The EarlY WArning System for Mosquito-borne Diseases (EYWA) was developed in the context of the EuroGEO Action Group “Earth Observation for Epidemics of Vector-borne Diseases – EO4EViDence”.

EYWA is a game changer in the domain of epidemics. The solution enhances mosquito surveillance and control at various spatio-temporal scales and in different climatic zones, and guides day-to-day prevention and mitigation actions. EYWA significantly reduces the entomological risk and results in the aversion of human cases in thousands of villages where it is employed.

This second episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series of 2023 was designed and moderated by Dr Haris Kontoes, Head of the Operational Unit BEYOND Centre of EO research and satellite remote sensing of the National Observatory of Athens, Coordinator of EuroGEO Action Group for Epidemics, and Lead Partner of EYWA.

The BEYOND Center of Excellence develops research and provides disaster management services addressing priorities and needs in Southeastern Europe, the Mediterranean area, North Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans.

Dr Kontoes explained that mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs) are present in more than 100 countries all over the world, including Europe, causing 700.000 deaths every year.

The EarlY WArning System for Mosquito-borne Diseases (EYWA) was developed in the context of the EuroGEO Action Group “Earth Observation for Epidemics of Vector-borne Diseases – EO4EViDence”.

The technological novelty of EYWA lies in the efficient handling of multiple data sources, such as entomological, epidemiological, Earth Observation, crowd and ancillary geospatial data, along with dynamic and data-driven models to generate knowledge on mosquitoes’ abundance and pathogens’ transmission.

Thanks to data provided by Copernicus satellites and Copernicus Core Services, EYWA reliably depicts the dynamics of mosquito habitats and breeding sites. The system capitalises on European investments in Earth Observation and cloud-based data repositories and capacities (i.e. DIAS, GEOSS, NextGEOSS).

Since 2020 the system has been operational in Europe, and in 2022 it provided operational support for 11 regions in 5 European countries (France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Serbia). In 2022, EYWA further expanded its operational capacity by adding a new region in Italy and in Ivory Coast, and its pre-operational capacity in Thailand and Ghana, with the goal of covering and supporting regions with different climatic and socioeconomic conditions. In total, the system benefits 14 regions in eight countries across the globe.

This distinction of the EYWA system makes it a significant milestone and an exceptional example of the vast Earth Observation potential and of the societal benefits that can derive from harnessing space technology.

EYWA provides information on the expected mosquito abundance and pathogen transmission to the health authorities in the form of thematic maps and statistics, to enable them to take preventive measures in time.

Dr Konstantinos Tsaprailis, Research Associate & Technical Project Manager at BEYOND, described in detail how the system works to disseminate data and predictions.

In-situ data and Earth observation data are at the heart of the system, and are combined with entomological, epidemiological, socio-economic, meteorological, and geomorphological data.​

36 statistical features are generated for each of the 42.400 mosquito collections in the EYWA database. The system processes more than 300 TB of Earth Observation data to generate the information that is then made available to health authorities and stakeholders through an online dashboard.

In 2022, the system was generating data on 13 regions in seven countries and in 2023 it will expand its capacity to cover three more regions in Europe (Italy and Germany) and in Africa (Ghana).

Two types of predictions are at the core of the system: the West Nile Virus prediction models and the mosquito abundance models, that provide forecasts on the expected mosquito population in a region.

The WNV risk prediction relies on the MIMEMIS model, providing forecasts at the municipality level, and the Bar model, producing weekly predictions at the settlement/village level.

The mosquito abundance predictions are based on the BAr model, offering weekly forecasts at the settlement level, and the MAMOTH model, offering bi-weekly and monthly predictions for larger areas.

In summary, EYWA sets the stage for the creation of a single and global database of entomological and epidemiological data augmented with EO-derived data. The system enables for the creation of advanced data-driven and deterministic models for mosquito abundance and risk mapping.

The platform supports the visualisation of the global entomological and epidemiological datasets and it also allows stakeholders to visualise model predictions, representing a complete state-of-the-art early warning system.

After the general introduction to the EYWA system, the webinar included the presentation of three use cases in specific areas.

The first was showcased by Dr Daniel Wohlgemuth, from the German Mosquito Control Association (KABS). Dr Wohlgemuth described the use of the system for targeted vector monitoring in the upper Rhine valley in Germany. The region suffers from a disturbing abundance of mosquitos every time it is affected by floods.

Traditionally, KABS would monitor and forecast mosquitos’ abundance through sampling traps. With EYWA, they could perform this work with consistent savings in terms of time and resources.

The second use case was showcased by Dr Renke Luehken, Head of the Department of Arbovirology & Entomology at BNITM, in Hamburg. Dr Luehken gave aa presentation on the ecology of mosquito-borne pathogens in Europe.

Biological invasions are responsible for substantial biodiversity decline, as well as for high economic losses to society and for monetary expenditures associated with the management of these invasions.

The BNITM tries to understand which mosquitos are associated with which diseases and in which temperatures they tend to settle.

In the last years, because of rising temperatures, two types of vector-borne diseases have emerged in Germany, the Usutu virus and the West Nile virus.

BNITM is collecting data on mosquitos’ abundance in almost-real time and these data will be embedded in the EYWA system to enhance its predictions in central Germany.

Dr Julien Zahouli, from the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’ivoire, was expected to present a third use case on the use of Earth Observation data to assess environmental and climatic impacts on mosquito-borne disease transmission in Côte d’Ivoire. Because of connection problems, Dr Zahouli was not able to contribute the webinar, but his presentation is made available at the bottom of this article.

To know more about the activities of the Operational Unit BEYOND Center of EO research and satellite remote sensing of the National Observatory of Athens visit: http://beyond-eocenter.eu/ 

The presentations of the webinar are available here:

• Unveiling the EYWA System | From the challenge…to the solution, Dr Haris Kontoes, Research Director of NOA | Operational Unit “BEYOND Center for Earth Observation Research and Satellite Remote Sensing”; Coordinator of EuroGEO Action Group for Epidemics & Lead Partner of EYWA
• The EYWA platform: Data & predictions dissemination, Konstantinos Tsaprailis, Research Associate & Technical Project Manager, Operational Unit “BEYOND Center for Earth Observation Research and Satellite Remote Sensing”
• Potential utilisation of EYWA for targeted vector monitoring in the upper Rhine valley, Germany, Dr Daniel Wohlgemuth, KABS – German Mosquito Control Association
• Ecology of mosquito-borne pathogens in Europe, Dr Renke Luehken, Head Department of Arbovirology & Entomology, BNITM Hamburg
• Using Earth Observation data for assessing environmental and climatic impacts on mosquito-borne disease transmission in Côte d’Ivoire, Dr Julien Zahouli, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’ivoire

The recordings can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/B9ZGtEh6zYA

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the UK Space Agency.

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

Not everyone is yet aware of the added value that satellite data can have to better prepare societies to the effects of climate change. The Netherlands Space Office supports companies willing to develop solutions that respond to the emerging needs of public bodies by exploiting data captured by satellites.

In this webinar, four companies benefitting from the NSO innovation programme presented products using satellite data to prevent and manage congestions on the electricity grid, to monitor the health of urban trees, to better prepare to floods, and to support agroforestry.

This first episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series of 2023 was designed by Ms Coco Antonissen, Advisor for Satellite Applications at the Netherlands Space Office (NSO).

The Netherlands Space Office (NSO) stimulates the use of satellite-based data in civil society by advising the government (for example on how to procure or implement services based on satellite data), by facilitating access to data (e.g. through a data portal that can be accessed for free by Dutch entities), and by supporting the government and the industry to carry out innovation projects.

The Dutch ecosystem includes numerous private companies. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) financing scheme is conceived to support the government to identify their information needs that could be filled with satellite data and to stimulate innovation in small businesses.

The SBIR scheme is structured in three phases, from dialogue with public bodies in order to identify their needs, to the feasibility assessment, the demonstration, and commercialisation of satellite-based services that respond to the needs identified.

The four companies sharing their experience within our webinar are currently in the third phase of this path, the commercialisation stage.

The first to present its services, represented by Ties van der Heijden, was HKV Lijn in Water. The company is demonstrating a solution aimed at anticipating congestions in the electricity grid, a challenge that could become a reality in a context of energy scarcity and global warming.

The “RayCast” system uses Earth observation data from satellites made available by the NSO to forecast cloud movements and improve their estimations of solar irradiance.

Currently, HKV is validating the forecasts realised with this system with actual grid data, and is contacting regional grid operators to make them aware of the solution. After completion of the validation phase, the first operational version of their product interface will be online by June 2023.

The product will allow operators to be better prepared to congestion imbalances on the electricity grids by knowing which parts of the grid will be overloaded in order to perform targeted interventions. Moreover, it would improve forecasts for solar energy producers, hence contributing to the energy transition in the Netherlands.

The effects of climate change will be particularly felt in cities, where extreme heat is increasingly common in summer, and heavy rains can cause severe damage to people and properties, as happened in central Europe in the summer of 2021.

Greeneries, and trees in particular, can be precious allies to make cities more resilient to heat and floods, in addition to contributing to increasing social well-being and health.

Cobra Groeninzicht, represented by Dirk Voets, is using the EO data made available within the SBIR scheme to better predict the effects of climate change on single trees in cities. Satellite data are used in this product to calculate the heat stress risk of the vegetation according to the vegetation type, and to estimate the water stress and the salinity of the soil.

The results are maps of the climate stress risk of the vegetation in a city that can help civil servants to identify the best areas to plant additional trees, and that at the same time allow for predictions of what will happen if no more trees are planted in an area.

For this system, the company uses high resolution data from satellites that allow them to assess the health status of single trees.

In the city of Helmond, where the system is being tested on publicly-owned trees, every single tree is mapped. The maps allow for the recognition of species for most of them, and for the identification of young trees.

This is important information for cities to preserve their green capital and adapt to the new challenges posed by climate change.  Civil servants can access forecasts on the status of each tree and decide on the interventions to be made, while citizens could exploit the data to take action in their own gardens.

The catastrophic effects of floods on human lives and assets have become alarming worldwide, making it urgent for national and local governments to improve their flood prediction systems.

Numerous Dutch municipalities and water boards are contributing to the perfectioning of the third solution showcased in this webinar, presented by Bob Ammerlaan from Weather Impact. This company  exploits satellite-based data to improve extreme precipitation and flood risk forecasting.

Since 2019, they work with the Meteorological Institute of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water to improve forecasts of extreme precipitations in the Netherlands.

Weather Impact worked to increase the resolution of the information provided by the system already in place to reach a local scale and completed a first project in 2020. Nevertheless, the dashboard did not distinguish extreme precipitations from floods and contained too much information for emergency operators.

Within the SBIR funding scheme, satellite data, together with data from other numerous sources, was used to feed an algorithm that allows for fast flood forecasts and alerts.

Currently, to continue improving the product, ten Dutch governmental institutions, three municipalities, six water boards, and four regions are further testing it, with the intention of increasing its resolution, functionalities, and usability, and of including additional data sources by next year.

The last project to be showcased in the webinar, CarboCatch, developed by Space4Good in collaboration with the Louis Bolk Institute, was presented by Thijs Oosterhuis.

CarboCatch aims at facilitating the carbon credit market among farmers and industry, while supporting the government to plan future developments in agroforestry.

The Dutch Climate Agreement foresees to increase agroforestry in the country from the current 1.000 ha up to 30.000 ha by 2030. Agroforestry integrates pasture or crops with trees and shrubs on the same plot of land, which increases soil health, biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

While farmers are expected to reduce their carbon production, the industry is seeking to buy carbon credits from them. At the same time, public institutions need information to better plan agroforestry developments.

To provide data useful for all these actors while stimulating agroforestry practices, Carbocatch uses EO data and artificial intelligence (AI) to verify the biomass and carbon stocks and the potential carbon sequestration on specific plots.

The information is provided via maps on a dashboard including advice on which agroforestry practices are more suitable for specific plots.

We look forward to knowing how these products will further evolve and to talk about their operational uses and concrete benefits in the near future.

To know more about the activities of the NSO visit: https://www.spaceoffice.nl/en/

The presentations of the webinar are available here:

• How the NSO supports the development of EO-based solutions for climate adaption and mitigation, Coco Antonissen, Netherlands Space office
• Space-based solar irradiance nowcasting to manage traffic on the electricity grid, Ties van der Heijden, HKV Lijn in Water
• FutureTrees: Predicting the future of urban trees and their ecosystem benefits, Dirk Voets, Cobra Groeninzicht
• Extreme precipitation and flood risk forecasting, Bob Ammerlaan, Weather Impact
• Carbocatch – Bringing agroforestry home, Thijs Oosterhuis, Space4Good

The recordings can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/zHWceDhJNb4

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Beyond Centre of EO Research & Satellite Remote Sensing on the 26th of May 2023 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM CET.

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.

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

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