Metria Miljöanalys

Metria is one of three divisions within Lantmäteriet, the National Land Survey of Sweden. Lantmäteriet is a Government agency, which overall goal is to support an efficient and sustainable use of land and water. The total staff of Lantmäteriet is over 2,000, and the annual turnover is 160 million Euro, of which 77 percent is generated through charging fees on real property formation, the use of information from databases and on consultancy services. Core grants from the Government are used primarily for producing basic geographic data and managing and maintaining registers and databases.

Metria carries out its services on contract and operates in competition with other Swedish and international companies in national and international markets. Metria has a total staff of 420, of which more then 100 work with EO- and GIS-related tasks. Services and products supplied by Metria include consultancy services in the EO- and GIS-sector, in surveying and mapping, cadastral services, database access via Internet, application and system development. Metria has at its disposal a wide range of resources for geographic data capture, data processing and refinement, and for system development within geographic IT. Metria also offers consultancy services within geographic information technology, which are based on state-of-the-art technology and design, and aimed at the development of customised and integrated system solutions for an efficient use of the geographic information. Metria‘s clients are to be found in both the private sector, such as forestry, utility and telecommunications companies, and in the public sector.

Metria has a long standing experience in the distribution of all kind of satellite data and other geo-data, and is the prime source for satellite data and digital/analogue aerial photography in Sweden. Metria is the Swedish distributor for all the major civilian Earth observation satellite systems such as SPOT, Landsat, Radarsat, Ikonos, QuickBird and other. IMAGE 2000 was led by Metria delivering orthocorrected Landsat data over Europe. Yearly national coverage, 450 000 km2, of SPOT/Landsat data is on-going since 1999 delivered to a wide range of customers, mainly in the forestry domain. Recently Metria acquired an order of nationwide colouring of panchromatic aerial orthophotos with satellite data. This is published on Internet on national search engines for private, commercial and public addresses and telephone numbers. More detailed information than in “Goggle Earth” is now public available for Sweden.

Metria Miljöanalys

Metria is represented in EARSC by Metria Miljöanalys, which is Metria’s unit for Earth Observation applications. Metria Miljöanalys, based in Stockholm, is a service provider that focuses on the operational use of remote sensing and GIS techniques for forestry and environmental applications as well as security-related aspects. The personnel at Metria Miljöanalys have a thorough knowledge and a long-term experience in remote sensing and GIS, and have a combination of academic and professional expertise in various relevant fields. This includes a combination of academic and professional expertise in the fields of biology, ecology, physical geography, forestry, technical engineering, environmental monitoring and management at regional and national levels. Project management skills at regional to international level are also well documented. These past and present engagements have led to a vast network of co-operation partners and well established contacts with users. This user network includes Swedish users from county to national level, as well as users within the Baltic Sea Region. In our entire project portfolio, users play a vital and active role. About 2/3 of Metria Miljöanalys yearly turnaround of about 2.2 MEuro derives from services to customers and 1/3 from R&D funding (national, EU 6th framework etc).

”SPOT-VGT classification of Baltic sea region”

Environmental applications

Environmental applications include mapping of state and changes in the environment. Analyses of requested environmental parameters are also part of delivered services. Most important customers are the Swedish Environment Protection Agency and County administrative boards.

Large areas in Sweden are supposed to be protected until 2010 and to locate potential areas of interest multitemporal satellite data where used to provide customers with an analysis of “large areas of untouched forests”. This was then used in order to find new areas to protect. Metria Miljöanalys has an on-going service where all protected areas (national parks, nature reserves, Natura2000-sites) are mapped on regular basis. This information are also utilised in regional analysis of future needs for protection. Metria is also highly involved in the ongoing Natura2000 mapping in Sweden. Recently also marine and coastal habitats are mapped and analysed by GIS and remote sensing. Nordic co-operation is ongoing within this application.

Metria Miljöanalys was programme manager for the RESE (Remote Sensing for the Environment) programme, 1997-2005. It was the largest research programme for applied remote sensing in Sweden, with an overall budget of 10 MEuro, and included development of user-oriented applications for remote sensing, also for “non-EO experts” within research and private/public organisations.

Metria produced CLC2000 for Sweden, but also developed and produced a more refined land cover product with minimum mapping unit of 1-5 hectares. Both these productions were fully digitally and highly automated. More regional land cover classifications include participation in Global Land Cover 2000 and a regional land cover database, BALANS, both covering the entire Baltic Sea Region. Metria was the coordinator of the latter project, which was financed within the EU framework programme. Metria is a partner in GSE Land and geoland (6th framework) projects.

” Mapping of National park, Tyresta”

Forestry applications

Within the forestry domain the Swedish Forest Agency as well as private forest companies are the most important customers. A wide range of services are offered and used in operational forestry. The Swedish Forest Agency use nationwide satellite data yearly for mapping of forest cuttings, detect need for pre-commercial thinning and as image background in GIS. Metria Miljöanalys have developed a tool, ENFORMA, especially for mapping of forest parameters such as forest cuttings (changes), forest damage and need for other forest operations. This tool is used by non-EO experts at the Forest Agency and forest companies and also used for production of services at Metria for Sweden and abroad. Other services based on EO data for the forestry domain includes mapping of errors in forest stand databases and mapping of forest of interest for timber purchase.

During the large hurricane in Sweden, early 2005, Metria mapped storm felled forest rapidly (part of the International Charter for Disaster) and has also developed a service for power distribution companies to map areas with great risks for power failures in forehand. This service is delivered recurrently.
Metria is a partner in GSE Forest Monitoring and in the EOMD-project Monitor.

EO services concerning security are both for civilian and military use. Metria supplies the Swedish Armed Forces with EO support, including semi-automatic 3D modelling of urban areas in satellite data. Also the Swedish Rescue services get satellite maps and analyses, for example after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004. A co-operation with the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate has developed the use of EO data for nuclear inspections and Metria Miljöanalys are involved in remote sensing training at IAEA since 2000.
Both development and production of services to humanitarian aid has been ongoing since 1999. A co-operation with UNOSAT and UNHCR has supported the development of requested services, both different types of satellite maps and semi-automatic shelter mapping in very-high resolution satellite data. Metria Miljöanalys is a partner in GSE RISK-EOS, PREVIEW (6th framework), Astro+ (6th framework) and GSE RESPOND.

“ Shelter identifier in VHR EO data”

More ifo at:

Metria Miljöanalys
Contact person: Erik Willén
Address: P.O. Box 24154, SE-104 51 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46-8-579 972 75
Fax: +46-8-579 972 80
E-mail: erik.willen@lm.se
Website: http://www.metria.se/