Newsletter

A consortium under the lead of VITO officially launched the new Horizon Europe project EvoLand (Evolution of the Copernicus Land Service portfolio) in Leuven (Belgium) on the 17th and 18th of January 2023. EvoLand will develop and test new and innovative methods and algorithms and implement a bundle of candidate Copernicus Land Monitoring Service prototypes. This will be realised by integrating novel EO and in-situ data with latest Machine Learning techniques to continuously monitor the status, dynamics and biomass of the land surface focussing on five key thematic domains – agriculture, forest, water, urban and general land cover. GAF AG is part of this new research and development project that includes 10 key-players of the EU Space industry from 5 EU countries. The project will be running for the next 3 years.

Dr Gernot Ramminger, previously Chief Technical Officer, is taking over as Managing Director of GAF AG, a part of the e-GEOS/Telespazio corporate group. GAF has been a global leader in the fields of earth observation, geodata, services and consulting since 1985. Dr Ramminger has held senior positions at GAF for many years and takes over from Dr Sebastian Carl, who held the position as Managing Director since 2018.

ESA and GAF AG will continue to provide free-of-charge access to Digital Surface Models (DSMs), high-resolution (HR) and medium-resolution (MR) data for scientific users. In September 2022 they extended their agreement under ESA’s Third-Party Missions (TPM) programme regarding the provision of IRS data and DSMs until the end of 2024 or until full consumption of the budget, whichever occurs first.

GAF AG has been involved in designing, implementing and shaping the remote sensing-based control of subsidy applications submitted under the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 30 years. This delegation of public tasks to the earth observation sector, which is unique in its scope of application, is now being replaced by a fully comprehensive, automated monitoring system, called AMS. For the operational implementation of this new control concept, GAF is again involved in the technological and methodical development, with for example AI and cloud solutions, right from the very start.

• GAF Webportal ermöglicht behördenübergreifende Bereitstellung sehr hochauflösender Satellitendaten über die Servicestelle Fernerkundung am Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie
   
• GAF stellt das hochmoderne GAFportal auf der Intergeo 2022 vor: Halle 2, Stand A2.006

GAF has developed and implemented an easy-to-use web-based system to recognise indications of unlicenced artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in tropical forests - the “ASM Alert” platform. The platform combines free and publicly available satellite data – in particular European Copernicus Sentinel imagery - with a number of other geodata layers and machine-learning for the analysis. The platform then enables the ordering of commercial, very-high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery for the identified target areas. The implementation project is being conducted by GAF, Germany, together with the partner IES, Netherlands, and is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA). ASM Alert can be accessed at: https://asmalert.gaf.de

Un consortium dirigé par GAF AG mettra en œuvre le "Programme de Modernisation de la Gestion Foncière" (PROMOGEF), programme du gouvernement sénégalais et du ministère fédéral allemand de la coopération économique et du développement (BMZ), financé par la banque de développement KfW. Le programme soutient la mise en place d'une gestion des droits fonciers décentralisée, efficace, transparente et responsable, dont la première phase devrait s'achever en 2025.

Le "Programme de Modernisation de la Gestion Foncière" (PROMOGEF) a été lancé avec succès en décembre 2021 pour une durée de quatre ans.

A consortium under the lead of GAF AG will implement the “Programme de Modernisation de la Gestion Foncière” (PROMOGEF), the Land Rights Administration Modernisation Programme of the Senegalese Government and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), funded via the KfW Development Bank. The programme supports the provision of a decentralised, efficient, transparent and accountable land rights administration, with the first phase scheduled for completion by 2025.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) recently awarded a contract to a consortium under the lead of GAF with the partners GeoVille and VITO to implement the new High-Resolution Layer (HRL) Vegetated Land Cover Characteristics (VLCC), as part of the pan-European Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS). Its rich product portfolio will ensure both the continuation and evolution of successful precursor HRLs, such as Forest and Grassland, and the establishment of new HRL products focusing on crops and agricultural practises. The implementation of HRL VLCC will happen with funding by the European Union.

GAF, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Neustrelitz and Antrix Corporation have a successful cooperation stretching back 25 years. In 1996, they signed agreements for the purpose of receiving Indian Earth observation data and distributing the data to European customers on an exclusive basis. That was the starting point for 25 years of successful cooperation and the acquisition of millions of scenes so far – and on into the future.