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Aratos Technologies S.A. was founded in 1995 is one of the first European downstream value-added services company in the space sector.

The company has more than 10 years of research in the field of Environmental Protection, Land Use and Urban Planning, Disaster Management, Agricultural sector monitoring and Security using space and satellite technologies. During the last five years Aratos Technologies S.A. has developed some innovator systems and services to be able to provide satellite Earth Observation data.

Earth Observation

Satellites are capable of obtaining global spatial coverage and provide unique measurements of solar output, the Earth’s radiation budget, vegetation cover, oceans biomass productivity, atmospheric zone, greenhouse gas distributions, sea level, ocean surface conditions. Earth Observation satellite applications are very useful in the company because include: hazard monitoring and disaster assessment and they have proven their abilities to accurately monitor. Moreover Earth Observation satellites remain in place for long periods of time and they can highlight environmental changes occurring gradually. All these applications are used by the systems of Aratos Technologies S.A to deliver information about extreme events such as floods and droughts, the ozone hole, biological activity, coastal zones, deforestation, forest fires, urban development. These various observations are used extensively in real-time decision making and can be provide at the Local Authorities that have signed an agreement with the company.

Aratos Disaster Control System™ and Green SSLM are systems of Aratos Technologies S.A.
Aratos Disaster Control System™ provides prevention, response and recovery through high quality satellite data. The main objective of Aratos Disaster Control System is to manage natural disasters and monitor the area of interest in a 24 hours base through satellite. The last successful agreement signed a few days ago, when the company called to renew the agreement that had been signed a year ago for the first time with the prefecture of Grevena. The main users are Civil Protection Services, Local Authorities and Governments. Prefecture of Kozani,, Magnesia and Florina are some of the users of the system. The company the last five years makes very important agreements with the Local Authorities of Greece but also with companies and organizations, specialized in space sector in Europe.

Aratos Disaster Control works in three stages Prevention, Crisis Management and Damage Assessment. Monitoring using satellite is made daily every 15 minutes for all stages of the system. This moment Aratos Technologies S.A. receives data through privately owned station to receive data from 26 satellites. Aratos Disaster Control uses data which are collected from a ground reception station for satellite data. Satellite data are processed with specialized software.

During the Pre-Fire phase a regularly updated cartography of a region is provided, accompanied by high resolution digital maps.

The service includes:
•Detail mapping of concrete regions (urban, semi-urban, rural, forestalls etc.) and infrastructures (buildings, populated centers, other infrastructures) using recent satellite imageries.
•Estimation of fire risk index, that is based in various parameters like the vegetation index, the ground topology, the infrastructure of the area, the human intervention in the nature, the temperature, the force and direction of wind.
The services provided for the response phase (CRISIS) involve:
•Rapid fire mapping for large fire events, delivering mapping products and damage assessment for fire events with highest update rate 15-30 minutes and
•SMS-Email alert to registered users.

The set of services provided for the recovery phase (POST-FIRE) involve:
•High Accuracy Burn Scan Mapping.
•Assessment of cultivatable and forest areas affected.
•Categorization of burned areas (forestal, agricultural, inhabited regions).
•Complete damage assessment and mapping of the affected region. The mapping is produced on scale: 1:5000, 1:25000, 1:100000, depending on the requirements and the needs.

Green SSLM (Green Space Services for Local Monitoring) is an efficient and useful service of environment using satellite data. The Green Space Services for Local Monitoring (GreenSSLM) utilize the cutting edge technology based on satellite born data and integrate the complex data and models in order to provide useful and easy to understand indicators for decision makers, society and individuals.

The area of Prespes in Greece which is an area protected by the Ramsar Convention and characterized as Nationals Park uses Green SSLM system because needs special treatment. Green SSLM is especially designed for monitoring the environment and the environmental changes. It is an efficient and useful system which can provide to the area of Prespes information for the sustainable growth. This system uses indicators which are based on DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressure, State, Impact, Response) framework used by most international institutions. The indicators are describing what is happening to the environment in the area of Prespes and they can calculate what is needed.

The monitoring process is done using advanced Earth Observation satellites and techniques, combined with in-situ data and measurements. The complexity of the processing such huge and often confusing data is hidden to the user and a valuable and easy to understand indicators are presented to him. In addition a thematic digital and hardcopy maps of the region are produced from which a non specialist could easily determine the situation in the region, as well as, to decide if needed on specific measures and actions.

Events

The main aim of Aratos Technologies S.A. is the civil protection and for this reason participated in Polis 2009, from 26 to 29 November 2009 Aratos Technologies S.A., the 7th International Exhibition of Local Authorities, public-social sectors and private companies, which took place in the International Exhibition Center of Thessaloniki. The exhibition was about modern services and products which aim at a better quality of life of the citizens.

News

Furthermore Aratos Technologies S.A. has signed an agreement with Antrix Corporation Limited to provide for the next 5 years, high quality satellite imagery from the Satellite Cartosat-2. With this agreement Aratos Technologies S.A. will provide satellite imagery in order to monitor the environmental situation of an area, cartography.
Aratos Technologies S.A. is also a reseller in Greece of the products and services of Flyby and WFS.

Project SEOCA

SEOCA is an EU-funded project of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and its main objective is to further strengthen the cooperation between Europe and the countries of Central Asia within GEO (Group on Earth Observations) by implementing a set of activities aimed at building GEO-related capacity in the domain of Earth Observation in the target countries. SEOCA intends to promote European GEO-technologies in the region of Central Asia as a platform solution for the regional development challenges. Totally, there are eight participating countries in SEOCA; Germany, Turkey, Greece, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Furthermore, SEOCA focuses on the study and evaluation of the existing needs and capacities of the Central Asian countries for EO (Earth Observation) information application, gathering and distribution. As a result the consortium expects that SEOCA will radically increase acceptance of GEOSS (The Global Earth Observation System of Systems) technologies by the regional governments for national environmental services, meteorology, natural hazards prevention, geological explorations, etc. Finally, SEOCA is going to start in February 2010.

Aratos Technologies S.A. – the company specialized in space sector and satellites- is a private company located in Patras, Greece, has been included among the top companies in Europe and ensures totally quality services and products in space sector.

PCI News Winter 2009/2010

PCI Geomatics Sponsors DGI Europe 2010 (London – January 25 – 27)

Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) is Europe’s largest annual gathering dedicated to high-level discussion addressing the major challenges of the defence and government geospatial intelligence community. Join Allan Place, Director of Global Sales at PCI Geomatics as a Keynote Speaker where he will be discussing: Deriving accurate, mission critical intelligence from satellite and aerial imagery using automated, high speed image processing solutions.

While at DGI, learn more about PCI’s award winning GPU enabled solution, the GeoImaging Accelerator (GXL), which uses accelerated GPU technology and grid cloud computing to process through terabytes of data in record time at Booth #35.

Geomatica 10.3 is Available – Now with Imaging Tools for GIS

The latest version of Geomatica®, PCI’s image-centric desktop software is now available and includes imaging tools for GIS. Geomatica 10.3 is a complete set of software for remote sensing, digital photogrammetry, raster spatial analysis, mosaicking and automated production workflows. Version 10.3 includes support for ESRI® ArcGIS® Server Image Extension, as well as multi-sensor support through OrthoEngine for ArcGIS users. These users can now rely upon PCI’s OrthoEngine technology to accurately and efficiently correct raw satellite imagery, opening new doors for the integration of remotely sensed imagery into GIS workflows.

For more information on Geomatica 10.3

PCI Geomatics Software Assists with European Security and Emergency Management

The National Survey and Cadastre in Denmark (KMS), has selected PCI’s GeoConference software to assist with the planning, monitoring and coordination of land security and environmental activities.
GeoConference is a live geospatial meeting system that operates via the internet, and allows users to share maps, imagery and data simultaneously and interactively in real-time. KMS has used and evaluated GeoConference for exercises related to oil spills at sea as well as security events that involved multiple agencies within Denmark.

For more information on GeoConference

PCI Geomatics Offers Additional Sensor Support
PCI Geomatics is an industry leader in sensor support and is pleased to offer support for the Leica Geosystems ADS40 and ADS80 Digital Aerial Camera within its Geomatica® software.
PCI Geomatics has included support for the import and orthorectification of ADS40 and ADS80 level 1 data within Geomatica OrthoEngine, a collection of powerful, automated tools for aerial photos and satellite imagery.

For additional information on PCI Geomatics’ sensor support

PCI

WALPHOT is active in the Wallonia World Wide Space Application (3WSA) project. Within this project WALPHOT provides spaceborne/airborne-based services to support the responsible governmental institutions in industrial crisis prevention. Data derived from satellite observations and aerial platforms are made accessible to the whole project in standard formats. A first SEVESO test-case is analyzed in Engis (Belgium)

3WSA is a large project of the Skywin Belgian Aerospace cluster labelled by the Walloon Region Government. The project creates a center of services involving nine Walloon partners in order to implement new crisis management techniques combining existing communication and information technologies and space infrastructures.

Technological risks due to strong concentration of industrial activities and the often complex transportation and communication network should be taken into account by the responsibles in Security, Environment and Mobility. Even for small industries, local physical/environmental damage, pollution and potential victims could be much higher than expected because of the high density of population and vicinity of distribution channels (rivers, railways, airports …).

First outputs refer to the definition and prototypes of spaceborne or airborne geographical data information layers that are useful for crises response. The first step of prototypes development is an in-depth evaluation of legal framework, emergency plans and various users’ requirements. These users can be public authorities (Municipalities, provinces, regions and states), firemen, police officers, civil protection, army … The “Agence Prévention et Sécurité” (Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium) helps the consortium to define crisis experts’ needs in terms of spatial data. Some examples of products & services based on very high resolution remote sensing data or aerial photos are:

• detection & delineation of the SEVESO industry,
• land use/land cover maps (Figure 1),
• population density maps (Figure 2),
• indicators & statistics about accessibility.


Figure 1: Aerial orthophotos-based land cover products (1km and 10km) for a specific SEVESO-type industry in Engis (Belgium)

Real world entities may be modeled spatially either as continuous functions varying along some surface (called “field”) or as discrete entities with identifiable boundaries and identity (called “object”). The object/vector representations store geographic data in terms of points, lines and polygons (areas). Fields can be represented by “vector” but are often represented by a “raster” structure (or regular grid cells, called pixel). EO derived products are raster geo-referenced images. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) store and combine the different kind of data in a common format.

In 3WSA, demographic data provided by the National Institute for Statistics for each administrative unit are geo-referenced with a higher resolution (“upscaling”) by combination with Land Cover (LC) classes. The demographic data is “weighted” over the LC classification and converted to a grid format with a cell size of 100*100m. Each grid cell is attributed an estimation of the number of people living in that area. This information is then visualized in 3dimensions (Figure 2).


Figure 2: Spatial disaggregation of population data on the 10km area around a SEVESO-type industry in Engis (Belgium)

WALPHOT is a Belgian company specialized in the production and the use of geographical data from both airborne and spaceborne sensors since 1973. All services offered by WALPHOT are fully integrated within the company: aerial photography, photo interpretation, processing and interpretation of digital satellite images, cartography, environmental studies, Geographic Information Systems, and lots of other geo-related activities. For more information on these services, we refer to the following contact information:

Walphot s.a.
Address: Rue Van Opré 97 ; 5100 Namur, BELGIUM
Phone: + 32 (0) 81 30 24 01
Fax: +32 (0) 81 30 41 67
E-mail: walphot@skynet.be
Website: http://www.walphot.com

Directions Magazine interviewed Fred Hagman, managing director at Aerodata International Surveys, about the company’s operations, products and services, its membership in the aeroGRID consortium, and the growing demand for aerial imagery. The company, headquartered at the Antwerp Airport in Belgium, is an independent, private airborne surveying and mapping company founded in 1992.

Directions Magazine (DM): What is the main focus of Aerodata International Surveys? What geographies do you cover?

Fred Hagman (FH): Aerodata International Surveys is well-known throughout Europe for its ability to capture high quality aerial imagery and turn it into geo-information products. Aerodata operates a fleet of five aircraft and uses multiple digital cameras and other sensors including three of the latest Vexcel Ultracam X-Prime frame cameras. Aerodata’s imagery is used for a wide range of applications and appears in a broad range of media including applications such as Google Earth.

Aerodata’s activities are based on three pillars:

1. Airborne data collection and processing (project based)
2. Off-the-shelf delivery of readily available imagery (aeroGRID : Aerodata Geo Referenced Image Database)
3. Consultancy and technical support

We also operate from time to time outside Europe in the Middle East (Yemen, Qatar, Lebanon and Bahrain) and in Africa (Gambia, Mali, Benin, Libya, Congo-Brazzaville and Cape Verde Islands).

DM: Where do you primarily see the demand growing for your off-the-shelf product, aeroGRID? What is driving that demand?

FH: Increased use of aerial imagery throughout society is leading toward an increasing demand for quick and easy solutions for obtaining this type of product. The growing demand is fueled by wide-spread home and business use of high-speed Internet and popular applications like Google Earth and Bing Maps.

Professionals in all sectors realize much information is geo-located and the combination of various data sources can lead to greater insight and add value to products. Many of these users are looking for readily available, current, high resolution imagery, which represents the real world and shows a tremendous amount of detail, ready for interpretation and mapping. Aerodata offers quick access on a 24/7 basis via browser-based service, thus making it easy to provide whatever the user needs at any given time.

These professional users include city planning specialists, real estate agencies, publishing companies and news agencies, environmentalists, land surveyors, engineering companies, insurance companies, geo marketing organizations and many others.

DM: What technology have you implemented to enable users to easily access the data archive via the Internet?

FH: Aerodata has dedicated servers available which are connected to the backbone of the Internet. The servers are operated by the Enterprise Orbit Server software. The software supports a wide variety of client desktop and Internet applications.

It is not only technology but also organization! There are already a lot of data available, but not easily accessible. Therefore cross border questions for aerial data throughout Europe and beyond have led to the implementation of the aeroGRID consortium of companies in order to serve clients with Pan European datasets and more that are not in Aerodata’s portfolio. aeroGRID Ltd. was founded by Aerodata (Belgium), Getmapping (United Kingdom) and Geocontent (Germany) and has partner relationships with many more suppliers of imagery content.

At this moment aeroGRID supplies high resolution data for over 20 countries across Europe and North America. A recent agreement with DigitalGlobe extends its coverage of up-to-date imagery across the world. The archive holds high quality aerial photography of various kinds: color and color infrared, orthophotomosaics and stereo models at a variety of resolutions (GSD) ranging from 2.5cm to 70cm. Most of these datasets are available both offline and online.

Offline distribution is mostly used for large ortho datasets and for stereomodels with exterior orientation data. Online availability is aimed at quick and easy self-service solutions. Consumers go to a simple but fast browser-based platform for viewing, buying and downloading aerial imagery. It is set up to enable easy navigation, very economical pricing and only five steps from start to finish. Professionals are served via the Pro-version with more options and pricing schemes for obtaining the datasets they need. The viewers are using the latest Flash technology to ensure a good user experience. We evaluated different options and had to go for the fastest viewer we could find to ensure an optimal user experience.The Click and Buy payment module enables every buyer to use the most appropriate payment method (credit card, bank).

DM: What has been the role of standards in the delivery of data?

FH: The open standard, like WMS A Web mapping service (WMS) is operational for use of the datasets in GIS and CAD applications. Also an API enabling third parties to embed aeroGRID imagery into their own websites is available. It is clear that these services are based on Open GIS standards.

We are currently working on the options for the user to pick other formats, projection systems and increased file sizes for downloads.

DM: What technology have you implemented internally to manage and serve the data to customers?

FH: Data has to be reformatted internally to obtain maximum Flash viewer performance. Since we are dealing with many different datasets, data management has become a major issue. Aerodata is using scalable computing power and storage capacity. Currently, the total storage capacity is approximately half a petabyte and multiple quad core processing units lead to over 600 Ghz CPU power.

SOURCE DirectionsMag

Today, the use of GIS technology is of growing importance for governmental and private economy bodies. A GIS is the main tool for collecting, managing, manipulating and visualizing data, referenced to a certain place on Earth. Already now most of monitoring and decision making processes are not feasible without modern GIS technologies.

However, the power of GIS technologies is limited by the unavailability of geo-data. While in larger scale applications for local governments or for limited areas land survey techniques are preferable, for larger areas (smaller scales), regions or even countries, remote sensing technologies are most appropriate.

RapidEye AG, Germany, launched its own satellite system August 29th, 2008. The RapidEye satellite constellation is the first, and currently the only, operational system that is able to repeatedly image larger areas in short intervals up to 24 hours. With its capability to produce orthorectified imagery with 5m resolution in 5 spectral bands (including a red-edge band), it is an ideal data source for monitoring tasks in the fields of environment, agriculture, and forestry.

The advantage provided by RapidEye is data availability and quality. The Company provides a wide spectrum of services for clients in our core markets: Agriculture, Forestry, Energy and Infrastructure, Spatial Solutions, Emergency Analysis, and Environment. A few solutions will be presented in detail: crop typing, field boundary extraction, crop condition assessment, forest monitoring, and change detection for infrastructure and environmental purposes.

Bring On EO

land cover map The development of Earth observation (EO) satellites allowed for high and very high spatial resolutions. Currently, systems with 0.6m resolution are available and others with as much as 0.4m resolutions are being manufactured. The use of satellite remote sensing applications in a number of application areas is still somewhat limited, especially in cases where information is needed at a predefined moment in time, where imagery is needed with a high repetition rate, or where image availability must be guaranteed. High repetition rates, for instance, are necessary for multi-temporal investigations, based on plant growth models, in agriculture and forestry, for monitoring applications, for ecological tasks, as well as for land cover classifications. As the image availability for optical systems is highly dependent on a lack of cloud coverage, only a high repetition rate can increase the probability of image acquisition. The temporal aspect of data acquisition, and therefore the probability of image availability in a given time frame, has an increasing impact on the acceptance and usage of remote sensing technologies.

The RapidEye System + Approach

YR20 ad SM Oct09Based on the limitations discussed above, the concept for the RapidEye satellite system was developed as a solution. The core capability of the system had to be a high temporal resolution in combination with high spatial resolution and large, daily area coverage. The relationship between ground resolution and area coverage was optimized to 6.5ms ground sampling distance, resampled to 5m pixel size, and a 77 km swath width for the sensor. With a system comprised of five satellites in a nearly polar orbit, any point on the Earth’s surface can be accessed every 24 hours. Each satellite performs 15 orbits per day, and the whole system can cover as much as 4 million square kilometers per day (within the mentioned specifications). Each of the satellites is equipped with a multispectral imager, designed as pushbroom-scanner with 5 CCD lines, one for each spectral channel. The integrated image memory is capable of storing an overall length of 1,500 km of image stripes in 5 spectral bands. During image sessions, the camera can be switched on and off to spread the image capacity over the entire orbit. Further, every satellite is equipped with a tilting system — this enables RapidEye to point the satellite to an area located to the left or to the right from the nadir-looking footprint. Large continuous areas, such as the sample of Eastern Europe, can be fully covered in a few days.

In addition, the RapidEye satellites contain a sophisticated infrastructure for order handling, satellite control, data downloading and image processing, all located in the company headquarters in Brandenburg, Germany. A customer request, entered by electronic order system into, or by an operator, will be sent to the satellites via S-band connection to the satellites twice a day. During each session, the imaging program for the next seven days is uploaded into the satellites’ memory. This ensures image acquisition even in the event a satellite cannot be contacted for some time. Together with the area to be imaged and other special options, an up-to-date cloud forecast is factored into the acquisition planning.

After successful image acquisition, the data is downloaded to Svalbord, Norway, and subsequential transferred by land-line to the Brandenburg headquarter. Here, the data is subjected to the standard processing of as many as three levels. The highest is level 3, an orthorectified image tile of 25 × 25 km with 5m pixel size, ready to be loaded into any GIS. Optional atmospheric correction can also be applied. The tile size is an internal storing solution. Customers can order data for individual areas of interest and will be charged for the ordered area only.

RapidEye also provides a wide spectrum of value added products and services to its customers, each service being an individual solution for that customer.

For Agriculture…

Chlorophylll mapThe RapidEye system was designed to meet agricultural demands, especially the need for up-to-date information for precision farming technologies. RapidEye imagery with its high spatial, temporal and spectral resolutions is an excellent data source for this group. Thematic information still must be extracted from the data and can be prepared for immediate use in agriculture GIS.

Paradise Ad SM Oct09An initial product is crop area detection. With the help of multi-temporal land cover classification approaches RapidEye specialists can detect and map arable land, distinguish between crop types, and determine field boundaries. This provides the base information for an agriculture GIS setup. Currently, the Company develops a web-based GIS — this enables customers to visualize, edit, and store field data for further thematic investigations.

In addition, RapidEye is currently defining and operationalizing detection methods for further crop types, applicable for certain environmental conditions.

The RapidEye system with its red-edge spectral band is especially sensitive to chlorophyll in plant tissue, which is an important indicator for plant vitality. A repeated visit of plant chlorophyll content allows for the monitoring of the nitrogen nutrition status of plants.

RapidEye specialists use vegetation indices for the derivation of growth curves, which can be used to distinguish crop types and to assess crop condition and growth stages. Once the “normal” growing behavior of a certain crop type is known, repeated data acquisition enables the specialist to assess the plants’ status in comparison to what is standard for this particular area. Farmers receive helpful information in order to apply the right measures for optimal growing.

In this context, RapidEye can provide customers with ground cover maps. Such maps reveal what percentage of the ground is covered with green vegetation in various parts of a field. Areas with a lower percentage of ground cover may need special treatment, such as fertilizer application, irrigation measures, and pesticide application.

Ground cover maps offer an overview about plant status, but do not indicate reasons for either poor or good plant growth. The chlorophyll content highly correlates with the nitrogen content of the plant, which can be observed with the help of the red-edge band of RapidEye imagery. If the detectable relative content can be scaled by means of ground-based nitrogen measurements, an absolute value can be calculated, visualized as map layer, and later used for precision fertilizer application. The knowledge of plant status at different moments in the growing cycle and their comparison to standard values gives an indication about expected yields.

Of course, the results in the earlier stages of a growing season are less reliable than those acquired a few weeks prior to harvest. The accuracy of yield estimations further depends on the knowledge of other factors, such as meteorologic conditions, solar radiation, and so on. The RapidEye spatial resolution allows such investigations at field level. With the help of field size values, determined during creation of agriculture base information collection, real yield estimation values can be calculated.

An accurate estimation of yield will help to plan harvest, warehouse and food processors’ logistics as well as predicting the food supply and/or overhead, that’s ready to export. In greater scale, this is an indicator for food prices in the world market.

For Forestry…

Forestry is the another huge vegetation class. Frequent image acquisition for monitoring purposes doesn’t actually make a great deal of sense for forests because of their low growing activity. Nevertheless, customers ask us for annual status images of their forests. Such imagery is needed, especially if damage appears, such as after a storm event. The content of an image, acquired after such an occurrence, will be compared to the previous status image to determine the area affected and wood volume loss.

For boreal forests, RapidEye can determine the stem volume of coniferous trees with 70 to 80 percent accuracy. This technology is of interest for damage assessments and for plantation evaluation, wood supply management for paper mills and so on.

Insect infestations detection is another area of focus imagery that is of great value, as it gives an indication of trees’ vitality. Infestation centers, distribution directions, and speed, can be assessed. This is valuable information for responsible and cost effective pesticide application.

For Monitoring + Change Detection Services…

Another strength of the RapidEye system is the frequent image availability, which makes the data very suitable for monitoring applications. With the help of repeated status images over a specified time period, changes between the different image dates can be detected. This helps identify trends, describes ongoing processes, and is the base for mathematical modeling with the goal of predicting future status of this process.

Changes result from different causes. If changes are related to spatial movements, the objects of interest need to be identified with high confidence in the data. The difference of coordinates describes the dynamics of location changes within a certain time period.

Changes in objects’ features, expressed in different spectral values, require a normalization of auxiliary conditions. Only in this case, the relevant changes can be detected. Due to the inhomogeneity of objects, a prior classification and masking will be necessary. This step results in change detection for whole classes of image content.

Appearing or disappearing objects can be detected, as well. This requires an initial detection of objects. Then, a comparison between identified objects can be completed. As a result, positive changes, or the appearance of new objects, and negative changes, and disappearing objects can be visualized at a map layer.

The RapidEye images’ pixel size allows detection of changes in objects greater 20×20m, or of linear objects wider than 10m. Infrastructural changes are often smaller. RapidEye imagery can be helpful in detecting areas of change, even if such is not possible to visualize exactly what has changed. This can be further investigated by ground teams, or with the help of other information sources.

Requests for environmental monitoring can also be fulfilled by RapidEye satellites. The vegetation cover is a good indicator of environmental impact. A regular image of an area of interest serves as a reference. Whenever a new image is acquired, changes to the last image can be detected. Areas of noticeable change point to abnormal impact to growing conditions. A highly productive vegetation area in the vicinity of a water pipeline in the desert indicates leakage.

A decreasing vitality of arable crops indicates plant stress, possibly caused by low soil moisture level. This is a first indicator for identifying progressive desertification activity. Abrupt changes, especially with sharp borders, speaks to accidental changes, such as land slides.

Constellation Competence

RapidEye sidebarThe RapidEye satellite constellation is a long awaited system and is now able to reliably provide up-to-date imagery in 5 spectral bands with 5m image resolution for a wide range of customers. The constellation overcomes the hinderance of using satellite imagery for frequent Earth observation — the uncertain image availability. Cloud cover remains an obstacle, but the system can attempt to acquire the requested imagery at frequent intervals. Simultaneously, large areas can be imaged.

The information content, represented by 5 spectral bands, each with 12 bit radiometric resolution, is tremendous. With its high standard processing level Rapid Eye imagery is a preferable data source to be used in GIS, especially for agriculture, forestry, environmental and monitoring applications, as well as for topographic mapping and other spatial applications.

RAPIDEYE

SOURCE

Gisat has been awarded by the EEA for CLC2000/2006 data analysis services provision

Gisat has been awarded a contract with the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the provision of CORINE Land Cover 2000/2006 data analysis and finalisation of country assessments.

In particular, the subject of this contract is to provide the EEA with the 32 ‘Country Sketches Assessment (CSA)‘ – analytical and assessment country fact sheets based on latest CORINE Land Cover pan-European data from 2006 update and using the EEA’s integrated assessment framework – land and ecosystem accounting (LEAC). The results will be used by the EEA as a direct input into to the Land Use Data Centre (LUDC) development and the service contract shall also support the EEA’s work on land cover/land use change analysis and related assessments from a European perspective for ongoing reports like the ‘State and Outlook of Europe’s Environment‘ (SOER2010) and the ‘Europe’s Environment Assessment / Eureca2012‘ as well as other specific reports on land issues to come.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) based in Copenhagen supports sustainable development and helps to achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe’s environment, through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information.

Gisat has a proven track record for land related services provision for the European Environment Agency (EEA), being a long time member in the European Topic Centre on Land Use and Spatial Information (ETC LUSI) as well as a member of the Technical Team supporting European CLC updates implemention. In this contract, Gisat also capitalizes previous experiences and tools developed in various land related projects (e.g. ESA GSE project SAGE, GUS, GSELAND) dealing with spatial data based automatic profiles generation for user defined units used for land accounting, change assessment, indicator development and dedicated cartography creation.

SOURCE

GRACE Ltd has performed a thorough survey on Space technologies and applications in Greece.

The study aims to depict a clear picture of the Greek Space sector, including the background, current situation, State policy, actors involved, as well as needs and perspectives. An insight on the general framework of research & technology in the country is provided in order to better highlight the current dynamics and vision for Space in the local context.

As a result of investigations that took place in the 2005-2009 timeframe, the product represents the first all round report dealing extensively and exclusively with the Space sector in Greece.

The survey is addressed to industries, institutions, research establishments, SMEs and any actor or individual wishing to acquire a fresh view on an emerging market.

This report of more than 100 pages will be commercialized in November 2009.

GRACE offers 20% special discount for all EARSC members

For more information on the product please contact:
sales@graceapplications.com
www.graceapplications.com

About GRACE Ltd
GRACE Ltd is an independent technology and consulting services firm established in Athens in 2008 and focusing on directing the benefits of Space to the society and the environment in Greece and the Balkan Peninsula.
The company is a valuable and dynamic partner contributing to local capacity building and progress in the Space industry and its applications.
www.graceapplications.com

Grace_corporate.pdf

Grace_MS_brochure.pdf

MFB-GeoConsulting provides a new, outstanding 3D digital Land Use (Clutter) Map to Telecom Industry to improve radio network planning for the Swiss National Security Board’s POLYCOM Project.

MFB-GeoConsulting GmbH is the main application provider in Switzerland for digital land use (clutter) maps derived from high resolution geodata. Among others, telecom industry is using this source of maps to improve radio network planning. During the recently finished POLYCOM Project, which was running over the last three years, the minimum mapping unit for clutter maps was lowered from a 1om to a 2m grid and extended with the third dimension. As subcontractor of ETAVIS Micatel, financed by the Swiss National Security Board (BABS), MFB-GeoCOnsulting was in charge of improving input basics to new, advanced radiation network models.

With an in-house developed advanced processing chain, MFB-GeoConsulting was able to serve the project partners with a nationwide digital 3D land use map, at an exceptional price-quality ratio. Our production chain is a highly-automated application, using an object oriented image analysis and interpretation approach based on various geodata sets including LIDAR data, SWISSIMAGE, and Spot 5 satellite data. This increases the reliability and efficacy of the traditional processing approaches significantly.

Additionally class labelling was supported through Vector25, and SWISSIMAGE. Hight information was extracted from DTM-AV and DOM-AV Data. The resulting digital 3D clutter map has 19 classes depending on object height, specified by telecom industry an the National Security Board, with a minimum mapping unit of 2m grid size. This means an improved spatial resolution and an extension to the 3rd dimension, compared to previous clutter maps available for Switzerland. The thematic accuracy is >95% and the geometric location accuracy is specified with ±1 pixel size.

Example Zürich; Source: MFB-GeoConsulting

MFB-GeoConsulting – the company for “Solutions in Geographic Imaging” – is a private enterprise located in Messen, Switzerland. We are specialised in products and services related to Earth Observation (EO), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications and modelling and provide webbased services related to Geodata.

For more information on these services, please contact
MFB-GeoConsulting GmbH
Eichholzstrasse 17 & 23 CH- 3254
Messen, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (31) 765-5063,
Fax: +41 (31) 765-6091
contact@mfb-geo.com
www.mfb-geo.com

Spacemetric integrating DMCii with ESA HMA and DMCii orders UK-DMC2 sensor model

Spacemetric integrating DMCii with ESA HMA

DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) (UK) has contracted Spacemetric to lead the integration of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) of satellites with the Heterogeneous Missions Architecture (HMA) of the European Space Agency (ESA). The HMA infrastructure is being developed to enable the rational supply of satellite imagery within the scope of the European Commission’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative.

The integration with the Agency is taking place in two phases. The first is to provide support for the initial version of the GMES Space Component’s Data Access system. This involves implementing interim tools, routines and supporting operations to provide imagery during a transition period. Operations on this basis will begin by the end of 2009.

Meanwhile, the second development phase runs in parallel with the first but is more comprehensive in character. It involves the full integration of the DMC systems with ESA using a number of standard protocols that are in the process of ratification through the Open GIS Consortium (OGC). These will support a highly automated flow of requests and data back and forth between the Agency and the various satellite missions contributing data to the GMES initiative. This development for DMCii will be completed during 2010.

DMCii orders UK-DMC2 sensor model

Spacemetric has received an order from DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) (UK) to develop and calibrate a physical sensor model for UK-DMC2. This satellite has been built and launched for DMCii by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) and is the latest in the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). It features a 22-metre multispectral imager designed for wide-area monitoring and mapping applications.

The development for DMCii concerns the definition of a physical sensor model for the UK-DMC2 camera to be integrated into the existing operational Keystone image management system supplied by Spacemetric. The development will enable the full range of Keystone functionality for UK-DMC2 imagery including cataloguing, archiving and product processing. The in-orbit calibration exercise will provide highly accurate values of the physical constants that define the UK-DMC2 camera model, thereby ensuring that image products can be generated with the highest possible geolocation accuracy.

The UK-DMC2 satellite is the sister satellite to Deimos-1, built by SSTL for Deimos Imaging (Spain). Spacemetric is also providing in-orbit calibration of the Deimos-1 sensor model under contract to SSTL as part of the supply of an end-to-end data management system for this satellite.

About Spacemetric
Spacemetric is a Swedish company providing image management solutions for satellite and airborne imagery. Customers include the Swedish National Land Survey, the Swedish Air Force, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. and the European Space Agency.
CONTACT: Ian Spence
EMAIL: is@spacemetric.com
TELEPHONE: +46 8 594 770 83
www.spacemetric.com

Copyright © Spacemetric 2009

High Revisit Capability Allows for Fast Coverage of Persistently Cloudy Areas…Added to USDA/FAS/OGA/IPAD Prime Vendor Contract…AAMHatch Named Australian Distributor…


RapidEye Takes On A Challenge: Repetitive Coverage In Brazil

Brandenburg / Havel, Germany, October 1, 2009 – RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of Earth Observation satellites, announced today that they will supply the state of Bahia with RapidEye satellite imagery through their Brazilian distributor Santiago & Cintra Consultoria.

“RapidEye has been selected to provide the state of Bahia imagery because of their capacity to return to an area multiple times until a low cloud cover image can be acquired, and because of their high quality satellite data. Bahia is quite difficult to image with low cloud cover, as it is a tropical area, and the five RapidEye satellites are the best system out there to capture these challenging images. RapidEye satellite imagery will provide the state of Bahia with updated land use information for decisions on environmental issues, agriculture and infrastructure. The imagery will be used by multiple organizations and decision makers that are related to territorial planning with a socio economic sustainable approach.” commented Rita Pimentel from SEI – Bahia Government Organization.

“This contractual agreement will provide proof of our system capabilities. We have already delivered 250,000 square kilometers of imagery in September,” commented Michael Prechtel, Head of Marketing and Sales for RapidEye. “It is hard to predict when this area will be cloud free. With the RapidEye system, we can continue to return to the area until we achieve our goal of a low cloud covered image. The successful completion of this project will highlight our advantageous imaging capabilities for frequent monitoring in tropical areas like the state of Bahia and the Amazon area.”

If you are interested in demonstration products (free test data) from Brazil, please visit RapidEye’s website at www.rapideye.de/demo-products or email demoproducts@rapideye.de.

Images of your region or area of interest can be chosen from the expanding collection of imagery in the RapidEye Library by contacting a distributor or RapidEye directly. The Library is continuously growing, with new images being downloaded from their satellites every day. For more information, please contact the company’s website at www.rapideye.de, and www.santiagoecintraconsultoria.com.br, or email an inquiry to sales@rapideye.de.

About Santiago & Cintra Consultoria

Santiago & Cintra Consultoria is a provider of geo-IT consulting services and solutions for many industries, such as government, oil & gas, forest and agriculture, environment, telecommunication, utilities, mining, education and others. For more information about S&C Consultoria or its products and services, please visit www.santiagoecintraconsultoria.com.br.

For more information about SEI – Bahia Government Organization, please visit www.sei.ba.gov.br.

RapidEye Added to USDA/FAS/OGA/IPAD Prime Vendor Contract

Brandenburg / Havel, Germany—RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of Earth Observation satellites, announced today that they are the latest addition to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Foreign Agricultural Services (FAS), Office of Global Analysis (OGA) and the International Production and Assessment Division (IPAD) Prime Vendor Contract.

Under the contract, RapidEye will provide the four agencies with their levels 1B and 3A satellite imagery products. The agencies will have the ability to order imagery either from RapidEye’s existing archive (the RapidEye Library), or the option of tasking the RapidEye constellation of satellites if an area they are interested in has not been imaged.

Robert Tetrault, IPAD/Office of Global Analysis/FAS/USDA, Satellite Imagery Archive Manager, stated, “The use of RapidEye satellite data should allow our crop analysts to use a finer resolution data set. We look forward to testing this imagery to see how it supports our convergence of evidence methodology. The convergence of evidence methodology is used to develop our crop acreage and yield estimates which is vital to our global food security analysis.”

“We look forward to providing multi-temporal, in-season data collection programs to enhance USDA’s crop and vegetation monitoring efforts,” said John Ahlrichs, Vice President of RapidEye. “This contract will give USDA agencies instant access to our imagery for better monitoring and decision making.”

The IPAD/Office of Global Analysis/FAS/USDA is responsible for global crop condition assessments and estimates of area, yield, and production for grains, oilseeds, and cotton. The primary mission of OGA is to target, collect, analyze, and disseminate timely, objective, useful, and cost-effective global crop condition and agricultural market intelligence information. One of OGA’s key missions is to provide unbiased commodity estimates and forecasts to create a marketing edge for U.S. producers in world markets (Source: USDA and NASA). The Prime Vendor Contract vehicle allows them to obtain agriculture analysis solutions using satellite imagery and ancillary information quickly and cost effectively.

Derrick Williams, III, Division Director, IPAD, stated, “The purpose of this contract is to promote efficiency. We are making the best use of every taxpayer dollar. The Prime Vendor Contract helps the USDA achieve our goal – which is to have a contract in place that allows us to access products provided by the commercial industry and get the best price and performance possible. The Prime Vendor Contract provides the IPAD/Office of Global Analysis/ FAS/USDA with the best possible imagery based global agriculture analysis solutions at the best possible prices and meets our stringent delivery specifications and our clients needs which range from Global Food Security to Climate Change.”

About IPAD/Office of Global Analysis/FAS/USDA:

International Production and Assessment Division (IPAD), Office of Global Analysis (OGA), Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has the primary responsibility for USDA’s international activities – market development, trade agreements and negotiations, and the collection and analysis of statistics and market information. As such a primary mission of IPAD/Office of Global Analysis/FAS/USDA is to target, collect, analyze, and disseminate timely, objective, useful, and cost-effective global crop condition and agricultural production information. The purpose is to provide unbiased commodity estimates and forecasts to create a marketing edge for U.S. producers in world markets. For more information contact Robert Tetrault, Satellite Imagery Archive Manager at Robert.Tetrault@fas.usda.gov or call 202-720-1071.

About Global Marketing Insights, Inc.:

Since 1997, this woman-owned firm, Global Marketing Insights, Inc. provides a wide range of geospatial and remote sensing business planning and market research services, including targeted product/service market studies and competitive market research to government agencies and private sector firms seeking to increase their market share. Global Marketing Insights, Inc. is the prime vendor contract vendor liaison for the IPAD/Office of Global Analysis/FAS/USDA and is the author of the 2005-2015 International Remote Sensing Study and the 2006-2016 Asian Remote Sensing Study, and the 2008-2018 Africa Remote Sensing Study. For more information contact Sherry Loy, Geospatial Market Specialist at: sherryloy@globalinsights.com or 216-525-0600.

AAMHatch Named Australian Distributor For RapidEye Products

Brandenburg / Havel, Germany, September 24, 2009 – RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of Earth Observation satellites, announced today that AAMHatch of Australia has signed as one of their distributors

The contract was signed last week between AAMHatch’s General Manager, Brian Nicholls and RapidEye CEO, Wolfgang G. Biedermann.

AAMHatch will market and distribute RapidEye products in Australia and New Zealand (including their Antarctic territories), Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and the South Pacific Island nations.

“We know that AAMHatch has many years of experience in business mapping and GIS, and is very well respected in these fields. They are well positioned to aggressively develop and ensure market uptake of RapidEye data in this large region which covers most of Oceania. RapidEye also recognize that AAMHatch has a well dispersed network of staff and offices to secure sales and support for our products,” commented John Ahlrichs, Vice President of RapidEye. “We look forward to a long-lasting business relationship.”

“The RapidEye system offers some unique benefits to the marketplace in Australia, New Zealand and the Oceania region. We look forward to working with our clients and partners on the adoption and operational implementation of the RapidEye content, tools and services,” espoused Brian Nicholls, General Manager of AAMHatch. “We welcome the opportunity to work with RapidEye and other RapidEye partners around the world to commercialise this technology.”

Currently, RapidEye is working on completing its worldwide network of distributors in order to facilitate easy access to RapidEye products in their customers’ own languages and regions. For a full list of RapidEye’s distributors

About AAMHatch

AAMHatch operates from an extensive office network throughout Australia, South East Asia and South Africa. AAMHatch specialises in providing business mapping, GIS and Location Based Services to a broad base of Government and Business clients. The AAMHatch Group is a multi-disciplinary team of over 200 geospatial professionals with an award-winning culture of innovation and passion that actively contributes to client success.

_For more information about AAMHatch, please visit their website

About RapidEye AG

RapidEye is an ISO-certified geospatial information provider focused on integrating customized and industry specific solutions into the workflow of global customers in agriculture, forestry, energy, infrastructure, government, security and emergency. RapidEye experts and the satellite system – a constellation of five satellites capable of downloading over 4 million km² of high resolution, multi-spectral imagery per day, and a ground segment for processing and archiving data – allow for cost-effective customized services. The unique combination of large area coverage, high spatial resolution and the possibility of daily revisit to an area provide for superior management information solutions. Currently, more than 110 experts from more than 20 countries are employed by RapidEye, with plans to grow the team to 140 by late 2009.

RapidEye benefits from a public-private partnership with the Space Agency of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which is supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. RapidEye is also cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). For more information on ERDF please contact efreinfo@mw.brandenburg.de.

RapidEye is a “Selected Landmark in the Land of Ideas” and therefore part of the event series “365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas”. This program is run by the initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas” and Deutsche Bank. Being a “Selected Landmark” RapidEye will stand for Germany being a “Land of ideas” in 2009 and will demonstrate Germany’s spirit of innovation. The initiative is under the patronage of Germany’s federal president Horst Köhler. www.land-of-ideas.org

For more information about RapidEye, please visit www.rapideye.de.

RapidEye Contact
RapidEye AG
Molkenmarkt 30
14776 Brandenburg a. d. Havel, Germany
press@rapideye.de
Follow us on Twitter! www.twitter.com/rapideye_ag

Head Office/Sitz der Gesellschaft: Brandenburg an der Havel Management Board/Vorstand: Wolfgang G. Biedermann Chairman of Supervisory Board/Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrates: Juergen Breitkopf Commercial Register/Handelsregister Potsdam HRB 17 796 Tax Number/Steuernummer: 048/100/00053 VAT-Ident-Number/Ust.-ID: DE 199331235 DIN EN ISO 9001 certified

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