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We would like to invite you to “European Land Monitoring at its crossroads – opportunities and challenges”, a conference to be held in Innsbruck, Austria. This conference will be organised under the auspices of the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

When: 8 October 2018 (1300h) – 9 October 2018 (1230h)
Where: Assembly Hall of the University of Innsbruck, Austria

The purpose of the conference is to discuss the current state of the European public, scientific and industrial land monitoring capacities in face of increasing international competition. The open framework will leverage on the presence of high-level representatives and decision makers from the European Environment Agency (EEA), the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET), the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as international experts from the science domain and industry, to discuss the challenges of European land monitoring and identify opportunities and challenges for future agendas.

In the evening of the 8th of October, GeoVille also invite you to an evening reception at the Olympic Ski Jump SKY Restaurant to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary.

Would you like to attend? As the number of participants is limited, please let us know as soon as possible, but not later than August 15, 2018 if you would like to join us for both events.

For any further questions, please contact Maria Lemper (lemper@geoville.com or +43 (0)512 562021-20).

We are looking forward to seeing you in Innsbruck in October!

Under ESA contract our team has developed a cloud-based IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for building scripts, algorithms and also complete EO data processing chains. JupyTEP IDE is a software with preconfigured EO toolboxes (e.g. SNAP/Snappy and Orfeo ToolBox) and libraries for GIS processing (e.g. GDAL, Grass GIS, PostGIS).

It is built as an extension of Jupyter environment and Docker engine dedicated to working with EO data and it is based on the notebook philosophy of scripting. JupyTEP IDE allows scientists, developers of satellite remote sensing applications and other professional or non-professional users to create their own isolated development environment in an easy way. The users are able to write algorithms choosing various languages (Python, R, etc.) and a wide range of tools and libraries. The results can be presented and shared in the interactive and common Jupyter notebook format.

If you are interested in the open and free JupyTEP IDE solution or you wish to test the current version please visit the project site https://wasat.github.io/JupyTEPIDE/ or contact us by e-mail at jupytep@wasat.pl.

VisioTerra has developed a fully automated change detection service enabling users to see the history of changes detected in specified monitored areas.

See video in English or French.

A first release of this service is applied to “Fire” and “Burnt area” thematics” using the Proba-V 1-day synthesis 100 m ground sampling distance top of canopy (TOC) reflectances. This service is hosted in VisioTerra infrastructure VtWeb but has also been installed in VITO infrastructure in Belgium. The system is presently running continuously and processes the latest scenes in few minutes from their availability.

The Netherlands has a strong international position in the application of photonics. This innovative lighting technology contributes to the solutions for societal challenges in the ICT, manufacturing, semicon, health, agri-food, environment & energy sectors. To accelerate the opportunities of photonics technologies, the National Photonics Agenda is published today. The agenda describes how the Netherlands can further strengthen its leading global position in the coming years, an ambition that is seamlessly aligned with the innovation and top sector policy.

On 13 July Benno Oderkerk, chairman of PhotonicsNL in The Hague, presented the National Agenda Photonics to Mona Keijzer, State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. This photonics agenda has been drawn up partly at the request of the Ministry by PhotonicsNL, Dutch Optics Centre of TNO and TU Delft together with PhotonDelta. The plan for PhotonDelta, the public-private investment and research programme in the field of photonics was also presented along with the agenda. René Penning de Vries did this on behalf of the provinces of Noord-Brabant, Overijssel and Gelderland.

State Secretary Keijzer (Economic Affairs and Climate Policy): “Photonics is faster and more energy efficient than traditional electronics. That is why this is an important key technology in our top sector policy. Photonics is going to help us solve societal challenges. For example, because this technology enables us to make better diagnoses in the healthcare sector and to map out our subsurface in more detail. Dutch entrepreneurs are already at the forefront of this, with almost 300 companies using this technology today. By targeting photonics, we are targeting the future.”

KEY TECHNOLOGY

Photonics is the technology that focuses on generating, transporting and detecting light waves and light particles (photons). It is already used in a wide range of products and processes in which light plays an important role. Think of ever-improving cameras in mobile phones, sustainable lighting and fast fibre-optic internet connections. Photonic solutions are a response to the growing need for fast, reliable communication and industry digitisation. It is used for imaging, spectroscopy and metrology. But the application also extends to food production, home comfort and health technology, thus making an important contribution to solving societal challenges. A new development concerns miniaturisation and integration in chips, the so-called integrated photonics. Europe has indicated its willingness to invest heavily in photonics as a key enabling technology. Not only to achieve European industrial leadership and economic growth, but also to stimulate high-quality, long-term employment.

MARKET ORIENTED CLUSTERS

The global growth of the photonics industry is estimated to be 40% over the next five years. Technology plays a major role in the success of the Dutch high-tech industry and is a driving force for maintaining the competitiveness of our economy. Nearly 300 Dutch companies, many of which are SMEs, work directly on the development and application of photonics products. Estimated total revenues are more than four billion euros. Investment initiatives are expected to reach an annual total of 60 million euros in the Netherlands, a figure that will be financed partly by the public and partly by the private sector. This is to strengthen the hundreds of millions already invested by the market in photonics.

Arnold Stokking, Director of TNO Industry: “It is very important for the Netherlands that we invest heavily in this new technology. For successful positioning in the European and global market, the Netherlands must present itself as a single coherent photonics region. The Dutch Optics Centre, the expertise centre for high-tech optics and optomechatronics of TNO and TU Delft, supports the application areas with key technologies such as imaging, spectroscopy and metrology. It is good news that PhotonDelta, which is active in the new field of integrated photonics, is being given the means to develop further. Our ambition requires a single agenda and a framework for the photonics initiatives in the Netherlands. This agenda is therefore an invitation to companies, knowledge institutes and government to participate in the acceleration of photonics.”

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The Norwegian Oil-on-Water (OPV) exercise is unique. Norway being one of the very few countries that allow the release of actual oil on water, it attracts international participation and attention. KSAT, an important contributor since many years, ensures satellite acquisitions from a broad variety of satellites throughout the entire drill.

Gaofen-3, launched in August 2016, is China’s first Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-imaging satellite and was tested during the oil on water exercise in Norway in June.

Beginning of June more than 100 m3 of oil was released in realistic scenarios offshore Norway, using different types of oil and emulsion for verification of recovery equipment and for remote measurements such as satellite, drones and aerostats. Airplanes from the Nordic countries also documented the event.

Pioneering the world of Near-Real Time (NRT) access to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from satellites, KSAT´s participation in this exercise is very important for the research and development (R&D) environment in Norway as well as abroad. Through the tailored in-house processing chain, KSAT is able to plan, order, download, process, analyse and distribute large amounts of SAR data from many different SAR satellites through one system.

During the 10 day period of this year´s drill, KSAT was able to acquire more than 40 scenes using 6 different SAR satellite missions. Images were acquired in different modes and polarisations, ensuring a unique spectre of documentation so that findings in these datasets can be compared to the amount and type of oil released during the exercise.
This is the reason why satellite data from the OPV is so valuable; it offers a unique opportunity to collect congruent information; satellite images and in-situ observations. For scientists, both from a remote sensing and modelling perspective, the lack of in-situ observation is a major challenge.

CIRFA – Centre for Integrated Remote Sensing and Forecasting for Arctic Operations, is one of the main users of this data, and their goal is to develop better models to predict the drift of oil spills and to better understand the interaction between the radar signal and the slick. .
The satellites missions used were the European Sentinel, Italian Cosmo SkyMED constellation, Canadian Radarsat-2, German TerraSAR-X. In addition two brand new SAR-missions were tested; the Spanish PAZ and Chinese Gaofen-3.
The Chinese Gaofen-3, launched in August 2016, is China’s first synthetic aperture radar-imaging satellite. PAZ was launched 22. February this year and will be included in the KSAT NRT portfolio after commission phase next year.

The exercise is conducted by NOFO, the Norwegian Clean Seas Association for Operating Companies. With the overall goal to strengthen the national capacity on environmental monitoring and oil recovery.

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The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has selected Hexagon US Federal as a prime contractor on two multiple awards, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts for amounts totaling $1.17 billion. Hexagon was selected as one of multiple vendors for the JANUS Geography and JANUS Elevation contracts.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has selected Hexagon US Federal as a prime contractor on two multiple awards, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts for amounts totaling $1.17 billion. Hexagon was selected as one of multiple vendors for the JANUS Geography and JANUS Elevation contracts.

Tasks for the JANUS Geography program will support the creation, conflation, integration, and enrichment of Foundation GEOINT data used to produce a comprehensive and seamless dataset for NGA partners and customers. A great benefit to the warfighter and humanitarian organizations alike, the creation of this dataset will ensure more accurate and readily available geospatial data for military and intelligence operations as well as disaster relief missions saving time and lives.

“We are pleased to be a vital part of the JANUS program that will enhance NGA’s ability to support critical defense and humanitarian assistance missions with improved global GEOINT terrain models and geospatial datasets,” said chairman of the board Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Michael D. Maples.

As a prime contractor on the JANUS Elevation contract, Hexagon will support NGA’s Office of Geomatics with maintenance to an existing worldwide library of digital elevation models. This effort includes products generated, modified, or assessed by the Office that are a digital representation of the terrain surface of the earth.

Hexagon work on for the contracts has already begun.

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Exploiting a huge volume of free available Copernicus System Sentinel-2 satellite data, being collected daily, can be easily and effectively only with the use of artificial intelligence. This is what our partnership with Simulirity provides to us, through Simularity’s artificial intelligence solution for satellite data, Automated Image Anomaly Detection System (AIADS). This solution massively provides the capacity to detect land use changes in time series of big volume satellite imagery (e.g. Sentinel-2), in a very simple, effective and successful way (http://simularity.com/solutions/satellite-anomaly-detection/).

The image shows an example of automated land use detection in Sentinel-2 imagery at the area of Chalkidiki

Our investment in Earth Observation field is continuous and we are able, in a daily basis, to provide dynamic access via OGC services to satellite data of Copernicus System, as well as to automate processing of huge volume data via dynamic artificial intelligence tools for land use detection. Analysis result is diffused through web mapping contemporary tools, following standards and methodology implied by Inspire and PSI Directives leading to the substantiated decision making in almost real time via contemporary tools (dashboards).

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Geocento has recently commenced an InnovateUK project which will apply Chatbot natural language processing to the satellite imaging business with the aim of making the process of discovering and ordering imagery much easier. We are currently in the process of designing the intents associated with user interactions, the workflows and entities (key parameters) associated with these interactions and the information needed to fulfil an enquiry.

A Chatbot is a computer program or artificial intelligence which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods with a human. These programs are designed to simulate how a human would behave as a conversational partner. Chatbots are typically used in dialogue systems for various practical purposes including customer service or information acquisition and as such are potentially very relevant to the satellite imaging business. Some chatbots use sophisticated natural language processing systems, but many simpler systems scan for keywords within the input, then provide a reply with the most matching keywords, or the most similar wording pattern, from a database.

The aim of the project is to help make our interactions with our clients more efficient for them and us, ensuring that information needed to fulfil an enquiry is complete and obtained as easily as possible. Part of the innovation involves using our EarthImages API as one source of information to answer questions posed by the client, within the Chatbot environment, for example in relation to whether there is fresh imagery of a region. We are finding that the process of designing the Chatbot is extremely valuable in its own right, providing a framework within which to articulate the thinking, logic, methods of expression and intents of the range of users.

We are currently working on the design of the Chatbot. We will then move onto the implementation later during the summer. Please do get in touch with us via our contact page if you wish to find out more. We will report on results in a later blog.

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FDC recently started the PATROL project that aims to develop, supply and test Galileo’s Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OS NMA).

PATROL will deliver a market-ready technology that guarantees robust and secure positioning using Galileo’s OS-NMA capability. This next generation GNSS module will be capable of providing a trusted position, velocity and precise time (PVT) to smart tachographs and other positioning applications.

“This project is an important milestone for the satellite navigation industry, as it aims to prove the importance of Galileo OS authentication in fulfilling the emerging security needs of many applications”, says GSA Executive Director, Carlo des Dorides.

According to FDC CEO, Pascal Campagne, “PATROL is a major step towards FDC strategy to supply increasingly robust GNSS modules for critical applications. We are proud to be part of this exciting initiative that will demonstrate the benefits of Galileo OS NMA for such demanding and promising markets“.

FDC is a key consortium member of the PATROL project that involves major stakeholders in GNSS authentication and Intelligent Transport Systems fields.

The PATROL project is sponsored by the GSA’s Fundamental Elements mechanism, which supports the development of European GNSS-enabled chipsets, receivers and antennas.

For more information, please click here

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While the world watched their soccer team compete in the World Cup qualifiers, the people in the Democratic Republic of Congo were fighting to contain an Ebola outbreak—for the fourth time since 2012. On May 8, the government of DRC declared the latest outbreak in Equateur Province. When it jumped a few days later to Mbandaka, a major transport hub along the Congo River that’s 150 km from the original case, the risk of Ebola spreading internationally became a reality.

Last week, World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom said the crisis was “far from over” and ongoing surveillance is critical. Despite proactive containment efforts, the response on the ground has struggled due to a lack of information about the affected communities. A report in The Atlantic notes that almost all the existing maps of the outbreak zones contain inaccuracies, and different health organizations are operating from disparate maps and sources of information.

Satellite imagery becomes a game changer in emergencies like this. The imagery provides a timely source of truth over even the most remote, forgotten areas of the world. That’s why Maxar’s DigitalGlobe is committed to supporting the brave efforts of our partners in the field, in hopes that putting those Congolese families on the map will help them receive the vaccines and medical care they deserve. To help the response, DigitalGlobe is publicly releasing building footprints produced on GBDX for Equateur Province in DRC, where towns like Ikoko Impenge have never been mapped. Using a combination of machine learning-based algorithms and very high-resolution satellite imagery, DigitalGlobe mapped the 130,000 km² of Equateur Province in a matter of days; moreover, these maps are incredibly accurate. Our in-country partners like PATH and Doctors without Borders are working closely with the Ministry of Health to ensure the data are operationalized immediately. DigitalGlobe was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop this technical approach specifically for global health interventions and is collaborating with the foundation, as well as the United Nations, to get the data into the hands of decision-makers and front-line health workers.

Additionally, Radiant Solutions, another Maxar Technologies company, is providing a roads data set and a Human Landscape data set for the Equateur Province. The roads data set will help health workers figure out how to best reach certain areas. The Human Landscape data set describes the environmental, physical and human geography of the area, including demographics, economies, ethnicities, medical facilities and more, which will provide invaluable insight for teams planning to assist in the Ebola response.

“Access to these building footprints, the road data and the Human Landscape data enables response organizations in the DRC to find the shortest distances between where they find cases of Ebola and critical emergency treatment units. It’s also possible to simulate past epidemics in order to predict future outbreaks, allowing for the DRC Ministry of Health and partners to plan for likely scenarios,” said Io Blair-Freese, Associate Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

If you ask our partners working on the ground, these maps and the information they provide are mission critical. Putting the most isolated, remote communities on the map is more than just a technical exercise. It means that those households are known to the rest of the world and they can receive services and vaccines when a crisis like this happens. In today’s world, being on the map is a recognition of human rights and dignity, and those communities have a right to be seen. This is the true promise of machine learning and satellite imagery: to make a difference in the lives of people halfway across the world. Maxar Technologies’ purpose is to Build a Better World, and when we say world, we mean everyone, including the Congolese families at risk of Ebola.

You can access these data sets for Equateur Province, DRC through our Open Data Program. Please reach out to rhiannan.price@digitalglobe.com.

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