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Last July, AARSE, the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment in cooperation with EARSC published an inventory of African private sectors companies working in the field of Earth Observation (EO) and Geospatial information sciences.

AARSE has now developed a visualisation tool, giving location, company name and website of surveyed companies.

In addition, the results of the study will be presented at the AARSE2016 Conference on 26 October 2016 during the plenary session focused on Private sector in EO and GI.

The IEA, based at University of Reading, has been appointed to lead a major project to understand what sort of climate information organisations need to make better decisions. The first step will be to launch a survey in September, across private businesses and public organisations throughout Europe.

The contract – SECTEUR (Sector Engagement for Copernicus Climate Change Service; Translating European User Requirements) is funded by the Reading-based European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) on behalf of Copernicus, the European Commission’s Earth observation and monitoring programme.

SECTEUR will engage directly with end-users to analyse their requirements for climate information, identify gaps and deliver recommendations on future needs to support better informed decision-making. The sectors covered are: Agriculture & Forestry, Coastal areas, Health, Infrastructure, Insurance and Tourism.

The SECTEUR online survey, being led by the University of Leeds, one of the partners in the project, will be distributed in 5 European languages. The survey will cover a number of topics to capture the types of climate information used, the usefulness of this information and how it might be improved, as well as identifying limitations and gaps in current provisions of climate information.

To register interest please email secteur@the-iea.org

Dr Carlo Buontempo, Manager of the Sectoral Information Systems for Copernicus Climate Change Service at ECMWF, says: “SECTEUR is an exciting project that will provide us with valuable information about what real users of climate information need. This will help us to shape the Climate Change Service that Copernicus will provide.”

Prof Nigel Arnell, SECTEUR Science Lead at University of Reading, said: “Climate is changing and organisations are vulnerable to these changes. For example, climate change will have a wide range of impacts such as sea level rise and increased risks of flooding, droughts and heat waves.

“Organisations need to plan for the impacts and opportunities that our changing climate will bring. Having the appropriate tools and data to make evidence-based decisions is essential. SECTEUR will work with organisations through a set of workshops, a survey and interviews to understand their climate information requirements, as well as possible tools and future research to fill gaps. The health sector, for example, could benefit from climate predictions and tools that provide early warning on extremes such as heat waves.”

Dr Maria Noguer, SECTEUR Project Manager, based at the IEA, encourages businesses and organisations to take part, saying: “Engaging with SECTEUR will put your organisation in the driving seat. Your requirements could be translated into tailored products that could help you make better decisions in an uncertain climate future.”
Colin McKinnon, IEA CEO, said: “We are delighted that ECMWF has trusted us to deliver this important project which supports the IEA aims of taking environmental data and making it relevant to end-users.”

Airbus Defence and Space, The Forest Trust (TFT) and SarVision have jointly developed a service enabling companies to provide evidence of how they are implementing their No Deforestation commitments.

The service is called Starling and uses a combination of high-resolution optical satellite and radar imagery to provide unbiased monitoring of forest cover change. After 14 months of development Starling is now in operation with Ferrero and Nestlé as pilot customers and will be available to the market early 2017.It will be the first time a technology of this kind is made available to companies, from producers to global brands, to help them make the right decisions and meet the promises set out in their forest conservation policies.

“We believe Starling is revolutionary,” said Bastien Sachet, Chief Executive of global environmental and social non-profit TFT. “Not only does this service provide a level of accuracy never before seen, thanks to a combination of 1.5m SPOT images and cloud-independent radar data, it also goes beyond the traditional concept of ‘auditing’”.

Until now, brands and producers could only rely on auditing houses to verify Zero Deforestation commitments. However, auditors can’t get the overall view of the situation: they can’t access all forest areas, and are only spending a limited number of days in the field. Imagery from space offers a powerful alternative, bringing extensive, impartial and cost-effective information in real time, including the ability to easily differentiate replanting from deforestation. It allows companies to manage their operations, make fully informed decisions and demonstrate to buyers and consumers that they are true to their commitment. Starling will be available to the market starting January 2017. In the meantime the service is being piloted with early adopters.

“Most companies strive to do the right thing, and the aim of Starling is to give them the true capacity to do so,” said Bernhard Brenner, Head of Intelligence Business Cluster at Airbus Defence and Space. “Our constellation of satellites offers them a reliable tool to track and verify their actions and better protect the world’s resources.”

The partnership between Airbus Defence and Space, TFT and radar remote sensing specialists SarVision began in 2015. Airbus Defence and Space is responsible for activating its satellites, pre-processing the imagery and distributing the service worldwide. TFT’s experience in land use planning and forestry and SarVision’s expertise in radar imagery analysis complement the design of the solution. Complex, expert satellite data is turned into information that can be directly used and understood by agro-industries.

Ferrero and Nestlé are piloting Starling to verify the responsible sourcing commitments they made for their palm oil supply chains.

Find out more about Starling at: www.intelligence-airbusds.com/starling

About Airbus Defence and Space

Airbus Defence and Space, a division of Airbus Group, is Europe’s number one defence and space enterprise and the second largest space business worldwide. Its activities include space, military aircraft and related systems and services. It employs more than 38,000 people and in 2015 generated revenues of over 13 billion Euros.

About TFT

TFT (The Forest Trust) is a global non-profit organisation focused on transforming supply chains for the benefit of nature and people. Its supply chain, social and environmental experts work in over 25 countries to ensure that commodities are sourced with respect for people and planet. TFT leverages the transformational power of companies to innovate and bring value to everyone in the supply chain – from grower to customer. Its members include Nestlé, Wilmar International, Golden Agri-Resources, Cargill, Ferrero, Mars, ADM, 3M, Asia Pulp and Paper, B&Q and Lindt. www.tft-earth.org

About SarVision

SarVision is a spin-off from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. SarVision pioneers the operational application of systematic satellite and airborne monitoring and mapping systems for environmental and natural resource management. Its innovative systems provide partners with the latest maps and information on land and forest cover. www.sarvision.nl

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WESTMINSTER, Colo.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Oct. 11, 2016— DigitalGlobe, Inc. (NYSE: DGI), the global leader in Earth imagery and information about our changing planet, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held The Radiant Group, Inc. (“Radiant”) from Aston Capital for $140 million in cash.

The acquisition of Radiant combines two industry leaders recognized for delivering innovative solutions that help customers harness the power of Earth imagery and other forms of geospatial information. Upon completing the transaction, DigitalGlobe will strengthen its position as the leading commercial source of geospatial information and insight with the capability and scale to address the needs of the world’s largest and most sophisticated customers. The combined DigitalGlobe Services business will support critical national security missions with an expanded portfolio of advanced capabilities that extend across the entire geospatial intelligence value chain.

Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, Radiant has built a strong and growing presence within the U.S. Intelligence Community and has contracts with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

“The acquisition of The Radiant Group represents an important step in deriving new insights for customers from DigitalGlobe’s imagery and other geospatial information sources,” said Jeffrey R. Tarr, Chief Executive Officer of DigitalGlobe. “Combining Radiant with DigitalGlobe greatly enhances both organizations’ capabilities, expands our customer base across the U.S. Intelligence Community and increases our access to contract vehicles. Importantly, this acquisition also brings together hundreds of innovative developers and analysts with expertise in geospatial big data and analytics. Combined with the world’s most advanced commercial Earth-imaging capability, unrivaled archive and platforms, these capabilities position us to deliver more value to customers and shareowners.”

“We are proud to have built Radiant into an innovative technology and analytics business with a proven track record supporting Defense and Intelligence Customers,” said Bobby Basil, a partner at Aston Capital. “The acquisition will expand DigitalGlobe’s customer base across the Intelligence Community, and simultaneously accelerate the pace of innovation in big data analytics and machine learning at the company. This is a very exciting development for the industry.”

Strategic and Financial Benefits of the Transaction

  • Broadens DigitalGlobe’s capabilities across the entire geospatial intelligence value chain, including smart tasking, collection, processing, big data analytics and delivery of insights.
  • Brings together hundreds of innovative developers and analysts with expertise in big data analytics, cloud computing and machine learning to solve complex geospatial intelligence challenges.
  • Expands DigitalGlobe’s customer base across the U.S. Intelligence and Special Operations Communities through more than 80 additional contract vehicles and deepens the company’s relationship with its largest customer.
  • Diversifies revenue, reduces asset intensity and is accretive to growth in revenue, EBITDA, net income and other key financial metrics.

Financial Profile and Transaction Details

  • Total cash consideration of $140 million.
  • To be funded with cash on hand and drawings under existing revolving line of credit.
  • Reaffirm commitment to completing share repurchase program.
  • Expected 2016 Radiant revenue of approximately $100 million.
  • Historical Radiant organic revenue growth above 10%.
  • Closing expected by end of 2016, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

About DigitalGlobe

DigitalGlobe is a leading provider of commercial high-resolution Earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions that help decision makers better understand our changing planet in order to save lives, resources and time. Sourced from the world’s leading constellation, our imagery solutions deliver unmatched coverage and capacity to meet our customers’ most demanding mission requirements. Each day customers in defense and intelligence, public safety, civil agencies, map making and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure management, navigation technology, and providers of location-based services depend on DigitalGlobe data, information, technology and expertise to gain actionable insight.

DigitalGlobe is a registered trademark of DigitalGlobe.

About Radiant

The Radiant Group, Inc. provides advanced technical and analytical solutions focused on enhancing the quality and speed of decision making while reducing risk and ensuring mission success. Radiant solves real-time multi-INT collection and exploitation needs by providing an end to end capability and framework for innovation that moves data through the full life cycle of collection, exploitation and management from sensor to decision maker.

About Aston Capital

Aston Capital is a Stamford, CT based private equity fund focused on middle markets investing in the Aerospace, Defense and National Security sectors. Aston was founded by Robert V. LaPenta who co-founded L-3 Communications, Inc. and L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. The firm’s partners combine a long history of investing and operating experience in these markets.

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Airbus Defence and Space has launched One Atlas, a new satellite image basemap, which covers the earth landmasses with professional grade imagery. Available online 24/7 and refreshed within a 12-month period, One Atlas provides customers with easy access to cost effective, high-quality and homogeneous imagery.

One Atlas will bring value to all our clients for a wide range of applications such as military operations planning, infrastructure preparatory studies or even tree cover change detection in regions prone to deforestation, just to name a few.

The service offers a streamlined workflow, and the costs related to updating, selecting, processing and hosting imagery are drastically reduced. Seamlessly integrated into the customer’s system, One Atlas facilitates the sharing of data across teams or partner organisations, with no compromise on security or privacy. It also enables users to plan, map and locate their teams, assets or areas of interest, anywhere on the globe, allowing operators to devote more time to their core mission.

“With One Atlas, we propose a radical change to our clients for the way they access our data”, said Bernhard Brenner, Head of Intelligence Business Cluster at Airbus Defence and Space. “We take care of everything: updating, selecting, processing and hosting – all to make it easier, cheaper and faster for our customers”.

Contact:
Fabienne GRAZZINI
+33 5 62 19 41 19
fabienne.grazzini@airbus.com

The event will be hosted in ESA-ESRIN from 14 to 16 March 2017.

The European Space Agency together with GEO, FAO and EU are organising the WorldCover 2017 Conference.

The conference is open to Land Cover users, scientists, students, representatives from National, European and International Space Agencies, Value Adding Industries, Laboratories and Universities.

The Conference is organised around:

  • Papers and posters selected by the Scientific Committee;
  • Invited papers from organisations and from the land cover communities;
  • Round-table discussions prepared by the Scientific Committee and ESA

The main objectives of the conference are:

  • Listen and capture multi-user requirements (climate modellers, geographers, scientists, environmentalists) for high and low resolution land cover mapping;
  • Head towards the development of a Sustainable Operational System for Land Cover Classifications to meet the user’s needs;
  • Follow on the previous successful experiences: IGBP-DISCover, GLC-2000, GlobCover 2005, GlobCover 2009, GlobeLand30, and CCI Land Cover;
  • Produce a set of recommendations for the funding and implementation agencies;
  • Establish a set of Research and Development activities to be carried out to meet the user requirements.

Organising Committee

  • Olivier Arino, ESA
  • Mark Doherty, ESA
  • Bianca Hoersch, ESA
  • Irene Renis, Serco/ESA

Scientific Committee

  • Frederic Achard, JRC
  • Jun Chen, NGCC
  • Pierre Defourny, UCL
  • Matt Hansen, University of Maryland
  • Martin Herold, WUR
  • John Latham, FAO
  • Tom Loveland, USGS
  • Barbara Ryan, GEO
  • Chris Steenmans, EEA

http://worldcover2017.esa.int/

Starting with data from satellites to value-added services and on to the rapidly expanding EO information and ‘big data’ analytics segments, NSR’s new Earth Observation (EO) Market Report, 8th Edition (EO8) report offers a comprehensive analysis of the fast growth of these markets for each vertical and region.

NSR’s EO8 report offers analysis of seven different vertical markets across five regions for four different instrument resolutions and two types of imagery (optical, SAR). Furthermore, the study adds the emerging area of EO Big Data Analytics and Commercial Weather Data (from satellites) forecasts, an assessment of the industry in terms of imaging efficiency and financial returns on investment, forecasts by SAR and optical sensors for each market segment, and additional depth to data pricing analysis. The study provides an in-depth assessment of Defense and Intelligence, Managed Living Resources, Energy and Natural Resources, Industrial, Services, Public Authorities, and Weather segments with a complete assessment and forecast of revenues across all regions over the next ten years.

This NSR report answers critical questions regarding the Earth Observation market:

  • What will be the EO market size in the next 10 years?
  • How will each vertical market evolve?
  • How many new constellations will provide what imagery and what will be their impact?
  • What will the new entrants mean to the EO competitive landscape?
  • How will pricing of imagery evolve by type and by resolution?
  • What is the market size from data, value-added services, information products, and Big Data Analytics by vertical, region, and resolution?
  • Which markets are driving convergence of Big Data, cloud computing and EO data?
  • What is the market opportunity in high resolution SAR imaging?
  • What is the main EO satellite operators’ market share by vertical and by region?
  • What are the various data pricing models prevalent in the industry?
  • Will weather data from satellite become a sizeable market?

NSR’s Satellite-Based Earth Observation, 8th Edition offers readers a completely updated evaluation of the market for satellite-based data and through hundreds of graphs and thousands of data points showing the evolution of the market so as to provide the most recent trends impacting demand by region and globally in the coming decade.

Pre-order the report at this direct link

http://www.satnews.com/story.php?number=2143688528

EARTH-I, Ltd. (www.earthi.space), the innovative British distributor of Earth Observation and data services is attending InterGeo 2016, held in Hamburg, Germany.

The company is exhibiting its capabilities and expertise to the assembled audience of more than 15,000 visitors, from nearly 100 different countries around the globe.

Held annually, InterGeo provides companies in the Space, Earth Observation and Geospatial sectors an opportunity to meet one another and to promote their goods and services. The event showcases the entire satellite data supply chain under one roof, stretching from data capture right through to finished products, visual representations and solutions.

The focus of this year’s show will be ‘knowledge and action for Planet Earth’, seeking pioneering solutions to environmental and humanitarian challenges.

At the event, Earth-i will be exhibiting the latest examples of 1m GSD satellite imagery from the DMC3/TripleSat constellation. These images benefit from a very high temporal resolution and provide an additional level of detail and actionable data achieved through higher resolution imagery and the commercial potential it offers.

The team from Earth-i will be demonstrating the particular advantages a constellation of three identical very high resolution satellites offers its customers. Orbiting 33 mins apart, the DMC3/TripleSat constellation offers the ability to revisit target areas of interest on the same day, tasking two satellites to collect stereo images from which a digital elevation model (DEM) can then be created.

Earth-i will demonstrate this capability using an example of images and DEMs created recently from the Nottingham area in the UK.

Speaking about Earth-i’s attendance at the show, Richard Blain, CEO of Earth-i, commented: “The whole team is excited to be exhibiting at InterGeo 2016 and have the chance to demonstrate our products and services to such a large and international audience. Events such as these are a vital part of our industry as we get an opportunity to engage in proactive discussion with industry partners about ways in which we can collaborate and better serve our customers through innovation. We look forward to welcoming visitors to our booth and showing what we can deliver.”

Visitors will be able to discuss the capabilities of the DMC3/TripleSat constellation with Earth-i’s team in the UK Pavilion (Hall A1), D1.049 / Stand 14.

About EARTH-i Ltd:
Earth-i is a British company dedicated to facilitating the distribution of data from the DMC3/TripleSat Constellation. As the master distributor appointed by 21AT, Earth-i provides a portal for data users wishing to take advantage of the advanced data and services made possible by this uniquely capable Earth Observation satellite constellation.

Earth-i is co-located on the Surrey Research Park in the UK with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, the manufacturer of the DMC3/TripleSat constellation. www.earthi.space

Results of the inventory of the African private EO and Geospatial industry will be presented at the AARSE2016 Conference on 26 October 2016 during the plenary session focused on Private sector in EO and GI.

The AARSE 2016 conference is taking place in Kampala/ Uganda from 24 – 28 Oct. 2016. In particular, the day 3 of the conference will focuss on the role of the African private sector in EO and GI. Representatives from European and African EO services industry will discuss these issues together with representatives from the European Commission, EARSC, AARSE and GEO.

Schedule African Private Sector in EO and GI at AARSE 2016 Conference – Day 3, 26 Oct. 2016 (draft Agenda)

11:00 – 12:30 Plenary Session 3
Survey on state and health of the African private sector in Earth Observation Presentation of Findings – Tsehaie Woldai, AARSE.
• The experience of the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies – Geoff Sawyer, Secretary general, EARSC
• Private sector Round Table Panel (African and European CEOs, AUC, EC, government representatives)
• Conclusions & way forward (special declaration on private sector in EO)

14:00 – 17:30 Special session: Business to Business Event (B2B)

Contact EARSC Secretariat for more information.

Registration

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- Four very high-resolution (VHR) optical Earth observation satellites to be launched in 2020 and 2021 will ensure continuity of Pléiades mission
- Highly responsive dual VHR constellation will offer state-of-the art service to the Airbus Defence and Space imagery user’s community for the next decade
- Recognised operational Pléiades system features will be improved to match the market requirements expected to be the norm at the time of launch, and will deliver new applications such as business intelligence and analytics

As announced at World Satellite Business Week by Nicolas Chamussy, Head of the Business Line Space Systems within Airbus Defence and Space and confirmed by Bernhard Brenner, Head of Intelligence Business Cluster at Airbus Defence and Space, Airbus Defence and Space is designing and building a new constellation of optical satellites, comprising four identical and very agile sensors delivering very high-resolution imagery.

Along with the space segments, to be launched in 2020 and 2021, innovative ground segments offering multi-mission capabilities, large-scale image processing and easy data access incorporating “bigdata/cloud technologies” will be developed and deployed. This will not only enhance applications in traditional markets but will also open up new applications in developing markets, analytics and intelligence.

Offering intraday revisit capacity of any point on Earth, improved reactivity in satellite tasking, and the ability to capture millions of km² per day, this constellation, entirely funded, owned and operated by Airbus Defence and Space, will respect the continuity of Pléiades and all French laws and regulations.

About Airbus Defence and Space

Airbus Defence and Space, a division of Airbus Group, is Europe’s number one defence and space enterprise and the second largest space business worldwide. Its activities include space, military aircraft and related systems and services. It employs more than 34,500 people and in 2015 generated revenues of over 13 billion Euros.

Contact
Fabienne GRAZZINI
+ 33 5 62 19 41 19
fabienne.grazzini@airbus.com