denver, Colorado USA
August 22, 2017 August 24, 2017 Putrajaya, Malaysia
August 28, 2017 August 31, 2017 Toulouse France
September 2017
Start Date End Date Name Locality Country
September 3, 2017 September 7, 2017 Graz Austria
September 3, 2017 September 7, 2017 Graz Austria
September 4, 2017 September 9, 2017 Szent István University, Gödöllő Campus Hungary
September 4, 2017 September 8, 2017 Germany and France
September 4, 2017 September 15, 2017 Svalvard Norway
September 5, 2017 September 7, 2017 Poznan Poland
September 6, 2017 September 7, 2017 Singapore
September 11, 2017 September 15, 2017 Reading United Kingdom
September 11, 2017 September 15, 2017 Paris France
September 11, 2017 September 14, 2017 Warsaw Poland
September 14, 2017 September 15, 2017 Paris France
September 14, 2017 Tel Aviv, Israel
September 15, 2017 September 18, 2017 Cologne Germany
September 18, 2017 September 22, 2017 Valencia Spain
September 18, 2017 September 22, 2017 Jeju Island, South Korea
September 18, 2017 September 22, 2017 Wuhan China
September 18, 2017 September 20, 2017 Vienna Austria
September 20, 2017 September 21, 2017 Charlotte, North Carolina USA
September 25, 2017 September 29, 2017 Frascati Italy
September 25, 2017 September 29, 2017 Brussels Belgium
September 26, 2017 September 28, 2017 Berlin Germany
September 26, 2017 September 28, 2017 Berlin Germany
September 26, 2017 September 28, 2017 Stavanger Norway
September 27, 2017 September 29, 2017 Nairobi, Kenya
September 27, 2017 September 29, 2017 Port Louis, Mauritius
October 2017
Start Date End Date Name Locality Country
October 2, 2017 October 3, 2017 Vienna Austria
October 2, 2017 October 6, 2017 Rome Italy
October 2, 2017 October 3, 2017 Silicon Valley USA
October 4, 2017 October 5, 2017 Brussels Belgium
October 6, 2017 October 7, 2017 Malta
October 9, 2017 October 10, 2017 Noordwijk Netherlands
October 10, 2017 October 21, 2017 Odense Norway
October 10, 2017 Brixen, Bressanone,
October 16, 2017 October 21, 2017 Vladivostok City Russia
October 23, 2017 October 25, 2017 Beijing China
October 23, 2017 October 27, 2017 Washington DC USA
October 24, 2017 October 26, 2017 Bremen Germany
October 31, 2017 November 1, 2017 London United Kingdom
November 2017
Start Date End Date Name Locality Country
November 3, 2017 November 9, 2017 Tallinn Estonia
November 6, 2017 November 8, 2017 Stockholm Sweden
November 6, 2017 Brussels Belgium
November 8, 2017 November 9, 2017 Aarhus Denmark
November 8, 2017 November 9, 2017 Brussels Belgium
November 8, 2017 November 9, 2017 Las Vegas, Nevada USA
November 13, 2017 November 17, 2017 Rome Italy
November 15, 2017 November 16, 2017 ExCel, London United Kingdom
November 22, 2017 November 25, 2017 Sousse, Tunisia
November 23, 2017 November 24, 2017 Amsterdam Netherlands
November 27, 2017 December 1, 2017 Brussels Belgium
November 28, 2017 November 30, 2017 Toulouse France
December 2017
Start Date End Date Name Locality Country
December 11, 2017 December 15, 2017 New Orleans, LA USA
January 2018
Start Date End Date Name Locality Country
January 16, 2018 January 19, 2018 Hyderabad, India
April 2018
Start Date End Date Name Locality Country
April 3, 2018 April 8, 2018 Santiago,Chile
April 17, 2018 April 19, 2018 El Jadida Morocco
May 2018
Start Date End Date Name Locality Country
May 14, 2018 May 16, 2018 Punta del Este, Uruguay
May 28, 2018 June 1, 2018 Marseille France
May 29, 2018 May 31, 2018 Belgium
October 2018
Start Date End Date Name Locality Country
October 1, 2018 October 5, 2018 Bremen Germany

Geoff Sawyer, EARSC SG, participated in the ISRSE symposium on 8th-12th May in Pretoria (South Africa) where he presented in 2 sessions. Thanks to the help of the local organisers, EARSC also organised a B2B session gathering 5 companies from Europe and 5 from Africa.

The 37th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment (ISRSE-37) took place in Tshwane, South Africa 8 to 12 May 2017. The theme was “Earth Observation for Development and Adaptation to a Changing World”.

The 2017 Symposium was the second time in this millennium that the African continent hosted ISRSE. It coincided with the implementation of the recently adopted African Space Policy and Strategy, as well as rapid development in African space science and technology programmes.

EARSC notably organised This was the second such event we have organised with the first one being during the AARSE conference last October in Kampala. In each case we are grateful for local support without which such an initiative would not be possible. We had 5 companies from Europe and 5 from Africa which participated. Very short introductory presentations from the European companies was followed by a “speed-dating” session providing each company to introduce itself to the others. Given the difficulty I had separating some of the company pairs the exchanges were quite productive. Participants agreed at the end that the formula was a good one and we shall seek to recreate similar opportunities in the future. There is strong support for further exchanges with African companies and we’ll seek opportunities to do so. At the end we managed to get Tidiane Ouattara to talk about GMES and Africa, the call for proposal is still open until August 21st.

Read Geoff’s blog on the conference.
Download his presentations on eoMALL and on Trends in Commercial EO.

As part of the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome and to commemorate the role of EU Space Policy and programmes in support of European Union integration, Rome hosted a high-level conference on ‘Space Policy for EU integration’ on June 14 and 15 June.

More than 200 representatives of the European Space sector, from industry representatives to government, Space agency and EU decision makers, gathered to reflect on three themes: Space as driver of EU integration, Space as a motor of EU growth and Space at the service of EU citizens. Europe’s Copernicus and Galileo flagship Space programmes featured as the stars of the event.

Giovanni Sylos-Labini (EARSC Vice Chairman) represented EARSC at this event. His intervention focused on the downstream sector reaffirming that it is time to establish an industrial strategy for attracting private financing and contributing to the sustainability of the European Space industry.

Read more about the event on Copernicus website

Watch the interview of Giovanni Sylos-Labini by EU Reporter

In September 2015, world leaders agreed on a shared vision about the world we want to see in 2030 by adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015, the United Nations has set out an unprecedented action plan to fight poverty and inequalities worldwide while respecting planetary boundaries.

How can Earth observation support the effort to help the UN and Nations achieve the SDGs?

The 2030 Agenda specifically demands the need for new data acquisition and integration approaches and specifically references the need for “high quality, timely, reliable and disaggregated data, including Earth observations and geospatial information”. It is clear that data, as the basis for evidence-based decision-making and accountability, will be critical to the success of the 2030 Agenda. Goal 17, in the area of data, monitoring and accountability, requires us to support developing countries to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts.

At the global policy level, the need for ‘geographic location’ in a new era of data needs is well recognized. Data – statistics, geospatial information, Earth observations, environmental and other Big Data – are at the core of being able to measure and monitor progress on the SDGs for all countries. Such data have the real potential of forming a new and emerging ‘data ecosystem’ for development, in which integrated information systems that are comprehensive and coordinated are able to monitor the state of the Earth, people and planet, and to deliver timely information necessary to citizens, organizations and governments to build accountability and make good, evidenced-based decisions.

The UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) is the central mechanism within the UN to supply global statistics and has the mandate for the development and implementation of the Global Indicator Framework for monitoring progress towards achieving the SDGs.
Could you explain how your team is assisting the coordination of all the activities related to monitoring and reporting against the global indicator framework?

The task of determining the global indicator framework, the follow-up and review mechanism and where considerable data acquisition, integration and disaggregation will be needed, was given to the Statistical Commission. It established the Inter-agency Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) to develop the global indicator framework on behalf of the UN General Assembly. The initial indicator framework has just been adopted by the General Assembly just 2 weeks ago, and comprises 232 global indicators.

How is the work of the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) linked to these activities? Overall, how do you see EO services as potentially useful tools in providing a wide range of information to support the monitoring and reporting the global indicators framework?

In UNSD, we provide the Secretariat for both the Statistical Commission and the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). In essence, the Secretariat for the global intergovernmental mechanisms for statistics and geography. When we think about the 2030 Agenda, and the associated data needs, UNSD is in a unique position to assist countries and international organisations to integrate these information systems. For example, we are seeing that many national statistical offices now understand that Earth observations are able to provide new and consistent data sources and methodologies to integrate multiple ‘location-based’ variables to support and inform official statistics and the indicators for the SDGs. These methods are able to fill data gaps and/or improve the temporal and spatial resolutions of data, by bringing together information from various sources, particularly those related to the environment. This information integration is important, as the global indicator framework will be the primary conduit to guide and inform Member States, based on individual national circumstances, on how they measure, monitor and report on the SDGs and related targets in the years to come.

Under the purview of the IAEG-SDGs and UN-GGIM, a Working Group on Geospatial Information has been established in order to ensure that, from a statistical and geographic location perspective, geospatial information, Earth observations and other new data sources can reliably and consistently contribute to the agreed indicators.

You have been contributing to the role of geospatial and Earth observations for the sustainable development process since the Rio+20 Conference in June 2012, including ensuring that appropriate recognition and text was in the outcome document of Rio+20 ‘The Future We Want’ and in the 2015 outcome document ‘Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’
How could EO services industry communicate their capabilities to the global development policy community and related decision-makers?

The policy-science-technology nexus has always been a difficult ‘communication of capability’ challenge, and as a means to inform local to global policy and decisions. In my observations, very little is understood regarding the role of geography in sustainable development processes at the intergovernmental level, including how Earth observations and other capabilities can be applied to sustainable development, and how policies can be implemented to bring the two together in a coherent and integrated manner. In some respects this is a reflection of the considerable policy – technical gap that exists within and across countries, but it is also a reflection of the different philosophies of each community. Achieving sustainable development is driven by the need for political negotiation and agreement in order to obtain high level global objectives for the future of our planet. The geography philosophy is more concerned with ensuring reliable and authoritative local to national data and science-based analyses are available on the interactions of people with their places and environment. Therefore, there are obvious differences in understanding and in terminologies, especially in the growing data requirements to support the many social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, including measuring and monitoring. Fortunately these differences are slowly being brought together through change – motivated partly by awareness and understanding, and partly by pure necessity. A goal is to ensure that the 2030 Agenda provides a means to diffuse, if not even eliminate these views and lack of understandings!

Tracking progress on the SDGs requires the collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of an unprecedented amount of data and statistics at the sub-national, national, regional and global levels, including those derived from official statistical systems, Earth observations, geospatial information, and from new and innovative data sources.
How can regional-based service providers, which are mainly small but highly innovative companies (providing readily available solutions turning data into valuable information) be better integrated in such decision-making activities?

I am not so sure I can answer this question, as such decision-making tends to bring into play the local to national aspects of sustainable development. These small and innovative service providers tend to be a lot more agile than more formal and structured entities, including governments that are not as flexible as they would like to be. This provides opportunity, particularly in assisting the least developing countries.

To answer the tough questions and to be able measure and monitor progress for those most in need, the most vulnerable countries, is going to take not only transformational change in our thinking, but also transformational change in how we leverage existing and new sources of data and emerging technologies – in essence a digital transformation. Presently, the most developed countries are grappling with an abundance and oversupply of data, technology and innovation, while in many parts of the world data and innovation scarcity prevails. When applied to sustainable development there is a greater concern. Those countries that are experiencing significant data scarcity are also those that tend to be most vulnerable and at greatest risk of being left behind. A vast ‘geospatial digital divide’ remains.

While the challenges are immense, the digital innovation and technology that is available today allows the necessary transformation, and being able to bridge the geospatial digital divide that exists among countries. But realizing this opportunity is complex in many dimensions, not the least being the lack of robust national information systems and associated geospatial frameworks. With the enabling global mechanism of the 2030 Agenda, the challenge is how to most effectively transfer this technology and data richness, availability and connectivity to the technology and data poor. Highly innovative companies are now beginning to take up this challenge, and providing data and solutions to real world needs on the ground – often at the local level.

The EARSC EO product of the year award recognised Waste from Space by Air and Space Evidence as being the best EO product which supports the implementation of the SDGs and the monitoring and reporting against the global indicator framework.
How do you assess the relevance of the winner into developing a service solution for governments and the alignment with SDGs?

The broad and transformative nature of the 2030 Agenda requires us to consider new and innovative means to address and curtail the many local to global development challenges in order to ‘leave no one behind’, and with commensurate new and innovative data sources and methods.

Therefore, and noting that countries desperately need ‘readily available solutions’, I applaud the approach that EARSC has taken in recognizing products that provide direct and specific solutions for the implementation of the SDGs at national, regional and/or global levels, and that are able to measure, monitor and report against specific indicators of the global indicator framework. It is of much more tangible benefit to countries, particularly developing nations, if specific solutions to real problems are able to be provided and implemented. These ‘applications’ are then able to assist governments and the community directly in their measuring, monitoring, and annual reporting. We desperately need applications such as Waste from Space by Air and Space Evidence that have direct benefit to countries and their national implementations of the SDGs.

At the end of the interview, we would like to ask you for your overall recommendations on the future development of the geo-information service sector, and would like to ask to give some hopefully positive messages to the members of EARSC.

Data and technological enablers such as Earth observations, which bring everyone directly into contact with environmental and geo-location information on a daily basis, have ensured that people the world over, are beginning to appreciate the need for this information in their consumption of data. As a result, a large proportion of the global community now have an entirely different set of Earth observations and geospatial information uses, needs and expectations than they did even 10 years ago, such has been the evolutionary change. In some respects it also indicates that geo-location information and services are now being driven more and more by users and consumers in response to their contemporary needs as much as responding to the needs of governments, technology developments and breakthroughs. Therefore, the potential of geo-information has rapidly advanced and has now reached a level of maturity that allows this information to make a central contribution to the integration of information for the purposes of global issues such as sustainable development.

I say “potential” because we are not there yet – but we are on the right path. EO and geospatial technologies, and strengthening data production and the use of better data in policymaking and monitoring, are becoming increasingly recognized as fundamental means for global development, but we still need to democratize these technologies and associated data in such a way that they are easily reachable and useable by developing countries. To succeed in our global development aspirations we need to not only reach the developing countries, we need to reach the poorest of the poor in the least developed countries, and we need to give then a voice and location so at to ensure that no one is left behind. Data needs to be more open, platforms need to be more usable and analytics need to be more accessible. If this is achieved we will see fundamental Earth observations, geospatial information, positioning infrastructure, policy frameworks, institutional capacity, and economic development moving up the value chain in all countries.

Short Biography
Greg Scott is Inter-Regional Advisor for Global Geospatial Information Management in the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). In his role within the Secretariat, Greg provides high level strategic policy advice and leadership in the coordination and implementation of UN-GGIM initiatives with Member States and related International Organizations involved in national, regional and global geospatial information management. Greg is also responsible for developing the substantive content for the UN-GGIM Committee of Experts, the UN-GGIM High Level Forum’s, international technical capacity development workshops, and other international fora.
Greg possesses formal qualifications in cartography and survey mapping, has a Graduate Diploma in Geography from the Australian National University, and is presently undertaking a PhD at the University of Melbourne.

Brussels, 14 July 2017. Action against Hunger, an international NGO working in the West African Sahel, has been using EO data to enhance the planning of humanitarian responses to drought impacts. Software developed by Action against Hunger uses Copernicus Global Land Service Products to estimate biomass/grassland production and water availability in the Sahel region.

The NGO uses the software and Copernicus products to strengthen the drought monitoring capacity in the region. This is helping decision makers -such as the Government of Mali – to operate their own drought detection system, as a component of the national early warning system. To further democratise the information, the next step is to deliver information directly to herders.

Over the years, rainfall in the West African Sahel has become increasingly volatile, with years of floods preceding extreme droughts. These climatic shocks place millions of people in a precarious and vulnerable situation, which is more acutely felt by livestock herders.

In countries such as Mali and Niger, the majority of cattle are held in semi-nomadic herds that move according to the seasons in search of greener pasture and water. As the Sahel has a single rainy season of 3-4 months between July and October, herders need to make careful decisions on moving their cattle, ensuring that their animals stay healthy and survive the long dry season. For the communities in the region a poor rainy season can severely affect their way of living. Family herds that took decades to form can be decimated in only a few months. As an example, in 2009, following a drought in Niger, herders in the worst-hit areas lost up to 90% of their livestock.

Reliable information on biomass and water availability is fundamental. Herders, as well as humanitarian and government actors, need to know which areas are going to be impacted by droughts to plan for early response interventions.

Since 2005, a humanitarian NGO, Action against Hunger (Action Contre la Faim, ACF), has been working to use remote sensing data to improve humanitarian response to droughts. Through a partnership with the Flemish Institute of Technology (VITO NV, Belgium), ACF has been providing geo-information, derived from the SPOT/VGT and PROBA-V satellite sensors, to other humanitarian actors in order to identify areas prone to drought.

Over the years, this initiative has grown and several Copernicus Global Land Service products related to vegetation and water – Dry Matter Productivity, Water Bodies, Soil Water Index and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index – are now being used operationally to monitor the West Sahel. Software developed by ACF uses Copernicus data to estimate biomass/grassland production and water availability.

This article was first published in Copernicus Observer.
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