Earth Observation Sciences

The overall goal of this research project is to demonstrate the feasibility of an ice routing tool for safer and more efficient ship transport in ice-covered waters. Policy recommendations from the study region (Barents and Kara Seas) can be extrapolated to other EU ice infested waters such as the Greenland or Baltic Seas. Two specific objectives follow which integrate new generic technologies: 1. to use artificial intelligence technologies to generate high-resolution, operational-quality ice information for ship routing: the work will combine the emerging technology of operational space radar with innovative computing techniques to derive practical information for ice hazard avoidance. Radarsat, the world's first operational space radar, provides 50m resolution information which is sufficiently detailed for tactical purposes. The techniques to be be employed will include a fuzzy artificial intelligence approach, neural networks to functionally fuse data sources and a novel architecture for integrating the strengths of each component methodology. 2. to create computer modelling techniques for optimisation of routes in sea ice: the target is to demonstrate the concept of a decision support system to allow identification and quantitative assessment of routes within areas of sea ice. This will take account of vessel characteristics, the ice environment (derived from the results of objective 1) and weather forecasting. The work will conclude with an assessment of the policy and economic implications of the technical areas for EU transport and business. %

Work concentrates on Barents and Kara Seas. There will be no field demonstrations of the achievements in the current phase of the work. % - Norwegian National Sea Ice Centre in Tromsoe and other relevant research applications - transport and environmental policy initiatives within EU programmes

ARCDEV project is a Short Sea Shipping (SSS) full scale demonstrator. It will concentrate on the operational and technical feasibility as well as on the cost-effectiveness of a SSS corridor linking all the year round the Arctic regions of Russia to the EU. The verified oil and natural gas reserves in Northern Russia and in the Russian sector of the Arctic Ocean are very large. They are considered as one of the long term energy supply source of Western Europe. Together with western oil companies and engineering firms Russia is in the process of developing technologies to produce and ship most of the oil to Western Europe. Instead of transporting the oil by pipelines through various foreign countries and across unsafe soil conditions, the industry would like to investigate waterborne transport possibilities. The conditions for maritime operations are extremely harsh in this region. While the Port of Murmansk never freezes, ice conditions become progressively more difficult eastward. East of the Taymyr Peninsula the route is covered by thick ice throughout the year. In the western part up to Novaya Zemlia the ice conditions are comparable to those encountered in the Northern Baltic Sea. Generally the period of 3 to 6 months is navigable under open water conditions. The project will be implemented through a fully operational winter test voyage to the Ob river estuary with two ice strengthened vessels: an EU member state flag vessel and a Russian one. The test voyage will be performed in the form of real transportation, delivering gas condensate from the Ob Bay area to the European market. The main objectives of the Demonstration and Exploration Voyage are concerned with - Year round navigation in the Arctic - Safe, reliable and economical operations - Commercial aspects of such transportation system This incorporates a number of challenges with a direct impact on further developments in technology and investment opportunities for EU and Russian industries %

SSS corridor linking the arctic regions of Russia with the EU % This test voyage will simultaneously serve as a test platform for demonstration of other ongoing EU projects such as Ice routes, MBB, VTMIS, BOPCom. The project will co-operate with EU's Joint Research Centre.

The main objective of the GeoNet 4D project is to evaluate and develop multimedia-based access to online cartographic information, using easy-to-use interfaces based on geographic data for information presentation, navigation, search and retrieval.

The project is driven by the conviction that interfaces based on interactive 'smart maps' will become a standard in distributed communications and networked computing. Such intuitive multimedia tools will support the creation of a wide range of new value-added services, especially where complex information resources are used for group collaboration. GeoNet 4D addresses the technical and design issues required to work across platforms using a scaleable modular architecture, and aims to develop an open systems environment that will permit diverse users to work together easily over networks via animated smart maps which include 4D multimedia information. Such an online cartographic system integrates several key components: - 3D capacity to enable visualisation of mapping information on buildings, mountains, the sea bed, pipelines, statistics, etc. - 4D time stamping to allow the display of time-related data from hydrodynamics, movement of objects on the sea, simulations, etc. - networking to support fast collection, integration and online distribution of information between different users. Use of ATM, ISDN, TCP/IP and IPng functions and protocols. - Object Oriented Database Management System (OODMS) client server engineering to permit correlation of users, multimedia and GIS data, temporal and spatial information, threaded and meta-linked data, security and transaction processing, etc. - World Wide Web client server protocols and browser design/development, including full use of Java, VRML, OGIS and MHEG for easy online access to temporal, spatial and cartographic data. GeoNet 4D browser/server development will support the time-stamped semantic data threads needed for group authoring and layering of shared geographic and multimedia datasets. A major design consideration is the potential for integration into emerging hardware such as graphics cards, mobile devices, embedded systems, networks, Web PCs, interactive kiosks and games machines. The dataset publishing, software programming and authoring requirements of users in these new markets will also be taken into account. Such areas will be key targets in the final exploitation phase of the project. An early marketing analysis will be conducted to ensure GeoNet 4D is both compatible with and improves upon existing and emerging industry trends and developments. Technical and functional specifications will be based on combining the input of these studies with analysis of user requirements. The partners involved in the project will test the feasibility of the system by conducting field trials in the real-world industrial environments of three European ports; Santander (Spain), Naples (Italy) and Toulon (France). The applications will focus on infrastructure management within the ports as well as on the environmental impact of the port zone activities within their respective regions, and the installations are intended to be consistent with ECDIS (Electronic Chart Distribution Information System). The real industrial environments used for the field trials will provide an important focus for the design and development of the human interface. They will also show the system's functional and commercial potential both for marine port applications and other sectors of industry and commerce. Dataset publishing and authorship rights will be tested, and plans and models for further exploitation developed. The Geonet 4D participants will be supported throughout the project by a World Wide Web server, and at the close of the project a GeoNet 4D internet kiosk will be created for further dissemination and promotion of the system and its components.

Requirement This proposal is in response to a call for proposals in the European Community Environment and Climate programme which specifies a need in Theme 3 (Space techniques applied to environmental monitoring and research), Area 3.1.1 (methodological research), for the development of generic tools and techniques for automated pre-processing, interpretation and integration of remotely sensed and ground data. This proposal directly responds to the requirement for more accurate, robust and automated procedures for geometric correction, techniques for image segmentation and feature extraction and integration of Earth observation data in GIS. Objectives The primary objective is to develop a software which will automatically register images to maps, or other reference systems, and detect change which has taken place between the time of compilation of the map and images at various subsequent times. The system will handle all types of optical and microwave image data from high resolution optical data to medium resolution data such as Thematic Mapper and ERS data. Such a system will greatly facilitate the use of data from earth observation and speed up the operations of environmental monitoring and the detection of change due to long term or short term processes. The secondary objectives are to bring together a transnational team of scientists and users which will cover a wide range of European cultures and to make use of these skills for the benefit of application scientists and users throughout the Community. The consortium The consortium includes universities from UK, Germany, Sweden and Portugal; an international government sponsored production agency from Spain and a commercial company from UK. The project would make use of the following skills and experience: - combined complementary research and development skills and experience of all the partners; - the experience and success of EOS in designing and implementing systems for handling data from EO sensors; - the experience of WEU in using data from different sensors for monitoring; - experience running and managing previous projects of this type. Outline This proposal first sets out the background to the requirement for automated registration of images and maps and for change detection and then examines the work done and the base from which to start such a project. Detailed proposals for the system are presented with a breakdown of tasks into workpackages and details of organization and management procedures. The proposal is analysed in terms of strengths and weaknesses and the risks assessed and a minimum system for success is specified. The benefits to the community are set out and details of the consortia and the personnel involved given.

The main objective of the GeoNet 4D project is to evaluate and develop multimedia-based access to online cartographic information, using easy-to-use interfaces based on geographic data for information presentation, navigation, search and retrieval.

The project is driven by the conviction that interfaces based on interactive 'smart maps' will become a standard in distributed communications and networked computing. Such intuitive multimedia tools will support the creation of a wide range of new value-added services, especially where complex information resources are used for group collaboration. GeoNet 4D addresses the technical and design issues required to work across platforms using a scaleable modular architecture, and aims to develop an open systems environment that will permit diverse users to work together easily over networks via animated smart maps which include 4D multimedia information. Such an online cartographic system integrates several key components: - 3D capacity to enable visualisation of mapping information on buildings, mountains, the sea bed, pipelines, statistics, etc. - 4D time stamping to allow the display of time-related data from hydrodynamics, movement of objects on the sea, simulations, etc. - networking to support fast collection, integration and online distribution of information between different users. Use of ATM, ISDN, TCP/IP and IPng functions and protocols. - Object Oriented Database Management System (OODMS) client server engineering to permit correlation of users, multimedia and GIS data, temporal and spatial information, threaded and meta-linked data, security and transaction processing, etc. - World Wide Web client server protocols and browser design/development, including full use of Java, VRML, OGIS and MHEG for easy online access to temporal, spatial and cartographic data. GeoNet 4D browser/server development will support the time-stamped semantic data threads needed for group authoring and layering of shared geographic and multimedia datasets. A major design consideration is the potential for integration into emerging hardware such as graphics cards, mobile devices, embedded systems, networks, Web PCs, interactive kiosks and games machines. The dataset publishing, software programming and authoring requirements of users in these new markets will also be taken into account. Such areas will be key targets in the final exploitation phase of the project. An early marketing analysis will be conducted to ensure GeoNet 4D is both compatible with and improves upon existing and emerging industry trends and developments. Technical and functional specifications will be based on combining the input of these studies with analysis of user requirements. The partners involved in the project will test the feasibility of the system by conducting field trials in the real-world industrial environments of three European ports; Santander (Spain), Naples (Italy) and Toulon (France). The applications will focus on infrastructure management within the ports as well as on the environmental impact of the port zone activities within their respective regions, and the installations are intended to be consistent with ECDIS (Electronic Chart Distribution Information System). The real industrial environments used for the field trials will provide an important focus for the design and development of the human interface. They will also show the system's functional and commercial potential both for marine port applications and other sectors of industry and commerce. Dataset publishing and authorship rights will be tested, and plans and models for further exploitation developed. The Geonet 4D participants will be supported throughout the project by a World Wide Web server, and at the close of the project a GeoNet 4D internet kiosk will be created for further dissemination and promotion of the system and its components.