GAF AG is pleased to announce the award of the “GMES and Africa Support Programme Technical Assistance Team” service contract by the European Commission. The services consist of the provision of support and consulting to the African Union Commission (AUC), which is coordinating the GMES & Africa initiative.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has recently contracted GAF AG and its international partners to implement the update of the Copernicus High Resolution Layers (HRLs) Imperviousness, Forest, Grassland, Water/Wetness and Small Woody Features in the frame of the continental component of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS).

Auf Einladung der nationalen Raumfahrt-Agentur (vertreten durch Herrn Dr. Gerd Gruppe, DLR - Vorstand) hat die GAF stellvertretend durch Herrn Fockelmann am diesjährigen 17. Bonner Raumfahrt-Abend teilgenommen. Vor einem ausgewählten Kreis von rund 200 Gästen wurde dabei im Rahmen einer moderierten Podiumsdiskussion das Thema satellitengestützte Erdbeobachtung und deren wirtschaftliches Potenzial diskutiert. Aktuelle Themen wie die ersten Ergebnisse und Entscheidungen vom ESA Ministerial Council in Luzern Anfang Dezember über SPACE 4.0 hinzu Copernicus Services und Sentinel-Datennutzung wurden hierbei aus einer kommerziellen Anwendungsperspektive heraus diskutiert.

Auf der Grundlage der langjährigen und breiten Projekterfahrung bei der Entwicklung und Etablierung des Copernicus Land Monitoring Services konnte ein Konsortium unter Federführung der GAF ein unter dem europäischen Forschungsprogramm Horizon 2020 gefördertes Projekt zur Weiterentwicklung der Copernicus-Landdienste gewinnen. Das Projekt “Evolution of Copernicus Land Services based on Sentinel data” (ECoLaSS) wird bis Ende 2019 neue operationelle Dienste und Methoden auf Basis von Sentineldaten konzipieren und innovative Dienste für die Nutzung in Europa wie auch weltweit entwickeln. Projektpartner sind dabei SIRS, Frankreich; Joanneum Research, Österreich; Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgien und das Deutsche Fernerkundungsdatenzentrum (DFD).

Seit dem schweren Erdbeben Ende August dieses Jahres in Italien wurde der „Rapid Mapping“-Dienst des Copernicus-Katastrophenmanagement-Service aufgrund zahlreicher Naturkatastrophen innerhalb kürzester Zeit wiederholt aktiviert. Das 24/7-Team der GAF ist seither fortlaufend im Einsatz und unterstützt die Notfallkräfte vor Ort durch die schnelle Bereitstellung von Geoinformationsprodukten.

Die letzten starken Erdbeben in Italien, der tropische Wirbelsturm Meranti, der Taiwan am 14. September 2016 traf, und Hurrikan Matthew Anfang Oktober 2016, der große Teile von Haiti verwüstete und heftige Überschwemmung in den USA zur Folge hatte, sind Beispiele der kürzlich aufgetretenen Naturkatastrophen.

GAF AG is pleased to announce the award of a contract to support the Ministry of Mines and Industry in Niamey in establishing a new computerised mining cadastre and registry system in Niger.

The overall project objective is to improve governance in the mining sector by establishing a modern, web-based system for granting and managing mineral rights. The efficient, transparent, and reliable administration of such titles is a key factor in increasing growth and investment in the mining sector in Niger.

GAF AG, the exclusive supplier in Europe of optical Indian Remote Sensing data from several missions, operationally provides ocean colour data from the Ocean Colour Monitor aboard the Indian Oceansat-2 in near real time to ESA.

After signing respective agreements with ESA and Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO, GAF as the prime contractor in cooperation with DLR has upgraded the ground station in Neustrelitz to accommodate the reception of data from the Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) aboard the Oceansat-2 Indian remote sensing (IRS) satellite. The integration and relevant tests were completed in 2015 as planned.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of signing an agreement with Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), to receive and distribute Indian EO satellite data on an exclusive basis for European customers. As a consequence of this contract, GAF also entered into a long term cooperation and service agreement with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) regarding the provision, by the latter, of downlink capabilities at its ground station in Neustrelitz. In order to handle the archiving and distribution of the data, GAF formed the wholly-owned subsidiary Euromap and based it on the DLR campus in Neustrelitz. This has resulted in 20 years of close cooperation with DLR and an important presence at Neustrelitz, consisting of a permanent staff that currently numbers 25 scientists and technicians.

As every year the GAF booth (hall A4, E4.021) will form a central point of interest for satellite data, geo-information and associated services.

Together with our partners European Space Imaging, Planet and Verband Runder Tisch GIS (RTG - GIS Round Table Association), we are there to present you latest developments.

Main focus will be our Copernicus- and Emergency Management (24/7) services, new sensors, systems and products as well as 3D visualisation and virtual reality. Join our live-presentation with Oculus Rift glasses and you can experience, what virtual reality means in GIS!

The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) Rapid Mapping was activated by the Italian Civil Protection in order to support the rapid mapping activities in response to the earthquake that hit on 24 August 2016 in the Abruzzi region (Italy) between Gualdo (Marche Region) and Amatrice (Lazio Region).

The earthquake occurred at 03.36 (local time) with a magnitude of 6.2, and the epicentre was located near Accumoli (Lazio) in the Abruzzi region (Italy) and caused severe damages and hundreds of fatalities.