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GXL System on Amazon Cloud…Improving access to historical and new imagery…PCI Supporting Esri to Broaden Availability of High Quality Earth Observation Imagery…


PCI supports deployment of GXL System on Amazon Cloud to accelerate production of high resolution content for Esri ArcGIS Online platform

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Canada—June 27, 2011: PCI Geomatics, a world leading developer of geo-imaging software and systems, has successfully deployed a high speed image production system to the Amazon Cloud in support of Esri’s ArcGIS Online platform, to process and make available high resolution Imagery content.

PCI’s GeoImaging Accelerator (GXL) technology was designed for automation and speed, leveraging off the shelf CPU/GPU hardware through highly parallelized processing capability, thereby accelerating production throughput over traditional desktop systems by orders of magnitude. Cloud based services offer the advantage of low cost computing resources across multiple instances that can be switched on and off as required, providing on demand scalability. PCI has deployed its GXL technology to the Amazon Cloud, where multiple instances can be tasked to process large volumes of imagery – on demand.

The GXL Cloud System implementation is tailored to processing high resolution optical imagery, and can generate pan-sharpened, orthorectified, color balanced tiled mosaic products at high speed using multi CPU/GPU and multi-instance enabled technology. The complete system can transform uncorrected Level 1 frame based data from multiple satellite sensors into thousands of orthorectified and mosaicked products – on demand.

“PCI understands that the market is increasingly accepting and demanding Cloud based solutions, given the many advantages offered. Through diligent work and a great amount of innovation, we are overcoming significant hurdles which have limited the availability of cloud computing for the customers’ Earth Observation and Imagery needs”, said David Stanley, CTO at PCI Geomatics. “…by staging the data directly within Amazon’s facility and coupling it with our Cloud optimized GXL system, we can leverage the true power of Cloud Based processing for our customers, that is – on-demand scalability for high speed production”.

“Through the use of the GXL Cloud system that PCI has deployed to our Amazon Cloud instances, we are working diligently to provide high resolution and high quality content as quickly as possible for the ArcGIS Online platform”, said Steven Lambert, Senior Program Manager at Esri.

PCI Geomatics will continue to support Esri by providing leading edge, cloud based processing power that can be scaled up/down based on Esri’s required throughput and data processing requirements.

Improving access to historical and new imagery

The use of geospatial information has exploded in the recent years, and the vision expressed by Jack Dangermond several years back “GIS is for Everyone” has come true. Consumer mapping is the new reality, and imagery is a key reason for this.

As a developer of software tools and solutions that enhance the ArcGIS platform, PCI Geomatics is working closely with Esri to make imagery more accessible to non remote sensing experts. Imagery, as the new basemap, provides that instant connection to geography. Anyone looking at imagery, especially high resolution, can make an immediate connection to the features they can see – their house, their car, their school, their neighbourhoods, community centre, etc.

Current operational satellite missions are many, and vary from coarse resolution (with large spatial coverage) to medium and high resolution (with decreasing spatial coverage). Spectral bands and sensor types are also many, ranging from multi-spectral sensors, hyperspectral sensors, and also Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors. The latest trends are to operate satellite missions as constellations, as we have seen with RapidEye, and TerraSAR for example.

Consumer mapping applications have grown exponentially, but I cannot help to think that we are only scratching the surface. Stored away in the archives are incredible volumes of multi resolution, multi spectral, multi sensor, and multi temporal information from these earth observation sensors. What applications can be developed using this rich source of information? Finding out requires that imagery be accessible, and tools make discovering, accessing, analyzing, and disseminating/sharing information derived from imagery as easy as it is for hundreds of millions of people to download a geospatial application like Google Earth, or adopt the use of map based local search sites such as Google Maps, Bing, Yahoo Maps, or MapQuest.

Esri has made incredible advances in building a platform that enables sharing of geospatial information, deploying the infrastructure for hosting and sharing geospatial information, such as ArcGIS. Together with Esri, PCI Geomatics is working to develop easy to use tools and offer solutions that will allow users to tap into those rich sources of historical data mentioned above.

An oft overlooked, but critical step in extracting valuable information from these varied sources of imagery is pre-processing. PCI supports the Esri platform by offering automated means of co-registering raster layers to each other in a completely automated manner – vector layers can also be used as a reference – by bringing data into pixel perfect aligment using a well known environment (ArcGIS), non-remote sensing experts are empowered to discover applications of imagery that have not yet been created. Our extension, GeoImaging Tools for ArcGIS will help make this possible. We are also working to deploy our advanced, automated image processing technology to the cloud, making imagery accessibility and more importantly accurate analysis available on in a pervasive manner. And lastly, we are working to make SAR Analysis tools available for ArcGIS users, recognizing the increasing use and interest in Radar base Earth Observation information.

by Terry Moloney. President and CEO, PCI Geomatics

PCI Supporting Esri to Broaden Availability of High Quality Earth Observation Imagery

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Canada—June 03, 2011: PCI Geomatics, a world leading developer of geo-imaging software and systems, has been working closely with Esri to make imagery more accessible to a broader user community.

PCI’s GeoImaging Accelerator (GXL) technology is currently being used to support the processing of GeoEye data into ortho-corrected and color balanced image products that will be made available for free through ArcGIS Online. PCI’s high performance, automated GXL Satellite image production system will be used to process high resolution GeoEye imagery. In addition to the GXL processing capacity, PCI will also lend its geoimaging technical expertise to the project. The goal of the project is to process imagery and generate accurate imagery content, mosaics and associated metadata for ArcGIS Online.

_ “PCI is pleased to be supporting Esri in developing its ArcGIS Online Imagery Services,” said Terry Moloney, President and CEO at PCI Geomatics. “PCI has invested a great deal in developing our automated, high speed GXL image processing technology. I am happy to see it being used to create Terabytes of high quality output products that will be made available through ArcGIS Online”.
Jack Dangermond, Esri’s President, commented, “Our partners are instrumental in the continued evolution and adoption of GIS. Through our collaboration with PCI Geomatics, we look forward to speeding up the production of high quality, high resolution imagery to be integrated in our ArcGIS Online platform”._

About GeoImaging Accelerator (GXL)
GXL technology combines high-performance computing with PCI Geomatics expertise to provide significant improvements in automation, speed and efficiency. By optimizing and distributing automated workflows, traditional image-processing is elevated to industrial-strength production.
For more information about the GXL software solution, visit www.pcigeomatics.com/gxl
About PCI Geomatics
PCI Geomatics is a world leading developer of software and systems for geo-imaging solutions. Since 1982, we have specialized in remote sensing, digital photogrammetry, spatial analysis, cartographic production, automated production systems, image management and on demand mapping solutions. PCI Geomatics’ advanced software systems address a wide variety of industry applications including the environment, agriculture, security and intelligence, aerospace & defense, and satellite receiving stations. We have the expertise and know-how to turn images into useful information. For more information, visit www.pcigeomatics.com
About Esri
Esri develops geographic information systems (GIS) solutions that function as an integral component in nearly every type of organization. Esri software is used by more than 350,000 organizations worldwide including most U.S. federal agencies and national mapping agencies, 45 of the top 50 petroleum companies, all 50 U.S. state health departments, most forestry companies, and many others in dozens of industries.
Esri software is the standard in state and local government and is used by more than 24,000 state and local governments including Paris, France; Los Angeles, California, USA; Beijing, China; and Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Press Contact
Kevin R. Jones
Director, Marketing and Product Management
T: 819-770-0022 × 214
E: jones@pcigeomatics.com
Web: http://www.pcigeomatics.com/
Twitter: @pcigeomatics

Kongsberg Spacetec has signed a contract with Kongsberg Satellite Services to deliver 4-four- MEOS™ Control and a MEOS™ Connect system to support operations of KSAT’s mid-latitude stations in Singapore, Bangalore (India), Dubai and Hartebeesthoek (South-Africa) from Tromsø.

The MEOS™ Connect system will be used in Tromsø to provide common operations of the KSAT mid latitude stations

MEOS™ Control is Kongsberg Spacetec’s product for Ground Station monitoring and control. A Ground Station often consists of a number of specialized units, e.g. demodulators, modulators, antenna control units (ACU), converters, switch matrices, etc. Instead of handling these units as stand alone units, MEOS™ Control integrates them into one overall system, with a common GUI and a common API for remote operations.

MEOS™ Connect is a basic building block for implementing efficient Monitoring & Control infrastructures in distributed Ground Station environments

For more information about the customer: Kongsberg Satellite Services

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(May2011) In the context of GIM Cultural Heritage activities and of our participation to the SilkRCHRIS project funded by BELSPO, GIM’s representative attended the Coordinating Committee of the Serial World Heritage Nomination of the Silk Roads meeting in Turkmenistan.

The SilkRCHRIS project aims at supporting the States Parties in the nomination process thanks to the development of methodologies and standards for heritage documentation as well as of a dedicated Information Management System to be used as a collaborative platform to prepare the serial nomination dossiers. In this project coordinated by the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation, GIM also collaborates with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the following Belgian partners: the University of Ghent and RouteYou.

The SilkCHRIS project responds to the need expressed by UNESCO to support the process of the nomination of the Silk Roads on the World Heritage List.

The Silk Road Cultural Heritage Resource Information System aims at providing the necessary platform to support the preparation of serial and transnational World Heritage Nominations of properties located in Central Asia as well as their management, monitoring and reporting. It will help the State Parties involved to share and exchange information relevant to the nomination and management of cultural heritage sites on the proposed Silk Road corridors. The focus of support and exemplary demonstration will be on 5 central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The activity will be preformed in collaboration with the Coordination Centre that is established in Xi’an (P.R. China).

More info
Cultural Heritage activities
Coordinating Committee of the Serial World Heritage Nomination of the Silk Roads meeting in Turkmenistan

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News on Lisa project, eoworld, Land Informaiton ystem, partner at European Topic Centre for Spatial INformaiton Assessments, FOTsis, urban soil sealing….

Doris Bures und Christian Hoffmann present LISA (2011-06-20)

Doris Bures, Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology and Christian Hoffmann, Managing Director of GeoVille, present the Austrian GMES initiative LISA (Land Information System Austria). The objective of LISA is to serve common land monitoring needs and to enable a wide range of geospatial applications. The project is financed by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (bmvit) through the Austrian Space Applications Programme (ASAP7) of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).

GeoVille contracted to perform three eoworld projects (2011-05-16)

Within the ESA-World Bank collaboration project EOWORLD, GeoVille was contracted to perform three activities. Specifically, we provide earth observation based services to the World Bank for urban and disaster risk management in Cambodia (Prime), for mapping the coastline changes in Western Africa and to establish a land cover and terrain database for forestry and land use plan- ning in Liberia. For more information on eoworld please visit the ESA or World Bank project sites.

50 years of space exploration (2011-05-16)

On the occasion of “50 years of space exploration” the Austrian Space Application Programme of FFG hosted a special competitive exhibition of the Austrian space industry in Vienna. Among the high profile guests was Austria’s infrastructure minister Doris Boris and members of the different government departments. GeoVille gave a presentation on the development status and potential for implementation of the Land Information System Austria

Partner in the European Topic Centre for Spatial Information and Assessments (ETC/SIA) (2011-05-16)

We are now official partner of the European Topic Centre for Spatial information and Analysis, which is supporting the European Environment Agency (EEA) in developing seamless European wide spatial reference data and in analysing these data for environmental issues. GeoVille is leading or involved in activities related to Corine Land Cover, Green Infrastructure, Territorial Cohesion, Urban Assessments, Resource Efficiency and Data Integration.

Start of the European Field Operational Test on Safe, Intelligent and Sustainable Road Operation (FOTsis) (2011-05-16)

FOTsis, a large scale European field testing project of highway infrastructure management systems has started on the 31st of March, 2011. GeoVille is involved in the project design and execution of this EC FP7 project acting as a map and geographic data provider and the provision of GIS capacity to the project partners

EEA article on urban soil sealing (2011-05-16)

In the framework of the urban activity of the ETC-SIA GeoVille has supported the preparation of an article on Urban soil sealing in Europe by computing mean soil sealing values for the EEA member states’ capital cities and converting these statistics into maps.

GeoVille has successfully completed service production (2011-05-02)

GeoVille has successfully completed an ESA-funded project on satellite-based monitoring of crop acreage in support of the UN-IFAD (UN International Fund for Agricultural Development). The purpose of the activity was to develop EO information services supporting the management and controlling of UN-IFAD investments in the upper Mandraré river basin in south-east Madagascar. A final user workshop was held at UN-IFAD headquarters in Rome in March. The project outcomes are currently featured on the news section of ESA’s website

Source Geoville Group

(12May2011) GAF AG, an internationally active geo-information technology and consulting company, announces that it has successfully completed the provision of services in Western Madagascar for the UN-IFAD and ESA. For an area of about 14,000 km² in Madagascar, GAF has provided dedicated state of the art EO products which have been customised to meet the specific user requirements of the UN-IFAD in the best possible way.

International financial institutions (IFI) provide financial support and professional advice for development activities on local and regional scales in developing countries. Their activities are generally organised in dedicated projects financed by long-term loans or grants covering social and economical development aspects in a wide range of fields. For certain fields, EO (Earth Observation) products and services have been identified as a useful tool for supporting the monitoring and management of IFI projects in order to improve the efficiency of the investments made and to assess the impact and social benefits of the financed development activities.

ESA, as part of its Value Adding Element (VAE) programme, has been interacting with IFI and their stakeholders to understand their working environment and also their information requirements in particular with regard to EO services. This process resulted, among other things, in the definition of service specifications for the UN-IFAD (UN International Fund for Agricultural Development), which were put out to tender. GAF was awarded the Service Trial 2 contract, which was directly driven by the requirements of the supported IFAD project and its local stakeholders (the AD2M project ).

For an area of about 14,000 km² in Western Madagascar (Menabe region), GAF has provided dedicated state-of-the-art EO products, such as:

  • Recent land cover map with 10m spatial resolution
  • High resolution digital elevation model
  • Customised information layers regarding slope and aspect for GIS import
  • Basic drainage system mapping for irrigation planning and flood prevention

All the products were customised to meet the specific user requirements of the UN-IFAD in the best possible way. The UN-IFAD assessed all the products in detail. Benoit Thierry, the IFAD’s Madagascar Country Programme Manager, stated after the final user workshop at UN-IFAD headquarters in Rome:

“With these products, we can get details about the land and develop action plans much quicker and only send teams to select areas. Of course, this is also true of monitoring and assessing the implementation of projects.”

For more detailed information, please consult the news section of ESA’s website, where the outcomes of all the projects implemented in Madagascar have been detailed extensively.

Link

About UN-IFAD – Italy

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations, was established as an international financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. IFAD is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries.

Working with rural poor people, governments, non-governmental organizations and many other partners, IFAD focuses on country-specific solutions to improve agriculture production, which can involve increasing rural poor peoples’ access to financial services, markets, technology, land and other natural resources.

Since 1979, IFAD has funded 13 rural development projects in Madagascar for a total of US$156.9 million. More on IFAD

About ESA / ESRIN – Italy

ESRIN, the ESA Centre for Earth Observation, is one of the five ESA (European Space Agency) specialised centres situated in Europe. Located in Frascati, a small town 20 km south of Rome in Italy, ESRIN was established in 1966 and first began acquiring data from environmental satellites in the 1970s. Since 2004, ESRIN has been the headquarters for ESA’s Earth Observation activities.

ESRIN acts as an interface between ESA and those who use its services. The centre has close links with European industry, the European Union and the civil protection, agriculture and environment ministries within ESA Member States. ESRIN also cooperates with international organisations including UN agencies and the European Commission, and plays an important role in many international projects. More information at ESA programme Value Adding Element

Attachment PR_0511_GAF_ESA EOFI_IFAD.pdf

Further Reading:
GAF starts service production in Western Madagascar

(12.05.2011) A delegation of the Afghan Ministry of Mines headed by the Deputy Minister of Mines, His Excellency Mr. M. T. Durrani and 20 Engineers from the Departments of Inspectorate and Cadastre went on a mining study trip to South Africa organized by GAF AG.

Afghanistan has rich natural resources many of them still untapped. The development of this potential will be an important step towards the eradication of poverty and bringing peace and prosperity to Afghanistan. The proper management and regulation of the mining sector is essential for effective extraction of the largely unexploited minerals and hydrocarbons.

The Ministry of Mines (MoM) in Afghanistan is moving from being a producer of minerals and other commodities to a policy-maker, promoter and regulator. This is supported by a technical consultancy provided by GAF AG and being part of the World Bank funded “Sustainable Development of Natural Resources Project” (SDNRP). The consultancy specifically aims to establish and operate a Title Registry and Cadastre Department and to set-up a Mining and Hydrocarbons Inspectorate.

As part of the institutional capacity building and human resources development a study trip was organised to South Africa. It started with a one week training programme at Goldfields Academy, and was followed by three weeks of visiting a wide cross section of mining operations in South Africa exposing the members of the Ministry of Mines to state-of-the-art mining techniques and equipment. Additionally to this, environmental, social and occupational health and safety aspects were covered. An exchange of experience and establishment of contacts between Afghanistan and South Africa has been started.

Further Reading at Afghan Ministry of Mines delegation on visit to GAF AG

Multi risk preparedness supported by Earth Observation and Eurosense at INTERGEO 2011 (Nürnberg, 27-29/09/2011)

Multi risk preparedness supported by Earth Observation (15.06.2011)

Paper on “Multi risk preparedness supported by Earth Observation” presented at the Gi4DM 2011 Conference – Antalya (Turkey), 03-08 May 2011.

In the context of global warming, intensity and frequency of rainfall events is expected to increase and cause more severe transnational floods. Developed for EC’s Flood Directive, assets mapping (AM) services address the needs of pan-European disaster preparedness. Eurosense developed its AM services in the frame of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) – Services and Applications for Emergency Response project (SAFER).

No technology can prevent natural hazards, but, Earth Observation (EO) maps and services can support the multiple phases of disaster management (prevention, early warning, in-crisis or post-crisis). By monitoring the hazards impacts, these generic and multi-risk assets mapping services help in preventing risks and deaths and in setting up responsible prevention measures. Assets mapping services comprise multiple criteria: either quantitative (e.g. economical damage and affected people), or qualitative by analysis of the impact (e.g. on the environment).

EO based geo-models integrated in spatial data infrastructure combine EO data with ancillary data such as population census, socio-economic statistics and land-use maps. Three scales of generic products are proposed within SAFER: pan-European, regional and local. Challenges in the development of AM maps are (i) the harmonization at European level and outside the EU, (ii) multi-risk transferability, (iii) the access to input/source data, and (iv) the delivery of dynamic multi-media to interact with users. The validation of these assets mapping services follows a strict quality check protocol (in relation to reference data). The accordance to the directive and relevance in terms of users requirements are part of this validation.

Click here to download the paper

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Intergeo 2011(12.05.2011)

Also in 2011, EUROSENSE will be present with a booth on the INTERGEO-conference.

INTERGEO is one of the most important conferences in the geo-information sector in the world. Also in 2011, EUROSENSE will be present with a booth on this year’s edition held in Nürnberg from the 27th till the 29th of September 2011.
More information on INTERGEO can be found on: http://www.intergeo.de/de/deutsch/index.php

You will find the booth of EUROSENSE in hall 7A, booth number F60. We are eager to welcome you at our booth!

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(May 2011) EUROSENSE is partner in 2 ‘eoworld’ projects, namely “Satellite Tools for Building Flood Defense Systems in Guyana’ and ‘EO to Multi-Hazard Vulnerability assessment in Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) and Yogyakarta (Indonesia)’.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the World Bank (WB) have agreed to increase their collaboration for the purpose of mainstreaming the use of Earth Observation (EO) in the World Bank. With this goal in mind the World Bank and ESA jointly reviewed and elected 12 projects to be used as test cases for demonstrating the utility of EO-based information in Bank’s operations, called the ‘eoworld’ joint initiative. The main aim of the eoworld initiative is to demonstrate the value of European and Canadian satellites, both ESA and national missions, and the capabilities of specialized value-adding companies that can provide information services to benefit the World Bank’s operations.

EUROSENSE is a partner in 2 of these projects, namely “Satellite Tools for Building Flood Defense Systems in Guyana” and “EO to Multi-Hazard Vulnerability assessment in Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) and Yogyakarta (Indonesia)”. The projects started in March 2011 and will have a duration of 10 months. Our main part is the production of an urban map and a flood risk analysis of the specific region.

A two-day event took place in April at World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC, that brought ESA, the World Bank and Earth observation information companies (including EUROSENSE) together to get the projects started.

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WALPHOT, partner of EUROSENSE, awarded with aerial acquisition (LiDAR and photography) of burned areas in “High Fens” (Hautes Fagnes / Hoge Venen).

Following the fire of more than 1300 ha in the Natural Reserve of the “High Fens” (Belgium), during the end of month of April, the DEMNA (Département de l’Etude du Milieu Naturel et Agricole) of the SPW (Service Public de Wallonie) wanted to obtain accurate data to realize a precise mapping of vegetation and topography of the ground, and so evaluate the damage. Our partner, WALPHOT, won this project.

The objective is to realize quickly a high resolution topographic survey on the part of the Natural Reserve of the “High Fens” which was affected by fire. The flight (LiDAR and digital aerial camera) must be done very soon because the burned areas grow green again. The parameters of flight allow a specific density for the LiDAR survey of 10 pts /m², and a resolution of 20 cm for aerial photography.

A total of 15 days will be necessary to process and deliver accurate digital orthophotos (resolution of 20cm) and DTM (grid 0.25m) of the area of interest.

The flight was executed on the 30th May 2011.

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