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Arlington, Virginia, January 13, 2015 – BlackBridge is pleased to announce that its RapidEye imagery from the U.S. and Canadian Monitoring Program for Agriculture will be available through Agrian’s Technology Platform for Growers beginning in 2015.

BlackBridge’s Monitoring Programs for Agriculture are unique in the market, providing newly collected and archived five-meter RapidEye satellite imagery across all major North American agricultural areas and other regions of the world multiple times throughout the growing season.

The new partnership allows Agrian to provide agricultural retailers, crop consultants, growers, and agronomists with an enormous pool of high-resolution, multispectral RapidEye imagery, as well as soil data, crop and weather history, and crop performance data from Agrian.

“This partnership gives Agrian users access to a vast amount of current and historical satellite imagery over their agricultural areas,” commented Clint Graumann, director of North America, UK, and Ireland for BlackBridge. “Our Monitoring Programs for Agriculture integrate with the Agrian system to help take decision-making to a new level. This information will assist agronomists in producing greater yields at reduced costs, and we’re excited to be part of it. Agrian is a strong partner that will help strengthen our presence in the precision farming market.”

Jeff Dearborn, Agrian’s chief agronomic officer, said, “Imagery plays an important role in crop scouting, model validation, and adjustments of expectations. For many years BlackBridge imagery has been seen as the gold standard and we are excited about our partnership. Archive and in-season imagery will be incorporated into our new Agrian 6 offering. We feel so strongly about the quality and ease of use that Agrian will be helping other companies incorporate RapidEye data into their programs as well. We see significant growth in the use of imagery in agriculture and are proud to be representing BlackBridge in North America.”

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. www.blackbridge.com

About Agrian:
Founded in 2004, Agrian Inc. offers the most integrated solution to the growing demand for information addressing food safety, environmental concerns, traceability, sustainability, and locally and organically grown food. The company’s flagship products include Agrian Advisor and Documented Advisor; Agrian Grower and Documented Grower; Agrian Applicator and Documented Applicator; and Agrian Handler and Compliance Handler. For more information, visit www.agrian.com.

Contact Info:
Lauren Roerick
Marketing Communications Multimedia Developer
Phone: +49 30 609 8300 577
Email: lauren.roerick@blackbridge.com

(Dec 2014) European Space Imaging (EUSI) and TotalView successfully completed the provision of DigitalGlobe’s (DG) satellite imagery products for the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) 2014 project in Greece.

The project “Digital Services in the Single Application Renewed Land Parcel Identification System” project was announced by the Greek Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid (OPEKEPE) and required the provision of 39,600km2 of Greece. LPIS was designed as the main instrument for the implementation of the Common Agriculture Policy first pillar – direct payments to the farmer, i.e. to identify and quantify the land eligible for payments. Surprisingly, since its inception LPIS has also been used by members states as a data resource for use in relation to all sorts of land identification projects where up to date maps and information are required.

The project was awarded to Eratosthenes, Greece, one the of the largest consultancies in Greece in the fields of engineering, planning and GIS applications with the support of TotalView, Greece. TotalView provided Eratoshenes the required pre-sales support and documentation in order to successfully participate and eventually win in the tender procedure.

The project had unique characteristics and several restrictions that needed to be covered. The requested user license (by the terms of references of the aforementioned tender), was for the first time provided in Greece and allowed the internal use of WorldView-2 and GeoEye-1 imagery/ortho-photos and any type of their derivatives to all the public domain authorities and the full resolution viewing to the wide public. The images selection had to be inside a specific time-frame and the land use of the available areas to choose from had to be mostly agriculture. Finally, technical specifications like Off Nadir Angle and Cloud/Snow Coverage had to be under certain limits.

TotalView worked closely together with EUSI, DG, Eratoshenes and Opekepe to find the complying products, organize the digital delivery to help fast-track the schedule and finally deliver the physical media to end customer. The next steps is to deliver the rest of the country area as a continuation of the completed project.

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Working together, EOMAP GmbH & Co KG and MarineFIND, the specialist marine data and service division of FIND Maps, have formed a partnership to offer easy access to coastal high resolution and global bathymetry.

Collecting nearshore zone bathymetry data has, until recently, been an expensive undertaking. However, advances in the processing of satellite imagery means that low-cost, accurate, high resolution bathymetry to a depth of 20m is now available. The EOMAP/MarineFIND partnership has developed a new method for easily distributing this data for preprocessed areas and allows the production of cost-effective custom datasets.

Dr Thomas Heege, CEO of EOMAP, said: “We’ve worked with MarineFIND on several recent projects and the partnership has delivered excellent results for our clients. Building on the work we’ve already done together, we can now deliver bathymetric and other marine data to many more clients worldwide.”

Jon Coleman, Marine Business Manager of MarineFIND, said: “MarineFIND.co.uk is already one of the industry’s leading GIS portals for marine data. Our expert developers have improved delivery mechanisms – allowing us to serve cost-effective high quality marine GIS data directly to client desktops via WMS technology.

Nigel West, of ABPmer, said: “We’re very happy with the satellite derived bathymetry from EOMAP/MarineFIND. It has proved invaluable for the characterisation of shallow coastal areas in the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea. In our areas of interest, satellite imagery showed shallow bathymetric features that were either inaccessible to survey vessels or beyond the remit of the original surveys. The data we received from MarineFIND showed good validation with our echo-sounder collected data.”

EOMAP is the leading and largest commercial supplier of satellite-derived high resolution bathymetry and near-real-time water information products. Clients profit from rapid turnaround times on all scales through EOMAP partner network with DigitalGlobe and global space agencies.

EOMAP holds a unique shallow water bathymetry database that is now available through MarineFIND

Since 2006, EOMAP has provided marine services to clients in the O&G, coastal engineering and environmental sectors. Applications of their large scale techniques include mapping benthic habitats and bathymetry for the Environmental Agency of Abu Dhabi and mapping the whole of the Great Barrier Reef. Recently, EOMAP launched a WaterQuality App to provide easy access to data for Australia (http://eoapp-au.eomap.com/). The aim of their latest partnership with MarineFIND is to extend the provision of easy access to usable, complex data.

Dr Thomas Heege, CEO of EOMAP, said: “MarineFIND is a unique portal for marine data and we’re happy that it now offers our competitively priced Satellite Derived Service”.

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Harwell, December 16, 2014 Deimos Space UK Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Elecnor Deimos created in 2013, is proud to announce that it has taken over the business of Magellium Ltd. which is now incorporated within Deimos Space UK Ltd.

The team is now employed by Deimos Space UK and has been joined in building R103 at Harwell by the existing Deimos UK team bringing the total number of Deimos UK staff to 15. This represents a high growth rate from the start of 2014 when the company employed just 2 people.

This new team provide additional capability in satellite image processing, remote sensing, systems integration and geographic information systems which will complement the existing Deimos team which is already delivering projects in the areas of flight systems, satellite ground segments, space situational awareness, satellite navigation and satellite applications.

Deimos will continue the current R&D activities of the incorporated company which focus on developing and operating new services based on satellite data and digital geography.

Three main markets are being explored:

  • Agriculture – including crop classification for land use monitoring, crop health monitoring for precision agriculture and crop disease prediction based on micro climate modelling
  • Education – exploiting satellite data in low cost accessible applications relevant to a wide range of curriculum areas
  • Web Maps for economic development -simple interactive web maps to encourage collaboration and innovation

Elecnor Deimos is the owner and operator of two remote sensing satellites; DEIMOS-1 which provides wide-area medium-resolution imagery in the visible and near IR bands and DEIMOS-2 which provides very-high-resolution (sub 1m pixel) imagery in the visible and near IR bands. DEIMOS-1 has been fully operational since 2009 and DEIMOS-2 declared initial operational capability at the start of November 2014 and will start its full operational service in January 2015.

The incorporation of the Magellium team into Deimos UK will strengthen the ability of the company to offer complete end-to-end solutions based on the use of data from the company’s satellites in end-user applications and services.

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Munich, 4 November 2014 – CloudEO, the world-leading content and software provider offering a unique geo-infrastructure, challenges participants to develop innovative cloud solutions that will revolutionize the way we do business and live our lives. Entrepreneurs, developers, innovative start-ups and researchers from all over the world are invited to submit their innovative solutions from 4 November 2014 to 15 April 2015 in the categories Smart Living, Mobility, Industry 4.0, Urban Infrastructure, and ICT Business Services. Contestants of the Cloud Innovation World Cup will be competing not only to become ‘Cloud Innovator of the Year’ but also to win the special prizes of partners CloudEO and Google. CloudEO is looking for the “GEO Innovator of the Year” integrating geospatial information to its cloud based service offered.

The “Google Cloud Innovator of the Year” will be the best solution built on Google’s cloud infrastructure. The Cloud Innovation World Cup will open for registration at the on 4th of November 2014 in San Francisco at Google Cloud Platform Live event.

All of the submitted solutions will be evaluated by an international committee of experts against a set of criteria including the degree of innovation, business potential and go-to-market approach. The international experts will identify three finalists for each category and choose the ‘Innovator of the Year’ of the Cloud Innovation World Cup as well as the “GEO Innovator of the Year”.

The Cloud Innovation World Cup enables developers worldwide to stand out with their innovative solutions. The unique innovation competition is a catalyst for cloud solutions in new arenas beyond ICT business solutions.

Participants of the Cloud Innovation World Cup not only get the chance to win exciting prizes worth more than $200,000, they will also benefit from direct access to a global network of potential partners and customers. Breakthrough cloud solutions can be submitted until 15th of April 2015.

For more information and free registration visit www.innovationworldcup/cloud
Innovation World Cup Series contact
Navispace AG
Serpil Döring
s.doering@navispace.de

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About ‘GEO Award’ by CloudEO
With the “GEO Award” CloudEO is seeking solutions that integrate geospatial information and provide additional benefit to the cloud based service offered.

Life is geospatial. Every activity is related to a geographical location and its surrounding. For application fields like agriculture, forestry, transportation and mobility, it is clear that the geo context is crucial to evaluate the current status and take the right course of action for each location. Cities and rural areas need information about critical points of interest like roads, bridges, buildings, and further information linked to it like satellite images about congestion or pollution. A lot of industries could use geo data to optimize their processes (e.g. smart metering). And even individuals use a lot of information related to their geographical position and many more use cases will arise in the future.

Airbus Defence and Space has signed a partnership agreement with TerraNIS, a geo-information services company working in the fields of agriculture, environment and land management, and ARTAL Technologies, a company specialising in software development. This agreement aims to boost the use of services based on satellite imagery by private and public players, both in France and internationally.

The new partnership will further intensify the deployment of geo-information services through robust processing channels and an expanded customer portfolio, ranging from SMEs and local authorities to national institutional entities. All of these services will benefit from the advantages offered by the fleet of satellites operated by Airbus Defence and Space, which is the market’s most extensive in terms of resolution, reactivity and availability: radar satellites with TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X and soon PAZ, optical satellites with SPOT 6 and SPOT 7, DMC-2, DEIMOS-1, plus the constellation of very high-resolution Pléiades 1A and 1B satellites.

Bernhard Brenner, Head of Geo-Intelligence at Airbus Defence and Space, said: “We are very happy with this collaboration, which will enable a large number of private and public players to access the best of our space technology, thanks to tailor-made services developed to precisely address their needs.” For more than 30 years, the company has been providing geo-information services using satellite imagery, across a broad market spectrum comprising mapping and land management, the environment and agriculture, oil and gas exploration and defence and security.

Marc Tondriaux, CEO of TerraNIS, said: “Thanks to the ‘Eugenius’ (European Group of Enterprises for a Network of Information Using Space) initiative that we have just launched and are coordinating, we will be setting up a network of European SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) that, each in their own region, will be providing these cutting-edge services, using the same technical platform and sharing a common catalogue of products and services.”

TerraNIS specialises in the development and marketing of geo-information services in the fields of agriculture, environment and land management, and also provides consulting, support and expertise for users of Earth observation-based technologies. For several years now, TerraNIS has been offering worldwide operation and distribution of the Pixagri and œnoview precision agriculture and wine-growing services developed by Airbus Defence and Space, in partnership with ICV (Institut Coopératif du Vin) for wine-growers.

ARTAL Technologies is an IT consulting and services company that has real expertise in the architecture of software infrastructures for industrial fields such as aeronautics, space and defence. “Thanks to this technical expertise, we provide industrialisation and lifetime maintenance for the production tools developed by Airbus Defence and Space and TerraNIS for the benefit of their customers,” said Pierre Duverneuil, CEO of ARTAL Technologies. The activities of ARTAL Technologies involve around one hundred staff, with offices in France and Canada.

Gisat has successfully implemented the development project focusing on introduction of InSAR services to support monitoring of risk phenomena in the transportation domain.

In the frame of this research project Gisat has introduced the methodology aiming at provision of common framework for selection of interferometric data and methods in support of subsidence and deformation risk monitoring within the transportation sector by means of persistent scatterers interferometry.

Movements due to slope instabilities or undermining, deformation of bridges as well as applicability of installation of artificial corner reflectors were covered. The project presents InSAR methods and data, their feasibility, precision and interpretability as well as cost of the solution to responsible authorities in the Czech Republic.

A couple of demonstrational use cases have been carried out utilizing time series of both newly acquired very high resolution commercial SAR data and archive high resolution data from ENVISAT ASAR. The later shall demonstrate the potential of Sentinel-1 imagery for future applications. Utilization of advanced EO based technology for deformation monitoring should supplement traditional geodetic or inclinometric detection methods.

Development of sustainable services based on InSAR shall provide temporally-rich information and cost-effective tools supporting early detection of potential risks and threads related to operation of transportation infrastructure in the Czech Republic.

This project has been funded through the BETA programme of public procurement in research, experimental development and innovation for the government run by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.

Gisat provides wide range of geoinformation services based on Earth Observation technology. It focuses on operational application of satellite mapping to monitor various aspects of our environment and development of dedicated web based platforms for geoinformation analysis and assessment Web // E-mail // Tel:+420 271741935 // Fax: +420 271741936

Gisat has started the implementation of an integrated service case within the joint ESA and Asian Development Bank initiative.

Gisat has been awarded as one of the EO information service providers in the frame of ESA and ADB collaboration project EOTAP (Earth Observation Support for Asian Development Bank Activities). The longer-term objective of this activity is to demonstrate the benefits of satellite EO technology as a potentially standard and sustainable operational tool in ADB project planning, implementation and evaluation.

This particular service case aims to provide EO-based products at various scales to support the Bank’s activities in the area of Mandalay city, Myanmar, especially the efficient planning of its investment programs with focus on urban development. The services being provided consist of land cover and land use mapping at local level focusing on the urban structure changes in detail, land cover changes mapping at regional level giving insight into understanding of agricultural and natural processes in the wider rural surroundings of the city, and flood hazard monitoring based on detection of inundation extent during historic flood events and inundation extent modelling.

The service utilizes various EO data: high to very high resolution multispectral optical and SAR imagery necessary to cover the flood peaks during monsoon seasons when extensive cloud coverage occurs in the area. Analysis of archive imagery will reveal the very extreme extents of water level inundation during all major flood events in the last decade. In combination with flood modelling based on precise DTM extracted from EO data and inventory of exposed assets it will provide crucial input into estimation of flood-related risk. The service shall integrate analytical outputs and facilitate assessment of the risk for city development areas and axes.

In this assignment, Gisat capitalizes its long standing worldwide expertise in EO based land cover / land use applications in urban domain as well as previous practical experiences with EO based support of international financial institutions.

Gisat provides wide range of geoinformation services based on Earth Observation technology. It focuses on operational application of satellite mapping to monitor various aspects of our environment and development of dedicated web based platforms for geoinformation analysis and assessment Web // E-mail // Tel:+420 271741935 // Fax: +420 271741936

Come and visit Spacemetric at Defence Geospatial Intelligence, DGI 2015 where we’ll be showcasing capabilities of the new Keystone 4, including 3D point-cloud generation, updated video capabilities and compatibility with MAJIIC2.

DGI takes place at the QEII Conference Centre, London on the 20th and 21st January, 2015. We’re at Stand 2 just by the lifts so you can’t miss us!. DGI is Europe’s most significant event focusing on how key decisions are supported in security and defence through provision of location-based intelligence. It is attended by government and industry leaders from across NATO, Europe and international partners.

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(January 09, 2015 / Ian Spence). Spacemetric is taking part in a cubesat innovation study for the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of a consortium led by Innovative Solutions In Space (ISIS) of Delft, The Netherlands.

The study is funded by the SysNova programme and is investigating multi-platform constellation concepts for a high-revisit optical imaging satellite constellation for land applications.

The SysNova initiative is a space systems programme for exploratory studies that uses “technology challenges” and competitions that encourage joint efforts by both academic and industrial institutions. The programme is managed by the ESA technical facility ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

Spacemetric’s specific responsibility in the project is the payload sensor image data processing and how effective and timely data access can be facilitated through innovations in data cataloguing, a service-based architecture and on-demand product processing. Another area of innovation is the potential to transfer some or all elements of this workflow to the increasingly capable onboard hardware and software environment.

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