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GMV has opened two commercial offices in Asia, one in Malaysia and the other in the Korean Republic, forging ahead in its project of worldwide expansion.

These new offices will enable it to give broader coverage and gain a better idea of how the markets work on this continent. GMV has been working in this area for some time and has now built up a healthy list of clients. This has prompted it to set up a permanent commercial presence in the area.

The Malaysia office is in Kuala Lumpur, in the Business Center dependant on the Spanish Embassy’s Economic and Trading Office:

GMV
20th Floor Menara Boustead,
69, Jalan Raja Chulan 50200
Kuala Lumpur
Malasya
while the Korean office is in Seoul’s Invest Korea Plaza:
GMV
Room No. 911, Invest Korea plaza
300-6 Yomgok-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul
Republic of Korea

GMV trades in advanced technology markets. It has become a leading light worldwide in sectors ranging from space through transport, security and ICTs. In the space sector it has been collaborating for over 20 years with the world’s main space agencies such as ESA and NASA. It has spread worldwide by setting up subsidiaries in Portugal and the USA. By now it has built up important commercial relations in continents such as Oceania and Asia, where it boasts clients in Malaysia, Korea, China, India and Japan.

In Malaysia. in particular. GMV has several projects underway. In 2007 it successfully set up focusGEO, flight dynamics software for geostationary satellites, in the Measat control center in Cyberjaya, near Kuala Lumpur. For the last year, together with the local partner ATSB, GMV has also been setting up a coastal DGPS network to give maritime navigation aid, a project won after taking part in an international tender.

GMV also has a sterling track record in Korea. The Korean armed forces purchased the EADS/CASA (now Airbus Military Transport), the flight training simulator for the CN-235 aircraft (KR-01 in the Korean version), in which GMV has been collaborating. GMV and the Korean company ETRI are also participating in the R&D project “Technologies for Automation of Satellite Control”, as part and parcel of “Korea Spain Innovating” (a bilateral agreement between Spain and Korea, brokered by CDTI and ITEP). Furthermore, the arthroscopy surgery training simulator, Insight ArthroVR, GMV’s own brainchild and inhouse development, is taking off quickly through the whole Asia-Pacific area, especially in Korea after implementation of the trainer in Japan’s Tsukuba University last year.

Source GMV#

RapidEye Constellation Covers Serious Ground

RapidEye announced today that they have collected more than 69 Million square kilometers of at least 80% cloud-free images during their first 100 days of operation. The imaging campaigns were concentrated in Europe, the U.S., Brazil and China. More than 36 Million square kilometers of the Earth’s surface, or about one quarter of the total landmass were imaged, often several times.

“When you consider the RapidEye system started operations only in February of this year, the collection rate of more than 69 Million km² of useful images in a little over 3 months is quite impressive,” remarks Michael Oxfort, RapidEye’s Head of Operations and Engineering. “This gives our customers a lot of high quality data to choose from. Even more remarkable is the fact that our system capacity has not been reached yet. We expect our Library to grow to even higher rates in the coming months by expanding our imaging campaigns to other areas around the globe.”

With the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere, RapidEye is in the process of imaging most of the agricultural land in the United States and Europe. These areas will be repeatedly collected throughout the growing season to provide valuable data for agricultural service customers. In the span of just two weeks in May, over 10 Million km² of low cloud coverage images were collected, demonstrating not only the high imaging capacity, but also the feasibility of high revisit rates.

All of the highest quality multi-spectral data acquired by the RapidEye system is now available in their Library. The Library is continuously growing, with new images being downloaded from their satellites every day. Customers will have the opportunity to choose from the expanding collection of imagery by contacting a RapidEye distributor, a Sales Team member, or a Customer Service representative.

For more information click here.

TruePlanet is a natural color satellite mosaic of the Earth.

It is based on Landsat imagery acquired in 1999 – 2003. Selected satellite scenes have been processed into the final seamless satellite map.

TruePlanet can be tailored according to the specific needs of each individual client. This includes color and brightness adjustment, selection of the map projection or image file format. You may find additional details and sample data for download here

AnyShade is a shaded relief product based on the elevation data with spatial detail of 90m. The main data source is the SRTM DEM that has been processed and completed by additional elevation data to generate the final product.

AnyShade can be tailored according to the specific needs of each individual client. This includes color and brightness adjustment, shading parameters change, selection of the map projection or image file format. You may find additional details and sample data for download here

Check the examples of TruePlanet and AnyShade products in the image gallery below.
image gallery#

Water infrastructure development projects

  • GeoID’s Beringen Mine 3D project was on TV. Look here for the broadcast of Vlaanderen Vakantieland.
  • GeoID contributes to water infrastructure development projects in Bulgaria by delivering a set of orthorectified very high resolution satellite images.

Source

Student Contest GoGeo 09 and Euro-Maps Land Cover


Student Contest GoGeo 09 (05.06.2009)

Geodata can be used in a lot of applications, yet so far only a few of them have been realized. BICC.NET and “Runder Tisch GIS e.V.” place their hopes on students to discover new application possibilities and therefore announce the ideas contest “GoGeo 09” (www.gogeo09.de).

GAF AG supports the contest with satellite- and land-use data.

GoGeo 09 is running since June 1, 2009. Students from Germany, Austria and Switzerland can participate – independent of their faculty and previous knowledge concerning Geodata.

Until July 31, 2009 ideas regarding Geodata can be handed in. Inspiration is offered on the contest website www.gogeo09.de, where a multiplicity of Geodata of the “GoGeo 09” partners, which can be used for the contest, is being displayed.

From August 16 to November 30 2009 the best ideas will be realized. The winners are awarded with €3.500 cash and goods prizes. We’re looking forward to a lot of participants!

news_gogeo09_06-2009.pdf

Euro-Maps Land Cover (20.05.2009)

GAF AG, one of the European leaders in geo-information technology, announces the mid-term milestone for the production of a national land use and land cover data set. The raster data product will be available in summer 2009.

Land use and land cover data are useful for many business and research applications. They enable regional planning activities, the set-up and management of mobile telecommunication networks and facilitate environmental mapping and monitoring. At present only very few and outdated data sets matching high quality customer criteria are readily available. To meet this growing demand, GAF had decided in early 2009 to launch the production of Euro-Maps LC, based on recent, multi-spectral IRS-P6 Resourcesat-1 LISS-III satellite data dating mostly from 2007/2008. An object-oriented production chain and fully quality controlled, interactive mapping procedures are combined to create a homogeneous product, featuring 22 object classes with a minimum mapping unit of 0.25 ha and a minimum 90% accuracy in each object class. The data set will be marketed using a staggered license model adapted to corporate and public authorities.

Mrs. Regine Richter, Head of Land Use Applications at GAF AG, states: “According to our market assessment, Euro-Maps LC is indeed unique regarding thematic accuracy, thematic precision and homogeneity. It is the fruit of 20 years workflow development and an accumulated experience of 2 million km² mapping at 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 scales. In combination with a high positional accuracy Euro-Maps LC can be utilized for many purposes either as stand-alone product or in combination with other data like e.g. Euro-Maps 2D and the soon available Euro-Maps 3D.”

pr_euromaps_LC_05-2009.pdf

a daily view of the planet

What is EOSnap?

EOSnap is a web portal dedicated to Earth Observation. Luca’s words can best summarize why the site was created:

We have been working in the field of earth observation for over 13 years. Even after all this time, I am continually surprised by how beautiful and varied our planet is. Every day, we generate photorealistic images from satellite data. I am lucky that this work puts me in the privileged position of observing the planet in great detail. EOSnap is meant to be a small window on our planet that allows all people to appreciate the Earth’s beauty and also, hopefully, a way of increasing public awareness on environmental issues so that such beauty can be preserved for future generations.

Luca Mellano (Founder and CEO of Chelys)

Source Chelys and EOSnap

St. John’s, NL – C-CORE and Kanata based Vantage Point International (VPI) announced today that they have completed the C-CORE acquisition of VPI’s assets.

C-CORE is a Canadian corporation providing applied research and engineering services to Government and natural resource industries worldwide. VPI is a privately held company that specializes in radar and satellite monitoring services to defence, space and environmental markets.

C-CORE President and CEO, Dr. Charles Randell, said VPI employees and business are an excellent fit with C CORE’s strategic plan for further expansion in the space and defence markets.

“The VPI client base is a natural fit with C-CORE’s markets in Defence R&D, satellite monitoring, and specialized radar engineering services. We’re very pleased to be in a position to make this investment. The acquisition positions C-CORE as one of the largest satellite monitoring companies in Canada, and creates new avenues for growth. Expansion in government Defence, Security and Environment sectors are a key driver. This acquisition gives C-CORE a presence right on those customers’ doorstep.” said Dr. Randell.

VPI President, Ron Saper, said “The combined capabilities and resulting corporate strength will position C-CORE to serve the growing market for radar engineering services. I’m pleased to see that VPI’s clients and personnel are in good hands with a company that understands our core business.”

Paul Adlakha, C-CORE Director of Marketing stated that a C-CORE Ottawa office will benefit many of C CORE’s existing and emerging clients. “We’ve been asked about increasing our presence in Ottawa for some time. This acquisition certainly addresses that request and helps us support our clients even better. Our growth and repeat business over the past few years has confirmed that we’re doing things right and solving our client’s problems, so this acquisition is a solid investment in that growth.”

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

For further information, please contact:
Paul Adlakha, P.Eng.
Director, Marketing
+1 902 448 7278
Paul.adlakha@c-core.ca

BEAM is an open-source toolbox and development platform for viewing, analysing and processing of remote sensing raster data.


(June 2009) The BEAM development team proudly presents
1. the new BEAM 4.6 release,
2. the redesigned BEAM website including
3. a new BEAM user forum!
BEAM 4.6 comes with some interesting new features, namely the new layer and session management. With the new forum we hope to establish an vivid community where BEAM users ask questions, provide solutions and share their knowledge.
The forum is moderated by the BEAM development team and our experts wont let any problem unacknowledged.

*******

Originally developed to facilitate the utilisation of image data from Envisat’s optical instruments, BEAM now supports a growing number of other raster data formats such as GeoTIFF and NetCDF as well as data formats of other EO sensors such as MODIS, AVHRR, AVNIR, PRISM and CHRIS/Proba. Various data and algorithms are supported by dedicated extension plug-ins.

Software Components

  • VISAT – An intuitive desktop application to be used for visualization, analyzing and processing of remote sensing raster data. To get an impression of how VISAT looks and feels like, please take a look at the related screenshots page.
  • A set of scientific tools running either from the command line or invoked by VISAT, also entirely written in Java.
  • A rich Java API for the development of new remote sensing applications and BEAM extension plug-ins.

Supported Instruments

This following table lists the data product formats which are supported by BEAM using the reader modules provided in the standard installation. Information about the access to these products is given on the data sources page.

Instrument Platform Formats
MERIS L1b/L2 Envisat Envisat N1
MERIS L3 Envisat NetCDF
AATSR L1b/L2 Envisat Envisat N1
ASAR Envisat Envisat N1
ATSR L1b/L2 ERS Envisat N1, ERS
SAR ERS Envisat N1
CHRIS L1 Proba HDF4
AVNIR-2 L1/L2 ALOS CEOS
PRISM L1/L2 ALOS CEOS
MODIS L2 Aqua, Terra HDF4
AVHRR/3 L1b NOAA-KLM NOAA, METOP
TM Landsat 5 FAST

Generic EO Data Formats

BEAM supports the following generic raster formats:

Format Support Description
BEAM-DIMAP read + write The standard BEAM I/O format. It comprises an XML header based on the SpotImage/CNES DIMAP schema and ENVI images for the raster data
GeoTIFF read + write A widely used EO data format, e.g. for Quickbird, LANDSAT, SPOT
NetCDF read A widely used EO data format. BEAM supports NetCDF files conforming to the NetCDF CF Metadata Convention
HDF-EOS read BEAM supports the HDF-EOS profile (HDF4) used by NASA Ocean Color data products of SeaWiFS, MODIS, OCTS, CZCS

Feature Highlights

  • Very fast image display and navigation even of giga-pixel images
  • Advanced layer management allows adding and manipulation of new overlays such as images of other bands, images from WMS servers or ESRI shapefiles
  • Rich region-of-interest definitions for statistics and various plots
  • Easy bitmask definition and overlay
  • Flexible band arithmetic using arbitrary mathematical expressions
  • Accurate reprojection and ortho-rectification to common map projections,
  • Geo-coding and rectification using ground control points
  • Store and restore the current session including all opened files, views and layers
  • A standard set of scientific data processors which includes
    -Level 3 Binning and Mosaicing (all sensors)
    -Collocation (all sensors)
    -EM and K-Means Clustering, Linear Spectral Unmixing (all sensors)
    -Radiance-to-Reflectance, Smile Effect Correction, Cloud Probability, SMAC Atmospheric Correction, Case 2 Water Constituents (MERIS)
    -Sea Surface Temperature (AATSR)
    -FLH/MCI, NDVI (all sensors)

Source

Aurensis SLU, the Telespazio – Finmeccanica/Thales company in Spain, has signed a partnership agreement with Google, to become an Enterprise partner for the enterprise versions of Google Earth and Google Maps.

Aurensis is a leading company providing geospatial services in Spain and also in Telespazio Group markets across Europe and South America. The company will target the enterprise markets in Spain for geospatial solutions with the Google Earth Enterprise product that allows professional customers to build advanced 2D and 3D mapping applications, integrating their own business information with the same back-end technology that Google uses for the public Google Earth and Google Maps.

Aurensis has all the geospatial expertise in house, including consultancy, imagery and cartography provisioning, data conversion and GIS development. The company will provide professional services to set up and integrate the full portfolio of Google Geospatial technologies. Typical customers for these solutions range from government agencies and large corporations to small-medium-businesses seeking to gain competitive advantage through incorporating a geospatial insight in their business strategy, decision making and operations processes.

About Aurensis

Aurensis is a well-known company in Europe applying new Technologies to territory management. Aurensis global approach to asset management enables us to offer services which cover the whole cycle: from digital mapping data production using the latest technologies, the development of IT-based solutions which combine Geographic Information Systems (GIS), telecommunications and mobile devices, to the provision of telecommunication satellite services.

Aurensis belongs to Telespazio Group, a European leading company providing satellite services and geospatial solutions. Telespazio employs around 1,700 staff and 25 sites spread all over the world and has generated in 2007 sales EUR 395 million.

For more information, visit
AURENSIS
TELESPZIO

WALPHOT is working on a project called BROWNFIELDS. Within this project WALPHOT aims to assess how remote sensing-based services can support the responsible governmental institutions in the monitoring and management of brownfields. A test-case is developed in Andenne (Belgium).

Brownfields are abandoned, idle, or under-used industrial or commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is hindered by actual or suspected soil contamination.

The purpose of this project is to analyse brownfield sites, their environment and evolution throughout history, with a focus on the possible redevelopment of the site.

This analysis will be supported by the creation of products & services based on very high resolution remote sensing data. Some examples are:

  • detection & delineation of brownfields,
  • land use/land cover maps,
  • population density maps,
  • historical maps,
  • indicators & statistics.


Figure 1: Remote sensing-based products for a specific brownfield site (delineated in red) located in Andenne (Belgium)

The BROWNFIELDS project is part of the ERA-STAR Regions program which is coordinated by the Walloon Region (Belgium). ERA-STAR Regions is a network of public funding organisations which support programmes in the field of Space Applications (GMES, GALILEO & Technology Applications). The ERA-STAR Regions network unites European regions and medium-sized countries that have developed particular competences in space research. These space-based clusters, often including both industrial and academic players, are important knowledge-based networks that help drive regional economic growth and prosperity.

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.
Adress: 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