News 2018

Christmas Party with Colleagues and Friends

12.2018

"Rhymes and Formulas" - Books about the Poet Kiril Hristov and Geodesist Acad. Vladimir Hristov

06.2018

The presentation of the book "Rhymes and Formulas" by Nevena Hristova was held on the 14 of June 2018 in the National House of Science and Technology,"108 G. S. Rakovski" Str., Sofia.

The book consists of two parts: Kiril Hristov - the Father and Vladimir Hristov - the Son, which are devoted to the very popular Bulgarian poet-grandfather of the writer and the only academician of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences geodesist - the father of the writer.

The event was organized by the Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria with the support of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works.

The publisher of the book is TANGRA TanNakRa ALL-BULGARIAN FOUNDATION with Public house; the sponsors are "Prof. Ivan-Assen Nikolov Petkov" Foundation, Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC and STALKER-KM Ltd.

RESAC / ASDE Participation in Several Initiatives Under the Auspices of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU in the Field of GeoInformation Services

04.2018

The Copernicus Training and Information Session was held on 17 April 2018, in Sofia, Bulgaria. This is the 14th Copernicus Training and Information Session in a series of national Copernicus events. The event was jointly organised by the European Commission and Ministry of Economy.

The event was intended to promote awareness of the many uses of Copernicus data and information, while providing the opportunity for hands on demonstrations and basic training regarding: Access to Copernicus satellite data; Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS); Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS); Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS);Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS).

A representative of RESAC / ASDE participated with a presentation entitled „Fields of Application of Copernicus Data“

For more information: http://www.copernicus.eu/infosession-bulgaria

The Regional Workshop - Space-based services for regional strategies in the digital economy: Balkan & Black Sea Perspectives was held on 18-19 April 2018, Hilton hotel, Sofia, Bulgaria. The workshop was jointly organised by the European Space Agency and the Ministry of Economy and in cooperation with the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) and Bulgarian Academy of Science.

RESAC / ASDE participated in the exhibition of Bulgarian and foreign companies and presented their companies activities, services and successfully accomplished national and international projects.

For more information: http://www.balkanspace.info

The Centre for National Security and Defense Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Centre for Knowledge Management for Disaster Risk Management at the Joint Research Centre of the EC organised a third international scientific seminar on April 26, 2018 in the Big Hall of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, as well as in the conference hall of the National Archaeological Institute with a Museum (NAIM-BAS). The scientific seminar was included in the calendar of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU and was carried out with the assistance of the Ministry of Interior. The aim of the seminar was to bring together scientists from the field of disaster risk management, practitioners and policy makers to exchange knowledge and experience and to discuss ways to strengthen disaster risk management at local, national and European level.

RESAC / ASDE participated with a presentation entitled „Risk Data Hub Pilot Project JRC-DRMKC - ASDE – ECOREGIONS“.

For more information: http://drmkc.jrc.ec.europa.eu

The Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) from the European Commission organised a conference entitled „Smart Specialisation and Technology Transfer as Innovation Drivers for Regional Growth“, on the 3rd and 4th Мay , 2018 at the National Palace of Culture, Sofia.

Discussed were the opportunities that EU provides to the South-Eastern Europe and the West Balkans in particular for economic and social development in conformity to the „Smart specialisation“ strategy. During the sessions, split around the themes Smart specialisation, Technology transfer, and Digital Economy, the methods for identification of the strengths of the countries, such as Serbia, FYROM and Bulgaria, were outlined as to define research areas and investment in the innovations, in order to create condition for local growth of the quadruple helix (businesses, academia, government and civil society).

You can find video streams of the individual session on the site of the event: https://ec.europa.eu

ASDE / RESAC Participation at DARWIN Project Workshop in Linköping, Sweden

03.2018

A representative of ASDE / RESAC participated in the third workshop (6-8 March 2018) of the DARWIN Community of Practitioners (DCoP). Participation took place at the invitation of the Centre for Teaching and Research in Disaster Medicine and Traumatology / Katastrofmedicinskt centrum (KMC, Sweden), which is one of the main partners in the project.

DARWIN is an EU funded research project under the Horizon 2020 research programme. The project is focussed on improving responses to expected and unexpected crises affecting critical societal structures during natural disasters (e.g. flooding, earthquakes) and man-made disasters (e.g cyber-attacks). To achieve this, DARWIN will develop European resilience management guidelines aimed at critical infrastructure managers, crisis and emergency response managers, service providers, first responders and policy makers. Infrastructure operators will have up-to-date and effective guidelines at their disposal to facilitate faster, more effective and highly adaptive responses to crises. This will have a direct impact on the safety of European citizens in times of crisis and disaster into the future. The DARWIN resilience guidelines will also be of significant benefit for governments of EU member states.

More information about the project and the developed guidelines can be obtained from the project website: h2020darwin.eu.

Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC, Agency of Sustainable Development and Eurointegration - Ecoregions (ASDE) and Alliance for Environment Participated in a Workshop-Meeting With a Representative of the German Company GAF AG - Jurgen Langenwalter

02.2018

On 07.02.2018 in the conference hall at 9, Kokiche Str., Lozenets, Sofia, a Workshop-Meeting was held between experts from ReSAC, ASDE and Alliance for Environment with a representative of the German company GAF AG - Jurgen Langenwalter.

From the German party the following topics were presented:

  • GAF AG Company short Presentation
  • Data - Satellite Imagery
  • Products - GAF Elevation Suite (from 0.3 m to 5 m resolution)
  • Introduction to GAFMap Software - Desktop GIS including DEM Viewer and Geology Extension
  • Services & Solutions Examples - Flood Modelling, Generation of building (block) heights, Biodiversity Mapping, Change Detection of Natural Ressources, Topo Mapping, Emergency Response

From the Bulgarian party the following topics were presented:

  • ReSAC/ASDE short presentation
  • Concept, based on the flagship trans-border BG-RO project – CBC 171
  • In support to the EU, macro-regional policies/programs - Regional Center for integrated risk and territory management for the region of Lower Danube
  • From research to operational practice and value-added services

The main purpose of the meeting was to make more profound connections between participants who have been long time in professional contact during various European projects, in order to generate ideas for future collaboration.

There were also discussed upcoming events in connection with the Council of Europe Program for the Presidency of Bulgaria, to be held in April 2018.

ReSAC Team Participated in Master Territorial Management Plan for Bolyarovo Municipality in Consortium Headed by ASDE-ECOREGIONS

01.2018

The Master Territorial Management Plan (General Development Plan) for Bolyarovo municipality, South-East of Bulgaria - on the border between Bulgaria and Turkey, is developed by a consortium headed by Agency of Sustainable Development and Eurointegration – Ecoregions (ASDE). ReSAC experts take part in the design team.

The Master Territorial Management Plan (General Development Plan) covers the whole territory of the municipality (667.33 km2) with 20 settlements with their legally associated lands with center Bolyarovo.

The requirement for Master Territorial Management Plan, is based on the significant changes in the socio-economic environment and the conditions, in which the economy, the social area, the technical infrastructure, the natural environment are developed. These changes affect the processes, related to the development of the main functional systems of Bolyarovo municipality, which have defined requirements to the spatial planning of the municipal territory. The Master Territorial Management Plan is developed on the basis of Art. 124 of the Spatial Development Act and Decision of the Municipal Council for development of Master plans.

The Plan is developed as a project in two phases: preliminary and final project. It is accompanied by environmental assessment, according the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act and/or the Law for the Biological Diversity.

In response of the new tendencies of the EU policies, especially in regional management, new CAP, strengthening resilience, data harmonization and regular monitoring of changes, some innovation practices are included in the General Development Plan, as example:

  • Harmonized Databases and Smart Geo-portal;
  • Regular monitoring of changes based on satellite images interpretation and the standard ISO 19144-2;
  • Integrated risk management and prevention planning, using Local Exposure and Loss Information Databases.

The RESAC Center, in cooperation with the ASDE, carried out additional activities within the frame of the development of Master Territorial Management Plan for Bolyarovo Municipality.

In the ReSAC Center an analysis was made of forest areas affected by bark beetles. The analysis is based on the alarming rates and the ubiquitous spread of a bark beetle invasion that covers large areas of coniferous forests across the country. A map is created that gives an idea of the exact locations (hot spots) trees subjected to drying, which can be used in the fight against the invasion of bark beetles. It was estimated the area of the affected territories and had made an indicative analysis of the loss of pulp. Satellite image from the European satellite Sentinel 2, dated August 24, 2017, were used for analyzes. The image is subjected to additional processing, interpretation and automated classification in the ReSAC. Spectral channel combinations are used: NIR-Red-Green / Red-Green-Blue.

With a view to the proper implementation of tasks in preparing General Development Plan for Bolyarovo municipality was extracted additional information from satellite imagery associated with land cover, land use and related changes over the years. For this purpose were used images from:

  • the European satellite Sentinel 2, date 3 May 2017
  • Korean satellite with SAR KOMPSAT 5, date 11 April 2014 and 5 May 2016

It was made radiometric and field processing of the image from the satellite KOMPSAT-5 in order to be compared with the Sentinel 2 image and were distinguished basic types of land cover. A more detailed study of the specifics of the different types of Land Cover and, in particular, of the types of land cover in the urban environment is to be explored in order to study the changes in the different years.