We will celebrate this year the twentieth anniversary of our Association. Twenty years ago, in 1989, remote sensing was already somewhat mature in terms of technologies and there were strong hopes for a rapid market development. This led several companies with the support of European institutions to create EARSC.

Wayland, MA – The Board of Directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) has chartered a committee of the Board to specifically address the “spatial law and policy issues” which will influence development requirements of the Consortium’s technology process. The Spatial Law and Policy Committee (SLPC) will be chaired by OGC director and Executive Committee

Source: United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs VIENNA, 23 February (UN Information Service) – The adoption of the Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer Space was in the focus of the 46th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

Scientists have a new tool for understanding how events in one region, such as wildfires, can affect air quality in areas far away. Observations from NASA’s Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) show that the plumes of dust, smoke and particles from wildfires or volcanoes often rise past the atmospheric boundary layer, the turbulent lowest portion of

The workshop is organised by the GIS4EU project and will be hosted by the University of West Hungary, Faculty of Geoinformatics in Székesfehérvár on 18-19 March 2009. The GIS4EU project aims at providing base cartography datasets (administration units, hydrography, transportation networks and elevation themes) for Europe and to ensure its cross scale, cross language and

(25 February 2009) Using data from the satellite-based MIPAS and GOME-2 instruments, scientists have for the first time detected important bromine species in the atmosphere. These new measurements will help scientists to better understand sources of ozone-depleting species and to improve simulations of stratospheric ozone chemistry. Despite the detection of bromine monoxide (BrO) in the

ESA starts implementing the second phase of the GMES Space Component Programme The first phase of the GMES Space Component covers the period 2006-2013. It focuses on the development of the first Sentinel-1 (all-weather day and night radar imager for land and ocean services), Sentinel-2 (high-resolution optical images for land services) and Sentinel-3 (instruments for

Contract Covers Development of GIS Technical Components for a Spatial Data Infrastructure Redlands, California—February 23, 2009—The Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) has awarded the INSPIRE@EC contract to a consortium that based its solution on ESRI technology. This contract covers the development of the technical components of a European Commission spatial data infrastructure (SDI)

At Plesetsk Cosmodrome, preparations are under way for the upcoming launch of a Russia-made Rockot launch vehicle with the GOCE earth observation satellite for European Space Agency. The launch is currently targeted for March 16. The GOCE launch campaign is being conducted by a combined team of ESA and Thales Alenia Space of Italy (the

Written by Matt Ball: Friday, 20 February 2009. v1 perspectives Geospatial technology hasn’t been around for very long. This year marks the 40th anniversary for both ESRI and Intergraph, two of the prominent geospatial vendors. In this short time span, many technical hurdles have been addressed and overcome, and GIS continues to expand its adoption

Interactive maps that detail carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion are now available on the popular Google Earth platform. The maps, funded by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy through the joint North American Carbon Program, can display fossil fuel emissions by the hour, geographic region, and fuel type. A science team led

By Vector One ⋅ February 20, 2009 Modern agricultural production is highly oriented toward cropping systems that are less biologically diverse. Recent agricultural research has found that “biodiversity in crops decreases fertilizer damage to rivers and lakes. Researchers have identified a link between the diversity of crops grown in farmlands and the pollution they create

About half of the oil in the ocean bubbles up naturally from the seafloor, with Earth giving it up freely like it was of no value. Likewise, NASA satellites collect thousands of images and 1.5 terrabytes of data every year, but some of it gets passed over because no one thinks there is a use

A new step in the cooperation between ESA and the European Commission An amendment to the EC-ESA GMES agreement, which extend the scope of the original Agreement (signed in February 2008) to activities of Segment 2 of the GMES Space Component Programme, was signed on 28 January 2009. This amendment paves the way to ordering

Two Cosmo SkyMed Gen II Earth observation radarsats are to be launched in 2014 and 2015 following the formal launch of the program by the Italian defense ministry and ASI, the Italian space agency. The executive agreement between the two bodies became operational Feb. 12, with the signature of General Vincenzo Camporini, chief of defense

DigitalGlobe and Nokia have agreed to bring the real-world perspective of high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery to Nokia Maps, both on mobile devices and on Ovi, improving the global driving, hiking and walking navigation capabilities for consumers who use these applications. Through streamlined technology integration and development of a proprietary format for delivering imagery to