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Image Alert has been a long standing and popular feature of EarthImages.

What exactly is Image Alert?

Image Alert is “the asynchronous version of a manual search“. In a nutshell, you tell us what you are looking for and we will send you an email every time new fresh, imagery has been added to our catalogue. This way you don’t have to go back to the application and run your favourite search, you just get notified when there are new matching results.

How do you create Image Alerts?

In EarthImages, scroll down your search results until you get to the Image Alert section. Click on the link, a popup will appear. Provide your email address so we can send you an email when we have found new imagery for you. Check the screenshot below in which I set up an image alert for the Fort McMurray forest fires.

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The geo-portal has been designed and implemented by GAF and its partner Sofreco. ​

The overall aim is to make Gabon’s mining sector more attractive to private sector investments and thus strengthen economic development. The geo-portal, which includes a geo-catalogue, is a mining information promotion and communication tool dedicated to mining companies, prospectors and academics. It allows a better understanding of and easy access to the geological, geophysical and geochemical data and information available in Gabon. The geo-portal displays a selection of the most relevant cartographic data – whereas the geo-catalogue section has a wider objective, serving as a tool for securing, archiving, cataloguing and searching geoscientific information.

The work was undertaken within the project: “Renforcement des capacités de l’administration” for the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Tourism in Gabon, which was awarded to GAF and its partner Sofreco. This project is part of the PAGOS (Projet d’Appui a la Gouvernance Sectorielle) programme about improved governance and is financed through the European Union via the 10th European Development Fund.

The portal is in French and can be accessed at: www.gabon-mines.org

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CLS detects oil spills by using satellite radar images, determines the drift trajectories of oil slicks to identify polluters and the possible source of the pollution and finally, supplies the detection report.

On Friday 22 April 2016 at 17h17, a radar image taken by the SENTINEL 1-A satellite was acquired by operators at the CLS VIGISAT centre.

Twenty minutes later, the CLS analysts, who are expert in detecting pollution, sent their report to the European Maritime Safety Agency in Lisbon, showing that several oil slicks had been detected in a zone about 60 km in length and at less than 10 km from the Italian coastline, around the port of Genoa.

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CLS provides for a year of satellite data to help clean the bay of Rio de Janeiro in the run-up of the 2016 Olympics.

A major task was given by the Brazilian government to CLS and its subsidiary Prooceano to help clean up the Guanabara Bay. CLS is in charge of locate waste satellite and predict their movements. CLS collects data position and ocean currents and sends them to its Brazilian subsidiary Prooceano . Stephanie Limouzin , Director of Space Oceanography division at CLS explains ” It realizes a kind of weather currents on several days ahead, that predicts when, where and how waste will drift.”

Tags have also been placed on the boats loaded with waste retrieval of the Bay. Thanks to satellite data , the exact position of vessels is known and enable Brazilian services to adjust in real time cleaning operations depending on the evolution of drifting waste.

This vast operation of cleaning the Rio Bay began in the 2015 summer. CLS and its subsidiary Prooceano have working with the Brazilian government to improve water quality in the Bay of Guanabara . The model developed by CLS allows to save time and optimize fleet management . Stephanie Limouzin says “For a year , our system has optimized the evacuation of thousands tons of waste but the problem is that it continues to reach new every day. The situation is still much improved : the bay is increasingly clean, although it is not perfect. There is still work because there is a lack of effective system for collecting waste upstream , before they end up in the ocean. “ People will soon have their sights set on Rio during the 2016 Summer Olympics and it will helps to highlight the work that can be accomplished by companies such as CLS. This is a great demonstration of satellite works! Environmental monitoring associated with ocean observation allows to optimize such a huge depollution program and restore sites like the Bay of Rio.

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(Paris, France – June 20, 2016) CGG GeoConsulting’s NPA Satellite Mapping group has launched the multi-client EARS BasinMap for exploration de-risking across the vast region of East Africa, from regional-to-prospect or play scale. The EARS BasinMap is part of a new NPA Map product suite that offers world-leading satellite imagery-based geological mapping at different scales on either a proprietary or multi-client basis through PlateMap, BasinMap, BlockMap and FieldMap products.


New interactive geological map and database of East Africa Rift System aids exploration in this frontier region

The EARS BasinMap provides an entirely new 1:200,000 scale geological map and database of the East African Rift System and integrates structural history, drainage analysis and sediment provenance. Compiled by expert interpretation of satellite optical imagery and topographic data (the latest Landsat 8 OLI and SRTM 1 DEM data), the database extends across approximately 2.5 million sq km of East Africa taking in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and parts of Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. New Ventures & Exploration teams can use the EARS BasinMap for regional screening to rapidly gauge and understand the structural dynamics of ongoing rifting and predict the location of favorable sediment sequences with high reservoir potential.

Across the under- and unexplored rift basins, where exploration data quality and quantity are limited, the EARS BasinMap provides a regional analysis of the timing and history of regional fault movement, uplift and erosion, which control sedimentation and accommodation space within the basins. The style and geometry of the rift-related structures in the region have an inherited relationship with the mapped basement trends, and control both compartmentalization of the rift basins and the drainage systems. The combined elevation data and map data provide valuable insight on geological evolution, source-to sink depositional systems and reservoir quality. When coupled with Seep Explorer (CGG’s on- and offshore seeps database) and Tellus (CGG Robertson’s strategic new ventures tool), structural, reservoir and source risk can be even further reduced in this developing hydrocarbon province.

The EARS BasinMap’s rich, geological database is easily accessed and interrogated through NPA Satellite Mapping’s proprietary ArcGIS* Onshore Analyst Tool (OAT), which allows user-driven queries of thematic datasets, encompassing fully referenced lithologies, local names, stratigraphic age, and type and timing of structures.

nce leads and prospects have been identified, the database can be leveraged to provide the context for more detailed block studies, which can include more advanced section building, geological modeling and fieldwork, and for seismic planning. The EARS BasinMap is available for licensing for either the entire East Africa region or cropped large sub-regions.

Richard Burren, Director of CGG GeoConsulting’s NPA Satellite Mapping, said: “Our new offering of scaled geological products across the Map family expands our impressive range of multi-client onshore geological mapping studies. The latest member, EARS BasinMap, is the world’s first contiguous structural history, drainage and sediment provenance database for the East African Rift System and promises to significantly help our clients unlock the exploration potential of the region. It provides our clients with the industry’s only interactive, queryable 1:200,000 scale geological map for East Africa, a region of the world that our team of expert structural geologists knows extremely well, after over a decade of mapping experience.”

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AnsuR is one of seven Norwegian suppliers of emergency solutions. Together with Innovation Norway and NOREPS we are present when top executives from around the world meet in Istanbul this week on the world’s first humanitarian summit – World Humanitarian Summit.

AnsuR participated on Innovation Marketplace of drones for humanitarian operations.

The initiative for the summit came from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and the goal of the meeting was to establish a broader ownership and designing a more targeted plan for international humanitarian work.

The reason for the summit is a record high humanitarian needs, combined with a huge pressure on resources, climate change and several large and protracted armed conflicts that are not kind to the civilian populations. Roughly 125 million people throughout 37 countries today are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The summit was held in Istanbul on 22 to 24 May 2016, brought together heads of state, donors and recipient countries, the UN and international aid agencies as well as a large number of business representatives. UN Secretary General wanted to mobilize for the protection of civilians, conflict resolution and wider collaboration across sectors to alleviate suffering and prevent new crises.

The summit

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Paris, Washington D.C., Montreal, Yokohama, July 13, 2016 – Euroconsult’s latest report, Top NewSpace Startups to Watch, assesses 20 startups via business-based criteria in robust individual profiles in order to track their current standing, challenges, and future potential within the rapidly-evolving space/satellite value chain.


Profiles map challenges, business potential across explosive new sector

The trajectory of these startups’ impact can be described as either incremental (e.g., adding launch capacity to a supply-constrained market), disruptive (e.g., shifting the fundamental economic model for their own segment), or enabling (e.g., shifting a fundamental economic model for an upstream or downstream market). Contemplation of exit strategies and impacts provide frameworks for tracking these startups over time.

“All NewSpace startups that qualified for this report were North-American-based, with clusters in Seattle, Silicon Valley, and Washington D.C. Based in Vancouver, UrtheCast is the only one not located in the U.S.,” said Sima Fishman, Managing Director of Euroconsult U.S.A. and editor of the report. “More than 40 different investors hold stakes in these 20 companies, with a handful investing in more than one.”

Functional areas attracting a great deal of startup interest include Earth observation, satellite communications (satcom) constellations, and space transportation (i.e., launch) and exploration. Some balance between these three allows for inclusion as well of two companies distributing equipment whose new technology may enable different economic models.

Several themes have emerged as success factors. Market and application development are predictably prevalent. Companies who are struggling to raise funding would generally benefit from an anchor customer to provide some comfort to investors about the market possibility; this seems to manifest in partnering approaches being taken to distribution (and supplier relationships as well for that matter). In looking at overlap between these operations, as well as overlap with other existing businesses, it is noticeable that there are some areas in which the first to launch could stop a competing startup from completing their investment, rewarding the first mover with a sustainable advantage.

One of the focal areas for the report is watching what comes next for these NewSpace actors. All of the constellations anticipate multiple launches between 2016 and 2019, with some launch schedules extending even beyond that time frame. Fundraising will continue to be an issue, particularly for the expensive satcom constellations, in some cases on a make-or-break basis. Prototypes, initial customer trials, and scaling for production are on the calendar for both profiled equipment-based startups. Finally, operational testing and research and development toward next generation product refinements round out the consolidated list of what to watch for from these companies in the next few years.

While Euroconsult’s recently published Prospects for the Small Satellite Market takes a consolidated approach by presenting the various factors that will drive/inhibit growth in demand for small satellites over the next ten years, categorizing by mass/client/application/region, Top NewSpace Startups to Watch focuses on the specific companies within the space/satellite value chain, giving highly detailed individual profiles covering the outlook, innovations, environment and success factors that must be achieved for each company to move beyond the startup phase. Taken together, these two reports bring a detailed view of both existing and potential business opportunities in this explosive new sector.

About the Report
Top NewSpace Startups to Watch is an assessment of the current standing and challenges of 20 startups within the space/satellite value chain. Each company is presented in a highly detailed profile, including its business model, funding history, key partners, competitive environment, target markets, and success factors in need of achievement; areas covered in the report include satcom constellations, space exploration & service, Earth observation, and equipment startups.

About Euroconsult
Euroconsult is the leading global consulting firm specializing in space markets. As a privately-owned, fully independent firm, we provide first-class strategic consulting, develop comprehensive research and organize executive-level annual summits for the industry. With 30 years of experience, Euroconsult is trusted by 600 clients in over 50 countries. Euroconsult is headquartered in France, with offices in the U.S., Canada and Japan.

PRESS CONTACT
Andrew Smith
+1 (514) 903-1001
smith@euroconsult-na.com
www.euroconsult-ec.com

The Earth Observation market and the Geospatial information services are continuously growing and changing following the evolution of satellite missions, the new very high resolution image acquisition technologies both Radar and Optical and the proliferation of geospatial information sources.

Satellite data availability is changing thanks also to the Copernicus open-data approach. Following the EU indication related to the data policy, indeed, in the next future the access to the images will be part of the data mining problem more than a cost per se.

e-GEOS is a European hub for geospatial data and application, developed specific and proprietary satellite data management tools that support the customer operators during the satellite data collection, image preparation, data-fusion, interpretation and results dissemination.

The e-GEOS Matera Space Centre represents today one of the space hub for Copernicus/Sentinel and Landsat8 data together with the COSMO-SkyMed commercial radar Images.

e-GEOS in Europe is going to became a point of excellence for operational activities based on the new quantity of data today available and on the customer request to obtain near real time results, derived also from the integration with the IoT technologies.

Besides the continuation of the operational provision of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service – Rapid Mapping, during the 2016 e-GEOS awarded two important Copernicus operative contracts that represents the state of the art of geospatial data exploitation:

Copernicus Global Land Hot Spot Mapping

In April 2016 the consortiumi headed by e-GEOS was awarded an operational contract from JRC for the provision of on demand high resolution land cover products over several Protected Areas mainly in Africa. The scope of the activity is to provide actors involved in biodiversity conservation actions (e.g. DG DEVCO) with reliable mapping products describing how land cover has been changing in the past 20 years, since land cover transitions from natural to semi-natural or artificial classes may have relevant effects on ecosystems fragility, animal and plant species and, more in general, on biodiversity conservation.


LCCS product sample

Land cover mapping products are based on the well-known Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) approach and they heavily rely on the automated classification of Dense Multitemporal Time Series (D-MTS) of both optical and SAR data to deal with prominent seasonality effects of certain land cover classes in tropical and sub-tropical areas. In view of efficiency improvements, e-GEOS has developed and operates a fully owned and automated processing chain that deals with the collection of relevant satellite EO data  (mostly Sentinel and Landsat series), the pre-processing (including rigorous atmospheric correction), the selection of suitable multi-yearly and multi-seasonal scenes based on pre-defined quality parameters (e.g. cloud coverage) and, finally, the application of automatic classification methods to generate the land cover products. This processing chain is designed to easy scale up and now ready to serve and support also other mapping initiatives in the era of big satellite EO data.

Copernicus Emergency management Service

In 2016 e-GEOS has successfully continued the operational provision of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service – Rapid Mapping. Until now 20 Rapid Mapping activations have been serviced, covering among others the widely known flood events in UK and Ireland (January) and in France (May/June).


http://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/list-of-components/EMSR169

Evolution of Copernicus services H2020

In the perspective of future service evolution, e-GEOS has coordinated the preparation of an H2020 proposal (E2mC) concerning the operational use and exploitation of crowdsourced and social media data within the framework of the Copernicus Emergency management Service overall (Mapping and Early Warning) with a potential extension also to other emergency mapping initiatives or other Copernicus services.  e-GEOS, as E2mC proposal coordinator, has now been invited by the Research Executive Agency (REA) to the grant agreement preparation.

The purpose of the new Copernicus Witness Service Component is to improve the timeliness and accuracy of geo-spatial information provided to Civil Protection authorities, on a 24/7 basis, during the overall crisis management cycle and, particularly, in the first hours immediately after the event. This will result in an early confirmation of alerts from running Early Warning Systems as well as first rapid impact assessment from the field.

Heterogeneous social media data streams (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,… and different data: text, image, video, …) will be analysed and sparse crowdsourcing communities will be federated (crisis specific as Tomnod, HOT, SBTF and generic as Crowdcrafting, EpiCollect,…).

Copernicus in situ component

In May 2016 the consortiumii headed by e-GEOS has been awarded a contract by the EEA to provide support to Copernicus Services in terms of in situ data access, limited to the INSPIRE spatial data themes. Therefore e-GEOS is leading a multi-faceted team to understand which are the current requirements of Copernicus Services in terms of in situ data, which are the in situ data they currently exploit and which are the gaps, obstacles and barriers which prevent am better and more satisfactory exploitation of such data within the full operation service workflow. The activities also aims at identifying in situ related best practices and data that could be shared among different Copernicus Services to improve the overall result.

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The UK arm of Airbus Defence and Space UK has won the contract to build ESA’s Biomass satellite


ESA, Airbus Defence and Space UK have signed a €229 million contract to build a satellite that will provide global maps of how much carbon is stored in the world’s forests and how this stock is changing over time. The Earth Explorer Biomass satellite is part of the Living Planet programme, an initiative designed to develop new and better instruments for observing Earth. Previous missions have included the GOCE gravity satellite, along with SMOS-ice, a campaign designed to use passive microwave radiometry in L-band to verify sea-ice forecasts and satellite-derived ice products.

Due for launch in 2021, the satellite will also utilise an active imaging technology that operates in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, but this time it will use a P-band synthetic aperture radar to deliver accurate maps of temperate, tropical and boreal forest biomass.

The technology uses short pulses of emitted microwave energy to record the reflection from a given area on the ground. When it comes to mapping forest vegetation, the wavelength of the RADAR system will determine whether the synthetic aperture RADAR (SAR) backscatter is dominated by surface scattering or volume scattering.

While worldwide forest type and forest cover can be detected by today’s satellites, obtaining the global mass of trees is not possible by current ground measurement techniques. Biomass will therefore take the information to a different level by effectively ‘weighing’ the worlds forests over a 5 year period. Over this time, the satellite will witness at least eight growth cycles in the forest population thereby improving our understanding of the carbon cycle.

“Biomass is another one of those missions reaching the frontiers, technically speaking,” noted Volker Liebig, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes at the contract signing in Stevenage, UK. “Just like our other Earth Explorers, it is a first. It will be the first P-band radar instrument in space delivering information on the actual carbon mass in Earth’s forests, information that is fundamental for a better understanding of the carbon cycle and global biomass.”

The radar will provide all-weather imaging from its near-polar, Sun-synchronous orbit as it flies at an altitude of 660 km. It will measure biomass at a resolution of 200 m and deforestation at 50 m to analyse how much carbon dioxide is being absorbed by the world’s forests and to provide a better insight into rates of habitat loss and the possible subsequent effect this may have on biodiversity in the forest environment.

The satellite is also equipped with an experimental ‘tomographic’ phase, that can provide a 3D view of the forests as it maps the topography of forest floors. Along with other opportunities such as mapping the subsurface geology in deserts and movements of ice sheets, the data will support REDD+, a UN climate change initiative aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

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The Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining in Malawi is establishing a Geological Data Management Information System (GDMIS). GAF has been awarded a contract to design and implement the system at the Geological Survey Department (GSD) in Zomba.

Access to geological information is essential for every government, in order to assess the country’s mineral potential. It is also a cornerstone for attracting new investors to the country’s mining sector. Straightforward and comprehensive access to geological and mineral information is a key element in promoting and developing the mineral resources sector in Malawi.

To increase the capacities of the Geological Survey Department, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining has contracted the German company GAF to design and implement a modern, GIS-based Geological Data Management Information System (GDMIS).

The core objective of the assignment comprises the development of a GIS-based central data repository, a management cockpit and a data catalogue accessible through the internet. The system will thus support the GSD in the management, valorisation, safe storage and dissemination of geoscientific data for the entire country.

In practical terms, the project components include:

  • Assessment of capacities and user requirements at the Geological Survey Department;
  • Identification and involvement of relevant stakeholders and related programmes;
  • Inventory of existing geoscientific and mine operation data;
  • Organisation and supervision of the scanning and digitising of existing analogue geological, geochemical, geophysical, and geo-hazard data;
  • Data quality control and database integration;
  • System and database design, compilation, and implementation;
  • Software development, prototyping and training.

The contract has a duration of twelve months and is part of the “Mining Governance and Growth Support Project (MGGSP)”, which is supported by the World Bank and the European Union. The GDMIS in Malawi will be a customized version of GAF’s GeMinIS platform. With more than a decade of experience in the development and implementation of GIS-based geological and mineral information systems, GAF developed the GeMinIS platform to support mineral and natural resource management.

About GeMinIS

The Geological and Mineral Information System (GeMinIS) is GAF’s comprehensive software solution tailored to the specific needs of the mineral governance and natural resources management domains. The GeMinIS is designed and programmed to manage, store, visualise, process and publish data and various types of report from heterogeneous range of sources. This central repository can support access to, and interpretation and use of geological and mineral information across a country. It is based on FOSS (free and open-source software) and thus does not involve a vendor lock-in.

About GAF

GAF is a leading provider of geo-solutions with an international reputation for the skilled provision of data, products and services in the fields of geo-information, spatial IT and consulting for private and public clients. Over the past 30 years, the company has been active in more than 1000 projects in over 100 countries throughout Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. The company is part of the Telespazio Group, which belongs to Finmeccanica and Thales, two European technology leaders.

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