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Improving the performance of Earth Observation software processing using the capacity of GPU

We have launched “GPU4EO Challenge” an initiative which involves students, researchers and professionals in a challenge aimed to improving the performance of EO processing using the capacity of GPUs (graphics processing units).
Teams are asked to use and process EO data (tipically satellite data) in NVIDIA k40 GPU by DORIS, an open source software, to obtain the best performances (fast processing time).
A global amount of € 5,000, as well as other awards and honors, will be assigned to winner teams.

The subscription is open until June 2, 2015.
The full Challenge announcement is available in PDF here

(Rome, 20 February 2015) e-GEOS, a company established by Telespazio (80%) and the Italian Space Agency (20%), has been awarded a contract from the European Commission worth 12 million euros, to provide satellite maps for emergency management. The contract, identified as Copernicus Emergency Management Service – Rapid Mapping, will be active in the period 2015- 2019.


  • Annually renewable contract of maximum four year duration is worth 12 million Euros
  • The company will lead an international consortium formed by GAF, Ithaca, Sirs, Sertit and DLR

This is the operational service of the European Copernicus programme for Earth observation and is unique at a global level in the field of emergency.

Already in 2012 e-GEOS was awarded a contract by the European Commission for the provision of such services during 2012-2014.

In this period, the Copernicus Emergency Management Service was activated in more than 100 events, and produced over 1,000 satellite maps relating to 46 countries in Europe and worldwide.
Under the new contract, the consortium will prepare and make available to the European Commission, in a short time after the activation of the service by the authorized user, satellite maps of areas affected by a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis. The Copernicus Emergency Management Service – Rapid Mapping, active 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, is operated by a consortium led by e-GEOS and composed of the German subsidiary GAF, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Italian company Ithaca and the French partners Sirs and Sertit. To provide the service on a global scale, the consortium uses a dedicated access to multi-mission satellite data activated between the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA).

The European Commission makes available satellite maps, free of charge, to all users operating in Europe in the field of civil protection, emergency and land management, facilitating the damage assessment and the assistance intervention management. The Copernicus programme also assists international humanitarian relief operations, in collaboration with the United Nations, the World Bank and NGOs.

The results of the service in near real time are published on the Copernicus portal, directly managed by the European Commission and are made publicly available in accordance with the Copernicus policy on free and open data.

Notes:
The address of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service portal: emergency.copernicus.eu

The latest activation of the service for the flooding of the river Ebro in the province of Zaragoza

The members of the consortium led by e-GEOS are:

  • e-GEOS , an ASI (20%) / Telespazio (80%) company, is a leading international player in the Earth Observation and Geo-Spatial Information business. The company offers a unique portfolio of application services, also thanks to the superior monitoring capabilities of COSMO- SkyMed constellation, and has acquired a leading position within European Copernicus Program. In support to its operational applications e-GEOS, based in Rome, operates the Matera Space Centre for acquisition, archiving and processing of multi-mission satellite data including COSMO-SkyMed and ESA Sentinels.
  • DLR, German Space Agency. German Aerospace Center – Cologne
    DLR is a research establishment for engineering sciences in Germany in five main research areas: aerospace, aeronautics, energy, transport and security. DLR operates the “Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information” (ZKI) which provides a 24/7 service for the rapid provision, processing and analysis of satellite imagery during natural and environmental disasters, for humanitarian relief activities and civil security issues worldwide.
  • GAF – Munich
    GAF, a subsidiary of e-GEOS, is one of the major Earth observation service provider with a European and Global footprint, and leader in geo-information technology and technical assistance consultancy.
  • ITHACA – Torino
    The non-profit association ITHACA is a center of applied research devoted to support humanitarian activities in response to natural disasters by means of remote sensing techniques.
  • SERTIT – Strasbourg
    SERTIT, a 24/7 provider of rapid mapping since 1999 within the International Charter and multiple projects, is a service of the University of Strasbourg developing EO applications covering the full crisis cycle, carrying out R&D in many other 3D and environmental domains.
  • SIRS – Villeneuve-d’Ascq
    SIRS is an independent consulting and GIS engineering company and specialist in the production of geographic data from satellite or aerial images

Source

DMCii have gone back to Japan after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake.

The powerful Earthquake took place on March 11th 2011, this triggered the powerful Tsunami that devastated so many coastal areas of the country.

The top image was acquired two days after the Tsunami struck the Oil refinery in the Miyagi prefecture. The fire raged for nearly four days. The bottom image is a revisit nearly 4 years later after the devastation took place.

Source

(06/03/2015)Over the last few days, the DEIMOS-2 Earth Observation satellite, launched by Elecnor Deimos in June 2014, has monitored the evolution of river Ebro’s flooding affecting the Aragón region in Spain.

Elecnor Deimos, the technological branch of Elecnor, developed and operated DEIMOS-2. The highest-resolution fully private satellite in Europe, and one of the very few privately-owned sub-metric satellites in the world.

The DEIMOS-2 satellite is the latest addition to Elecnor Deimos’ Earth Observation System. DEIMOS-2 is a Very High Resolution (VHR), Multispectral, agile satellite capable of providing 75-cm pan-sharpened imagery.

Its advanced imaging camera acquires panchromatic and 4-band (R, G, B and NIR) multispectral images simultaneously over a 12-km swath (which can be increased to 24 km in its wide-area imaging mode), covering more than 150,000 km2/day. DEIMOS-2 is also capable of acquiring single-pass stereo-pair images, which allows creating 3D models of the imaged area.

DEIMOS-2 acquisitions are expected to contribute to various fields and applications including environmental and climate change monitoring, emergency services and borders surveillance. The satellite will join the fleet of Copernicus Contributing Missions in the new Datawarehouse phase starting on 1st April 2015.

DEIMOS-2, among other tasks, is monitoring the evolution of severe flooding events caused by Ebro’s river in Spain. The following images show the flooded areas along the river close to the towns of Zaragoza and of Burgo de Ebro, in the Aragón region.


SOURCE: Elecnor Deimos Imaging

Lethbridge, Alberta, February 10, 2015 – BlackBridge is pleased to announce an agreement to expand the use of RapidEye high-resolution satellite imagery within the Farmers Edge precision agriculture platform.

BlackBridge and Farmers Edge, a leader in precision agriculture and data management solutions, have entered into a long-term contract, which grants Farmers Edge access to historical and cropping season imagery of North America, South America, Australia, and Eastern Europe through BlackBridge’s Monitoring Program for Agriculture

BlackBridge provides broad-area coverage and multitemporal imaging delivered frequently throughout the growing season, which is used to give growers recommendations to monitor and manage their cropland more effectively, reducing costs and optimizing yields. In addition to multitemporal, in-season imagery, BlackBridge offers its partners and customers a unique opportunity to access archive imagery from previous years for a more complete analysis and characterization of fields.

Through its Precision Edge platform and custom Precision Solutions packages, Farmers Edge can now provide quick access to high-resolution RapidEye imagery for the major precision agriculture practicing areas of the world.

”Farmers Edge has been a BlackBridge partner for a number of years. Our ability to monitor agricultural areas worldwide, combined with Farmers Edge’s knowledge at the field level, will raise the bar in precision agriculture,” states Clint Graumann, director – North America, UK & Ireland at BlackBrige.

”This is among the first global commercial RapidEye imagery agreements, and as one of the largest precision agriculture services providers in the world, we are fortunate to be offering near real-time geospatial information to our customers in four continents. Our customers will benefit from this distinctive service in Precision Edge with accurate and timely information on crop variables,” says Chacko Jacob, vice president of global technology and business development at Farmers Edge.

About BlackBridge
BlackBridge provides end-to-end solutions across the geospatial value chain. These include satellite operations, ground station services, and worldwide satellite imagery distribution through over 100 BlackBridge partners, combined with the creation of value-added products and geo-service solutions. For more inforamtion on BlackBridge, please visit www.blackbridge.com.

About Farmers Edge
with over 4 million acres of farmland under management, Farmers Edge provides global agribusinesses with the precision tools and services growers need to identify, map and manage farmland variability. Leveraging remote satellite imagery and precision technology, its flagship Variable Rate Technology dramatically increases sustainable crop profitability by managing data, measuring results and ultimately, minimizing risk. For more information on Farmers Edge, please visit www.farmersedge.ca.

Contact
BlackBridge AG
Kurfürstendamm 22
10719 Berlin
Germany
press@blackbridge.com

Source

Berlin, Germany, February 25, 2015 — On Friday, February 13, BlackBridge signed its 111th partner, the Mongolian geospatial company MonMap Engineering Service Co., Ltd.

MonMap is a key player in the Mongolian geospatial industry. With this new partnership, BlackBridge and MonMap plan to service larger projects within the environmental, precision farming, mining, and forestry sectors.

Effectively imaging and monitoring all 1.56 million square kilometers of Mongolia during its short snow-free seasons in the spring and summer requires the high collection capacity and frequent revisit capabilities that BlackBridge’s RapidEye satellite constellation provides. Together, BlackBridge and MonMap will bring cost-effective, wide-scale monitoring solutions to Mongolia.

”We are very pleased to welcome MonMap as our new partner,” states Philippe Campenon, vice president of sales for BlackBridge. ”MonMap brings a solid expertise in remote sensing and application development and implementation. MonMap’s experience in survey, GIS services, and other domains will extend the footprint of RapidEye imagery usage in Mongolia.”

Dr. M. Saandar, director of MonMap adds, ”MonMap is proud to diversify its remote sensing portfolio through close cooperation with BlackBridge. The characteristics of the RapidEye constellation are extremely suitable for a huge country like Mongolia. We hope that, with RapidEye imagery and derived products, we can contribute to the protection of our unique forest and steppe ecosystems, and furthermore foster the agriculture sector, which is extremely important for the country.”

About BlackBridge
BlackBridge provides end-to-end solutions across the geospatial value chain. These include satellite operations, ground station services, and worldwide satellite imagery distribution through over 100 BlackBridge partners, combined with the creation of value-added products and geo-service solutions. For more inforamtion on BlackBridge, please visit www.blackbridge.com.

About MonMap
MonMap Engineering Service Co., Ltd.,www.monmap.mn, was incorporated in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in 1992, as first Mongolian private company providing services in geodetic surveying, GIS and remote sensing. Over the years, MonMap has experienced a steady growth and continuously extended its services to new fields, with the goal to introduce state-of-the-art technologies to Mongolia’s markets..

Contact
BlackBridge AG
Kurfürstendamm 22
10719 Berlin
Germany
press@blackbridge.com

Source

Arlington, Virginia, March 16, 2015 — BlackBridge announced its partnership with FarmLogs, a leading farm management software and data-science company, to use RapidEye imagery of the U.S. in crop health and field performance analysis.

Through the partnership, FarmLogs will leverage BlackBridge’s Monitoring Program for Agriculture over the U.S., with access to five-meter, multi-spectral RapidEye satellite imagery collected on a frequent basis throughout the growing season, as well as more than six years of historical imagery. FarmLogs will then extract and analyze crop-relevant information to help farmers maximize productivity and field profitability.

”We’ve recently introduced FarmLogs Advantage, a new version of FarmLogs that utilizes this satellite imagery data to help our users better understand crop health and performance,” said Jesse Vollmar, CEO and co-founder of FarmLogs. “Building on top of BlackBridge’s world-class imagery collection infrastructure enables us to offer unprecedented field-level intelligence that cannot be found elsewhere.”

”With regard to remote sensing, one of the most significant challenges in the precision agriculture industry during the last two decades has been to deliver sufficient quantities of imagery in a timely manner at a broad scale. We are producing imagery at a scale that has never been available before,”said Clint Graumann, director of North America, U.K. and Ireland at BlackBridge. ”FarmLogs does a great job at analyzing big data and making it meaningful at the field level. With our combined capabilities, we are meeting that challenge head on.”

About BlackBridge
BlackBridge provides end-to-end solutions across the geospatial value chain. These include satellite operations, ground station services, and worldwide satellite imagery distribution through over 100 BlackBridge partners, combined with the creation of value-added products and geo-service solutions. For more inforamtion on BlackBridge, please visit www.blackbridge.com.

About FarmLogs
FarmLogs is the leading data science company on a mission to invent the future of farming. Together with farmers from all 50 states and over 130 countries across six continents, FarmLogs is transforming the oldest and most important industry in the world with cutting-edge software and data science that helps over 20 percent of U.S. farms make real-time field-level decisions to maximize productivity and field profitability. The company’s secure web and mobile technology solutions make precision farming easy and accessible for everyone. An alumnus of the winter 2012 batch of Y Combinator, FarmLogs is a farmer-founded, independently owned team in the heart of the Midwest. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., and was founded in 2011 by Jesse Vollmar and Brad Koch. www.farmlogs.com.

Contact
BlackBridge AG
Kurfürstendamm 22
10719 Berlin
Germany
press@blackbridge.com

Source

Airbus Defence and Space has installed its Street Factory 3D urban mapping solution at Rolta’s facility in Mumbai, thereby completing its processing capacities, based on two Pixel Factory processing suites already in use.


Next step in long-term partnership with the Indian multinational company Rolta
With the purchase of Street Factory, Rolta completes implementation of Pixel Factory suite

Launched in July 2012, Street Factory is a fully integrated solution enabling rapid and fully automatic processing of images from any aerial or street camera for the generation of a 3D textured database and distortion-free imagery. These realistic and precise data are used in 3D modeling and visualization in fields including urban planning, risk management, defense and telecommunications. This accurate process is fully automated and the imagery is produced within hours after acquisition, regardless of the sensor.

With the acquisition of the Street Factory system, Rolta becomes the second company after PASCO Corporation headquartered in Japan to own the complete range of geo-processing solutions offered by Airbus Defence and Space, allowing it to cover the entire range of geo-information data production (including DEMs, ortho images and urban3D models) derived from satellite and aerial data. Rolta is the first Indian company capable of automatically creating high accuracy 3D databases, even for dense urban areas.

We are very pleased with this contract which marks a fresh milestone in the long-term collaboration between Airbus Defence and Space and Rolta, which began in 2009 when the first Pixel Factory agreement was signed. The company now owns two Pixel Factory suites in Mumbai, where the Street Factory has also been installed.”
Bernhard Brenner Head of the Geo-Intelligence Programme Line at Airbus Defence and Space

Rolta is using these cutting-edge technologies extensively for large and sophisticated projects, especially in the Middle East.

We have been continuously introducing state-of-the-art technologies in our Enterprise Geospatial Information Solutions business line. The Pixel Factory software suite, today enriched with the Street Factory will enable Rolta to provide a very high end Digital Photogrammetry workflow that would ensure superior map products.”
K K Singh Chairman and CEO of Rolta India Limited

Source

FORSAT is a software platform for the extraction of 3D geometric information and automatic change detection from high resolution (HR) and very-high resolution (VHR) imagery from satellite optical sensors.

The FORSAT research project was co-funded by the national funding authorities of the participating countries under EUROSTARS and the European Commission. After project duration of 24 months the project was successfully finished with the final meeting and an associated user workshop on 02-03.10.2014, hosted in Nicosia, Cyprus.

The aim of project was to raise the current technological level of aerial imagery in combination with airborne laser scanning for forest cover mapping applications to a standalone satellite based monitoring capacity. Specifically, the project successfully aspired to transfer the existing precise processing capabilities of airborne techniques to VHR optical, stereographic satellite data, thereby providing a single source forest information solution.

Graphical user interface and main window of FORSAT software

FORSAT was developed as a 3D forest information platform and includes units for geometric and radiometric processing of satellite imagery and 2D/3D information extraction as well as 3D surface comparison for change detection. FORSAT supports most of the HR and VHR optical imagery like IKONOS, GeoEye-1, WorldView-1/2, SPOT-5, Pléiades-1A/B, etc. and can be easily updated to similar images from future missions.

Therefore, FORSAT is a powerful software capable to:

  • process mono, stereo as well as triplet images from common current optical HR and VHR satellites,
  • create ortho-rectified images,
  • generate 3D surfaces,
  • import and combine elevation data (e.g. LIDAR) to
  • calculate 3D differences and volume changes for
  • forest-related and other applications.
Ikonos 2001 (false colour image)
(© European Space Imaging / DigitalGlobe)
Pléiades 2014 (false colour image)
(PLEIADES © CNES 2014, Distribution Airbus DS)
3D differences visualized on digital surface model derived from Pléiades 2014 using FORSAT

Identification and assessment of deforestation caused by forest fire in Saittas, Cyprus and based on VHR satellite data of 2001 and 2014 using FORSAT

Ikonos 2001 (false colour image)
(© European Space Imaging / DigitalGlobe)
Pléiades 2014 (false colour image)
(PLEIADES © CNES 2014, Distribution Airbus DS)
Difference in heights visualized on ortho-rectified false colour image of Pléiades 2014.

Beside forest-related applications, FORSAT is also capable of detecting, delimiting and quantifying other changes like earthwork operations visualized above

In order to visualize the capacity and the benefits of FORSAT, six (6) case studies located in Austria, Cyprus, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey have been tested using optical data from different sensors. The results of the pilot applications proved that the platform can be used for different applications and would help forest managers and engineers, geomatics engineers, companies, local and regional authorities to extract 3D information from HR and VHR satellite information.

The very competitive price/quality ratio allows potential customers to use the optimum business model adapted to their real market service needs. Further details can be found on the Forsat fact sheet and the project website


Tel: +357 22447770
Fax: +357 22374988
Email
Web
GeoImaging Ltd. is a SME based in Cyprus, established in 2002 at Nicosia. The company offers scientific and professional solutions in IT and Geo-informatics. It is also active in R&D programmes, in EU & national funded projects and provides consultations services as well. GeoImaging goal is to support its clients and partners in the responsible and successful completion of projects. The products and services span state-of-the art knowledge and technology from spatial/image information acquisition, processing, analysis to representation and visualisation. The area of projects’ that Geoimaging is acting concerns Geo-informatics and IT in the broader extent, i.e. software development, mobile & web applications, GIS, cartography, geodatabases & data mining, photogrammetry & computer vision, remote sensing, imaging, 3D modelling.
GeoImaging Ltd. was the project coordinator of the FORSAT research project.

Tel: +43 512 562021
Email
Web
GeoVille Information System GmbH is a private sector enterprise located in Austria and is specialised in application production and services related to Earth Observation (EO) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications. GeoVille offers services in the fields of EO data processing, GIS operations, Geodata provision and distribution, Environmental applications and Management and consultancy.
The main thematic domains regarding EO and GIS applications comprise land use and land cover mapping; urban, regional and spatial planning; forestry; agriculture, infrastructure applications; environment; consultancy; cartography and promotion.
GeoVille’s mission is to provide turn-key solutions for spatial data management.

Tel: +41 44 6337068
Email
Web
4DiXplorer AG has started as a spin-off company of ETH Zurich (Switzerland), and now is an independent SME located in Zurich. 4DiXplorer offers advanced software and customized solutions for geospatial data acquisition and processing. The main areas of expertise are 3D high accurate processing of satellite, aerial, UAV and terrestrial images, reality-based virtual modelling of objects and environments based on image and laser scanning data. Thanks to the scientific knowledge and experiences gained through many years at ETH Zurich, 4DiXplorer proposes innovative software solutions, knowledge and technology transfer (courses and tutorials) and project consultancy. 4DiXplorer works in the international market, mainly focusing on Europe, Asia and North America.

Tel: +90 506 6834397
Email
Web
Ekinoks Surveying Software Engineering Ltd. Co. is co-founded in June 2011, in Istanbul (Turkey). It is a technology company providing advanced software, servicing and consulting in geo-spatial market and other markets related to surveying and 3D. The board members are qualified persons both in academia and in industry. The company has strong connection with universities and institutions. The motivation is to convert the scientific knowledge and experiences gained in the academia into commercial market values.

Tel: +34 954 21 90 13
Email
Web
Ingeniería Y Soluciones Informáticas S.L. (ISOIN) is a Spanish company working in Innovation and Technology fields, with a deep experience and a highly qualified background in ambient intelligence, GIS services, collaborative work and system integration within European projects. Our firm has a deep expertise in enterprise networks, and it is currently leading R&D activities in clusters, as the aeronautical cluster in Andalusia. ISOIN has potential contacts in South America, Spain and Europe due to its business activities.

(Munich / Clermont-Ferrand, 11 March 2015) CloudEO and PlanetObserver announce a new partnership signed on December 16, 2014. PlanetObserver geospatial data are now available as streaming and OGC web services through CloudEO’s cloud platform.

Without any data handling, customers can integrate PlanetObserver satellite imagery and terrain products into their remote sensing and GIS solutions. From CloudEO Store, customers can select between a 1 year web access as a streaming service or flexible time licenses for use on CLOUDEO platform and save up to 98% on the standard price.
Three global imagery and elevation datasets produced by PlanetObserver are already available on CloudEO´s platform:

  • PlanetSAT 15: High-quality natural color imagery base map
  • PlanetDEM 30: Digital elevation model offering accuracy and global coverage
  • PlanetDEM 90: Unique global reference elevation dataset

“With our offering on CloudEO, we can provide our existing and potential new customers with a service that allows them to easily stream geodata into their applications”, says Laurent Masselot, CEO of PlanetObserver. “Our new cooperation with CloudEO is a great endorsement for our users as they will be able to use our data and services provided by CloudEO partners on a pay-per-use basis.”

Ursula Benz, COO of CloudEO summarizes, “We are convinced that our customers will enjoy the easy access to these unique global datasets available through our Cloud Services. Processing these data on CloudEO platform will enable a quick production of value added products – without any need of data and software administration and IT provisioning.”

About PlanetObserver
PlanetObserver offers a full range of value-added geospatial products: global imagery mosaics in natural colors with a unique visual quality, global and accurate Digital Elevation Models, and aerial photography of France and any places in the world. All products are developed internally, backed up by PlanetObserver’s know-how in geospatial data processing and over 25 years of technological expertise. PlanetObserver geospatial data are perfect for numerous commercial, military and consumer applications, ranging from web-mapping to 3D visualization and simulation solutions, moving map apps, cartographic mapping to audio-visual production. www.planetobserver.com

About CloudEO
CloudEO – the unique portal for all those who create, interpret and use geodata. CloudEO offers to its customers a secure and highly scalable geo infrastructure to develop, produce and market geo services. It brings data, software and processing power together within a private cloud service and a certified hosting environment. Within CloudEO’s geo collaboration platform content providers, software developers, service providers and geodata users become partners within one ecosystem providing affordable geo services for commercial applications.
www.cloudeo-ag.com
http://store.cloudeo-ag.com/

Press Contact:Dr. Sonja Sulzmaier. press@cloudeo-ag.com