High resolution, digital bathymetry now available off-the-shelf

Gilching, Germany (SPX) Feb 05, 2014

File image.

Industry leading aquatic earth observation company EOMAP has launched an off-the-shelf bathymetry product line which will transform the uptake and uses of digital bathymetry data. This world first service makes high-resolution, satellite-derived bathymetry available through online portals and its business partners.
Dr. Thomas Heege, CEO, comments that "satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) technology has matured to a robust and cost effective solution for mapping shallow water bathymetry, especially at high spatial resolutions".
Indeed, Shell Petroleum recently announced at the IPTC conference cost savings of more than 1 M USD when using EOMAP solutions instead of the previous methods, for mapping a 740 sq km area off the coast of Qatar.

Επιτυχημένη η πρώτη εθνική αποστολή Αεροδιαστημικής

Χεκίμογλου Αχιλλέας

Μπήκαν τα θεμέλια για ευρύτερη τεχνολογική συνεργασία με το Ισραήλ

Η ελληνική αποστολή είχε συναντήσεις με κορυφαίες αεροδιαστημικές βιομηχανίες του Ισραήλ

Με επιτυχίες στις βαλίτσες της επέστρεψε πριν από λίγες ημέρες από το Ισραήλ η πρώτη ελληνική επιχειρηματική αποστολή αεροδιαστημικής.

Στην ελληνική αντιπροσωπεία, η οποία συγκροτήθηκε υπό τον συντονισμό του si-cluster και της Ένωσης Ελληνικών Βιομηχανιών Διαστημικής Τεχνολογίας και Εφαρμογών (ΕΒΙΔΙΤΕ), συμμετείχαν ελληνικές επιχειρήσεις που δραστηριοποιούνται στην αεροδιαστημική, στελέχη της Γενικής Γραμματείας Έρευνας και Τεχνολογίας (ΓΓΕΤ) και εκπρόσωποι της Ελληνικής Πρωτοβουλίας Τεχνολογικών Συνεργατικών Σχηματισμών, Corallia.

Astrium and GeoNorth sign first ever multi-satellite Direct Receiving Station

Anchorage AK (SPX) Dec 18, 2013

This is the ninth DRS contract Astrium Services has signed in 2013. These agreements establish either new DRS or upgrade existing DRS for compatibility with new satellites (SPOT 6, SPOT 7, TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X).

Astrium has signed with GeoNorth for the first multi-mission Direct Receiving Station (DRS), with a unique offering of both high-resolution and very high-resolution optical and radar satellite imagery capabilities. This new contract brings to nearly 40 the number of stations in the Astrium Services DRS network - the largest worldwide.
The agreement will give GeoNorth the unparalleled capability of priority tasking the Astrium Services satellite constellations to capture imagery anywhere on the globe and downlink data to its processing terminal located at the Alaska satellite facility in Fairbanks. It provides for a multi-satellite DRS that will draw on the SPOT (5 and 6), Pleiades (1A and 1B), TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X satellites - with resolutions across optical and radar products ranging from 0.25m to 40m.
"GeoNorth is thrilled to be able to make such a significant announcement at this time in our company's history," said Brian Minster, GeoNorth's co-founder and General Manager.

Airbus Defence and Space wins ground segment contract for French Spysat

Paris (SPX) Feb 03, 2014

File image.

Space Systems of Airbus Defence and Space has been selected by the French armament procurement agency DGA to build the user ground segment (UGS) of the MUSIS (MUltinational Space-based Imaging System for surveillance, reconnaissance and observation) observation satellite programme. This new deal includes providing through-life support for the user ground segment for 12 years.
In 2010, Astrium signed the contract with the French Space Agency CNES to manufacture the satellites. The MUSIS programme satellites are set to progressively take over from the Helios programme satellites.
This ground segment will allow programming commands to be sent to the MUSIS satellites and to receive, generate, distribute and store the images they acquire. The UGS will also enable the French armed forces to access all the existing and future satellite observation sensors.
The ground segment is set to become operational by 2017 - the year in which the first satellite of the MUSIS programme will be launched.

Top Geospatial Predictions for 2014

December 19th, 2013 by Susan Smith

The following are GISCafe Voice’s Geospatial Predictions for 2014. Some of them were on last year’s list, but continue on as important predictions for change in 2014. There was big change in 2014, in the delivery of products, demand for certain types of products such as for disaster recovery, tracking and restoration and mobile apps, as well as the coming of age of indoor location mapping. See if our predictions line up with what your predictions are for 2014!

BYU's smart object recognition algorithm doesn't need humans

Salt Lake City UT (SPX) Jan 21, 2014

Dah-Jye Lee said the results show the algorithm could be used for a number of applications, from detecting invasive fish species (think of the carp in Utah Lake) to identifying flaws in produce such as apples on a production line. Image courtesy BYU Photo.

If we've learned anything from post-apocalyptic movies it's that computers eventually become self-aware and try to eliminate humans. BYU engineer Dah-Jye Lee isn't interested in that development, but he has managed to eliminate the need for humans in the field of object recognition. Lee has created an algorithm that can accurately identify objects in images or video sequences without human calibration.
"In most cases, people are in charge of deciding what features to focus on and they then write the algorithm based off that," said Lee, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. "With our algorithm, we give it a set of images and let the computer decide which features are important."
Not only is Lee's genetic algorithm able to set its own parameters, but it also doesn't need to be reset each time a new object is to be recognized-it learns them on its own.
Lee likens the idea to teaching a child the difference between dogs and cats. Instead of trying to explain the difference, we show children images of the animals and they learn on their own to distinguish the two. Lee's object recognition does the same thing: Instead of telling the computer what to look at to distinguish between two objects, they simply feed it a set of images and it learns on its own.

China's pollution seen from space

Paris (AFP) Jan 17, 2014
Scientists said Friday they had mapped ground-level air pollution in China from space for the first time, a feat that should help the fight against a notorious health hazard.
French and Belgian atmospheric scientists used an infrared sensor aboard a European MetOp weather satellite to map plumes of particles and carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ammonia over the north China plain, blanketing Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province in January 2013.
The experts were surprised to find the technology works, but discovered the success also depends on two conditions, France's National Centre for Space Research (CNRS) said.
There have to be "stable" weather conditions, so pollution accumulates at ground level.
There also has to be a big temperature difference between air at ground level and higher layers of the atmosphere for the warm emissions of pollution to stand out, it said.
Satellites could be a useful tool for monitoring the extent of pollution clouds and predicting their movement, according to the study published in the Geophysical Review Letters, helping authorities advise residents in time.
source:  http://www.spacedaily.com