CGI was founded 40 years ago and is one of the largest IT and business process services providers in the world, delivering high-quality business consulting, systems integration and managed services.

CGI works with the space industry from the UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, Finland, Estonia, Czech Republic and Italy. We deliver complex, mission critical space systems and are a recognised thought leader in space security and space applications.

Through long-standing client relationships, and our dedicated practice of space and satellite experts, we have earned a reputation for solving technically difficult software challenges with secure solutions, delivered on time and proven to work every time. We also share innovative uses of space and satellite technology with commercial organisations to solve their business challenges.

Our Earth Observation (EO) clients include the European Space Agency and its centre for EO, ESRIN, in Italy and its new European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT) in the UK. We work on the Copernicus programme for the European Commission and for international organisations such as EUMETSAT and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).  We also deliver EO based services directly to government and commercial clients, helping them to turn EO data into information they can trust and act upon.

We do this by:

• providing end-to-end EO ground system solutions that work 24×7
• ensuring EO data is secure and trustworthy
• developing applications and services to exploit EO data
• providing consultancy on end-user requirements including how to address them commercially, technically, organisationally and legally.

Two examples of our recent EO projects, eSurge and VeriSpace, are described below. To find out more about CGI Space please visit www.cgi-group.co.uk/space

eSurge

CGI is leading the delivery of the ESA eSurge project which will enable forecasters and the scientific research community to make the best use of future data streams from the Sentinel satellites which are being delivered as part of Europe’s Copernicus programme.
The eSurge project is also working with users worldwide to facilitate sharing of models and expertise, with the aim of helping countries with less developed infrastructure to improve their surge predictions. The eSurge project aims to improve the modelling and forecasting of storm surges through the increased use of advanced satellite data, including advanced products such as scatterometry and coastal altimetry.

To achieve this, eSurge:

• brings together available data in a freely available database
• makes live data available when a surge is forecast
• provides documentation and training to aid use of this data
• runs demonstration experiments to prove the value of the data
• supports community building through the Storm Surge Network

In the UK, storm surge forecasts are provided by the National Tidal and Sea Level Facility part of the UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC). The NOC is developing advanced techniques for coastal altimetry that provides measurements of total sea level elevations close to land. The use of satellite data is unique for areas where in-situ measurements are lacking. As part of the eSurge project the NOC have developed a new coastal altimetry algorithm utilising the various altimeters currently in orbit. When Sentinel 3 is launched it will provide operational altimetry measurements to better support the storm surge community

The image below shows the eSurge data viewer being used to display data for the North Sea during the storm of 5 December 2013.

CGI has led the project as prime contractor, managing the engagement with the end-users of the system, gathering the requirements and developing the technical specification for the system. We are working closely with the science community, with subcontractors from the Danish Meteorological Institute DMI, the Dutch Meteorological Institute KNMI, the Irish Coastal & Marine Resources Centre CMRC, and NOC who are mentioned above.

You can access the live eSurge information at www.storm-surge.info

VeriSpace

VeriSpace is an ESA funded feasibility study to identify how satellite technologies, such as Earth Observation (EO), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and communication technologies, can be used to bring business benefits to the insurance industry when managing insurance claims.

The insurance industry needs to improve the efficiency of business processes such as initial risk exposure identification, claims identification and validity of the claim. They need improved modelling of the risk exposure of assets, faster response to events and claims, better communication with the loss adjustors in the field and the ability to gather more evidence around a claim.

VeriSpace offers services that will integrate key space technologies, for example, EO datasets to assess insurers’ exposure and the severity of the property damage following a catastrophic event or using GNSS and satellite communications to enable greater transfer of information or intelligence between an office and the loss adjustors.

Using mission planning software and state-of-the-art data processing VeriSpace utilises a range of EO data, including Copernicus and very high resolution (VHR) commercial satellite imagery, to enable the rapid generation and delivery of exposure and damage assessment information responding to the users need for timely geo-intelligence to drive efficiencies in the claims management process. For example, the figure below shows the extent of a flood in Greece, derived from Copernicus Sentinel-1 data.

VeriSpace also provides a service and smartphone app to enable loss adjustors in the field to be able to collect information, such as photos and videos. By utilising space technologies such as GNSS, along with data compression technologies, this information can be accurately geo-located and timestamped and transmitted to a central location for use in settlement of claims. This service is designed to allow insurers and loss adjustors to have confidence in the trustworthiness of field-collected information.

This image shows the type of data that can be collected by an assessor in the field using an app.

The main advantage of the VeriSpace services is to increase the amount of timely information about an asset that can be accessed by those involved within the claims process. Using space assets in the risk exposure assessments, such as in catastrophic events, and in the verification of insured losses gives the advantage of global coverage, consistency and independence from terrestrial infrastructure.

Imagery can also be collected quickly after an event which provides a broader understanding of the situational information than other more traditional methods. The GNSS and Satcoms capabilities allow loss adjustors in the field to have the confidence that they can collect and transmit data with accurate positional information irrespective of the local infrastructure.

CGI is leading a team of specialists from the EO and Insurance Services sectors to define a sustainable, user-orientated service tailored to the needs of the Insurance and Reinsurance sectors.

These services will exploit the benefits of space technologies to make the insurance claims process more efficient. Our VeriSpace team has in-depth knowledge of the claims management business, wider insurance sector, space technologies and integrated downstream service development which is the ideal blend of expertise to realise the VeriSpace solution.

CGI led the initial Feasibility Study phase to a successful conclusion in December 2015. We are now preparing a proposal for a more in depth service demonstration, co-funded by ESA, CGI and its partners. During this demonstration phase the services will be developed and offered to insurance industry users, initially as pre-operational services. Find out more here

GAF was founded 30 years ago as a university spin-off and since then it has enjoyed a steady growth curve and sustained profitability. Today GAF is proud to be one of the world`s leading companies in the geo-spatial market. GAF is headquartered in Munich, Germany with a branch in Neustrelitz (North of Berlin). More than 200 highly qualified staff and 30 years of experience are ready to serve you. We have a successful track record of more than 1000 projects in 100 countries globally and we have project offices worldwide. We work for industry and private sector, for international institutions and development banks, national authorities and clients.

What is our business?

Geo-data, technology, solutions, products

We offer a comprehensive end-to-end service portfolio: earth observation data, geo-products, integrating space technologies (satellite communication, earth observation and positioning) into real world applications. Software and systems, technology consulting and institutional strengthening. We are keeping pace with the accelerating technological developments in our professional lives for your benefit.

Development, sustainability, compliance

We work in the fields of natural resources and raw materials, environment and water, forestry and agriculture, infrastructure and emergency management. We provide sustainable solutions in resources management, inventories, monitoring and planning based on sound management practice, involving leading experts and know-how transfer expertise. Ready to serve you from our home base, in your office, and in the field.

GAF is a key contributor in the Copernicus programme

GAF is one of the most experienced European service providers in the EU/ESA Copernicus Programme and covers all the thematic areas: Land, Marine, Atmosphere, Emergency Management and Security. GAF’s direct involvement with Copernicus, formerly GMES, started as early as 1998, when  GAF contributed to GMES related R&D and then to GMES pre-operational services.  Today, in the operational Copernicus setting, GAF is a major player – as a leader as well as a partner in the European service teams – and has a strong competence in Land Monitoring and Emergency Management. This is reflected by the fact that 60 staff members are currently dedicated to Copernicus services provision, including operation of a 24/7 emergency service. GAF’s former affiliate EUROMAP – now merged with GAF – has for many years provided data services centred around the fleet of Indian EO systems and is as such involved in the Copernicus Space Component Data Access.

Earth Observation and Geoinformation in Technical Assistance and Consulting

Since its set-up in 1985 GAF has been taking Earth Observation- and Geo-information- based solutions beyond Europe and to the developing world - with a particular focus on projects in Africa and Asia funded by international donor organisations such as the World Bank, European Union, IADB and ADB. Developing nations have specific demands, which often include base mapping and monitoring of resources in vast and remote areas, and an important aspect is also the provision of capacity building and know-how transfer. In response, GAF has combined EO and GI into comprehensive solution packages consisting of in-depth application know-how, business process redesign, information technology, training and institutional strengthening. Today, the GAF track record comprises projects in more than 100 countries spread over 4 continents, and roughly one quarter of GAF’s revenues are generated in the so-called Technical Assistance and Consulting sector.

Emergency Mapping: damage map example from Nepal earthquake (Kathmandu). © European Commission, Copernicus Emergency Management Service

Riparian Zone products in Danube valley: VHR LC/LU (left), Riparian Zone delineation (right). © EEA

Capacity building and training form an important part of our work in the technical assistance sector (example: Support to the Darfur Land commission)

Contact information
GAF AG
Arnulfstrasse 199, D-80634 Muenchen, Germany
+49/89/121528-0. info@gaf.de
www.gaf.de

The start of something new

In 2010, former students at Tromsø University and Chalmers University of Technology and researchers at Norut in Tromsø saw a general industry problem; Decision makers across industries were lacking accurate geospatial data, both in space and time, to be able to do good decisions as regards to safety, maintenance, investments and production.

Existing equipment or methods used were either, inaccurate or too expensive, to continuously track the dynamics of our environment. Decisions are being made, however with a good degree of uncertainty or with vast amounts of resources spent on various measurements and equipment.

Eager to take on the challenge, and to provide better geospatial data, the company Globesar was formed, backed by the research institution Norut with decades of research and development in remote sensing technologies.

A couple of years down the road, the company has grown in size, and developed into a global service provider with customers on several continents. The cross-disciplinary team has more than 15 years of experience in analysing satellite data, primarily data from radar and optical sensors, and is providing high quality mapping and monitoring solutions to its clients.

As of today the company offers two satellite services to its clients;

Assisting decisions makers with new surface deformation data

As surface deformations occurs from natural or man-made reasons it is very important to identify and track the deformations in order to better understand which impact the deformations can have on for instance safety and maintenance.

Existing and more traditional geodetic measurement systems, such as levelling and GNSS, are limited as regards to spatial coverage and can in addition, have limitations as regards to accuracy, making it challenging to understand and analyse the deformation measurements.

With the application of a series of radar satellite measurements and the InSAR methodology Globesar can provide mm-accurate deformation data without any ground equipment installed. As radar satellite measurements cover large areas it is possible to produce a large network of measurements points to a fraction of the cost, compared to existing geodetic methods. Companies and organizations can benefit from continuously updated deformation data to better understand the stability dynamics in their areas of interest. In addition, as radar satellites have been acquiring data since the early 1990’s, it is possible to reproduce historical deformation trends. The company has clients within application areas such as; natural hazards, infrastructure, Oil and Gas, hydropower.

Image below illustrate an example of Globesar’s surface deformation product covering a city in Europe. Both images show the same area. The colour scale in the image to the right illustrate the stability of the area monitored, covering a period of approximately 12 months. Blue/green colour means no or little deformation, while yellow/red areas show deformation of up to 40mm.

Click for large view

Figure 1. The two images show same area. Image to the right illustrate deformation data provided using the InSAR technique together with radar measurements from the TerraSAR/TanDEM-X satellite provided by Airbus. Red/yellow areas illustrate subsidence whilst green/blue areas are stable.

Improving water resource management

Water resource management is important to efficiently plan, develop, distribute and manage our water resources. In cold regions, where water is being accumulated in form of snow, it is important to track the snow cover and its characteristics to potentially prevent and warn for any flooding situations that may arise or to better plan the production of electricity.

Globesar offers mapping and monitoring services on snow cover using optical and radar satellite sensors. Clients across the globe can benefit from daily delivered snow maps together with historical statistics dating back from early 2000.

Click for large view

Figure 2. Image show an example of Globesar’s daily snow cover product.

Contact information
Globesar AS
Oslo Innovation Park
Gaustadalleen 21
0349 Oslo, Norway
+47 406 01 994
info@globesar.com
www.globesar.com

TerraNIS SAS is a new company, created in March 2014 and located near Toulouse – France. TerraNIS is designing and delivering geoinformation services, based on Earth Observation, to its customers in the field of agriculture and environment.

TerraNIS operates and sells worldwide the Pixagri and *Œnoview services, respectively dedicated to precision farming and precision viticulture. Those two services were originally developed by Astrium (which became Airbus Defense and Space in 2014) in collaboration with INRA and ICV respectively. TerraNIS and Airbus have signed a partnership agreement early 2015 which allows TerraNIS to use and further develop this original technology.

TerraNIS is also the founder and the operator of EUGENIUS ^TM . The EUGENIUS ^TM initiative (which stands for European Group of Enterprises for a Network of Information using Space) aims at creating a network of SMEs distributed across the different European regions in order to deliver geo-information services in the regions where they are located.

ŒNOVIEW and PIXAGRI services

Œnoview is a comprehensive service, available worldwide, that helps winegrower detect sub-field and inter-field variations at veraison stage (veraison represents the transition from berry growth to berry ripening, and many changes in berry development occur at veraison).

The Œnoview® cartography measures the variability of vine vigor through the anlysis of multispectral optical satellite imagery (resolution less or equal to 1,5m) and the level of internal variability of each vineyard. Zoned maps are produced, which can be used for the improvement of the technical management (fertilization, harvest, pruning, bunch thinning…) of the vineyard. On a large scale, groups of vineyards presenting the same characteristics can be created to improve harvest organization.

Œnoview is based on a software application called Overland ^™ , which uses a unique image processing methodology that doesn’t depend on local and weather conditions. Our crop experts, namely oenologists, systematically check maps before they are delivered.

The maps are delivered in image formats compatible with most geographic information software, thus allowing you to conduct sub-field and inter-field analysis from the office or in the field. Map files are interoperable and supported by a wide range of mobile and on-tractor systems. 

We also deliver fully annotated and printable maps in PDF format at field level, highlighting the intra-field variability.

Figure 1: Field-level map of fCover, shows the surface area of visible green vegetation

Figure 2 : Field-level map of zoned fCover, segmentation of field-level fCover map

Pixagri is quite similar to Oenoview but it is dedicated to large crops e.g. wheat, soya, rape seed etc. It gives farming professionals more control over practices and inputs to achieve maximum profitability. 

The analysis of the Pixagri maps generates direct quality benefits by helping farmers to optimize investment and effort through:

• Farm diagnosis: inter-field and sub-field variations, identification of sources of variability, analysis to determine whether practices fit objectives.
• Support in optimizing practices to meet their short- and medium-term objectives.
• Monitoring implementation of new practices and their effectiveness.

Similarly to Oenoview, Pixagri is using the Overland™ software suite and uses also multispectral optical satellite imagery but with a coarser resolution less or equal to 20m. The ESA Sentinel 2 data will be perfectly adapted to Pixagri and should foster the development of the service both in terms of commercial footprint but also in terms of offer. In other words, the gratuity of the data will definitely ease the commercial development of the service and, in parallel, the richness of the spectral bands of the imagery will allow an improvement of the added-value products. Overland will indeed be able to process together the whole band set of the S2 data.

Thanks to the spectral richness of the data, major performance steps are expected:

• an accurate estimation of the crop Leaf Area Index (LAI), which quantifies the crop foliage and is the prime parameter to monitor crop development, even for high LAI values once canopy closure is reached.
• an accurate measurement of the leaf Chlorophyll Content (Chl), which quantifies the chlorophyll accumulated in the leaves and is a dynamic, key parameter to monitor plant nutrition and stress.
• an improved discrimination between soil and dry leaves, which allows to measure the senescent or diseased part of the crop foliage (Non-Photosynthetic Vegetation = NPV)

Pixagri customers are today located in North America and Central Europe while Oenoview customers are (so far) essentially located in France.

EUGENIUS

The EUGENIUS network is made of a set of European geo-information SMEs, implemented in European regions and expert in different thematic domains, who have decided to cooperate for building up an open network of commercial EO services platforms.

The objectives of EUGENIUS are:

• to assemble a generic and modular regional service platform able to deliver a set of operational, sustainable, standardized and QoS certified applications in a “series-mode” approach which answer the major stakes of the Land & Natural Resources Management field, by making maximum benefit of Copernicus data and more specifically Sentinel satellites technical performances and revisit capabilities
• to demonstrate that such a platform can be replicated in several European regions and networked to tackle the market potential of each region for such applications while ensuring lowest provision costs and more rapid delivery of EO based services thanks to a regional presence and to the reuse of well proven applicative tools
• to use applicative tools developed by a service provider located in a given European region for generating end products satisfying users’ needs in another region. That will be made possible thanks to the same kind of platform used for “hosting” the tool, “fed” by data relevant for this region, and to the setting up of a “cooperation agreement” between the “tool owner” and the “regional platform operator”.

Finally, with these three goals successfully achieved, the EUGENIUS technical and market concept should pave the way for a quick and “low investment demanding” deployment of EO applications using Sentinel images across Europe. A new kind of “business engine” for this EO downstream market, generated by a set of cooperating SMEs, and open to other ones will have been formed.

TerraNIS

Our current solutions include:

• Coastal and offshore site-specific design criteria studies.
• Planning & design of Operations.
• Integrated Services for Port Operations.
• Environmental Assessment Studies.

Hereto we use:

• Numerical modelling of weather, currents and sea surface waves using satellite obsevations.
• Remote sensing (mapping) services.
• Coastal mapping and monitoring.
• Contract research and software development services.
• State of the art IT technologies.

Our staff includes highly qualified physicists, mathematicians, information technology engineers and coastal engineers, all having 20 years of experience in the coastal and oceanographic sector.

Projects HERMESS is currently involved in include:

Open Data exploitation services. HERMESS focus is on developing and providing services to improve ocean current forecasts for operations at sea, enabling a dynamic optimization of shipping routes to improve efficiency and reduce fuel consumption (http://www.melodiesproject.eu/node/38)

Commercial satellite mission feasibility studies. HERMESS leads the commercial and technical feasibility of developing a commercial build small space system to provide value-added services related to bathymetry and ice. The technological, operational, commercial and user aspects of a dedicated nano satelliet based system are investigated.

Estimated ship arrival time service

Generally, arrival time assessments are based on the distance to port and the mean speed of the ship. Our service takes into account the wind, wave, and current conditions during the trip and the effects that they have on the speed.

User/Customer
Rotterdam harbour information broker

Background
Upon arrival of a ship in the harbor a quay needs to be free for offloading of for example containers or bulk products. For this purpose a time slot has been requested and hinterland transport arranged by for example barges or trains and trucks. A ship failing to arrive in time results in infra-structure not being used or last minute reallocation of resources.

Issue and needs
To optimize marine transport the current ship position has to be monitored and time to harbour estimated. The latter is influenced by MetOcean conditions along the planned shipping route and requires accurate weather forecasts and ship response parameters.

Proposed solution
To predict ship arrival time the effect of wind, waves and currents on its velocity is determined. Assessment of ship response parameters is based on actual shipping data and MetOcean conditions and does not require a dedicated complex physical model of the ship’s hydrodynamic behaviour. The technology combines near real-time ship data, MetOcean forecasts and the ship response parameters to predict sailing times. Ship position and speed are monitored using AIS technology. Historic AIS data and MetOcean data are analysed to assess ship speed related to ambient waves, wind and currents.

Industry perspective
The technology will increase efficiency in the maritime transport sector and ports. The service enables optimized use of harbour infrastructure and increase throughput capacity including use of hinterland connections.
The service is provided to support the maritime transport sector, ship owners and seaport authorities.

Reach-U has four fields of activity: mapping, geospatial data, geographical information systems (GIS) and mobile positioning.

In GIS software development area our uniqueness is the ability to deliver software together with the data that is fit for the purpose. Our software development is based on Mapinfo, Oracle and proprietary web mapping tools. Our optimization solutions for transport and logistics business offer guaranteed ROI by combining software, data and consultancy together.

In geospatial data area Reach-U owns and maintains the most detailed geospatial database of Estonia and the Baltic States. The accuracy is up to 1:2 000 in urban and 1:20 000 in rural areas, including building addresses. Streets and roads are connected to logical network, attributed with turn restrictions and other relevant data for logistical analysis.

Reach-U runs the biggest internet map server in the Baltic States since 1997. In addition to selling access to our own data, Reach-U renders geospatial data processing services to our clients. Clients are mostly utilities and the public sector.

Mapping unit creates hundreds of maps on demand based on Reach-U´s own database. Majority of tourist publications, information boards, wallmaps etc. feature cartographic products made by Reach-U. Reach-U publishes the best selling road atlases for Estonia. We are trained to make maps that are beautiful, readable and accurate at all scales and for all purposes.

The fourth area of activity is location-based services and mobile positioning middleware. Our unique company background delivers everything needed for launching location-based services, including software, maps and support. Our goal is to help our clients to achieve the record high usage numbers of their services, and in many countries they have done so. Reach-U has global sales and distribution agreement with Ericsson, our clients are mobile operators in Slovakia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Mexico, Ukraine and Estonia.

We are largest European provider of LBS to Mobile operators, covering 17 operators globally and serving 300 million subscribers. Our main product in this area is Demograft (http://www.demograft.com/solutions/) that has also won Global Mobile Award 2014 (http://www.demograft.com/demograft-wins-global-mobile-award-2014/)

Reach-U consolidates competences in the following areas and technologies:

Experience on putting geospatial data to work for enterprises

• Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• Oracle Spatial
• Mapinfo programming
• Symbian development
• Geospatial database creation and maintenance
• Online access to geospatial data

Combining wireless, IT and location-based technology with content for mobile operators and service providers

• Mobile positioning
• Operator-grade Java development
• Location-based services

Creating user-friendly map products

• Cartographic design
• Map publishing

To sustain the competitive advantage of our products, Reach-U spends substantial amount of the revenue on R&D. We participate in number of EU FP6 projects.

Forest change monitoring service based on Sentinel 1a

Reach-U is starting the demonstration phase with Sentinel 1a based forest monitoring service.

Concept to use satellite images for forest change detection has been proved in many times in studies and in the market there are several companies providing forest monitoring service from commercial images. Our goal is to reduce the delivery time of forest alerts to two weeks and help the forest owners to make decision in critical times where waiting an overview of forest can’t be measured in months.

With the possibility from 3. October to get data from Sentinel data hub (https://scihub.esa.int/) we can move from testing phase of algorithms to live demonstration of the capabilities. As more data from Sentinel 1a comes available we can step by step widen the area where forest change alerts can be generated and put into validation.

Image1: Example of the forests alerts generated from Sentinel 1 data
Our focus is developing downstream services for forestry based on near real time satellite data. The goal is to involve forest owners (companies/institutes) in the validation phase of the service so that the added value could be tested.

Quality

Reach-U was founded in 1990 and has currently nearly 100 employees. Regio / Reach-U is ISO 9001:2008 certified.

Contact

CLOUDEO is dedicated to generating greater value from geodata by bringing together all those who create, interpret, and use it, including:

• Users of Geo-Services
• Developers of Geo-Services
• Providers of Geo-Software
• Providers of Geo-Data

CLOUDEO enables new business models for existing and new market players. Rather than making huge upfront investments in permanent licenses for software, IT and data, CLOUDEO users can now buy subscriptions and even 24/7 geo processing services on a pay-per-use basis at affordable prices, or enter into innovative revenue sharing schemes.

Data providers, software developers and service providers are enabled to market their products and services more easily and efficiently.

CLOUDEO GEO-COLLABORATION PLATFORM

CLOUDEO removes the current entry barriers to EO data usage, service development, and service delivery by developing and implementing EO specific cloud technology and new business models. The company is creating a professional geo-collaboration platform that will enable the growth of product-oriented, value-adding business and increase the use of EO data.

To this end, CLOUDEO is offering a geoinfrastructure as a service (Geo-IaaS) with four main elements:

• CLOUDEO Content Library – hosts geodata from many different data providers. It provides fast and easy access to data from many different data and content providers for your application development and service operations on CLOUDEO.
• CLOUDEO Apps Library – hosts applications from many different software developers where data users and service providers can find applications to help them interpret data and derive the information they need for their projects.
• CLOUDEO Processing Environment – a private user space for creating value-added products and services including CLOUDEO Workbench e.g. virtual desktop (see http://store.cloudeo-ag.com/cloudeo-workbench) when interactivity is needed or CLOUDEO Factory when machine to machine is needed.
• CLOUDEO Store – an online marketplace for data, software, and services that makes it possible to purchase one-off downloads, subscriptions, and even 24/7 geoprocessing services.

CLOUDEO PARTNER REFERENCE CASES
Hydrology – EOMAP GmbH & Co.KG
Fire Monitoring – RSS GmbH

Testimonials

“We are always looking for innovative and cost-effective ways for offering our solutions to a wide range of organizations that need to easily visualize and leverage geospatial data for enhanced decision-making”. Though our partnership with CLOUDEO, we will be able to offer our solutions through a unique online portal in a cloud-based environment, which will further expand the overall reach of our solutions to a wider user base.” Mladen Stojic, President, Hexagon Geospatial.

“CLOUDEO’s service opens up great new possibilities to reach our customers more easily, with less administrative effort. We are sure to get new customers with it. The easy-to-access web store solution is an especially customer-oriented and well-designed platform.” Dr. Thomas Heege, CEO, EOMAP.

“CLOUDEO’s unique geo-collaboration portal provides all of the elements our customers need to develop a professional service easily and enable a fast market entry and ROI. That’s why we have decided to be CLOUDEO partner.” Dave Hodgson, CEO, DMCii.

Contact:

CloudEO AG, Satellite Office, Ludwigstrasse 8, 80539 Munich, Germany +49 89 206 021 166 sales@cloudeo-ag.com www.cloudeo-ag.com http://store.cloudeo-ag.com

ELECNOR DEIMOS Imaging (DMI) is a private Spanish company, whose mission is to become one of the world leading providers of Earth Observation data and remote sensing applications. DMI is the company devoted to Earth Observation within ELECNOR DEIMOS, the technology division of Elecnor, one of the largest Spanish industrial corporations. Specialized in the design, implementation, operation and commercial exploitation of Earth Observation Systems, DMI is focused to the development, generation and delivery of remote sensing products and services. DMI is also a reseller of data from third party missions, including UK-DMC2, RapidEye and the Kompsat 2/3/5 series. DMI has been awarded the “Newcomer Earth Observation Operator of the Year” at Euroconsult’s Earth Observation Business Week in Paris in September 2013.

ELECNOR DEIMOS Imaging owns and operates DEIMOS-1, the first Spanish Earth Observation satellite. Launched in 2009, it collects a 650km swath of 3-band, 22m resolution imagery. The DEIMOS-1 satellite, member of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), is among the world leading sources of high resolution data. DEIMOS-1 provides, among other things, yearly coverages of Africa to the European Copernicus programme, bimonthly coverages of US lower 48 states to the US Department of Agriculture for crop season monitoring, and monthly coverages of Spain to the Spanish government.

ELECNOR DEIMOS Imaging will add the new DEIMOS-2 satellite to its EO system by mid-2014. DEIMOS-2 is a very-high resolution, agile satellite capable of providing 4-bands multispectral and 75-cm pan-sharpened imagery, with a 12-km swath. The whole end-to-end DEIMOS-2 system has been designed to provide a cost-effective and highly responsive service to cope with the increasing need of fast access to very-high resolution imagery. Its ground segment, which includes three receiving/commanding ground stations in Spain and Norway, has been completely developed in-house by Elecnor Deimos.

Deimos1 & Deimos-2

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

24/7/365 Service: Highly responsive, reliable and fast service for rush tasking, delivery and processing of DEIMOS -1 and DEIMOS -2 satellites

Ground Receiving Stations: Direct and Virtual Receiving Stations available, providing easy, fast and cost-effective access to large amount of data obtained from high-frequency coverages.

Rental of satellite capacity: through tailored rental schemes, the user is provided direct access to the Mission Planning System, and can directly task the satellite.

Continent-wide, high-resolution coverages: DEIMOS-1 is optimized to generate high-resolution, frequent coverages over very large areas, such as countries or continents.

• Powerful source of geo-information
• Immediate availability
• Framed to match your area of interest
• Attractively priced
• Fast integration into your GIS and Google Earth Enterprise solutions, fully compatible with your referenced databases
• Ideal for land cover/use classifications and crop related studies

DEIMOS-1 2011 Mosaic of Sub-Saharian Africa

Very-high resolution imagery: the Kompsat-2, 3 and 5 and, from Q2 2014, the DEIMOS-2 satellite, provide a unique virtual constellation with both optical and radar satellites which assures frequent revisit of any spot on Earth, at different local times.

Tailored VAP Products and Services:

• DEIMOS-1 Flood Mapping Services, including pre-flood imaging, emergency activations, post-flood imaging, retrieval of flood maps and corresponding statistics. Thanks to the large size of DEIMOS-1 images and its low revisit times, the status of a certain area can be evaluated before, during and after the flood event.
• DEIMOS-1 Fire Mapping Services, including imagery prior, during and post the fire event, emergency activations, retrieval of fire maps and its statistics, and further recovery evolution on burn scars in the short and medium term periods.

Forest fire of La Jonquera, Spain, July 2012: DEIMOS-1 natural color and multiemporal imagery

• Vegetation Indexes: including NDVI, SAVI, IPVI, MSAVI2, GEMI among others more ellaborated, like LAI and FPAR. Related to plant phenology, water balance, CO2 exchange and net productivity, they represent key vegetation biophysical properties.

DEIMOS-1 natural color image of irrigated crops in Corcoran, CA, June 2012

RELEVANT PROJECTS

ELECNOR DEIMOS Imaging has gained a strong experience in product development and delivery to public and private customers worldwide. Among its main projects:

• Provision of Deimos-1 data for USDA annual campaign in US. Biweekly coverage of the CONUS area with Deimos-1 and UK-DMC2 has been delivered to USDA during the 2011, 2012 and 2013 crop seasons, and used for the generation of crop type maps and crop monitoring services.

DEIMOS-1/UK-DMC2 coverages of the US during 2011 and 2012 crop seasons

• Provision of cloud-free coverage of Africa with Deimos-1 for GMES/Copernicus Data Warehouse CORE Service. Deimos-1 data collected in 2011 and 2012, and covering all countries of Sub-Saharian Africa, has been delivered to ESA to be used in the frame of GDW.
• Provision of Deimos-1 data for FARMSTAR service in France. DMI manages yearly a campaign to monitor the French agricultural areas with Deimos-1 and UK-DMC2, and delivers data to AirbusGeo which provides the FARMSTAR service to farmers nationwide.
• ISAC, Information Service on Agricultural Change (FP7): set up of a service for crop monitoring, damage and risk assessment based on high resolution Deimos-1 and Landsat images. Demonstration countries are Spain, Belgium and Ethiopia. Target users are the insurance sector and the food security sector (micro-insurances and early warning).
• AGRICAB (FP7): AGRICAB builds on Geonetcast, connecting satellite data and predictive models in the context of GEO (Group on Earth Observations).

Examples of DEIMOS-1 crop monitoring service

POINT OF CONTACT
ELECNOR DEIMOS Imaging
Parque Tecnológico de Boecillo, Edificio Galileo, Modulo Gris, 103
47151 Boecillo (Valladolid)
Spain
Phone: +34 983 548 923
comercial@deimos-imaging.com
www.deimos-imaging.com

The list hereinafter describes some of the projects carried out by VisioTerra:

Software development

• Whale Web portal – Leading a consortium of research institutes for “Assessing cetacean populations and important cetacean habitats in Bay of Bengal and Icelandic shelf large marine ecosystems”. Production of a virtual globe for this project.
• VTGoce: Virtual globe to compare and combine surfaces – Tool enabling to compare and combine altimetry surfaces. Application to the geoids produced by the GOCE satellite.
• VTAOIWatcher: Near real-time monitoring – Tool monitoring areas of interest and providing with near real-time images that are processed on the flight.
• VTGeomorpho: Morpho-structural analysis – Production of serial profiles and wrapping surfaces from various altimetry models.

Fig. 1 – Windows used for profile edition in VTGeomorpho and Fig.2. – Windows used in the wrapping surfaces generation

• VTExpotKMZ: Export of “super-layers” – Production of KMZ “super-layers” for the Google Earth display of for an e-mail controlling the size of the product.
• VTEscape: Surface parameters – Tool producing spacemaps containing physical parameters of the Earth surface: ‑atmosphere (wind fields, pressures, clouds…), ‑ocean (sea surface temperatures, currents, salinity…), ‑lands (reflectance, land-use, moisture…).

Fig. 3 – ECMWF pressure displayed on Google Earth.

• VTAOIBuilder: Area Of Interest builder – Development of a tool to create areas of interest of various types: –bounding box, ‑disk, ‑corridor, ‑polygon.
• VTAOICatcher: Acquisition prediction – Development of a tool enabling to select the missions / instruments observing a particular area of interest for a given period.

Fig.4 : Results of a search performed on Gabon boundaries

• VTTileGrabber: Virtual Globe Capture – Development of a tool enabling the capture of the layers displayed along a session of navigation in a virtual globe. Production of a geocoded mosaic of the observed tiles.
• VTSatelliteTracker: Orbit propagation and virtual globes– Development of a Web tool to display in virtual globes the satellite models, propagated orbits, instrument viewing vectors, and on-ground swaths.

Studies

• ERAIFT Capacity building of the geomatics laboratory:Field survey and reporting for the capacity building of the Geomatics Laboratory of the ERAIFT regional school in Kinshasa, DRC.
• TOTAL: Cryosat over Arctic – Study of the potential of satellite data to . monitor the environment in very cold areas.
• TOTAL: Radar / optic coupling – Development and validation of methods to retrieve the optical signature of hydrocarbons from slicks detected by radar.
• TOTAL: Detection of offshore wind fields from radar images – Development and validation of methods to detect wind fields at the surface of the sea from radar images.
• TOTAL: Oil seeps detection – Development and validation of methods to detect offshore oil seeps from wide field radar images.
• TOTAL: E.O. Portal – Edition of Intranet pages specialised in Earth Observation (EO) defining the missions, instruments, programmes, events, agenda, spatial agencies, organisations… together with associated courses.
• REMA / World Bank: REMA Biodiversity Information System (RBIS) – Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) – Support for the management of the RBIS from the invitation to tender up to the software development, data organization and trainings.
• TOTAL: Multitemporal study of flooded areas – Analysis of the yearly cycle within the period 2006-2009. Classification of marsh zones and detection of anomalies due to anthropic activities.
• TOTAL: Coastal erosion of Mandji peninsula – Compilation and accurate geocoding of optic and radar data (satellite and aerial photographs) acquired along the last 35 years. Photo-interpretation of coastal lines and development of tools to quantify erosions / accretions.
• SIARCE / AIR: Audit of the SIGNE GIS – Assessment of the functionalities, document, manpower and computer resources of the GIS for the management of the Essonne basin. Editing of recommendations for the system extension.
• ESA-ESRIN: GOCE L1b Products User Handbook – Editing of a second version of the handbook describing the acquisition physics, the algorithms, and the products of the gravimeter and positioning instruments onboard GOCE.

Fig.5 : Trajectory and reference frames.

• ESA / Brockmann Consult: CAL/VAL Portal – Generic description of missions and instruments using the SensorML language to support Calibration / Validation activities performed by the CEOS group.
• TOTAL: Study of Google Earth – Study, training and demonstrations of Google Earth for the fulfillment of business requirements in the domains of oil exploration, environment management and infrastructures.
• ESA-ESRIN: MERIS Product Handbook – Enhancement and correction of the MERIS product handbook introducing FAQ, applications and level 3 descriptions.
• DGA / Générale d’Infographie: Georeferencing study – Inventory of technical solutions and research actors in the field of georeferencing.
• ESA-ESTEC: MERIS Geometry handbook – This handbook details the viewing geometry and provides algorithms and programs to orthorectify MERIS images from elevation ancillary data or external DEM.
• ESA-ESTEC: DEM Quality assessment – Elevations found in ACE (ERS-1/2 Altimetry Corrected Elevations) and in SRTM30 are compared and assessed using external elevation values. Visual inspections results are also reported within a technical note.
• SPOT IMAGE: Scientific editing of DIMAP format – Enhancement of DIMAP documentation by providing explanations, equations and figures of the viewing model. HTML pages (397 items) are automatically generated from XML schemas and style sheets.
• ESA-ESRIN / CNES: SPOT Vegetation / Envisat MERIS – Complementarity and comparison – Analysis of radiometry and geometry performances of both instruments. Paper presented on 2nd SPOT Vegetation Workshop (Antwerp, 12-14 March 2004).

Training

• Douala University (Cameroun): Remote sensing and image processing – Knowledge control and bringing up to standard in the framework of « Open and remote trainings » (project FOAD of AUF).
• INP (Gabon): Spatial geometry algorithms – Ecole du Cadastre of the Institut National de Cartographie (INC) in Libreville. Reminders of geodesy and spatial mechanics. Detailed presentation of algorithms for the geocoding and orthorectification of optic and radar Earth observation images.
• UNEP: Remote sensing and GIS for hazard mapping – Advanced training and ArcGIS practice to setup a « Hazard mapping » GIS, to process optical and Radar images, digital elevation models, and to produce thematic maps by the Forestry Department of Myanmar.
• TOTAL « Image processing » and « Georeferencing » trainings – « Image processing » : physics, instruments, pseudo-color and color compositions, LUT transform, filtering, fusion. – « Georeferencing»: geodesy, referentials, spatial mechanics, image products, optical and Radar orthorectification.
• Algerian Universities: Geometry of remote sensing images – Communication in the universities of Constantine and M’Sila. Processing of Landsat scenes in the region of Constantine.
• PDVSA / BEICIP: Remote Sensing Training applied to Oil Exploration – Training of PDVA’s managers for the acquisition, processing and interpretation of Earth observation data.
• ESA / Palestinian Universities: Remote Sensing Training and GIS in Palestine – In collaboration with the University of Marne-la-Vallée and with the support of the European Space Agency, VisioTerra has built a GIS of Palestine that has been presented to the universities of Al-Quds, Naplouse and Hebron.

GIS layers elaborated for the Palestinian Universities

Cartographic production

• UNEP / OBSCOM: Urban growth in Ivory Coast – Production of LU/LC classification spacemaps and statistics to monitor the urban growth of the cities of Abidjan and Bouake in Ivory Coast.
• Dobbin International / OBSCOM: LU/LC of Mozambique – Production of LU/LC classification spacemaps of 5 provinces of Mozambique from Landsat scenes and field data. Production of radar scenes. Orthorectification of SPOT scenes.
• Rio Tinto / OBSCOM: Production of LU/LC maps in Guinea – Geocoding and processing of Landsat, Radar and digital elevation models (DEM) to produce Land Use / Land Cover (LU/LC) maps from field data and supervised classifications.
• TOTAL: Massive production of radar geocoded data – Geocoding and processing of radar segments and scenes to make easier the photo-interpretation of hydrocarbon slicks over the sea.
• TOTAL: World / Africa / South Africa posters – Production and processing of three posters (diameter 5m and 7m) displayed on the TOTAL stand at the AAPG 2008 workshop in Cap Town (South Africa).
• TOTALWorld poster – Production and processing of a 5×10m poster displayed on the TOTAL stand at the EAGE 2008 workshop in Rome.
• WCS / OBSCOM: Afghanistan eastern complex forest mapping – Production of a SPOT-5 / SPOT-4 mosaic over Afghanistan. Assessment and processing of SRTM defects.
• UNEP: OPTEC Gaza – Processing, control and preparation of data for the inventory of land cover in Gaza Band.
• Gaz de France: Landsat ETM+ Libya – Processing, production and restitution of Landsat ETM+ spacemaps for the photo-interpretation of structural geology.
• TOTAL: JERS Colombia – Geocoding, pre-processing and quality control of 38 JERS-scenes.
• Morocco Marble Exploration: Envisat ASAR + Landsat ETM+ synthesis – Geocoding and merging of RADAR and optical images to support photo-interpretation for the detection of marble veins in Moroccan Atlas.

Communication

• Cité des Sciences: « Objectif Earth » – presentation during the « week of the science » of the best-of Earth observation images. Explanation of the acquisition techniques, data processing and applications.
• Bandit Manchot: E-commerce website setting up – Graphic elaboration, shop window, goods database, shopping basket, special offers, customers accounts, orders, quick browsing… from Oscommerce.
• ICE: Communication support – Elaboration of the graphic charter, company presentation leaflet and partners business cards.
• LAPIDEM: Google Earth website – Presentation of the architecture projects within dynamic web pages and display of the projects in the Google Earth virtual globe.

Partners

VisioTerra maintains cooperation with industry, universities and research organisations:

• GAEL Consultant: a software company specialised in software development for EO data processing. VisioTerra is granted the right to upgrade and maintain the TELIMAGO software owned by GAEL Consultant.
• University of Marne La Vallée: Image processing, Data fusion, Geodesy, Remote sensing projects courses are given by VisioTerra staff.
• ENSG (IGN): Supervision of PhDs and DEA students in collaboration with «Geographic Information Sciences» department.
• University Paris VI: Collaboration with Geology department.
• VisioTerra is member of the associations OGC, AFIGEO, SFPT, and EARSC

Technical facilities and scientific environment
VisioTerra is located at the high technology pole of Marne-La-Vallée, located around 15 minutes from Paris. The immediate environment includes the University Paris-Est Marne-La-Vallée, the school of Ponts-et-Chaussée, the national school of geographic sciences, ESIEE, the school Louis Lumière and many other establishments of training and research
VisioTerra uses its proper computing power and the TELIMAGO image processing software, which is continuously upgraded to better carry out studies and cartographic production.

Visioterra
14 rue Albert Einstein 77420 Champs-sur-Marne, France
Phone:+33 9 6130 6628. Email. Website

The main business idea of the company is development and implementation of “robotic” automated processing work-flows, capable of processing large amounts of data in short time and with low human interaction – therefore with high efficiency and at a low cost – taking advantage of remotely-operated computing systems, or even “external boxes” established for the clients and integrated into their technological work-flows. This is why the company positions itself as the one capable of doing “extreme” geo-computing.

GEOMATRIX UAB is an advanced user and passionate advocate of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), trying to develop efficient and competitive industrial geo-computing solutions without using any commercial software. We have established an ergonomic, but highly-productive true 64-bit multi-processing environment, based on Linux OS, GRASS GIS, GDAL/OGR libraries, etc. System re-programming techniques are used to combine Linux shell components and utilities with professional GIS/RS software functions, libraries and tools, binding them into automated data processing work-flows, designed to utilize full computing power down to the last processor core or bit of memory.

The first successful project of the company was development of an operational mapping solution for a Swiss company PASSAM AG for processing and representation of air quality monitoring data collected in Lithuania by using passive sorbents sampling method. Thousands of operational maps were produced by automated scripts and delivered to the clients as digital images via FTP or on-line repositories. Automated operational mapping approach can be used in a broad range of projects for representation, analysis and quality control of large thematic datasets collected in many sampling sites – an ideal solution for large environmental monitoring networks, emergency response services, field data collection and analysis, etc.

Development of automated parallel computing work-flows for processing of large amounts of vector and raster datasets, particularly high and very high resolution satellite imagery, is currently the most important activity of the company. Back in 2011, we developed a series of automated work-flows for extraction of water bodies from IMAGE 2006, which was successfully applied by the Institute of Aerial Geodesy (Lithuania) for the production of GMES Reference Datasets of hydrographic network over 38 European countries. A year later we started the production of high resolution layers of Water and Wetlands from high resolution satellite imagery over the EEA39 territory for the EEA within a GMES Initial Operations (GIO-Land) project . Both projects are coordinated by Spanish company Indra Espacio SA.

The company has developed a series of efficient production work-flows for automated pre-processing of standard satellite imagery products (data format/type conversion, re-projection, ortho-rectification, mosaicking, extraction/manipulation of bands, pan-sharpening, metadata extraction, thumbnailing, renaming, packaging, cloud masking/patching). Although rather simple, such routine operations may require a substantial amount of time and resources, if carried out manually on a larger number of images. Therefore automated pre-processing of satellite imagery has become a standard practice. Experience in this field allowed the company to take part in an FP7 project LAMPRE, currently developing a GMES downstream services on landslide modeling, vulnerability assessment, preparedness and recovery management.

Examples of products

Illustration of the RapidEye image pan-sharpening work-flow: left image – the original RapidEye level 3A product (fragment of Panevėžys town in Lithuania) taken on 2011-08-27 by RE-1 sensor, shown in RGB-542 false color composit; middle image – panchromatic image with 1 m pixel resolution produced of a series of color aerial photo images with 0.5 m pixels; right image – pan-sharpened RapidEye image produced in 1 m pixel resolution and RGB-541 false color composit

A series of accumulative biophysical products of Slovakia made in a full-scale IRS-6 resolution. Source: IMAGE2006/2009/2012

The main projects:

• Operational mapping of air quality
• GMES Initial Operations, GIO-Land
• GMES downstream services on landslides, FP7 LAMPRE

Data processing services:

• Production of bio-physical parameters
• Change detection by the use of VHR imagery
• Pan-sharpening of VHR imagery
• LIDAR data processing

Contact information:
Address: Technopolis, Europos pr. 121, LT-46339 Kaunas, Lithuania
http://www.geomatrix.lt
e-mail: info@geomatrix.lt
tel.: +370-699-99940
fax.: +370-37-211382|