It’s again that time of the year: it’s the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) time, the biggest space forum where global actors come together to learn about the most recent trends and developments in the space sector. Organised since the 1950s by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) jointly with local partners, IAC takes place in a different country every year with a different theme to learn more about space and to allow the regional space sector to become part of the global one.

The 72^nd International Astronautical Congress took place, for the first time in its history, in the Arab region, in the setting of Dubai. During the 5-day conference, 5000 delegates from 110 countries gathered under the theme “Inspire, Innovate and Discover for the Benefit of Humankind”. On the occasion of the Public Day, an open day event for space enthusiasts and the general audience, around 1500 visitors among which students and professional from other sectors, visited the IAC exhibition.

Climate Change and space sustainability were key topics of the many sessions and papers presented during the congress. Young professionals and students from all over the world presented their ideas to space professionals demonstrating the interest and commitment of the next generation on this hot topic and how space technology can be the enabler for a change to a cleaner and resilient society.

IAC also brings inspiration and a glimpse into future endeavours. For the first time, nine crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 60/61 gathered to share their experience and knowledge with a wider audience. The panel saw the contribution of NASA astronauts and ROSCOSMOS cosmonauts, together with the UAE astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansoori, the first UAE astronaut to the ISS. Also, Chris Boshuizen, illustrated his experience of training and flying on the Blue Origin’s New Shepard’s second human flight.

IAC2021 was a record event, also for Eurisy, because for the first time it was one of the exhibiting organisations of the event.

The Eurisy booth was the gateway to learn more about the mission and objectives of the organisation and to talk about the relevance of satellite-based solutions for those economic sectors that are not traditionally related to space. What’s more, at the booth Eurisy unveiled the Space Service Hub (SSH). The project, sponsored by ESA and IAF led to the development of a 3D permanent platform embedded in the Eurisy website as well as a virtual reality software showcasing how satellite-based solutions are currently tackling big societal challenges. It aims at engaging potential partners, customers, investors in a friendly way, overcoming the technical barriers that limit the uptake of the satellite applications and that shadow the benefits related to their use. The booth was a gateway for stakeholders to discuss and exchange with the team on future cooperation and joint initiatives. Throughout the week around 50+ visitors had the opportunity to experience the VR tool and to share with us their reactions.

The SSH represents an innovative outreach tool that addresses some among the major setbacks identified by end users by relying on an immersive virtual reality experience and a 3D web platform. The user can discover different areas of our planet, moving with one single touch from a coastal area to a rural, or in an urban environment to discover peculiar challenges and how satellite data are powering solutions to overcome them.

In Dubai, Eurisy also participated to the awarding ceremony of the Global Space Market Challenge (GSMC), a new competition launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) with Eurisy’s operational and technical support held between May 2021 and October 2021. The Challenge’s objective was to give visibility to SMEs with internationalisation ambitions, developing products and/or services for the upstream or downstream space sector showing potential for extra-European and ESA markets. During the 72^nd International Astronautical Congress, the winners of the GSMC had the chance to showcase their products and services and to connect with investors. Discover here the Global Space Market Challenge winners. The ceremony took place on October 26^th with the presence of ESA Director General, Joseph Aschbacher, and the newly appointed ESA Director of Commercialisation, Industry and Procurement, Geraldine Naja.

Among the 3370 abstract submissions, three Eurisy papers got selected to be presented in three technical sessions. The GIS4Schools project has been introduced to an international audience thanks to the paper “Improving STEAM Education in Secondary Schools through the co-creation of new methodologies for teaching GIS products related to climate impact on local communities”. Co-written with Euronike and the Politecnico di Milano, it illustrates the genesis of the project, and the process leading to the development of training packages for secondary schools’ teachers and pupils. It also focuses on the adoption of new methodology and pedagogic approach to enable the transfer of new knowledge from teachers to pupils. The paper is available for download here.

The paper “Messages to the Above: Looking at Art from the Sky” presented Space4Art, a new initiative that Eurisy is exploring to implement with the support of potential new partners. The paper provides an introduction on how aerial photography and satellite imagery have changed our way of looking at Earth, inspiring art movements and allowing for the discovery and appreciation of ancient and more recent artworks. With the presentation at IAC, Eurisy wants to extend its partner research outside the European borders, after all art and sky have no boundaries. The paper is available here. A full report on Space4Art is available on the Eurisy website.

Eventually, the last paper presented was dedicated to the Space4Maritime initiative. The paper, “Space4Maritime: diving into space-based solutions for the maritime domain” mainly addresses service providers and public authorities, providing them with a set of recommendations on how to foster cooperation with maritime operators. But it also targets potential new end users interested in adopting satellite solutions in their workflow. Three case studies were described to complement and explain further the needs of European maritime end-user communities, facilitating the dialogue with the space industry and the uptake of satellite services. Read the paper here.

The 72nd IAC 2021 has been an exciting opportunity to meet our members and exchange with space professionals from around the globe in person. New initiatives will follow, waiting for IAC 2022 in Paris.

The post Looking beyond boundaries: Inspire, Innovate and Discover for the benefit of the Humankind appeared first on Eurisy.

Copenhagen Solutions Lab

Copenhagen Solutions Lab is an internal consultancy of the Technical and Environmental Department of the Municipality of Copenhagen, in Denmark. With a staff of eight people, Copenhagen Solutions Lab works on issues of transversal interest among the City’s departments by using innovative technologies to promote green urban strategies and policies.

The challenge

Air quality is an issue that concerns several municipal departments, including those responsible for adaptation to climate change, environmental protection, transport, biodiversity, water, economic development, and, — especially — health.

Indeed, even in a clean city like Copenhagen, air pollution is identified as one of the main causes of premature deaths and it is suspected of exacerbating illnesses such as cancers, cardiovascular, respiratory and lung diseases, and even neuro-logical disorders like autism, dementia, Parkinson’s, depressions, and more

Traditionally, air quality is monitored through sensors at static stations located around the city. These provide a generic representation of air quality, and in particular its annual average, which reveals long-term trends. Nevertheless, traditional measurements are not able to deliver precise information on where and when pollutants are most present during the day and people are exposed to it.

Copenhagen Solutions Lab was looking for ways to localise air pollution at the street level and to understand when specific city spots are particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon.

The satellite solution

In 2017, Google offered to support the efforts of Copenhagen Solutions Lab by using the methodology developed within their Air View Project, with the help of the University of Utrecht and the University of Aarhus.

Google equipped its Street View cars with air quality sensors and collected data on air quality in every street of Copenhagen. The measurements targeted the pollutants that are emitted in the city, especially nitrogen dioxide, ultrafine particulate matter and black carbon.

The cars logged one measurement per second, collecting very granular spatial data on air quality, which could be geolocated thanks to the Satellite Navigation systems embedded in the cars. These passed on every street at least six times during one and a half year, in order to get the seasonal distribution of air pollution. This was done until March 2020, when the city lockdown caused by the COVID-19 crisis was declared in Copenhagen.

The spatial accuracy of the information collected in such a way allows for the identification of correlations between human activities, infrastructure and air pollution, according to the time of the day and the season.

The results

In October 2019, a preliminary map of air quality in Copenhagen was published and presented by the City’s Deputy Mayor at the meeting of the mayors of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, that was taking place in Copenhagen.

In the same year, the project caught the attention of other local and international partners. Gehl Architects, a Copenhagen-based urban design agency, got interested in the map and decided to use it to understand how they could reduce the effects of air pollution on children by redesigning public spaces. This initiative, The Thrive Zone project, funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation and the ICLEI Action Fund, aims at designing urban solutions to increase air quality and reduce exposure to pollution, and at involving citizens in data collection, design and in behavioural changes.

In particular, Gehl mapped childcare institutions and interviewed care workers and care givers on children’ movements in two neighbourhoods, and crossed such data with the information they had on air quality to understand how air pollution impacts on them. Afterwards, Gehl produced a “Cleaner Air Network” map, indicating the areas where air quality is better and where children could spend more time, suggesting urban design interventions.

The final map of Copenhagen’s air quality was released openly in the Spring 2021, accessible to anyone. The map allows for the identification of the most polluted areas (major inroads, airport and the city centre) for the different pollutants, i.e. nitrogen dioxide, ultrafine particulates and black carbon. The map aims at serving all departments of the City’s administration, by putting air quality at the core of city policies.

Copenhagen AirView NO2

The dataset and the model to use it are made available to support urban policies aimed at reducing the exposure to pollution, especially for the most vulnerable groups. Meanwhile, the Thrive Zone project continues to test how implementation can happen in existing urban areas and document effects in real life settings, e.g. by using bushes and trees to contrast fine particles, or by building spaces for children and the elderly where air quality is higher) and to make residents less exposed to pollution by changing their behaviour (i.e. by spending less time in polluted areas).

“By making scientific data available to citizens, we have the potential to make global challenges relevant at the local scale”, Rasmus Reeh, Copenhagen Solutions Lab

The post Copenhagen: Rethinking the urban space by mapping air pollution appeared first on Eurisy.

Around 75% of the European external trade transits through European ports. According to the EU Blue Economy Report 2020, in 2018 the established sectors of the EU Blue Economy[1] directly employed about 5 million people and generated around €750 billion in turnover and €218 billion in gross value added.

The cooperation between the space and maritime sector dates back to more than 30 years ago. Satellite data historically provided relevant near-real-time information on weather conditions to improve maritime safety or facilitated communication at sea. Today, thanks to the most recent technological developments, a wide range of activities are starting to rely more on satellite data and services: from meteorology and communications to aquaculture, fisheries, disaster management, and safety and security.

The Blue World Task Force

Over the years, ESA has enlarged its portfolio of collaborative programmes. A holistic approach has been implemented through its Regional Initiatives where relevant space systems and data are bundled together to provide the best possible service or to tackle challenges either at regional level or for a specific community or topic.

The Blue World Task Force (BWTF) covers the principal maritime geographic areas in Europe, from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, passing through the North Sea, the High North and the Black Sea and it has been officially kicked-off in October 2019 as part of this initiatives. A brief concept note providing additional details on the BTWF is available here.

The objective of the newly established task force is to support the definition of future ESA programmes addressing the interests of the Member States. To map how space is used today, to identify existing technological gaps and to collect needs, challenges and opportunities of maritime users’ communities the BWTF launched at the beginning of February a stakeholders’ available online for a month.

A large number of maritime operators from fishing communities to ship owners, port authorities, coastguards, insurance companies, economic and research centres dealing with the blue economy, or involved in studies on the preservation and exploitation of ocean biodiversity, are invited to take this questionnaire available here:

“The challenges of the Blue World” webinar series

To complement the consultation online and to stimulate the dialogue between the space and maritime communities, ESA joined forces with Eurisy to organise “The challenges of the blue world” webinar series.

The series will discuss the existing challenges maritime stakeholders face and how satellite-based solutions respond to their emerging needs. Each webinar will gather around a virtual table local authority, NGOs, research centres, and industrial clusters from space and maritime domains.

Three webinars will be organised during the month of February 2021 addressing three main topics:

• Marine Resources Exploitation. The first webinar will take place Thursday February 18th and will focus on three identified subsectors: aquaculture, fishery and illegal fishing;

Marine resources are threatened by a series of stressors, among which climate change, overexploitation of the natural resources and illegal fishing. Such effects can negatively impact on the sustainable exploitation of the marine living and non-living resources. An example is the over and aggressing fishing. The FAO recently warned that more than a third of the fish stocks are being overfished. The overfishing phenomena reduces fish stocks at a rate that the species cannot replenish leading to lower fish populations and reduced future production.

The first webinar of the series will focus on relevant challenges such as how to ensure a sustainable marine food production and aquaculture, and how prevent the illegal fishing in European waters with the contribution of space technology. The technology perspective and solutions will be provided by a selected European cluster that will provide the participants with up-to-date solutions for the challenges identified.

• Secure Transports and Communication. The second webinar is scheduled for Monday, February 22nd and will highlight the main challenges and issues faced by stakeholders in the field of marine communications, autonomous shipping, and logistics, with insights from shipowners;

Maritime transport and logistics constitute a large component of the blue economy. Shipping, maritime safety and security, as well as the broad range of maritime logistic services, are embracing innovative solutions to optimise their work and to collect reliable and timely information of what happens at sea. Technology is accelerating the process of modernisation of the whole sector, but still a series of challenges will be faced in the upcoming years by maritime operators: improved marine communications, logistics, autonomous shipping are under the lens to understand how to optimise their work them without impacting on the environment and marine world.

The second webinar of the series move the focus on three of the main issues faced by the maritime end- users’ communities: the optimisation of the vessels’ communication among them and with other means of transports, and how to ensure the safety of autonomous vessels. In addition to this, this second webinar will bring the audience the experience of shipowners’ confederation and their needs. As in the first webinar, a European cluster will provide the participants with the existing solutions to respond to their everyday challenges.

• Maritime Spatial Planning. The last webinar of the series will be on Thursday 25th February. It will present the experience of end-users involved in the Maritime Spatial Planning process, such as coastal protection, renewable energy, and port development.

Maritime Spatial Planning is necessary to ensure a sustainable management of oceans and seas. In the era of blue growth multiple users need to take informed decision on how to use sustainably marine resources. Multiple actors are involved in the Maritime Spatial Planning process, from energy actors, to environmental entities, development agencies, but also regional policy and decision makers, are called to consider how to minimize the impacts of their activities on the same sea area. The opportunities that technology offers today can help sea and ocean users to define a coordinated and sustainable approach towards the use of marine resources, preserving the marine ecosystems and biodiversity.

The last webinar of the series will present the needs of three of the main industries involved in Maritime Spatial Planning process, to provide the participants with the experience of policy actors involved in the definition of coastal protection policies; how renewable energy relies on satellite data to manage sea resources; and finally, how the port systems are improving and what challenges exist for the operators. Another European technology cluster will provide the stakeholders and the audience with the useful information to consider the adoption of satellite-based solutions for their needs.

The results of the ESA stakeholder consultation will be available in the second quarter of 2021. The outcomes of the webinar series will, instead, be available on the Eurisy website and social media channels. 

[1] Marine Living and Non-Living Resources, Marine Renewable Energy, Port Activities, Shipbuilding and Repair, Marine Transport, and Coastal Tourism.

The post Mapping the maritime users’ needs and challenges: the ESA Blue Worlds Task Force stakeholders’ consultation appeared first on Eurisy.

In recent years, the relevance of STEM subjects has become more prominent, mostly due to the impact these subjects have on the labor-market. Nevertheless, in Secondary Schools, STEM subjects are not always part of the educational curricula. The lack diversity in the offer may decrease pupils’ motivation in further pursue a STEM academic paths, which are often perceived as too hard, and the pupils do not feel skilled enough to pursue a career in this sector. [2]

In addition to this, another relevant aspect characterizing STEM subjects are the existence of a gender gap. Even if nowadays an increased number of girls have access to education than ever before, they often still do not have the same opportunities to choose, complete and benefit from a carrier in STEM. Girls and women are under-represented in STEM education and careers. According to the UNESCO report “Cracking the code: Girls’ and women’s education in STEM”, only 35% of STEM students are women. This percentage is quite alarming, considering that the future job market will be oriented towards more STEM careers. [3]

Based on the relatively low appealing of STEM curricula among students, some schools have begun to offer an evolved concept: the STEAM. STEAM-based curricula are not just focused on scientific concepts, but characterised by a learning approach using Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Arts to stimulate students’ critical thinking, dialogue exchange and understanding.

Currently both STEM and STEAM education represents a strategic priority for the European Union in the field of education and training.

According to the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report 2018, more than 1 in 5 pupils in the European Union has insufficient proficiency in reading mathematics or science.[4] STEAM learning modules, especially in secondary schools proved their ability to nurture the curiosity and cognitive resources of students, providing them with the right tools to understand the complexity of the world and face the challenges that the current times are posing, like climate change, among many others. Future generations represent a juncture between the growing understanding of the potential hazardous impact of climate change on society and local communities and the need to address those challenges with concrete actions on a daily basis. STEAM education is thus key to equip students with the necessary tools to act to favor a sustainable transition towards a greener and more resilient environments. Preparing these future generation means also endow them with a new set of skills to train future professionals to access a more and more competitive job market in which technology and science play an increasingly significant role.

The project

The improvement of STEAM education in secondary schools is the core objective of the Erasmus+ funded project “GIS4Schools”, which started in September 2020 and ends in June 2023, but poised to unfold its effects for a way longer time.

GIS4Schools relies on the support of a transnational and multi-stakeholders’ partnership composed by:

• Four secondary schools ITT Marconi (Italy), Escola Secundária José Afonso (Portugal), Colegiul National Ion Neculce Bucuresti (Romania), and IES Marc Ferrer (Spain);
• One technical university: the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) (Italy)
• One training teaching centre: Eagle Intuition (Portugal)
• Four European and National Associations active in the field of Education, Space, Resilience and Climate Change: Eurisy (France), Euronike (Italy), Urban 2020 Association (Romania) and Blue Bubble World (Spain).

In total, 24 teachers and 180 pupils will be involved in the project, while 200 teachers and 1000 pupils will be indirect beneficiaries of the project’s outputs.

GIS4Schools aims at promoting a new innovative approach to foster the teaching of STEAM subjects in secondary schools. This objective will be achieved by allowing pupils to learn about GIS technology and how to use it to respond to climate change challenges. For the first time, high schools’ pupils will have the opportunity to use satellite data at school. The data will be provided by the European Earth Observation Programme Copernicus, and it will be used to help the pupils in the co-creation process of GIS-based products.

The Intellectual Outputs

The methodology that will be adopted by the teachers is the result of a combination of Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE), and Problem-Based Learning Approach (PBL) adapted to the teaching of science subjects.

During the project, three main tools will support the efforts of the teachers and will guide the pupils to the final goal of selecting one specific challenge climate change is posing to their community and provide through GIS powered tools an idea for concrete action to be undertaken to minimise the effects. The case studies will be included in a final report to be developed by each selected students’ class.

The training packages have a critical importance for both teachers and pupils: teachers will learn which methodology and pedagogic approach have to be adopted to transfer the new knowledge and to transfer it. While, pupils will acquire new competencies such as data visualization, GIS and Analysis tools, EO and Imagery Analysis, and Geospatial Data Management related to climate change and related hazards using Copernicus data. The training package will be built and designed by the POLIMI based on their extensive experience and expertise in transferring knowledge on the use of GIS-based software. It will include guidelines, exercises and simulations and it will be illustrated during an intensive four days professional training course.

A suite of open source GIS products co-created with pupils’ involvement on the topic of climate change. The methodology that will be adopted is a learning-by-doing approach. The process of co-creation of a final GIS-based product will increase the student’s knowledge of all the technicalities behind each development phase whilst deepening their understanding of climate change.

E-Learning platform and Open Source Repository. Having the opportunity of collecting, storing and sharing the knowledge of the pupils has a double dimension. On one side, an e-learning platform and open-source repository would facilitate the interactions among the schools participating in the project, especially today where distance learning represents a valid option to protect the pupils from COVID-19 risks. On the other side, the repository and the e-learning platform represent an incredible source of information for those pupils and teachers, not participating in the project but interested in implementing STEAM curricula in their schools in the future.

Impact

The main expected impacts of the GIS4Schools project are centred on boosting STEAM’s knowledge in Secondary Schools while increasing teachers’ and students’ familiarity and acquisition of new skills in STEAM disciplines teaching, both in terms of content and of methodologies. Furthermore, the project aims at impacting on:

• Pupil’s environmental awareness while working on local case studies;
• Pupils’ civil engagement and responsible citizenship by developing a sample solution to respond to local challenges;
• Innovative pedagogical modules on GIS and climate change not yet covered by the traditional educational curricula.

GIS4Schools aims at providing the pupils with all the tools they need to observe and change the world around them.

Eurisy in the GIS4Schools project

Eurisy participates in the GIS4Schools project as leader of communication and dissemination work package. Communications activities are key to engage the students proving them with the motivations to feel the ownership of the projects and the results achieved; to ensure a smooth and transparent knowledge-sharing of the projects’ activities and its main deliverables by all the partners, and eventually to raise awareness towards relevant stakeholders and a wider audience of the benefits of such a project for their community.

Besides, given the high innovation potential of the project itself a targeted communication and dissemination towards external entities is necessary to enhance and maximise at European level the benefits of such projects to stimulate a wider uptake of such STEAM curricula.

To achieve those objectives Eurisy is developing a dedicated website to be used as the main channel for the projects’ news.

Stay tuned more is yet to come!   

Follow us to know more about the future initiatives of GIS4Schools on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, or sign up to the newsletter!

The recording of the GI4Schools introductory webinar is available here.

[1] Horizon2020 Project, Perform- The Art of Science Learning. January 2017. http://www.perform-research.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/D5.1-Sustainability-Plan-1.pdf

[2] S. Stolton, The future for STEM in Europe, Euractiv, July 6^th 2020. https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/linksdossier/the-future-for-stem-in-europe/

[3] United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, Girls’ and women’s education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). https://en.unesco.org/stemed

[4] OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2018. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/pisa-2018-results.htm

The post GIS4Schools: Improving STEAM Education in Secondary Schools appeared first on Eurisy.

Whilst in the past, civil space activities were mostly oriented towards space exploration and science, recent years have seen a surge in projects and funding opportunities aimed at turning space-based data and signals into fully fledged business models. Turning points towards more and accessible down-to-earth solutions have been, on one side, our growing need for ubiquitous connectivity and digitalisation, and on the other, the ability of space industries and institutions to respond to such needs through technology transfer policies and solutions. Such trends have paved the way for setting up a fertile ecosystem for space applications that respond to societal needs.

However, while technology development is advancing, we may sometimes find ourselves out of breath in our struggle to keep up. Governments and decision makers are often uncertain about the benefits deriving from adopting space-based technologies to respond to macro-trends: funds and legislation are sometimes a hurdle to their full deployment. But, this is not always true. Different cases around the world, as examples in South America and in Europe showcase, are demonstrating that it is possible to make some efforts in facilitating the adoption of specific services that integrate satellite-based technologies. Just to mention an example, in Brazil, Ghana and Guatemala, SAR technology can be used to enhance early warning systems to reduce the damages deriving from natural disasters. 

The whole space sector is also undergoing a series of changes. The advent of New Space trends is trying to overcome the traditional image of the sector while pushing for a more sustainable and accessible use of space. The idea is to transform the space sector into a non-exclusive technology and science-oriented field, a more open one, that could include different actors, like NGOs or local authorities.   

Slowly , the space sector is shifting to a new strategy more oriented towards the end users of their products and, in some cases, it is fostering the creation and development of a downstream sector in those emerging countries that are willing to implement their own space-based infrastructure and to start developing a local space-related economy, creating new job opportunities and decent economic growth. Such a shift is resulting in the creation of start-up incubators, competitions and events that aim at raising awareness on space applications in the non-space sector.  

In the background, the United Nations Agenda 2030 – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the Space2030 Agenda provide a framework where space technologies are proving helpful to respond to specific challenges and to generate socio-economic returns. Some examples might be the current and potential uses of satellite data for climate change (SDG 13-Climate Action), for telemedicine solutions (SDG 3- Good Health and Well-Being) or to support the creation of more efficient and sustainable urban environments (SDG 11-Sustainable Cities and Communities).

The topic of accessibility and inclusiveness has been central to one of the latest events Eurisy attended. Last October, we participated in the United Nations/International Astronautical Federation Workshop on Space Technology for Socio-Economic Benefits: “Ensuring Inclusiveness through Space-based Applications and Space Exploration”. The workshop – organised in conjunction with the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) taking place in Washington DC this year, had as a main objective the idea of providing insights on how space applications contribute to empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality, demonstrating that space applications can help achieve the SDGs.

Workshop attendees argued that accessibility is not just related to technology and science, but there is a primary interest in making everyone aware of the potential of space-based technologies, and in particular of satellite-based ones, to enable sustainable development.

Indeed, the variety of existent applications could support the evolution of entire regions of Europe. Rural regions and their complicated access to connectivity – satellite technology can easily offer a solution to allow for enhanced coverage or make agriculture more precise and thus more profitable.

Accessibility has different means, targets and objectives. At Eurisy, we have the privilege of working at the intersection of space and non-space sectors. In turn, this allows us to have a realistic perception of the difficulties that non-space users can face when using satellite-based technologies and help them expressing their needs. Over the past thirty years, Eurisy collected many case studies that touch upon different sectors, such as culture, emergency and rescue, telemedicine, sustainable cities etc.

During the workshop Eurisy brought forward two of these examples where satellite-based applications can have an immediate return on investment: telemedicine and Advanced Mobile Location (AML). Both cases show that the integration of satellite-based data and technologies in such contexts can help save lives and facilitate faster access to emergency rescue services.

The so-called “democratisation of space” which we hear about more and more often, is indeed an opportunity for space and non-space actors to meet halfway. The idea of making space accessible to everyone should bring to a series of changes in the sector itself. One of them could spring from empowering youth. One such example is World Space Week. Similar to our own, the World Space Week’s mandate is to bridge space and society, this time using education and dialogue as their main tools to patch existing gaps. Indeed, education can be crucial to favour equal access to space technologies and raise awareness about the corresponding opportunities, to a future workforce. As the Executive Director of the World Space Week Association, Maruska Strah, stated during the workshop, over the years the Association has incurred a grown of about 30%, reaching a record in 2018, when 5,422 events in 86 countries. Preliminary results for 2019 show over 6,200 events in 96 countries.

But accessibility implies also favouring the deployment of solutions emerging from a political dialogue that would facilitate the creation of financial schemes to support end-users in the process of adopting such technologies or to work with specific data. Some solutions are already put in place by academia, space agencies or other institutional actors, but more work needs to be done.

During the UN/IAF workshop, many different actors working at different levels showcased their initiatives aimed at making space appealing to everyone in every area of the world. From student activities in Africa to risk management solutions, to gender balance initiatives to form a future workforce where women can also have a primary role, the agenda was rich in examples.  

For Eurisy, the workshop has been an opportunity to increase our network and knowledge base on world-wide initiatives focused on making space accessible to everyone. On the Eurisy side, we will continue working to make satellite-based solutions accessible to everyone by involving users, creating bridges between space and non-space actors and by presenting the potential return on investment through hands-on examples and case studies.

The full report of the 27^th UN/IAF Workshop on Space Technology for Socio-Economic Benefits is available here. 

The post The road ahead for the democratisation of space appeared first on Eurisy.

Q: You have a background in Heritage Conservation. How did you become interested in data visualisation and maps?

H: As I was studying heritage conservation, I realised that presenting data on maps is a quite powerful way to communicate on research findings to the general public. Hence, I decided to learn about programming and data visualisation. Since then, I worked for museums, foundations, newspapers, NGO’S, graphic design studios, and artists. My works can be found on the web, on newspapers, at exhibitions and conferences, (like the map that I am creating for the Space4Culture conference that will be held in Matera in October 2018).

Q: Arts and technology are often seen as antithetical. Can you give us some examples of how you combine them to create your maps?

H: My main tools are Javascript, databases, open source GIS resources and image editing programs. I combine these to visualise or analyse data and to present them in creative ways. Sometimes I create my maps on request, like the map I did for the Berliner Morgenpost, showing Trump’s planned wall between Mexico and the US, as if it were in Europe, i.e. a long red line crossing the continent from the North to the Black Seas. Other times, I imagine my projects following my inspiration only. What is important to me is to use technology to sensitise people on issues that I believe are relevant to understand today’s world.

Trump’s planned wall between Mexico and the US in 2016, as if it were in Europe, for Berliner Morgenpost.

Q: Maps can rely on many data sources. In several of your projects you use images taken from Google Maps as a first layer, while in others you rely on aerial images. Can you give us some examples of use of satellite imagery to perform your work?

H: The Alpen project is quite a fun one. Here, I took satellite images of cities that are mainly flat, as Berlin, London, Hamburg, and Brussels, and then modified them in order to exaggerate their heights. In these 3D city maps, all elevation data has been hugely increased in scale to give the users a perception of how their cities would look like if their heights were hills or mountains. For example, in London, the gentle heights of Hampstead Heath and Greenwich Park become massive peaks, while the River Thames flows though a valley surrounded by hills.

An exaggerated view of London heights. Visit the interactive map to see more cities.

Q: Data visualisaton is not only beautiful, but can also be a remarkable communication tool. You clearly showed it in some of your socially-engaged projects. Can you tell us about one that relied on satellite images to communicate about a socially-relevant theme?

H: In March 2017, I reprojected Aleppo’s destruction onto Berlin and London. The project is called Reprojected Destruction and got quite a lot of visibility. I got inspired by a satellite-based map published by the Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). The map is based on satellite images of Aleppo taken from November 2010 to September 2016 and illustrates the percentage of buildings damaged in the city since the start of the Syrian war, more than 40%, for a total of 33.521 structures. Despite the figures are shocking, it was hard for someone like me, who has never visited Aleppo, to conceive the scale of the destruction that had affected the city.

I took some of the data made available on this map and reprojected them onto figure-ground maps of Berlin and London. As a geographical reference point, I superposed the Citadel of Aleppo on that of the Museum Island in Berlin and of the Tower of London. I then indicated the reprojected destruction by marking in red some randomly selected buildings. To make it more representative, I also mapped the distribution of the reprojected destruction with respect to Aleppo’s administrative borders as provided by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In the London map, the Tower of London, the City Hall, the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, the Olympic Stadium, King’s Cross station and Tate Modern have been razed, while Camden, Islington, Dalston and Hampstead are decimated.

The overall aim of the interactive map is to help western cybernauts to imagine the extent of the destruction affecting Aleppo in an environment they are familiar with.

Visit the interactive map to see Aleppo’s reprojected destruction on London and Berlin.

Q: What are the main challenges for you to use satellite imagery?

H: The main obstacle for me is to find reliable and free-of-charge data sources. I would love to get in touch with the space community to better understand what satellite-based data is out there and how to access it. I believe that other data visualisers and artists would also be interested.

Q: What are your plans for the future?

H: To continue experimenting with data visualisation on maps, for sure, but also to start working with machine learning Also I would like to explore more the possibilities to work with satellite images and explore the tools and the data that is out there.  I am constantly looking for new ideas to challenge the perception we have of our environments and to recontextualise the reality we live in.

Find Hans Hack’s portfolio at hanshack.com 

The post Data visualisation: A beautiful and powerful communication tool. An interview with Hans Hack appeared first on Eurisy.