EO Services – Enabling Development Geoff Sawyer , EARSC Secretary General Geospatial World Forum

Geospatial World Forum – 16th May 2013, Rotterdam

EO Services – Enabling Development

Geoff Sawyer , EARSC Secretary General

Geospatial World Forum

16th May 2013, Rotterdam


EARSC is a trade association (NGO), founded in 1989, which represents companies: offering and undertaking consulting and other services or supplying equipment in the field of remote sensing.

Our mission is

o to foster the development of the European Geo-Information Service Industry

We represent European geo-information providers creating a sustainable network between industry, decision makers and users

Our focus is on remote sensing from space-based platforms (satellites) but we also have members which are aircraft operators.

What is EARSC?


What does EARSC do?

o Provide information to our members on programmes, policy and the sector; (business intelligence)

o Maintain a knowledge of the industry ie statistics etc.

o Promote the industry and it’s capabilities by:

o Creating links between EO services sector and other business sectors eg oil & gas, insurance as well as public institutions e.g world bank

o Organising events offering networking opportunities as well as focused information

o Promote professional standards within the industry (help the sector to develop)


Market Development – ESA / EARSC Initiatives.

OGEO•Link with Oil & Gas Industry

EOINS•Link with Insurance Industry

eopages•Brokerage site for the EO services Industry

eoworld•Links to the World Bank and other IFI’s


European EO Services Industry

• Offers a full range of services based on extensive experience serving government, industry and the citizen

• Includes data providers, downstream service providers, software and consultancy companies with a mastery of space-borne/airborne/in-situ systems and sensors technologies.

• Innovative / dynamic; many new companies, changing ownership

• Over 300 companies largely SME’s with:

• strong partnership experience across European borders.

• a highly skilled workforce; interchange with other sectors

• Full industry survey is being made by EARSC to be published mid-2013


EO Service Companies in EU and Canada

less than 5% of companies have more than 50 employees

Over 60% have less than 10 employees.

Numbers growing at around 8%pa.


Geospatial services:An important tool for Development

• Inherent global capability leads directly to international programmes and development activities

• Many applications which can be used for:

• Emergency management and disaster relief

• Agriculture productivity

• Natural resource management

• Environmental management, planning etc.

• How are the services delivered? Customers are:

• NGO’s

• Local/regional government & public bodies

• International Bodies such as World Bank, UN etc.


EO Services – Example Disasters

Several projects are providing maps and situation awareness products for emergencies.Map products integrating

information from many sources and using a full range of space applications (EO, communications and positioning).

Products to map and assess flooding.

Rapid response is key in these emergency situations and robust operational processing and product delivery chains are essential.

Above: Map of flooding of the Elbe from January 2011.

Left: Integrated map of Abidjan showing areas of environmental threat.

Industrial Partners: Ansur, KSAT, Astrium Geo-Information Services, e-GEOS, Keyobs, Metria, Sertit, GMV, INSA, Altamira, Critical Software, Edisoft, Eurosense, Gisat, Indra, Planetek, TRE Resac, Skysoft.

Map Disaster Areas - Situation Awareness


Supporting agricultural and food security decisions

•Users: Centre Suivi Ecologique, Senegal and CONAB, Brazil

•Need: Accurate and timely information on the growing season utmost importance for decision making

•Challenge: Implementation of appropriate interventions aimed to manage the risk of food insecurity in time

•Initiative: Use low cost data, daily meteo achieves and field observation to obtain Vegetation Productivity Indicators to develop further tools for faster and more adequate decisions

•Results: Early warning. EO data ensures rapid, accurate and timely information over large areas of the countries

•Service provider: VITO (www.vito.be),

•More info: www.gmfs.info, www.devcocast.eu

Fig 1. Frequency analysis of negative anomalies at the start of the growing season. Red indicates high anomalies

Fig 2. Comparison of family agriculture in Brazil, Food Acquisition Programme

Earth Observation Support to Agriculture and Rural Development


Mapping long term trends in deforestation in tropical regions

•Users: Brazilian National Institute Space Research (INPE)

•Need: Satellite imagery to estimate Amazon Basin deforestation assessment, rapid revisit times and wide area coverage.

•Challenge: Achieving a full coverage in short imaging windows to achieve homogeneity of data for analysis and reducing the impact of cloud cover common to tropical rainforest regions.

•Initiative: DMC wide swath images can cover huge areas and they reduce the time of the analysis significantly. It provided reliable annual large area coverage, and multi-temporal coverage of high risk areas.

•Results: Frequent forest monitoring with timely action leads to significant decrease of deforestation and prevents forest loss.

•Service provider: DMCii (www.dmcii.com)

Right. Fire and burn scar in Matto Grosso region, (Brazil).Left. 11/08/2010 , UK-DMC2, 22m resolution

DMCii develops its own value-added products: clear cut detection, forest/non-forest classification maps, land cover classification.

Integration of Satellite EO Technology in Climate Change


Assisting urban planning activities

•Users: World Bank

•Need: Assist urban planning activities

•Challenge: Provision of up-to-date EO based land monitoring products focused on various aspects of urbanized areas

•Initiative: Identification of infrastructure, settlements including classification into urban density classes, hydrology or environmental threats at different levels of detail.

•Results:Investment done will return in practical consequences of the fact that planning activities in Greater Baku area in following years could be based on accurate and up-to-date information

•Service provider: Gisat (www.gisat.cz/content/en)

•More info: www.respond-int.org Fig. Baku regional development graphic

Earth Observation Support to Urban Development


Customers for EO Companies

Over 50% of revenues are from public sector customers

Around 4% comes from International organisations.

Commercial sales represent single largest segment.


Geographic Revenues of EO companies

Around 75% of revenues are from European customers

Only 14% comes from outside Europe and N America.

Asia is the most significant export market but remains small.


• Are the development “customers” able to make full and effective use of EO products and services?

• Are there barriers to the use of EO products and services for development?

• Cost?

• Availability?

• Technical Awareness?

• Are development needs being served by other channels eg PSB’s?

Meeting Development Needs?


• Major European programme that will offer sustained operational data for Global Monitoring for Environment & Security.

• Offers a particular form of PSI comprising EO data and information.

• Other types of PSI (meteo, cartography, cadastral,) show good potential for re-use and can generate good economic benefits

• Re-use grows hugely (100-fold in some cases)

• PSB loses income but generally a small proportion of its total (more than 50% of the PSB’s make less than 5% of their revenue from sales)

• PSB sees efficiency savings.

• New business growth is high (100 to 400%)

• Net employment increases (+300% at Dutch KNMI, +800% at Danish DECA)

• Tax revenue increases

Copernicus – Resource for Development


An Economic Model of PSI Re-use

Phase 3 Harvesting

•Employment effect•Welfare effect

•Taxation effect

Phase 2 Growing

•Business effect re-users•Market dynamism effect

•Efficiency effect PSB

Phase 1Sowing

•Demand effect re-users

•Income effect PSB

Time

Benefitscreated in Euros

Costs incurredin Euros

Non-economic benefits

Benefits private sector

Costs/missed revenues public sector

Additional tax incomes

Income Treasury

0


Examples from the EO Domain?

• Landsat is by far the best example

• Following years of policy changes, it demonstrates very clear and very strong interest in re-use after the data became freely available in 2008.

• Period and change:• 1972 to 1982: US Government ownership. Images at $200 per scene

• Early 80’s to mid 90’s: Commercial ownership EOSAT. Data up to $4400 per scene under cost recovery model. Dramatic drop in sales.

• 1992; Land Remote Sensing Policy act moves pricing to marginal cost (underpinned by the Paperwork Reduction act of 1995 sic!)

• 1999 to 2008: US government ownership, USGS under policy control of NOAA. Marginal costs have fallen and images are available at $600 per scene.

• 2008. Internet distribution introduced and marginal distribution cost falls to zero, usage (downloads) has exploded.


Some Implications of a FODP

• Risks to Private Operators?• Commercial operators have invested in satellite systems offering high or

very high resolution data

• Impact on their business models must be taken into account.

• PSI for Global or European Re-use?• GMES sentinel data is inherently global in nature, should it be freely

available outside of Europe?

• It is a political decision - but free data is the best way to develop the market everywhere. In consequence, European companies need to be supported in developing export business.

• Are the business models fixed?• Private investment requires stability. The role of PSB’s is fluid and if they

change there is a risk of undermining private investment decisions.


A Study on the Economic Benefits of a Free and Open Data Policy for

GMES Sentinels

ABOUT GMES AND DATA : GEESE AND GOLDEN EGGSGeoff Sawyer & Marc de Vries

Study sponsored by ESA


About GMES and Data : Geese and Golden Eggs

Which will it be?

OR

? ?


For further Information:

Geoff Sawyer [email protected]

Marc de Vries [email protected]

Thanks to:

European Space Agency Josef Aschbacher

Alessandra Tassa

Free and Open Data Policy Study

That’s all Folks!

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EO Services – Enabling Development Geoff Sawyer , EARSC Secretary General Geospatial World Forum