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UrtheCast Corp., its subsidiary Deimos Imaging and e-GEOS (a company owned by Telespazio and the Italian Space Agency) announced on 20 October 2017 a strategic partnership to offer a unique combination of joint optical and radar sensors with ground stations.

Massimo Claudio Comparini CEO of e-GEOS left and Fabrizio Pirondini CEO of Deimos Imaging right shaking hands after signing the agreement

The collaboration will allow observation of the Earth day and night, regardless of weather conditions, and is intended to provide a constant asset monitoring service resulting from the specific characteristics of the COSMO-SkyMed SAR constellation and the Deimos-1 and Deimos-2 optical multispectral sensors.

The combination of high-resolution radar data with medium and very-high resolution optical imagery is expected to provide customers with an exceptional level of decision making insights, and to create a unique and valuable benefit for users in a diverse group of sectors including emergency services and the oil and gas industry, among others.
The data acquired by the different satellites, will be jointly marketed and distributed to the end user, enabling the provision of seamless products and services.

Both e-GEOS and Deimos Imaging are leading sources of information solutions for the emergency response sector. The current space assets of UrtheCast and e-GEOS include the Deimos-1 and Deimos-2 optical multispectral sensors and the COSMO-SkyMed constellation of the Italian Space Agency and the Italian Ministry of Defence, consisting of four radar satellites. These assets are significant contributors to the European Commission’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service, where e-GEOS leads the Rapid Mapping Team for the operations providing mapping products based on satellite imagery for disaster risk reduction and emergency response. In addition, both Deimos Imaging and e-GEOS have extensive satellite imagery and production capabilities operating 24/7.

“We are very glad to be partnering with UrtheCast because this collaboration supports and empowers our data strategy to become a hub for all geospatial data, both optical and SAR to serve reliable monitoring capabilities and to feed our multi-sensor application platforms. This agreement confirms the importance to establish strong and valuable partnerships with key players to provide the best services to our customers”, said Massimo Claudio Comparini, CEO of e-GEOS.

“We see that highly derived products are significantly broadening the utility of Earth Observation data as near-real time efficient tools for decision makers. By partnering with e-GEOS, we are delighted to significantly accelerate decision making in a wide range of fields”, said Fabrizio Pirondini, CEO at UrtheCast’s subsidiary Deimos imaging. “This joint service is a precursor to our upcoming OptiSAR™ constellation, the world’s first fully-integrated constellation of sixteen multispectral optical and SAR satellites, which is expected to revolutionize the way we observe and map the Earth.”

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Chantilly, VA, 28 August 2017 – Airbus Defence and Space has entered into an agreement with the GIS mapping engine operator Satshot to provide high-resolution SPOT 6/7 satellite data over a large area of the corn and wheat belt within the continental United States. SPOT 6/7 data is integrated into the Satshot platform, which can be used for deep analysis of specific farmland for further improved operations and efficiency.

Satshot is a fully customized cloud-based online Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping engine that handles satellite imagery distribution, analysis, and management for the agricultural (ag) industry. Satshot relies on three main platforms (Mapcenter, Landscout and iCue) along with various imagery to help growers be more efficient in the field. SPOT 6/7 data can be used within Satshot’s platforms for a variety of applications, such as: crop health monitoring and stress estimation throughout the season, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), crop damage assessment for insurance, land use sustainability management, land value, and Precison Ag Variable Rate Technologies (VRT).

SPOT 6/7 data provides 1.5 meter high resolution natural color and near infra-red information with daily collection opportunities making the data a valuable source for analysis and decision-making in the ag industry. The large swath and coverage capabilities of the twin satellites allow for mapping from a national level down to fragmented farmland parcels at a very competitive price point. This trade-off between resolution, coverage and revisit is key to monitor crop growth and needs more closely and make better informed decisions.

“We are thrilled to have a partner like Satshot, who is leveraging our SPOT 6/7 satellites to serve the US agriculture industry with high value information” said François Lombard, Head of the Intelligence Business at Airbus Defence and Space. “Disseminating imagery and value added data into the hands of our partners will provide near real time solutions for farmers, agribusinesses and will have a positive impact on food production and sustainability.”

Lanny Faleide, President and founder of Satshot said: “This is the first time satellite imagery of this quality and resolution will be accessible to the ag market at exactly the scale needed and at an attractive price level. We are extremely excited to get this data in the hands of everyone in the ag industry to truly help create added insight and understanding concerning our clients fields and managed crops.”

Airbus Defence and Space and Satshot will expand this partnership to provide more imagery and data into the Satshot platforms. To learn more about Satshot, please visit www.satshot.com.

Source Airbus

In today’s world where image data is abundant, the scarce resource in imagery intelligence is analyst capacity. Spacemetric and Simularity joined their respective Keystone and AI-ADS technologies to demonstrate how automated image registration and artificial intelligence techniques are disruptive technologies in change detection.

Based on the Keystone technology, Spacemetric applied rigorous photogrammetric techniques on sequences of satellite and UAS image data. This approach ensured best possible relative alignment of image pixels, thus eliminating spurious noise and false signals in subsequent anomaly detection. A short video illustrating this process is available here. A full report with case studies is available upon request.

Spacemetric and Simularity jointly offer a solution to local government, municipalities, and private companies to monitor their properties, rapidly detect change, and benefit by generating revenue, saving costs, and monitoring compliancy issues before they happen.

To request a free copy of the complete case study report, please leave a message with your contact details on the contact section of Spacemetric’s website.

July 25th, 2017. In the last couple of weeks, the Forest Inspector has raised vivid discussions in the Romanian press about the status of the platform and the mobile application. TERRASIGNA has contributed to the platform development, and the facts below present the service evolution, as well as its progress’ deployment stages.

The Romanian Forest Inspector is a monitoring service, based on satellite imagery, acquired and processed by our company, and transferred to the general public use, through an IT platform, administered by an external company.

The service is a geographic information system that ingests Sentinel 1 radar imagery and optical satellite images from Sentinel 2 and Landsat. Support information is acquired from Open Street Map and Google platforms. Data availability is verified every two to five days and acquired once it meets the mandatory quality and cloud coverage criteria. Prior to any imagery analysis, in-house developed software performs all the necessary pre-processing steps like co-registration or atmospheric correction. Afterwards, the software compares pairs of images taken at 10 to 15 days interval over the same areas and identifies the changes in forest cover, which can indicate logging activities, wind damages, fires, etc.

These changes, that can be equalled to forest loss, do not necessarily represent illegal deforestation.

Forest loss can be caused by various natural and human induced processes loss: legal harvesting, wind damages, landslides, fires, flash floods, etc. In order to assess legal or illegal forest cuts, the satellite map is further populated with information coming from the governmental digital database and tracking system. This information includes:

  • permissions about who, what and where to cut – woodland project developments, exploitation licenses and other legal approvals for forest exploitation;
  • the truck license plate number;
  • the logging location.

The platform represents a part of SUMAL project (Woodland Vegetation Tracking System) and brings together citizen activism, technology and authorities. Due to its multi-level access features, both authorities and citizens can monitor the logging activities.

Back in 2014, in order to fight illegal cutting, the government at that time first established a mandatory digital tracking system for all the trucks transporting wood. This mobile application – initially known as The Forest Radar (Radarul Padurilor) – allows every citizen to verify the legitimacy of logging operations, based on the truck licence plate number, GPS data records and location registration. However, the system proved to be easily eluded through GPS fake loading points, and in 2016, in order to add an additional control, this mobile application was enforced with the online platform The Forest Inspector – solution based on satellite images.

Ottobrunn/Dresden, 18 Sep. 2017. IABG’s Geodata Factory, established in Dresden in November 2007, can meanwhile look back on a successful first decade. Its launch was part of a large-scale assignment that included the processing of world-wide geo data for the German Federal Armed Forces.

In its Geodata Factory, IABG collects, processes, analyses and visualises geo information from most diverse sources. Applying highly automated processes, it creates two- or three-dimensional vector data, local land registers, digital city models, land models and ortho-photo mosaics, designed for subsequent processing in geographical information systems. To ensure proper implementation of these tasks, there is a team of experienced experts in the areas of geodesy, cartography, photogrammetry, remote sensing and geo computer science. At the time of its establishment, the Geodata Factory employed 25 people. Today, the number of staff has increased to 75 qualified experts.

In the course of its existence, the Geodata Factory has successfully worked on a number of important projects and established the organisation as a competent supplier in the national and European markets, for example, with the creation and constant actualisation of the “Landbedeckungsmodell Deutschland (LBM-DE)”, using multi-spectral satellite photographs on behalf the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy.

In the context of the European Copernicus programme, IABG supports the satellite centre of the European Union or the Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Control Office of the EC with earth observation services. Decision-makers are hereby provided with important spatial information, allowing them to promptly identify potential crises and to take suitable counter measures – for instance in the humanitarian or economic field.

Strategic advancement and future continuity is guaranteed via the creation and expansion of a radar competence centre and the development of new services for efficient processing of different sensor data. Another milestone is the conclusion of a cooperation agreement with the US-American company Planet as business and development partner in the New Space sector. This allows IABG to offer satellite photographs for various applications in ranges such as security (e.g. troop movements, early crisis recognition, and migration), transport & tourism (e.g. autonomous systems) as well as environment (e.g. natural hazards, such as floods, mountain and landslides) world-wide and on a daily basis. IABG currently analyses satellite data to provide a complete forest damage analysis of the Passau area in Lower Bavaria for the Bavarian Institute for Forestry and Silviculture, following the hurricane of 18 Aug. 2017.

“Up-to-date and custom-made geo information have become indispensable components of the most varied prognosis and analysis applications, especially during the past ten years.
To that extent, the establishment of our Geodata Factory was just the right step”, comments the Head of the Geodata Factory, Dr. Jörg Schäfer. “With our services in the geo data area, we are an important partner for our civilian and public clients today”.

About IABG
IABG offers integrated, future-oriented solutions in the sectors Automotive • InfoCom • Mobility, Energy & Environment • Aeronautics • Space • Defence & Security. We provide independent and competent consulting. We implement effectively, efficiently and with target orientation. We operate reliably and sustainably. Our success is based on an understanding of market trends and requirements, on our staff’s technological excellence and a fair relationship with our customers and business partners.

VisioTerra has developed the “Sentinel Vision Portal” enabling European Space Agency (ESA) staff to get the best of Sentinel data. Since March 20, 2017 VisioTerra edits 4 times a week “stories” showing the smiles or injuries of the Earth

Summary of the 100 “Sentinel Vision” stories. The wealth of Sentinel data diversity.
Stories involve radar images (Sentinel-1), high-resolution optical images (Sentinel-2), medium-resolution optical images for ocean-colour (Sentinel-3 OLCI), medium-resolution short and thermal infrared images (Sentine-3 SLSTR) or altimeter data (Sentinel-3 SRAL).

Each one of the 25 lines corresponds to one week.

_Source Visioterra

Training session on integrating GIS and remote sensing data into Web portals

Presentation of PACe

Project coordinator : Annukka PEKARINEN

Summary
The main issues PACe project is responding to is the lack of knowledge concerning the cetacean populations of the world and specifically the lack of spatial data for ecosystem based management initiatives. The movements and status of regional and seasonal populations and the factors that direct the population distribution in Sri Lankan waters are largely unknown. A few scientific visual surveys have been undertaken in Sri Lanka during last ten years but comprehensive mapping of whale populations in this area is missing.

Objectives

To produce basic data on cetacean populations to improve knowledge on cetacean biodiversity, abundance and important habitats, to be used for management purposes.
In addition to regular scientific reports and articles, spatial data on cetacean populations and their important habitats is produced and distributed among general public and professionals in ocean management.
Management procedures suitable for the study area will also be proposed.

Project timeline

  • 03.12.2013 – Kick-off meeting in University of Ruhuna.
  • March 2014 to May 2016 – Field works (passive acoustic monitoring, visual survey and oceanography works).
  • 07.11.2014 – 1st steering committee in VisioTerra, Champs-sur-Marne, France.
  • 26.11.2015 – 2nd steering committee in WMU, Malmö, Sweden
  • 13.01.2017 – Final steering committee in WMU, Malmö, Sweden
  • 02-06.10.2017 – Training VtPace – Extension until end 2017.

Presentation of VtPace portal

VtPace (http://visioterra.net/VtPace) derives from VtWeb (http://visioterra.org/VtWeb)

More information

22 August 2017. The European Environment Agency (EEA) has commissioned a consortium made up of EFTAS, GAF and GeoVille to map additional grassland-rich Natura 2000 sites across Europe.

This extends the coverage of the existing Copernicus Natura 2000 Local Land Component service. Telespazio Ibérica, as subcontractor of the Consortium, performs a visual interpretation of land cover and land use from very-high-resolution satellite imagery of the reference years 2006 and 2012. The first delivery unit containing around 22,000 km2 has been delivered to the EEA.

The Natura 2000 network of protected sites covers about 18% of the EU’s land area and is the main policy strategy to address biodiversity conservation in Europe. It is the world’s largest coordinated ecological network of protected areas, set up based on the legal requirements of the European Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive. Specifically, grassland habitats are an important component of biodiversity in Europe. Agricultural intensification and abandonment of traditional management practices have put these habitats under increasing pressure. Although protective legislation has been put in place, it has not yet been possible to stop the regional decline of important grassland habitat types.

The current survey is intended to complement and continue the previous mapping under the Copernicus Initial Operation phase (GIO) to a maximum area of around 470,000 km² until mid-2019.

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TERRASIGNA contributed to a documentary programme released by GEO, the Group on Earth Observations. From disaster risk reduction, tracking animals using satellites to Lake Titicaca water assessment and city planning, the documentary points out innovation in Earth Observation technology.

Climate change, water availability, food security, natural disaster mitigation, agriculture, forestry and coasts ecosystems, energy and resources security – all these topics are considered critical challenges for the times we live in.

Governments, industry and scientists have long recognised the critical importance of Earth Observation, as an information source in support of many sectors of society. But what EO data means in terms of everyday life activities, how they contribute to the Understanding of our life?

At the beginning of October, GEO released a documentary programme, entitled Earth observations: Delivering insight for decisions . The film engages with key figures and innovative organisations from different fields of expertise, in order to demonstrate the efficiency of EO information.

TERRASIGNA was invited to share its contribution to this vast realm of Earth Observation.

Insights addressing their native region, the South East Europe, but also case studies from remote areas, in South America’s countries are their testimonials.

See below TERRSASIGNA’s movie section.

TRE-Altamira are pleased to be featured in the latest issue of Géologues, the French Geological Society magazine.

The article L’interférométrie radar au service de la cartographie et de la surveillance des mouvements du sol. Application à l’étude des déformations dans le bassin de Neuquén details their InSAR project with the multinational company TOTAL to monitor large scale deformations related to tectonics affecting the Néuquen basin, one of the largest petroleum provinces in South America. The aim of the project was to evaluate the contribution of InSAR to anticipate the directions and magnitudes of the current tectonic forces to be able to optimize drilling campaigns.

The large-scale ground motion study was performed using 70 images acquired by Sentinel-1, in ascending and descending modes, between December 2014 and January 2017. Images in both acquisition geometries allowed the East-West and the Vertical component of the deformation to be estimated.


Ground motion maps (displacement velocities in mm/year) over the Néuquen Basin. SqueeSARTM results with Sentinel-1 images (a) Vertical component of displacement (b) East-West component of displacement © Vertical component measurement standard deviation (d) East-West component measurement standard deviation (source: article authors)

Deformation was detected around some active exploitation sites where water injection activities resulted in a terrain uplift of more than 30 mm over the period of study. Uplift reduced when the injection activities stopped. Subsidence was also observed around some production sites with values of around 20 mm during the period of study, however unlike the detected uplift, the subsidence phenomenon shows slower kinetics and continued once the production phase was completed. Landslides were also detected in some areas.


Vertical component of the motion (a) InSAR ground motion map (in mm/yr-1) s (b) Times series along a cross section over a production well and an injection well.

This is one of our most recent projects with TOTAL as part of a long-term cooperation started in 2005. Since then several milestone projects have been successfully concluded in various challenging fields such as the monitoring of SAGD operations using Corner Reflectors networks or offshore anchored platform motion control.
InSAR is a consolidated tool for measuring the impact that conventional Oil & Gas exploitation activities can have on the terrain surface. This information on surface motion associated to oil and gas exploitation is also used as input data for modelling the mechanical behaviour of reservoirs.

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