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New customers and suppliers have appeared in the Earth observation industry over the past several years including new commercial operators, end-user entities and emerging government actors. With data sales expected to reach nearly $4 billion by 2018, growth will impact every level of the EO value chain. Data specifications will change; new business models for data and service provision will emerge; service offerings will expand; new distribution channels and customer markets will develop and manufacturing requirements will evolve. Increased data sources, including low-cost/free government solutions and supporting frameworks such as GMES, will also contribute to the changing dynamic of the EO sector in the coming years.

The 2nd Symposium on Earth Observation Business is a unique forum for the EO community to present and discuss these game-changing trends, challenges and opportunities with actors from every level of the value chain. Top executives at EO satellite operators, service providers, manufacturers, launch providers, civil and military government agencies, and end-user entities will participate in lively panel discussions and give keynote presentations to a highly qualified audience. This year the 2nd Symposium on Earth Observation Business has been extended to nearly two days (from one day in 2009) to cover the many areas of discussion. A small sample of the program and of the excellent line-up of industry representatives invited as speakers:

“Leading EO Satellite Operators Development Strategies” with Jill Smith, CEO, DigitalGlobe; Matt O’Connell, CEO, GeoEye; Eric Beranger, CEO, Astrium Services; John Hornsby, President, MDA GSI; Marcello Maranesi, CEO, e-GEOS; CEO, ImageSat International; Wolfgang Biedermann, CEO, RapidEye

“Prospects for Civil Usage of EO Data & Services” with Charles S. Baker, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Satellite & Info. Services, NOAA; Ernst Koenemann, Director of Program Development, Eumetsat; José Achache, Director of the GEO Secretariat

“Growth & Challenges of EO Usage in the Enterprise Market” with Dave Fox, CEO, Infoterra Ltd; Charles Randell, President & CEO, C-Core; Dave Morton, Managing Director, Fugro NPA

For the complete program and for regular updates for the 2nd Symposium on Earth Observation Business, check the event website www.satellite-business.com (choose Program/Symposium on EO Business).
For more detailed information please contact Julia Carré at carre@euroconsult-ec.com or + 33 1_49_23_75_28

Euroconsult: Consulting Services, Research Reports and Summits.
Euroconsult is the leading international research and analyst firm specialized in satellite applications, communications, and digital broadcasting. Our experts provide strategic consulting, comprehensive research reports, market analyses, and forecasts to support business planning and strategic decision-making. Euroconsult also organizes events to provide a forum for our clients to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and business strategies in the satellite sector. With 25 years of experience and more than 560 public and private sector clients in 50 countries, Euroconsult has assisted private and public sector actors in their mission-critical planning and analysis. For more information about Euroconsult, visit www.euroconsult-ec.com

SciSys plc (stock code: SSY), the specialist supplier of bespoke software systems, IT based solutions and support services is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a four year framework contract with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Ireland to provide design, development and reporting services in the areas of Regulatory Systems and GIS.

(19/03/2010) The EPA is in a position of embarking on a highly focussed information strategy that will deliver a new end to end Licensing, Enforcement, Monitoring, and Reporting Application (LEMA). This will employ contemporary ICT and GIS technologies to enhance the process for the EPA, its regulatory partners and applicants. SciSys’ extensive technological and domain experience in Environmental Regulatory Systems make SciSys an ideal partner for the EPA.

Chairman Mike Love commented “SciSys is excited to be working on the next phase in the development of the EPA’s web based services. The EPA is an excellent cultural fit with SciSys and increases our coverage in the Environment and Climate sector.”

Source

MFB-GeoConsulting is pleased to inform and to invite you to the 4th ERDAS User Forum Switzerland, which will take place on 28 April 2010.

Meanwhile the Swiss ERDAS User Forum has turned to be “The annual event for the Swiss ERDAS Software Clients”.

In the framework of this meeting, Software users and other interested participants will get

  • an extended overview on new products and SW-updates,
  • during Live-Demo sessions, useful hints for daily work were given,
  • “hands-on Update-Training 2010 is provided,
  • during the offered lunch you will have the possibility to exchange and discuss your work-experiences with other participants

The meeting location, Palais Besenval in Solothurn, is an outstanding place. Customers can enjoy the wonderful historic environment whereas in the mean time, most recent technological development strategies are presented.

Within the next days we will provide you with further necessary information and the application form will be available for download.

For further questions please contact
Gabriela Apfl

We appreciate your participation and we are looking forward to welcome you in April 2010 at the 4th User Forum Switzerland!

What’s New in ERDAS Software 2010, Version 10.1

Highlighting new features and workflow improvements, this webinar provides an overview of ERDAS Software 2010, Version 10.1. This release includes several new products, including the highly anticipated LPS eATE. In addition, you will learn more about the exciting enhancements to ERDAS IMAGINE, LPS, ERDAS Extensions for ArcGIS, ERDAS APOLLO and ERDAS TITAN Client. You will also have the opportunity to interact with several of the ERDAS product managers during this webinar.

Register

ERDAS: Earth to Business News 3/10

Next Edition of Earth to Business: The ERDAS E-Newsletter!

To provide you with useful information, including significant ERDAS announcements, customer success stories and feature tips in this monthly e-newsletter.

Increasingly, geospatial information is being used to drive decisions in large organizations. In the past, geospatial technology companies focused on developing and providing solutions to data providers, geospatial service providers, airborne sensing organizations, national mapping agencies, state mapping agencies, DoD/National Programs and the natural resources sector. However, as geospatial technology capabilities have increased, more organizations outside this traditional geospatial customer base are discovering the offerings, with increasing interest in integrating this technology into their organization’s existing enterprise business system.

Grace Ltd participates in the GMES Operational Capacity Workshop, Sofia, Bulgaria, 25-26 March 2010.

This event, under the aegis of the Bulgarian Prime Minister is an important step into shaping the capacity of Europe and particularly of the EU-12 member states in further exploiting GMES operational opportunities.

Grace representative, Mr Dimitris Matsakis will give a speech on the subject of regional capacity in the first day of the event.

About GRACE

GRACE Ltd is a young and independent technology and consulting services firm established in Athens in July 2008, with the mission to promote and guide space industry development and direct the benefits of Space to the society and the environment in Greece and the Balkan peninsula.

The company is a dynamic partner contributing to local capacity building and progress in the Space industry and its applications.

www.graceapplications.com

e-GEOS at Capalbiofotografia 2010, framework contract with the European Union to supply GeoEye-1 and IKONOS very high resolution satellite data…


(02/04/2010) Telespazio and e-GEOS at Capalbiofotografia 2010

Telespazio and e-GEOS are contributing some satellite images to Capalbiofotografia 2010, a photography festival on the theme of nature in the locality, in Capalbio (Grosseto, Italy) from April 3 to May 2. Details >>

(16/03/2010) e-GEOS (Telespazio/ASI) signs framework contract with the European Union to supply GeoEye-1 and IKONOS very high resolution satellite data

e-GEOS, the company jointly owned by Telespazio and the Italian Space Agency, has signed a framework supply contract with the European Union, through the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission. Under the up to 4 year contract, which is worth approximately EUR 5.4 million per year, e-GEOS will provide the Union with world-wide Very High Resolution images from the GeoEye-1 and IKONOS satellites Details >>

(10/03/2010) e-GEOS (Telespazio/ASI) supplies satellite imagery and maps to measure the extent of flooding in Queensland, Australia.

e-GEOS, an ASI/Telespazio company, has processed and made available to the University of New South Wales, suppliers of technical support to the Australian Civil Defence, satellite data and evaluation maps of the extent of flooding caused by heavy rains in the towns of Taroom and St. George, Australia. Details >>

(5/03/2010) e-GEOS provides satellite images and maps to assess the damage suffered by the city of Concepcion in Chile, following the earthquake of 27 February

e-GEOS, a joint venture between Telespazio and the Italian Space Agency, has produced an assessment of the damage suffered by the city of Concepcion, Chile, as a result of the earthquake of 27 February 2010, which it has provided to the UN’s Department of Field Support and the Italian foreign affairs ministry.

Details and links to maps and imagery, and press release >>

CryoSat-2 is set to measure thickness of the ice caps

(Coimbra, 6th of April, 2010) – CryoSat-2 is a satellite whose mission is to precisely measure alterations in the thickness of ice floating in the oceans and variations in the thickness of ice caps located in Greenland and Antarctica. Critical Software was responsible for the Verification & Validation of the most critical software systems within the satellite, deploying a team of engineers in an effort that resulted in the detection of some anomalies in critical software systems.

“The participation of a team from Critical Software in Friedrichshafen and Munich (Germany) was essential in the effort to complete the different stages of software and integrated system testing. More so, the contribution of Critical Software was broadly praised by members of EADS Astrium”, noted Bruno Carvalho, Business Development Manager for the space market at Critical Software, adding that “recently, Critical Software confirmed that two more functionalities in the satellite’s central system were prepared for flight without any risk of failure. These verifications were made at the request of EADS Astrium and of the European Space Agency (ESA)”.

This earth observation space mission aims to understand the effects of climate change on our planet’s polar regions. The loss of the earth’s ice sheets has an impact in global warming. Given that ice is essential for climate regulation and ocean level, the consequences of any change in terms of ice has an effect all over the planet. Several satellites are already analyzing stretches of ice, namely the Europeans satellites Envisat and ERS and the American IceSat. The data gathered since 1978 show that the average size per year of the stretches of ice in the Arctic diminished 2.7% per decade.

“We need to understand exactly how climate change affects Polar Regions, therefore there is a urgent need to determine how ice thickness, both on land or drifting in the oceans, is changing”, mentions Nuno Silva, Manager for Space Programmes at Critical Software, concluding with the idea that “the data that CrySat-2 will supply will fill the current gaps in our knowledge and will allow for a better understanding of the impact of ice in earth’s ecosystem”.

CryoSat-2 is the successor to Cryosat, which was lost due to a failure during launch in October of 2005. During that time ESA decided to go ahead with a second version of the same satellite, given the quantity of work already developed and the importance and relevance of the data that satellite should gather. And thus was born Cryosat-2. The original objective of the CryoSat mission was to confirm the tendency towards the reduction in the extension of frozen areas. Given that this tendency is now confirmed, CryoSat-2 is meant to illustrate it.

After roughly four years following the decision to go forward with CrySat-2, the satellite was finally ready for launch. CryoSat-2 will survey the ice caps with an extreme precision, orbiting at an altitude of 700Km and reaching latitudes of 88º. “The launch of CryoSat-2 will be a very special moment for Critical Software, as this is one of the company’s first missions the space area, but also for the emotional weight of seeing almost 10 years of work coming to fruition, not only of their elements but also by all the European partners involved in this project”, underlines Nuno Silva.

The launch of CryoSat-2 can be viewed online at http://television.esa.int.

CHRIS-Box 1.5 Add-on for BEAM 4.7 released.

(08.03.2010) The BEAM CHRIS-Box project has been brought into life in order to support users of data of the CHRIS sensor onboard of the ESA Proba platform. The CHRIS-Box comprises the following add-on modules for BEAM:

1. Noise Reduction
2. Cloud Screeening
3. Atmospheric Correction
4. Geometric Correction

For more information, please refer to the CHRIS-Box Wiki

The add-on installer can be downloaded from the BEAM download page or from the CHRIS-Box Wiki

Aratos Technologies S.A. is pleased to announce the kick-off of the European Project SEOCA on 22 April 2010, where Aratos Technologies S.A. participates as the only partner from Greece.

SEOCA is a Coordination and Support Actions Project funded by the European Union within the 7th Framework Programme (FP7). The project duration is 24 months and the level of funding provided by EU is around 700.000 €.

The main objective of the SEOCA project is to take a significant step towards deeper integration of respective organizations from Central Asian countries into activities of GEO. The SEOCA project intends to further strengthen the cooperation between Europe and the countries of Central Asia within GEO. It is envisioned to be accomplished by implementing a set of activities aimed at building GEO-related capacity in the domain of Earth Observation in the target countries.

The project consortium comprises the following partners:

  • Technical University Berlin, Aerospace Institute (Germany), Coordinator
  • Engineering, Consulting and Management Office (Germany)
  • TUBITAK UZAY, Uzay Teknolojileri Arastirma Enstitusu (Turkey)
  • JeoDijital Bilisim Teknoloji Madencilik Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Turkey)
  • Aratos Technologies S.A. (Greece)
  • GIRAF PM Consultants (Germany)
  • Hydrometeorological Research Institute of the Centre of
  • Hydrometeorological Servise on Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbekistan)
  • The State enterprise “Center of remote sensing and GIS technologies” (Uzbekistan)
  • Tashkent State Technical University named after Abu Raikhman Beruni (Uzbekistan)
  • Joint-stock company “The National Center of Space Researches and Technologies” (Kazakhstan)
  • L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan)
  • Agency of hydrometeorology on the Ministry for Emergency Situation of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyzstan)
  • State Agency of hydrometeorology of the Republic of Tadjikistan (Tadjikistan)
  • National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna of the Ministry of Environment Protection of Turkmenistan (Turkmenistan)

Aratos Technologies S.A. will contribute in SEOCA with its expertise in the provision of solutions for Environmental Protection using satellite-based and in-situ Earth Observation data. Aratos Technologies S.A. will be involved into the activities regarding the stimulation of further introductions of GEOSS technologies in public and private sectors of Central Asian countries. Furthermore, Aratos Technologies S.A. will participate in the activities for the modernization of regional higher education in the field of EO and GIS, as well as in the activities for the facilitation of the direct links between regional and European stakeholders/providers.

For more information about the SEOCA project please visit: http://www.geo-seoca.net/

By means of EO-based information extraction and service provision, GIM will be able to deliver improved information content for the geomarketing business sector. Sophisticated image processing techniques applied on EO imagery allow to extract impartial physico-morphological information, seamless cross-boundary data, improved spatial resolution and a better control of the update frequency.

VAE project EOMark addressing new and evolving opportunities for EO-based information services in the geo-marketing and retail business sector

In response to a need to enhance the existing geo-marketing services portfolio with the contribution of Earth Observation (EO) images, ESA awarded a contract under the name Value Added Element (VAE) to GIM for the development of those services. GIM is one of the top ranked private companies in terms of turnover in the EO activities in Belgium.

The first of the four suggested geo-marketing services concerns dasymetric population and purchasing power products with enhanced geographical detail compared to the current product offering. This technique of spatially redistributing statistical data based on the land cover of the area will be applied with low, high and very high resolution land cover maps. The second service corresponds to improved geo-demographic segmentations by offering relevant indicators on the urban land use like the presence of agglomerations, city centres, small urban housing areas, etc. The goal of the third service is to extend existing street segmentations by adding relevant information on the richness of the neighbourhood. In this instance focus is on the extraction of building typologies (detached housing, residential, etc.) and other relevant wealth indicators such as the presence of swimming pools and the size of the garden. This information is derived from very high resolution satellite images. The last service is rich urban maps, offering 3-D city maps at the individual building level which are used to update census data based on the usage and volume of the buildings

By means of EO-based information extraction and service provision GIM and its partner Epsilon will be able to deliver improved information content by using objective physico-morphological information extracted from EO imagery, uniform cross-boundary data, improved spatial resolution and a better control on the update frequency.

It has been agreed in collaboration with the Downstream Partners to test the proposed services on a number of areas of interest such as: Belgium (border region, NUTS 3 regions, and various municipalities), France (border region, Grand Lyon, Lyon municipality and Lille), Belo Horizonte (Brazil), Morocco, Moscow (Russia), Patras (Greece), Milton Keynes (UK) and Bournemouth (UK).

The Downstream Partners are represented by customer organisations of the geo-marketing sector such as MB-Research (Germany) specialised in EU wide purchasing power indicators, Pitney Bowes Business Insight (UK and France), specialist of location intelligence services with 1000+ employees, Experian (Belgium), a global information services company, the Mellon Group (Greece) and organisations of the direct marketing sector such as Bisnode Group (represented by Bisnode Sweden), a global leader in business & market information services.

The Downstream Partners all expressed a clear interest in the proposed services and confirmed that the offer corresponds to the current and future market needs. Additionally, for emerging markets characterised by a lack of accurate statistical data, the market potential is enormous.

The proposed service offering has been approved by ESA in January 2010 during a Service Readiness Review Meeting. The services are being prototyped by GIM and Epsilon and will be tested by the Downstream Partners over the first half of 2010.

VAE is an element of the ESA Earth Observation Envelope Program (EOEP-3). It follows on from its predecessor (EOMD) and maintains focus on the needs of the EO service industry. VAE is starting now its new activities over the financing period of the next 5 years (2008-2012).

About GIM

GIM is an internationally operating EO and GIS services company based in Heverlee near Leuven in Belgium. The company provides consultancy, software application development services and products in the geo-spatial domain. GIM specializes in remote sensing services and GIS applications as well as value adding data services and geo-spatial web applications.
Since start of activities in 1995, GIM has been able to establish a broad international customer base and successfully participated in more than 500 local, national, and European projects.
GIMs customers are to be found in private industry sectors, public organisations and research institutes. GIM is dedicated to provide a wide range of value added services for remotely sensed data and GIS applications in segments such as: defence, disaster management, humanitarian aid, nature resources and environment.

The GIM team has expertise in managing and executing national and international projects. At present, GIM is employing a staff of 30 experts and consultants graduated in earth sciences, engineering and informatics.

GIM uses cutting edge GIS and image processing software and provides consultancy, processing and development capabilities for software components from major G IS and remote sensing software vendors.

Press Contact
GIM
Patricia Desmet
Marketing & Communications Assistant
Patricia.desmet@gim.be
+32 16 40 30 39

March News


Aerodata wins another Dutch nationwide orthophoto tender – Mar 12th, 2010

Aerodata has again been awarded a major contract by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (Ministerie van LNV) for flying the entire country of The Netherlands in 2010 (incl surrounding 10km buffer).

This marks the 3rd time Aerodata will be executing the project for this Ministry (previous occasions were 2003 and 2007).

Aerodata has so far executed nationwide aerial photography 6 times:

  • 1992 & 1993 for ROBAS (analogue film)
  • 2003 & 2007 for LNV (analogue film & digital with 2 Ultracam-D’s)
  • 2005 for the Dutch “Rijkswaterstaat” (digital with 1 Ultracam-D)
  • 2009 (@ 10cm GSD) for the Dutch Cadastre in cooperation with Cyclomedia (digital with 3 Ultracam-Xp’s)

In 2010 will execute yet again the 10cm project for the Dutch Cadastre as well as the 25cm project for the Ministery of LNV.

The end product of the latter, a 25cm orthophoto mosaic, will be widely used in various applications, such as crop monitoring, emergency response, soil mapping, and many more.

Flights will start from April onwards and final deliveries are foreseen in September.

Interested parties can request a quote via email or telephone (+32 3 287 00 30)
From September 2010, when principal deliveries should be completed, the data will be online for purchase at http://www.aerodata-shop.nl

Over 22.000 UCXp images (14TB) in 7 local sunny days! – Mar 10th, 2010

In just 7 flying days during early March, Aerodata’s Flight Operations crews went into high gear, made good use of the local sunny weather and clear blue skies and successfully captured over 22.000 Ultracam-Xp (UCXp) frames or around 14TB of raw imagery!

These days mark a successful season kick-off, following months of poor conditions.
The crews are on full stand-by waiting for more!

Netherlands 2009 10cm now available! – Mar 5th, 2010

Aerodata International Surveys is proud to announce to have successfully completed the NL2009 10cm project covering the entire territory of the Netherlands (over 40.000 sq km).
During 2009 nearly 100.000 images were acquired and processed to a seamless orthophoto mosaic of 10cm.

A specific achievement was the successful capture of this imagery in the Schiphol TMA (zone around the airport of approximately 7.000 sq km).

This huge dataset was processed with Aerodata’s Pixel Pipeline into a stereo product (Stereo10, 50 TB) and a countrywide seamless orthophoto mosaic (Ortho10, 15 TB).

For more detailed information or sales inquiries, please visit Cyclomedia

In 2010 Aerodata will again undertake this mega aerial photography project.

At this moment the first photos have already been acquired.

Aerodata thermal survey of Laval (FR) – Mar 3rd, 2010

Very recently Aerodata Int. Surveys executed thermal survey flights over Laval in France for which purpose one of Aerodata’s survey aircraft was equipped with a downward looking, dedicated thermal camera, just as with previous Aerodata thermal projects.

JCI (Junior Chamber International) has posted this short film of the project on their website (in French).

The thermal camera used is able to record temperature values with an accuracy of up to 0.1 degree centigrade.

The flight is done in the coldest period of the night or early in the morning when the contrast in temperature between heated objects and the surrounding areas are at their greatest.

The result of such a survey is a digital map of temperatures, that can be overlayed with a normal map of the city.

Analysis of the data shows for instance heat loss phenomena due to improper insulation in houses or other buildings. This information can then be used to improve insulation and minimize the loss of heating energy.

For more thermal information visit our thermal section

Bordeaux releases thermography movie – Mar 1st, 2010

The City of Bordeaux, locally also known as La CUB, has released a movie on their thermography project.
The project, executed in February 2009 by Aerodata Int. Surveys, in close cooperation with Aerodata France and ITC, consisted of 4 nighttime missions of the Bordeaux area.

Following the delivery of the thermal data, the city has produced this movie to promote its thermography website and energy awareness to its inhabitants.

For more thermal information visit our thermal section