The World Settlement Footprint provides five products that monitor the changing dynamics of urban areas. Such products help policy makers to take informed decisions to make cities more sustainable and resilient to future changes. The WSF combines satellite Earth observation with machine learning and information and telecommunication technologies to provide assessments and predictions, and even to enable participatory platforms to collect and share information on urban settlements.

The 7^th episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series was conducted by Dr Thomas Esch, Senior Scientist and leader of the “Smart Cities and Spatial Development” team at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

83% of cities are highly vulnerable to disaster-related mortality and the number of people living in urban areas is constantly increasing. Sustainable and resilient management of our cities is of key importance for our future. The World Settlement Footprint Initiative developed by DLR wants to exploit Earth observation to provide up-to-date and area-wide insights into the status and the dynamics of the built environment.

Sentinel-1 radar and Sentinel-2 multispectral images, open and free, are the core of the WSF information system, that has the ambition of providing free services.

In addition to the information provided daily by satellites, the platform includes data generated by social media and volunteered geographic information, like OpenStreetMap.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence allow scientists at DLR to organise the data collected and to turn it into actionable information for policy makers, scientists and the industry.

The World Settlement Footprint initiative includes five products, or data layers.

The WSF is the first they created in 2015 and updated in 2019, a binary settlement map of the globe indicating where settlements are and how they interrelate with each other. The product is based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite images. It provides very precise information on the settlements’ extent on the entire Earth.

WSF visualisation of settlements in the Bavarian area of Germany based on a Sentinel-2 image and processed by an algorithm.

The second product considers the amount of impervious surface to locate the settlements. Created in 2019, it is based on WSF and Sentinel-2 images and it provides an insight into the density of built areas within cities.

WSF Imperviousness in Laos. Here, different satellite images collected over a period of time have been analysed with the support of machine learning to mask the clouds on the final image. The product shows indexes, like the built-up areas (in red), the vegetation index (in green) and the water index (in blue).

The third product developed by DLR, WSF Population, uses satellite data and statistical data on population to provide information on the distribution of people in a certain area. These products have been used on several occasions by entities such as the World Bank, that asked them to estimate the number of people exposed to natural hazards on the whole African continent.

WSF Population showing the distribution of population in Cape Town. White areas are industrial complexes where no population is estimated.

WSF Evolution shows changes of the built-up area and trends over time. Developed in collaboration with Google, the product shows where settlements are growing and how fast.

WSF evolution allows to distinguish planned urban development from more spontaneous urban growth globally. It also allows to measure indicator 11.3.1 “Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate” of the Sustainable Development Goal 11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.  Indeed, a city is supposed to be more sustainable if the settlements’ growth is higher than the population’s growth.

By combining the data on settlements’ growth coming from WSF evolution with population data provided by the UN, the experts of DLR were able to find out that in cities in low-income countries, settlements grow faster than the population, while in cities in high-income countries, buildings tend to appear at a slower pace than new inhabitants.

Evolution of settlements’ extent in Cairo from 1985 to 2015 based on Landsat satellite images from that period. The colours — from red (before 1985) to violet (2015) — indicate the years in which the buildings appeared.

The products of the World Settlement Footprint are continuously evolving. Currently, building up on the WSF Evolution, WSF Imperviousness is being fed with Landsat images from 1985 that allow for the assessment of the evolution of the impervious surface over time, while also indicating population density.

In the future, Dr Esch’s team wishes to integrate such analyses with population data, as they did for the International Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, where they mapped the distribution of the population from 2015 to 2020.

Evolution of impervious surface over population density in Gaza between 1995 and 2015.

Most population modelling activities are still made in 2D. The last product of the WSF initiative, WSF 3D, also includes information on the height of the buildings in the settlements mapped, which allows to estimate population density much more precisely.

The algorithm of the WSF 3D product estimates the location of the centres of cities based on buildings’ volume.

In the main graph: the height of buildings in Paris. Even though it is still not possible to calculate the height of each building, the algorithm of WSF 3D allowed scientists at DLR to find out that cities in high-income countries tend to concentrate high buildings in the city centre, while these are more equally distributed in the neighbourhoods of cities of low-income countries.

These data have a great potential to support decision making, especially when integrated within thematic applications. Among current activities, DLR is running the Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform project, funded by the European Space Agency. On the platform users can generate information on demand by selecting their area and time of interest. The platform also provides other data, like population data, that can be combined to produce statistics.

The World Settlement Footprint intiative’s products are largerly used for evidence-based policy advice and decision support (e.g., by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank) and for knowledge and technology transfer (more than a thousand institutions use the WSF products).

Nevertheless, also local authorities can use such data if they have a geographic information system (GIS). In addition, the WSF can also provide data in the form of statistics or Excel tables that can be used also by municipalise without a GIS. At the moment, the DLR team is also working on technologies to transfer information machine-to-machine for users who can’t store large datasets.

To know more about the activities of DLR visit: https://www.dlr.de/EN/Home/home_node.html

The presentation of the webinar is available here: 20221104_EurisyMembersCorner_DLR-TEsch (2)

The recordings can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/R08Rq6DUAVI

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) on the 16th of December 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM CET.

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As the newest associate member of the European Space Agency, the Slovak Space Office intends to leverage on international opportunities to boost the development and use of space-based services locally.

After the Members’ Corner webinar organised on the issue of space-based services for the transport sector in May 2022, the Slovak Space Office hosted a new webinar of the series, this time focused on their activities to stimulate the use of satellite data and services to build sustainable cities and communities.

Despite being a relatively small country, Slovakia has a vibrant space ecosystem, including private space tech companies, R&D institutions, and companies operating in spin-in technologies (such as electronics and ITC).

After becoming the newest associate member of the European Space Agency, the Slovak Space Office prepares to select new additional programmes within the organisation, and to leverage on its fast-growing downstream ecosystem to stimulate the participation of local entities to Horizon Europe projects.

Michal Brichta, leading the Industry Branch of the Slovak Space Office, introduced the audience to the activities and the mission of the newly established national space agency, created one year ago by merging the Space Policy Unit of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports and the Space Industry Unit of the Investment and Trade Development Agency of Slovakia (SARIO).

The SSO currently supports 20 project partnerships, resulting from inter-institutional as well as international cooperations. Both locally and internationally, the SSO also supports discussions on the democratisation of space, working to ensure that all countries and all people can benefit from space research and applications.

Furthermore, the SSO operates to raise the awareness of such benefits of private and public entities, and to build skills for the future generations.

To this end, the SSO organises the “Emerging Space” staple event, which next edition will be held on May 3^rd 2023, and it has been hosting a Cassini Hackathon in 2021. In November 2022, the SSO will also contribute to ActInSpace, an international innovation contest uniting over 100 cities across 50 countries, open to everyone.

For this 6^th webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series, the Slovak Space office selected three examples of use of satellite data to increase quality of life in urban aeras.

The first example was presented by Alex Kutka, from Gospace Tech s.r.o. Initially focused on upstream space activities, since 2016 Gospace made its mission to “bring rocket science into urban challenges”.

Since then, the company developed a smart parking solution and a smart hydrometeorological station monitoring system, both using data from satellites.

This second service was developed to enable city authorities to intervene rapidly in the event of a rise of the Danube River in Bratislava. The system allows for the automatic monitoring of water levels and it includes a mobile app that alerts authorities and citizens via email and SMS.

The system is based on a small sensor (match.com), the size of a cup of tea, connected through a wireless satellite connection and equipped with a battery that can last for at least 5 years. Thanks to the satellite connection, the measurements of the sensor can be communicated to a control unit over a distance up to 700 kilometres.

This system allows for the monitoring of water pumps, water reservoirs, waste waters, and river levels also in remote locations, and even underground.

Gospace’s portfolio of customers includes the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, the Bratislava Water Company and the Slovak Water Management Company.

Following the presentation of the services of Gospace, the webinar showcased the experience of the University of Prešov (UNIPO) using satellite data to come up with innovative urban solutions based on citizen science.

Since 2020, Mr Miloslav Michalko is one of the two mentors of a group of self-organised students who are passionate about the potential of crowd mapping. The group is part of an international community of humanitarian mappers, that got inspired by the role played by satellites to enable mapping and post-disaster intervention in Haiti in 2010.

At UNIPO, they acknowledge the power of the crowds to use satellite imagery to map roads, trails, cafes, train stations and much more around the world, as it happens in OpenStreetMap (OSM) under an open license.

In 2022, the UNIPO team won a citython co-funded by the European Union with the “Green Parking Smart Surrounding” app. Since temperatures in cities are increasing, the team wanted to provide people with an app allowing to monitor temperatures in parking areas and to take measures to cool down the air there.

The app relies on satellite data from Sentinel-2 and Landsat to identify the hot spots. Based on the analysis of the data, the team proposed measures to cool the air around parking spots, for example by adding natural shadowing and installing solar panels, which potential output is also calculated by using satellite data.

The app wants to use citizen science as a way to actively engage people in data collection and mapping. In this sense, Citythons are not only a means to come up with new solutions, but also an occasion to train the young generation on the potential of satellite imagery to design, implement and monitor policies to make cities more liveable and sustainable.

Finally, Mr Matus Bakon presented some of the products developed by INSAR s.r.o. to monitor urban infrastructure with the support of satellites.

The stability of buildings in urban areas is threatened by events like landslides and earthquakes and collecting in-situ measurements to better prevent and manage damage is often expensive and time-consuming for local authorities.

The app developed by INSAR provides visual alerts on the conditions of roads, rails and infrastructure.

The application relies on satellite INSAR data and provides guidance to urban decision-makers in a number of cities, for example in New Delhi, in India, but also in Slovakia, where the company provides data useful to prevent and understand damage to buildings caused by undermining.

The use of satellite data allows customers to limit ground inspections and to have an historical overview of soil movements over a vast area.

Urban planners, but also companies and citizens can easily identify areas where soil movements could endanger infrastructure and buildings, verify conflicting uses of the urban space, and plan interventions (e.g. renovation works).

The solution is particularly interesting for local governments, providers of smart cities solutions, infrastructure operators, and assets managers.

To know more about the activities of the Slovak Space Office visit: https://spaceoffice.sk/ 

Presentations:

Michal Brichta, Slovak Space Office

Satellite technologies for smart cities and sustainable communities in Slovakia

Alex Kutka, Gospace Tech s.r.o.

Internet of Things: solutions for connecting in-situ measurements and satellites

Miloslav Michalko, University of Presov

From satellite data to smart solutions for cities: Experience with Citythons

Matus Bakon, INSAR s.r.o.

Satellite data as a critical asset for urban infrastructure monitoring

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on the World Settlement Footprint initiative on the 4th of November 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM CET !

To register: https://bit.ly/3eJfuZy

The post Eurisy Members’ Corner: New focus on the Slovak Space Office appeared first on Eurisy.

Focusing on concrete needs and empowering local administrations are the foundational elements of the strategy of the Malta Council for Science and Technology to develop a competitive space sector.

Dr Michael Quinton, working on Space Engagement & Programmes at the MCST, opened this new episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series by introducing the Malta Space Research Fund, created with the support of the European Space Agency in 2018. Malta is not yet a PECS (Plan for European Cooperating States) member of  the European Space Agency, but conversations are ongoing to join the Plan, possibly by 2024. In the meanwhile, the country cooperates with ESA though mechanisms such as the Space Research Fund.

The Fund aims at providing economic and technical support for the development of space-based services that tackle societal challenges and encourages cooperation between public, private and academic institutions.

In 2018, the strong Maltese ICT sector was identified as the basis to build upon to develop a space sector in the country and since then 14 space-based services have been financed through the Space Research Fund. These serve as a knowledge base and are meant to encourage more research and investments into the downstream space sector.

Not only the Fund provides financial support, but also offers training to Maltese entities interested in exploiting the potential of Earth observation to apply for European funding.

The ambition of the Space Research Fund is to serve as a catalyst: more research in the use of EO favours the growth of the sector, which encourages the government to invest more and to make more funds available. This results in an increasing number of local entities becoming interested in EO, and in more support being provided by ESA to sustain this virtuous cycle.

In January 2022, the MCST drafted a National Space Strategy based on five pillars: attracting foreign and direct investors that will allow local companies, also not involved in the space sector, to approach this market; boosting the development of innovative uses of EO; implementing trainings for local administrations and local people; developing a legal framework for space activities; and eventually favouring the commercialisation of the space-based products and services developed in Malta.

Projects can be funded up to 150.000 euros with a duration of 20 months. At the end of the first stage of 12 months, a technical and financial reports are evaluated by experts. The second stage of eight months includes local dissemination of deliverables and the showcase of the results of the projects.

Since 2018, 14 projects have been selected through the Space Research Fund. These are related to diverse topics, all relevant to the Maltese economy, environment and society.

Among such projects, SIPOBED “Satellite Investigation to study POcket BEach Dynamics”, uses EO to study the dynamics of pocket beaches, i.e. small beaches that are isolated between two headlands.

The project, presented by Sebastiano D’Amico from the University of Malta, looks at the overall beach dynamics, both underwater and inland.

Malta is characterised by rocky and sandy beaches. In this project, satellite imagery is used to study the bathymetry (i.e. to measure the depth of the water) of sandy beaches, while drones and other techniques are used to validate the information provided by satellites. The goal of such project is to measure the volume of the sediments, to define a sediment transport model, and to eventually design planning tools to be used by coastal managers.

The system will be used on all pocket beaches in Malta, allowing for the monitoring of sediment transportation with centimetre accuracy. Furthermore, it will enable scientists to also spot other geological features that could influence the stability of the coast, such as soil displacements and earthquakes.

The project, that started over a year ago now, will provide Maltese authorities with information that they can use to proactively protect pocket beaches against coastal erosion.

Indeed, during the second year, the project will implement trainings for the coastal authorities to get acquainted with the GIS (Geographic Information System) produced, and will present a preliminary coastal erosion management plan to public authorities and other stakeholders.

Mr D’Amico also presented the Coastal SAGE project “Coastal Satellite-Assisted Governance (tools, techniques, models) for Erosion”, implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Capital projects of Malta.

This project focuses on coastal erosion on rocky beaches. EO is used in combination with Artificial Intelligence to monitor with millimetric precision ground motion that could cause rocks to fall near the beaches. The final goal of the project is to deliver to coastal authorities the information they need to prevent damage to people and properties.

On the six testbeds, SAR data from Sentinel-1 satellites allow scientists to know exactly how the ground moves. By combining satellite data with in-situ observations and socio-economic data, the project will produce a risk assessment and monitoring tool to develop a preliminary coastal erosion management plan to be presented to public authorities and stakeholders. After completion of the project, the Ministry of Transport will be immediately able to use the plan to prevent the risks associated with coastal erosion around rocky beaches.

On another topic, the “Satellite4Health” project aims at forecasting the number of hospital admissions and the length of patients’ stay in hospitals, and at understanding the impact of weather and air pollution on the spread of diseases.

The project, implemented by a multidisciplinary team, was presented by Dr Lalit Garg from the University of Malta.

Satellite imagery is analysed to measure and monitor weather variables influencing public health, to assess the impacts of such variables on hospitals, and to finally develop a tool to forecast the number of admissions in the hospitals and the length of patients’ stay.

Weather data are collected through satellites (mainly Sentinel-3) and weather ground stations, while hospital data are collected directly from the Mater Dei Hospital and the Directorate for Health Information & Research (DHIR).

The system will allow to foresee the number of hospitals’ admissions and the length of patients’ stay based on weather data. This information will be disseminated through a mobile app that will alert users of events that can impact public health, such as sandstorms.

To know more about the activities of the MCST visit: https://mcst.gov.mt/

The presentations of the webinar are below:

SIPOBED Tha Malta Space Research Fund Eurisy_Introduction_to_Coastal_SAGE

SIPOBED

Eurisy_Introduction_to_Coastal_SAGE

Satellite4Health – Eurisy Presentation

The recordings can be accessed here.

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Slovak Space Office (SSO) on the 21th of October 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 AM CET. To register: https://bit.ly/3dc3Aa8

The post Eurisy Members’ Corner: Focus on the Malta Council for Science and Technology appeared first on Eurisy.

Space applications can transform the maritime domains, by providing data and information that will foster a sustainable blue economy, and help protecting the ocean and preserving its resources. CNES wants to be at the forefront of the creation of a global “Sea & Space” strategy that federates public and private stakeholders to put science at the service of society.

The 4^th episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series was animated by Ariel Fucks, heading the maritime strategy of the Connect by CNES programme.

Mr Fucks virtually participated from Lisbon, on the last day of the UN Ocean Conference, this year dedicated to the theme “Scaling up ocean action based on science and innovation for the implementation of Goal 14: stocktaking, partnerships and solutions.”

Following the directions of the French government, CNES works with public and private actors to implement innovation strategies in some key sectors of the national economy. These include the monitoring and protection of the environment, the promotion of smart mobility and of a sustainable agriculture, and the strengthening of maritime activities that preserve the natural environment, among others.

To reach out to organisations outside the space sector, CNES has launched the Connect-by-CNES programme, which aims to open up the potential of space technologies and solutions to the entire national economy.

Targeted stakeholders represent a varied ecosystem, including ministries, public administrations at the national, regional and local levels, start-ups and SMEs, large industrial groups, research centres, innovation hubs, and civil society organisations.

At the international level, CNES collaborates on programmes aimed at enhancing the use of space applications with a number of organisations, including European institutions, other national governments (such as the USA, Singapore, India, and Australia), and international organisations.

The Space Climate Observatory is an international initiative proposed by France in 2019 to support the emergence of operational tools for climate monitoring, mitigation and adaptation, addressed to decision-makers and the wide public. CNES is the entity in charge of implementing the SCO in France and of inspiring the implementation of similar models in other countries.

The SCO France is managed by a committee made up of 22 French public entities operating in the field of climate action, including the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Solidarity.

To use scientific advancements to monitor and protect the seas and the ocean, CNES has a strategy based on four pillars: smart routing, maritime surveillance, port management, and ecosystem surveillance.

Smart routing is today flourishing, with a lot of efforts being put into the development of next generation automated navigation systems. These not only rely on satellite navigation for positioning, but also on satellite remote sensing for data on sea currents, weather, and winds, to allow sailors to choose the routes that will require the least amount of energy.

Watch the video by Eurisy and CNES on the use of Copernicus data made by a French SME to reduce the carbon footprint of ships:

Maritime surveillance is profiting from scientific advancements to better monitor protected areas and fight illegal fishing, which represents a major threat to biodiversity and to the economic sustainability of fishery. Images from satellites and data collected through in-situ observations (geolocated thanks to satellite navigation) provide a big amount of reliable information on the status of our seas and environments. Coastal authorities rely on satellite navigation to monitor illegal fishery, while new apps are being created that use data from satellite imagery to know where to fish and satellite navigation signals to track the position of fishermen at sea.

Port management concerns the monitoring of vessels’ movements, for which satellite navigation systems are already widely used, and the monitoring of pollution.

Interactions between the environment and human activities can also be assessed and monitored by using satellite data. As an example, satellites provide data useful to capture and monitor environmental parameters within and around ports, which can be particularly useful during port infrastructure works.

Watch the video realised by Eurisy and CNES on the use of Copernicus data during the enlargement works in the harbour of Port-la-Nouvelle, in southern France:

CNES has a continuous dialogue with public and private organisations in the maritime domains on ways to foster the development and use of services based on satellite data and signals.

Collaboration with external entities is key for CNES to decide on its strategic orientations, to understand the needs of public and private organisations operating in the maritime sector that could benefit from satellite-based data and signals, and to create common endeavours for the development of services more and more adapted to the operational needs of those working in sectors linked to the seas and the oceans.

The Copernicus Earth observation programme plays a major role in enabling such collaborations, providing a huge amount of free and open data that we can use to monitor the oceans.

Mercator Ocean, the entity currently in charge of implementing the Copernicus Marine Monitoring Service has recently become international, to better serve the needs of the EC for data providing and data processing, also in view of the implementation of the digital twin of the ocean, a scientific tool that is really meant to meet concrete needs of actors operating in the maritime domains.

In this context, Eurisy participates to the consortium implementing the Iliad project (Integrated digital framework for comprehensive maritime data and information services), that aims to establish an interoperable, data-intensive, and cost-effective Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO).

Freshly returned from the Euromaritime congress held in Marseille on 28-30 June, where Eurisy and CNES coorganised a roundtable on space solutions for a sustainable Blue Economy, Alessandra Vernile, from the Eurisy secretariat, confirmed the clear interest of the French space community to activate scientific discoveries to the profit of the maritime sector, and of the great interest of the maritime community towards satellite applications tracking ships and containers.

Several examples of how satellite data can sustain the blue economy while contributing to safeguarding the oceans can be found in the new edition of the Eurisy periodical publication Satellites Going Local dedicated to the maritime domains.

If you are in Paris, you might be interested in attending the 1ʳᵉ edition of the “Assises du NewSpace”, taking place on July 7 and 8 at Station F. The event has the dual objective of establishing a state of the art of the NewSpace market in France, and of drawing together growth prospects to structure and consolidate a French NewSpace, in view of promoting it internationally within five years.

To know more about the activities of CNES visit: https://cnes.fr/en

The presentation of the webinar is available here: Presentation-ConnectbyCNES eurisy

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) on the 16th of September 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 AM CET.

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Foster the development of innovative applications, bridge the gap between research and real-world needs, and establish international cooperation. This is the formula of the STEREO programme of BELSPO to support research in Earth observation.

After the welcome given to the participants by Ms Dominique Tilmans, Eurisy president and former senator of Belgium, this new episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series was introduced by Jean-Christophe Schyns, from BELSPO’s Earth Observation programme.

The STEREO programme (Support To Exploitation and Research in Earth Observation), managed by the “Space Research and Applications” directorate of BELSPO, offers to Belgian universities, public scientific institutions and non-profit research organisations opportunities and tools for the development of an expertise in Earth observation and a maximised scientific use of satellite and airborne data.

The current edition (STEREO-III) will end in 2022, but a new call has already been released to look for applicants for the next programme’s phase. Considering the relatively small size of Belgium, the investments made in this programme by the government are not negligible at all.

The programme funds projects with a duration of 2-5 years with a budget that currently ranges from 200.000 up to 1 million EUR, according to the scope of the project and the number of partners involved. Non-Belgian institutions can also be partners in this funding scheme.

Epidemiology and Urban Studies have been among the thematic priorities of STEREO-III, which funded three interconnected projects on population and malaria risk in sub-Saharan African cities. Such projects included five Belgian and three foreign research teams with a total budget of 2,25 M EUR, and aimed at developing tools based on EO to be made freely available to the local populations.

Catherine Linard, from the Department of Geography of the University of Namur, presented two of these projects, MAUPP and REACT.

Even though in Africa only 40% of the population lives in cities, urbanisation represents a growing trend, and a challenge for urban planners who need to adapt the cities’ infrastructure to a growing population.

The STEREO-III projects presented in the webinar aimed at providing urban planners with the data they need to prepare for upcoming risks in African cities. Indeed, even if large-scale gridded population datasets exist, the quality of such data for African cities is often insufficient for urban planning.

To estimate and monitor risks in cities, planners need data on the risk areas and on the population living there. When observing high resolution images of African urban areas, the researchers saw that such cities are very heterogeneous in the materials used for building and in their natural features, which makes it particularly difficult to build a system to characterise urban areas that could be immediately adapted to different cities.

Within the MAUPP project (Modeling and forecasting African Urban Population Patterns), aimed to build a monitoring system on urban areas that could be refined, researchers used high-resolution images (30-100 m) on 48 African cities and very-high-resolution images (<5 m) in the cities of Ouagadougou and Dakar. Satellite imagery allowed them to realise land cover and land use maps and detailed intra-urban population datasets for these two cities.

Within the REACT project (Remote Sensing foe Epidemiology in Sub-Saharan African CitTes), scientists used satellite imagery to improve knowledge of intra- and inter-urban malaria risk. They started by collecting feedback from the population through a survey. The results of the survey were then coupled with EO data on climate variables influencing vector-borne diseases (such as temperature, humidity, and vegetation), to identify hotspots where diseases are more likely to be transmitted within urban areas.

The project included knowledge transfer workshops aimed at providing local stakeholders with the capabilities to use the EO-based maps produced.

According to Ms Linard, it is very important that the EO datasets produced within projects are used by local urban planners, but it is also crucial to inform them about the uncertainties of such datasets.

Sabine Vanhuysse, from the Earth Observation and Geospatial Information Science department of the Free University of Brussels, presented the SLUMAP project (Remote Sensing for Slum Mapping and Characterisation in sub-Saharan African Cities), aimed at developing an open-source framework for the processing of remote sensing images to identify and characterise deprived urban areas.

The first target of the Sustainable Development Goal 11 aims at ensuring safe and affordable housing for all by 2030. Nevertheless, the UN estimates that 1 billion people still leave today in deprived urban areas.

To support a better management of deprived areas in African cities, the researchers involved a number of local stakeholders in a needs’ assessment that highlighted a gap in spatial data in such areas. Also in this case, the heterogeneity of deprived urban areas represented a challenge for the transferability of a satellite-based system to characterise deprived areas in different cities. At the same time, the cost of very high resolution images limits the scalability of such solutions.

Having these challenges in mind, the researchers used EO to assess deprivation probability in African cities. Satellite imagery was used to map urban morphology, characterise land cover, assess buildings’ density, and identify waste piles.

EO images were also shown to the local population through a mobile app, in order to assess the perception of deprivation of local populations. Such perception data were then used to calibrate the EO data. The results of the project are meant to be used by local associations to claim measures to improve living conditions in the studied urban areas.

To know more about the activities of BELSPO visit: https://spaceoffice.sk/ 

The recordings of the webinar are available here:

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the French National Centre for Space Studies on the 1st of July 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 AM CET: https://bit.ly/3aoVkBx

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Open doors to foreign partners, connect European and global partners to local companies and look for the hidden potential of the national economy. This is the approach of the Slovak Space Office to enhance the development of the space downstream sector.

Daniel Sagath, International Cooperation Manager at the Slovak Space Office, introduced the audience to the activities and the mission of the newly established national space agency, created one year ago as a common project of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports and of the Investment and Trade Development Agency of Slovakia.

A formula that combines tradition with innovation and that has proved to be successful to get the interest of local entrepreneurs towards the opportunities offered by the space sector both upstream and downstream. The SSO has launched its first business incubator last year and is looking forward to implementing larger projects in the next future.

Slovakia collaborates with policy-making bodies on the international space scene since several years, and the country is soon to join the European Space Agency as an associate member, which will unblock more funding and support opportunities for Slovak companies interested in the potential of satellite applications.

Different Slovak state organisations (ministries and national authorities in charge of transport infrastructure, land monitoring and border control, among others) profit or could profit from GNSS services.

To give examples of the creativity of the Slovak SME ecosystem, in this second webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series the Slovak Space Office introduced three companies, successfully established on the market, that are using satellite navigation and imagery to boost innovation in road and air transport.

Sygic, a company with 18 years of existence and 200 employees based in Bratislava and Brno, has developed an app/ software based on satellite navigation which has been downloaded by over 200 million people, including more than one million professional drivers, and that counts 12 million monthly active users.

Radim Cmar, Business Architect at Sygic, explained that they are exploring the potential of satellite navigation to enhance the lane assistance feature in their app. GPS satellites can tell on which lane the drivers have to go, but not on which lane the drivers currently are. The Galileo system, with a precision up to one metre, would allow the app to direct the drivers based on the lane they are in.

The company is also looking into the potential of Copernicus satellites to collect floating car data, in particular to assess car density, and to build augmented maps, for example to inform drivers about the weather and city managers about pollution.

NG Aviation provides instead services to facilitate the digital transition of the civil aviation sector. NG Aviation developed a service based on GNSS to improve airport traffic management, which allows relevant stakeholders to communicate in a common language and using a common data format while supporting a single source of truth.

Ivan Kratochvil, Sales and Business Development Manager at NG Aviation told us that they are mainly interested in using Earth observation data as the main layer to present the information that airport authorities and stakeholders need to share to grant the smooth and safe functioning of an airport. By merging their data with the satellite-based data, NG Aviation can produce real-time statistics that offer a real-added value to improve airports’ cost-efficiency.

Microstep-MIS  has 30 years of experience in developing and manufacturing monitoring and information systems, in data processing, research, and numerical modelling in more than 80 countries. Microstep-MIS targets several sectors, including aviation (the company developed aviation weather systems for 370 airports), hydrology and road transport, among others.

Juraj Bartok, Head of Research at Microstep-MIS, explained that for maritime meteorology, they use satellite navigation data to trace meteorological buoys carried by sea currents. Moreover, Mr Bartok showed how the company employs satellite images taken with 5 to 15-minute frequency to improve fog forecasts in Dubai, where drivers and public authorities need to be warned about dense fogs in highly trafficked highways.  He showcased how satellite imagery allows for the visualisation of the position and the movements of the fog to adjust forecasts and warnings. Finally, he explained how they use EO also to tune up models for sandstorm predictions.

The three examples showed how satellite data can be creatively used to enable innovation in the transport sector and increase transport security.

To know more about the activities of the Slovak Space Office visit: https://spaceoffice.sk/ 

The recordings of the webinar are available here:

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Belgian Science Policy Office on the 17^th of June 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 AM CET!

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People, Planet, Profit: this is the formula behind the approach of the Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) programme of the European Space Agency.

During the first webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series, Davide Coppola, Business Developer and Project Manager at ESA, provided insights into the support and funding opportunities made available by ESA to private companies of all sizes to integrate space technologies and bring their products to the market.

The “3P approach” aims at putting space capabilities to good use to favour the transition into a sustainable, green, and digital Europe.

By providing technical and business support, zero equity funding and access to its partners’ network, the BASS programme supports EU start-ups, SMEs, as well as mid-caps and corporates to define, develop, verify and validate innovative and sustainable applications/services utilising space assets and fulfilling customers and end-users’ needs.

Between 2016 and 2021, the European Space Agency has been supporting more than 600 activities aimed at transferring space technologies to a number of civilian sectors, the most prominent being: Transport and Logistics, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, and Health and Social Care.  Most of such activities have been implemented in cooperation with SMEs, while 33% of the private companies involved were “newcomers” in the ESA ecosystem.

Indeed, ESA has simplified the procedure for companies to obtain support to develop their business ideas, with the aim of attracting more and more organisations working on pressing issues such as circular economy, sustainable digital economy, renewable energy, and humanitarian assistance.

A number of funding opportunities are currently open to private companies wishing to embark in the space venture. Some are kick-starter opportunities and other are thematic calls. Information on such opportunities is available on the BASS’ webpage: https://business.esa.int/how-to-apply

An initiative that has not been issued yet is the “Space in response to humanitarian crises” call. An info session to present the call will be organised online on the 21st of April 2022, while the call will open to applications on the 25th. Further information can be accessed here: https://business.esa.int/funding/invitation-to-tender/space-response-to-humanitarian-crises

If you want to know more about the opportunities made available by the Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) programme of the European Space Agency visit their webpage: https://business.esa.int/

The recordings of the webinar are available here:

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Slovak Space Office on the 20^th of May 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 AM CET!

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You can submit your story today by filling in the questionnaire below. The best submissions will be featured in a case study and six among those will be showcased in short videos.

Both videos and case studies will be disseminated by Eurisy and CNES through their channels. You will be able to use them to promote your organisation or to spread the word about how Copernicus data and services can make a difference.

We are looking for European public organisations at the national, regional and local levels and for non-space SMEs.

We are interested in organisations using Copernicus data and services in the following sectors, but we are open to submissions concerning other domains:

• Environmental protection
• Urban planning
• Cultural heritage
• Energy
• Agriculture
• Risk management / Water management

This initiative is implemented by Eurisy and CNES with funding from the Caroline Herschel Framework Partnership Agreement between the European Commission and Copernicus Participating States. The initiative is overseen by CNES within the context of the initiative “Connect-by-CNES”.

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e-shape is an unprecedented initiative that brings together for the first time 54 public and private organisations working on Earth Observation data and cloud capabilities to coordinate Europe’s contribution to GEOSSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) – a global one single-entry data point that brokers more than 150 autonomous data catalogues. e-shape is however not just about data. It’s about transforming data into services for citizens, industry, decision-makers and researchers.

Throughout the project’s lifetime spanning 48 months, partners covering 17 European countries, Ethiopia, Egypt and Israel will work on the development of 27 cloud-based Earth Observations applications covering 7 thematic areas (food security, health, renewable energy, biodiversity, water resources, disaster resilience and climate). The diverse inventory of showcases will address topics such as, improving the accuracy of carbon emission monitoring, volcanic ash distribution, assessing the geo-hazard vulnerabilities of cities or monitoring pollution health risks in urban areas and many more. Aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the Sendaï Framework the pilots will be build on open data stemming from the GEOSS and Copernicus data pools and computational infrastructure. 

The goal of e-shape is not to build a new IT platform but to reveal how to take the best advantage of the existing distributed assets. As such, each individual showcase is based on existing results, applications and platforms developed through previous Horizon2020 projects. In a presently fragmented European landscape of EO services and data sets, pooling resources and capacities emerged as a necessary solution for both users and service providers. From the data architecture point of view, e-shape is in other words, a federation of open platforms and services. On this note, Erwin Goor E-shape Project Officer at EASME (Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) stated that:

“e-shape can significantly increase the collaboration between European EO companies: sharing knowledge, experiences and data; building on each other’s strengths.”

Researchers, SMEs and companies that develop EO-based services in the context of the pilots, will benefit from e-shape through access to knowledge, access to markets and guidance for facilitated access to capital. All with the aim of brining these services closer to market and ensure they respond to user needs – goals that are part and parcel of our mission. Thus, through our involvement in e-shape we continue our mandate to build bridges between space and society by bringing project partners closer to user communities across Europe.

Together with our partners at EARSC ( European Association of Remote Sensing Companies) we’ll be looking to guide and equip research organisations with the right tools to create user-centric business solutions that rely both on Europe’s impressive satellite infrastructure and market knowledge.

With the project scheduled to end in 2023, make sure to stay up-to-date with the project activities and events on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!

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However, this is not really the case.

If we were to measure societal change in relation to technological innovation, we would need to look at how technology has actually changed our behaviour and the way we do things. Very few of today’s technological leaps are actually altering or significantly changing our behaviour. What technology is doing however is providing us with better, more efficient tools to do… exactly what we were doing before. This also applies to the satellite-based services sector. Scientists and public authorities have been gathering data about our surrounding environments for 100 years or more. What we are introducing now is a better and faster way of doing it.

Having recently joined this community of downstream space applications market, I’ve had the opportunity to attend several events and conferences addressing satellite driven innovation. And while some of the technicalities of the field escape me, there is one common denominator linking the various companies providing these services and that is that very few actually know who their customers are going to be.

There is a simple truth in commerce: if you can’t sell it, you can’t succeed. And there is another self-standing rule to a free market system – you’re always competing with someone else. Whilst many venture capitals funds may choose to look into the technical nitty-gritty details before deciding to invest in a business, I look at whether the product is set in accordance with the needs of the customers whose budgets the company wants to claim.

Yet, despite the obvious benefits of using satellite data, in contrast with more time-consuming and at times more expensive data collection methods, satellite based applications are still at an R&D stage.

There are two critical questions that any businesses, no matter the industry, should ask themselves before approaching a new market: who are my customers and who am I competing against?

The answer you provide to these questions can define not only whether your business will succeed or fail, but also whether you’ll obtain the venture capital you need. At the Green Angel Syndicate, the only UK network of small investors specialised in green economy, we thus focus not on the technology behind the service, but on market needs and trends. How does the market you want to target look like? Who are your customers and what influences them?

When a client, whether public or private, procures a service it does not ask about the technology used or the types of data behind the product. For the end customer, it makes no difference where the data is coming from. What somebody cares about however, is how the service responds to his or her current needs or how it can help them improve their services. Therefore, the decision to spend their budgets on a new service will not be driven by how great or innovative the technology is, but rather by what it can do for them.

Now, how is your product going to help a prospective customer achieve their vision? How can it help them achieve their goals?

In my experience, an incorrectly positioned product is the most frequent reason behind a company’s failure. Your vision needs to be a shared with your customers. This means listening to markets’ and clients’ need to produce viable products and break a vicious R&D cycle.

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