The Maltese Planning Authority is the national government agency responsible for land use and spatial planning in Malta. It also serves as the country’s national mapping authority, providing essential cartographic data to support the development permit system and ensure that urban development aligns with planning regulations.

The challenge

For over a decade, the Planning Authority relied on aerial photography to produce maps of the Maltese Islands. However, with rapid and constant urban development — new constructions, extensions, and land-use changes — there was an increasing need to update maps more frequently and monitor change across the entire country.
Aerial imagery, while detailed, posed several obstacles: it required special flight permits, favourable weather conditions, and costly equipment. Drone surveys offered flexibility but covered only urban areas, making them impractical for nationwide mapping. The Planning Authority therefore sought a simpler, faster, and more scalable solution that could provide regular, high-resolution imagery over Malta as a whole.

The satellite solution

To meet these needs, the Planning Authority adopted high-resolution commercial satellite imagery: satellite data provides synoptic coverage — capturing the entire island in a single snapshot — and can be acquired regularly (one to two times per week), with access to a rich archive of past images. This allows them to select cloud-free images for specific time periods and conduct change detection analyses, supporting urban planning policies such as modification of development zones. Although commercial imagery involves a cost, it remains more affordable than aerial photography and offers greater temporal flexibility. Transitioning to satellite-based mapping required a mindset shift and specialised training for the Planning Authority’s geomatics team, enabling staff to interpret and integrate satellite data effectively into existing workflows.

The results

The use of satellite imagery has significantly improved the efficiency and accuracy of urban monitoring in Malta. The Planning Authority now produces value-added datasets, including national land-use maps, derived from satellite analyses. The Authority is also exploring the use of AI-based tools for automatic building detection, further enhancing its capacity to track and analyse urban change. By embracing satellite technology, they have strengthened their ability to plan sustainably, leveraging both current and archived imagery to maintain an up-to-date view of the country’s evolving landscape — a model that could inspire other national mapping agencies across Europe.

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Following the release in 2020 of the policy brief “Fostering the use of satellite Remote Sensing to support Plant Health surveillance activities”, Eurisy and ESA, with the scientific advice of Euphresco, realised a video showcasing possible uses of EO data to better monitor plant health.

The video focuses on Xylella fastidiosa, a dangerous bacterium that caused the uprooting of 1,150 olive trees in the Plain of Monumental Olives in Apulia (Italy) in 2021, and that has become a major phytosanitary emergency for the European Union.

Xylella fastidiosa is a quarantine pest, that can cause important economic losses and rapidly spread across borders thanks to activities such as trade and tourism.

World distribution of Xylella fastidiosa. © EPPO 2023.

For example, since it was first officially detected in Europe near Gallipoli in 2013, Xylella fastidiosa has spread throughout the Apulia region, causing over a billion euros of damage to the regional agriculture and industry.  If its full spread is not contained, this bacterium could cost billions to the European Union in the coming years.

What can we do to stop it? As the old saying goes ‘prevention, is better than curing’.  Indeed, it is more effective and less costly to prevent the introduction of a pest in an area, or to eradicate it early on, rather than trying to contain it once it’s settled.

By allowing the surveillance of large areas or areas that are difficult to reach, satellites could be a precious tool to support the official inspection activities of the national plant protection organisations.

How? Satellites have sensors that can identify plant species affected by pests and help mapping and monitoring them.

As an example, satellites allow us to visualise the spatial and temporal evolution of the Olive Quick Decline caused by Xylella fastidiosa in olive groves in the South of Apulia.

Moreover, if we understand the location and abundance of plant species that can be potential hosts for quarantine pests, we can target inspections even when symptoms are not visible to the naked eye, and take informed measures to avoid the spread of pests to areas where susceptible hosts are present. Finally, satellites can even count plants hosting pests.

All in all, satellites can be seen as the scalpel of a surgeon, because they allow for precise interventions, making monitoring faster, more effective and cheaper.

Joint research activities between phytosanitary and space experts can lead to the development of more and better applications to protect our agriculture, ecosystems and economies.

Remember that next time you see a satellite in the sky!

You can find here the policy brief “Fostering the use of satellite Remote Sensing to support Plant Health surveillance activities” produced by Eurisy and Euphresco on the occasion of the United Nations International Year of Plant Health in 2020.

To go further:

The effective role of remote sensing in detecting pests and supporting plant health surveillance, on the website of the International Plant protection Convention, posted on 4 November 2021: www.ippc.int/en/news/the-effective-role-of-remote-sensing-in-detecting-pests-and-supporting-plant-health-surveillance/

Plant health, on the European Space Agency’s website: www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-2/Plant_health

Euphresco’s website: www.euphresco.net

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With a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural population of about two million people, the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. Novi Sad, its administrative centre, is the second largest city in the country.

While Novi Sad is heading towards recognition as a regional leader in the IT industry, Vojvodina’s economy mainly relies on agriculture and agribusiness.

The challenge

The Vojvodina Province is particularly affected by the phenomenon of stubble burning, a common practice in cultivated fields in Serbia, which threatens the health and safety of the territory.

In 2019, around 19.000 open fires were recorded in Serbia. 14 people died because of them and 40 were injured. The fires burned low vegetation, but also damaged forests, meadows, orchards, cereals, and vineyards.

To discourage farmers from burning the remains of their crops, the province’s public authorities need precise and reliable information on the location of this practice.

The satellite solution

With the support of the BıoSense Instıtute, UNDP Serbia created a web GIS portal to detect open fıres usıng data from Sentınel-2 satellites.

By comparing two consecutive images, one before the fire occurrence and the other after the fire, an algorithm detects the areas where fires happened and the potentially burned areas. These spots are visualised on an interactive web map that is made openly and freely available to the public: the Portal for Mapping Harvest Residues (www.dim.rs/#/dashboard).

The map was funded by UNDP Serbia through the “Challenge call for innovative solutions to reduce air pollution in Serbia and improve air quality”.

The results

The portal is used by the UNDP, research institutes and local administrations to raise the awareness of people, farmers in the first place, about the threats posed by stubble burning. Moreover, the portal allows the government to detect stubble burning and to undertake evidence-based actions against this practice.

In the Vojvodina Province, the methodology used to develop the portal was tested during three months (from September to November 2020), spotting over 9.000 parcels that were subject to crop residue burning.

On dim.rs, fires are classified according to the dates on which they occurred and cadastral information. The webGIS portal also contains statistics on fire occurrence history that is available for download, and information for citizens on how to report illegal burnings.

Users can know which areas are the most affected by crop residue burning and in which periods of the year. Altogether, this information enables local administrations (such as police forces, firefighters and forest authorities, among others) to be better prepared to the occurrence of stubble burning, to target awareness raising campaigns, to better plan in-situ inspections, and to sustain law enforcement.

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DSE-Data Science Experts is a company created in 2020 and focused on building products and solutions based on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Based in Grenoble, France, the company today employs 11 people. The team’s vision is to help insurance companies to better support the agriculture sector in times of natural disasters.

The challenge

According to the World Meteorological Organization’s Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes, the number of disasters related to a weather, climate or water hazard has increased by a factor of five between 1970 and 2019 globally. Agrıculture is among the sectors that are affected the most by climate-related disasters.

To establish mechanisms, and in particular insurance schemes, to support the recovery of agricultural activities affected by disasters, there is a growing need for data and information to foresee and assess such damages.

The satellite solution

AIperion is a system, developed by DSE, that estimates the damage affecting agricultural fields, identifies the boundaries of flooded and burned areas, and detects the extent, impact and duration of droughts based on extreme weather events or natural disasters.

The system is based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to Earth observation images to identify and detect the boundaries of flooded and burned areas. It integrates meteorological data from the MSG mission (Meteosat Second Generation satellites) to detect the intensity and duration of extreme weather events.

AIPerion relies on data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions to calculate vegetation indices and estimate agricultural damage.

These analyses are combined to produce an assessment of the level of damage to the crops and of its causes. The results are provided to customers through a dashboard, in the form of maps and figures.

The results

By integrating Copernicus data into their software, DSE can provide precise information on the crops’ health and determine if the damage to crop reported by farmers is a consequence of natural disasters and not of fraud attempts.

Moreover, based on the information provided by DSE, insurance companies can determine the premium to be paid for crop losses caused by natural disasters.

Under the request of one insurance company, using this system DSE was able to map 80% of cultivated fields on the French territory to detect the growth status of vegetation. That was made possible thanks to the high temporal resolution of the Copernicus data and could not have been done by using in-situ surveying techniques.

Using free and open Copernicus data, DSE can provide its services at a much lower cost than the price that they would ask if they used other paying satellite data. As a result, after only one year of existence, the company can count some of the world’s biggest insurance companies among their customers.

In 2020, the AIPeiron system has been awarded the Copernicus Masters Prize for France.

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Castilla–La Mancha is a Spanish autonomous community located in the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula’s Inner Plateau. The community occupies an area of 79,463 km2, including over 3.5 million hectares of forests, which represent 13% of the whole Spanish forests.

INFOCAM, integrated in the Regional Department of Sustainable Development, leads the integral management of forest fires in Castilla-la Mancha. INFOCAM performs its tasks in coordination with all the departments of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, with local and provincial entities, and with the companies and private owners that are involved in sustainable rural development.

The Analysis and Planning Unit (UNAP) of INFOCAM issues periodical forest fire risk reports, that are used to enforce preparedness and response to forest fires.

The challenge

In the summer of 2021, major forest fires led to both ecological and economic losses in Spain. Of all Spain’s regions, Castilla-La Mancha is the one with the most municipalities in high fire-risk areas, with a total of 780.

To limit the damage of fires on forests and take better preventive measures to avoid them, INFOCAM needs to monitor the conditions of the vegetation, as vegetation stress makes it prone to combustion, due to drought and high temperatures in summer or freeze in winter.

The satellite solution

Copernicus provides data on vegetation related to phenology, photosynthesis activity, and vegetation stress.

INFOCAM uses data from Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 satellites to estimate the density of green in the region and the amount of green and alive elements of the vegetation. This information is important to know the amount of vegetation that could be available for potential fires and is crucial to reduce uncertainty, especially with regard to emergency preparedness.

The results

The maps and the data concerning the forest fire risks are provided to the stakeholders through a web-GIS (Geographic Information System) and daily reports that are distributed to the entities in charge of managing forests and fire risks.

Remote sensing data provided by Copernicus represent a crucial tool to support fire services before the fire season starts and enable them to activate resources and procedures.

During emergencies, when fires are being managed, the satellites provide fire managers with information about the spatial distribution of the fire risk that is useful to design operational plans for fire extinction.

Based on the information on the fire risks contained in the maps, the region can increase or move resources (e.g., helicopters, fire engines and fire brigades) from prevention tasks to firefighting tasks in time.

Moreover, combined with wind and meteorological data, the maps allow for the forecasting of fire spreads into nearby areas.

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