Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC Has Successfully Finished the EUFODOS FP7 Project with Training Seminar with Bulgarian Forest Stakeholders

12.2013

The Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC has organized a training seminar on 17th of Dec. 2013 to present the services developed in the frame of the EUFODOS Project, FP7 financed project, which aims at development of Forest Downstream Services for improved information on forest structure and damages.

Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC as a project partner has developed several services for the Executive Forest Agencies (EFA), Bulgaria which will support the agency in its activities and reporting duties.

The seminar was attended by more than 20 experts and decision makers from a number of regional departments of the EFA, from State Forest Enterprises and National Parks administrations. All the participants in the training seminar received certificates for attendance, as well as all the reports delivered during the project runtime together with the digital products developed by ReSAC.

The training covered also the current state of the Copernicus and Galileo programme and details on the future Sentinels and how these technologies could support forest management. The new Common Agricultural Policy and its relation to forest sector was also discussed.

The main focus on the training was a detailed description on the Forest Downstream Services which ReSAC has developed in EUFODOS to a state ready for commercial exploitation.

During the lifetime of the project and after the first phase when the demo products were delivered, the User drafted its user requirements, hence the final services which were agreed are: Forest Inventory Service divided to: P-01-1 Forest Area Map; P-01-2 Forest Type Map; P-02 Forest Change Map; P-03 Forest Density Map. The services for damage assessment are as follows: Forest Disasters Service; P-05-1 Reference Map (Forest Cover Map and Forest Type Map); P-05-2 Damage Extent Map (Fire Extent Map, Storm Extent Map and Insect Infestation Extent Map); P-05-3 Detailed Damage Map (Crown/Surface Fire Map, Storm/Snowbreak Damage Map and Insect Infestation Damage Map); P-05-4 Additional products (Combination of the EO products with cadastral information).

ReSAC and ASDE Got Awarded on the 19^th MARS Annual Conference "New CAP Management and Control" Held in Vilnius, Lithuania

12.2013

The 19th MARS Conference organized by the Joint Research Center of the EC and the Lithuanian Paying Agency (NMA) took place on 3 and 4 of December 2013 in city of Vilnius, Lithuania. Its main topic was related to the incoming challenges with respect to management and control of the new "greener" EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). As every year, representatives of ReSAC and ASDE attended the conference and actively participated in the debates and the dedicated poster session.

A screening of current developments addressing the foreseen procedures and challenges identified by Member States regarding main implementation topics of the future CAP has been provided. The aim was to achieve an overview of implementation needs, gathering ideas and requests but not to go as far as solutions, since several aspects are still under discussion. The agenda included the following main topics: The framework for quantifying Ecological Focused Areas (EFAs), Update of control and management tools, and the assessment frameworks (standards, methods, evaluation, and indicators). Special attention was given to information needs of environmental policy and synergies with the CAP and Copernicus program, as well as on the use of IACS data (Farmer data, Land Parcel Identification System) to estimate the parameters of the "green" measures, related to EFAs and permanent grasslands.

The poster "Use of LPIS and COPERNICUS data in the elaboration of trans-border reference land cover datasets" presented by ReSAC and ASDE was selected by the conference committee as the best one, since it is the first successful large scale example for integration of Earth Observation and in-situ data in relation to the monitoring of the EU agriculture policy. The study case presented in the poster was from the CBC Project MIS-ETC 171 "Common Strategy for Sustainable Territorial Development of the cross-border area Romania-Bulgaria".

Use of LPIS and COPERNICUS data in the elaboration of trans-border reference land cover datasets (Poster)

Participation of Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC in a Seminar About Copernicus Program, Bucharest, Romania

11.2013

"Copernicus User Awareness & Training Event" took place in the conference room of Ramada Park Hotel in Bucharest from 7th to 8th November 2013. The event was organized by the Romanian Space Agency – ROSA. Its purpose was to bring together users and experts working with products, based on satellite data and to acquaint them with the Copernicus program and its innovations. Leading organizations in this field, incl. GAF, INGV, e-GEOS, ECMWF, NEREUS, EURISY, ROSA, as well as representatives from the European Commission participated with presentations.

On the first day, the participants were acquainted with the services that Copernicus program offers in its six thematic areas - land monitoring, marine monitoring, atmosphere monitoring, emergency management, security and climate change. The second day was fixed for thematic training in the selected thematic area. According to their interest, participants took part in one of four parallel training sessions - land monitoring, marine monitoring, emergency management and atmosphere monitoring. Specific applications, software decisions and implemented projects in this field were presented.

ReSAC participated in the poster session with a poster about "Role of COPERNICUS data in the elaboration of trans-border reference land cover datasets", which represents the activities of the project "Common Strategy for Sustainable Territorial Development of the cross-border area Romania-Bulgaria", CBC Project MIS-ETC 171.

More about COPERNICUS: http://www.copernicus.eu

The Twenty-third International Symposium "Modern Technologies, Education and Professional Practice in Geodesy and Related Fields" Was Held in Sofia, House of Science and Technology (07-08 November 2013)

11.2013

The International symposium was organized by the Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria, under the auspices and in close cooperation with eminent international geodetic and others organizations. The main topics of the symposium are modern technologies in the field of Geodesy, Photogrammetry, Cartography, Earth Observation, Land management, GIS, Education and Professional practice.

This year ReSAC participated with the oral presentation about "Forest Downstream Service Development in the frame of EUFODOS FP7 Project in Bulgaria". It was presented the results of project EUFODOS, which main goals is to develop Forest Downstream Services for improved information on forest structure and damages. Center ReSAC as a project partner has developed several services for the Executive Forest Agencies (EFA):

The first type of services is developed to support one of the main challenges outlined in the National Forest Strategy – forest inventory. The service delivers forest area map, forest type map and crown cover density map based on the HR and VHR images for the territory of forestry Tran, Zemen, Breznik.

The second type of services is related with the information which EFA (and similar organizations) needs in case of natural and man-made disaster in the forest areas. In the frame of EUFODOS, ReSAC has developed two main disaster related products – rapid mapping and detailed damage maps and databases for various disaster types: forest fires, storm breaks, snowfall/snowbreak, insect infestations.

Participation of Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC in an International Conference European Space Solutions and Copernicus and Galileo Masters, Munich, Germany

11.2013

The 'European Space Solutions', was a major 3-day conference from 5 to 7 November at Alte Kongresshalle in Munich which brought together business and the public-sector with users and developers of space-based solutions. Participants gathered insights about current developments and society needs, learned how space technology can make a real difference to their lives/business, and got informed about business support and finance opportunities for business, SMEs, individuals. The event was accompanied with the Awards ceremony of the Copernicus and Galileo Masters 2013. ReSAC members participated in the event to discuss future collaborations in HORIZON2020, Copernicus and Galileo Programmes.

More for the European Space Solutions: http://www.space-solutions.eu

The winners of the Copernicus Masters 2013 could be found here

The winners of the Galileo Masters 2013 could be found here

Information Day on Priority Space of the HORIZON2020

10.2013

The Countdown to Horizon 2020 Space Tour took place in Sofia on 16th of October 2013. The event was supported by the Bulgarian Information Office for GMES/Copernicus. Exactly 150 participants registered for the event online and onsite. 110 participants from more than 60 different organisations from 6 countries came to Sofia and joined the information and brokerage event. The event covered all aspects of Space in Horizon 2020 and the main EO and EGNSS related EU programmes: Galileo and Copernicus. The participants had the excellent possibility to present their capacity and project ideas in the Short Presentation Session and Face-to-face meetings.

You could download all the presentations archived here, or choose individual ones clicking on the title of the presentations in the agenda of the event.
http://www.b2match.eu

Information Day on Priority Space of the HORIZON2020

10.2013

Information Day on HORIZON2020 Space will take place in Sofia on 16th of Oct 2013 in Sheraton Hotel.

The agenda includes presentation of the vision of MES for the participation of Bulgaria in HORIZON2020; rules for participation in HORIZON2020; presentation of the priority Space in the programme, as well as details for the first two Space calls; presentation of Space Key players.

Short presentations of the participants will show their capacity and project ideas related to the first Space calls.

Together with the Bulgarian participants the event will include also representatives from EC, as well as organizations from other European countries.

The event is part of the Countdown on Horizon 2020 Space Tour, organized by the National Contact Points priority Space with the support of the EC and expert support of the Bulgarian Information Office for GMES/Copernicus (for the Sofia event).

Registration for the event could be done on: http://www.b2match.eu/h2020spacetour/participants/new

Agenda for the Sofia event is available on: http://www.b2match.eu/h2020spacetour/pages/sofia

Participation of Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC in a Seminar on "New Geodetic Instruments and Technologies"

10.2013

On 4-th October 2013 representatives from ReSAC took place at seminar on "New geodetic instruments and technologies". It was organized by the Federation of the Scientific - Engineering Unions in Bulgaria /FNTS/, / Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria (USLM), Regional Organization of the NTS in House of Science and Technique /DNT/ - Plovdiv. The aim of the seminar was to introduce the latest surveying instruments and technology available on the Bulgarian market. The event coincided with the International Technical Fair in Plovdiv.

ReSAC participate with a presentation entitled "The program GMES / COPERNICUS - operational capacity of Bulgaria for Earth observation from space". It was emphasized of ReSAC participation in national and international specialized programs for earth observations. The program GMES / COPERNICUS was explained in detail, and the development of its activities. Some examples under this program were presented.

Participation of Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC in a Seminar on "3D Cadaster"

06.2013

On 6-th June 2013, a seminar on "3D Cadaster" was held, organized by the Federation of the Scientific - Engineering Unions in Bulgaria /FNTS/ and the Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria (USLM), Section "Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing". The seminar aimed to meet experts in the field of 3D modeling and geographic data analysis and defining the main directions of the work.

ReSAC participated with a presentation about "Flood Risk Assessment – by the European Directive to the Bulgarian practice". ReSAC researches, related to flood risk modeling and risk analysis, were presented. The emphasis was on the projects about the Floods Directive application in Bulgaria. The value of using LiDAR capturing acquisition of the ground surface was emphasized and some examples were presented.

Participation of Remote Sensing Application Centre – ReSAC in Flood Risk Assessment and Management in Bulgaria in the Frame of the European Floods Directive

06.2013

Floods are natural phenomena which cannot be prevented. The probability of their occurrence and the extent of their damage depend on number of factors, knowing of which allows to influence on the overall negative impacts of floods.

Flood risk assessment and management is under the Directive 2007/60/EU, also known as European Floods Directive, which came into force on 26.11.2007 and it is transposed in the national legislation with the amendment of the Water Act in August 2010. The Directive is a framework for the flood risk assessment and management, aiming at the reduction of the adverse consequences for human health, the environment, the economic activity and the cultural heritage. Under the Water Act, the flood risk management activities are performed for each river basin district management and the authorities for their application are the Basin Directorates.

Under the Floods Directive, flood risk management goes through three main stages:

• Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment
• Flood Hazard Maps and Flood Risk
• Flood Risk Management Plan and Measures Program

At present the first stage is finished - establishment of Regions with significant potential flood risk (RSPFR).

Remote Sensing Application Centre – ReSAC participates in the implementation process of the Floods Directive, as providing consulting services for the Danube River Basin Directorate in determining the RSPFR. The results from this project were presented to the public and in the period of 21.05 – 04.06, public discussions were hold in five cities – Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo, Rousse, Varshets and Sofia.

The stakeholders were familiar in details with the results of this stage and what lies ahead. ReSAC actively participates in all public discussions to support the Danube River Basin Directorate in correcting and supplementing the already identified areas, which are 52 for this basin directorate, along the rivers Iskar, Osam, Vit, Yantra, Rusenski Lom, etc.

This is not the first participation of ReSAC in a project, related to flood risk assessment and management in the frame of the Directive. In 2011, ReSAC performed consulting services for the Danube River Basin Directorate in determining significant past floods and potential future floods, which was the first step in the process of implementing the Floods Directive in Bulgaria.

Overview map of Regions with significant potential flood risk for river basin of the Yantra River

ReSAC Participated in “Professional Realisation and Perspectives of the Young Surveyors in Bulgaria”

05.2013

On 30 of May 2013, a youth seminar entitled "Professional realisation and perspectives of the young surveyors in Bulgaria" was held at the House of Science and Technique, Sofia. It was organised by Federation of the Scientific Engineering Unions (FSEU) and the Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria (USLMB). The seminar aimed to inform and inspire young scientists and students about their professional practice in geodesy and related fields.

ReSAC participated with the presentation about "EU Strategy for the Danube Region - New Opportunities for Bulgaria". Particular attention was paid to project "Common Strategy for Sustainable Territorial Development of the cross-border area Romania-Bulgaria – CBC". This project has been designed within the framework of a joint initiative and its main objective is elaborating of a common territorial development strategy for the sustainable spatial and economic development of the Romanian-Bulgarian Cross-Border area.

ReSAC Experts Engaged in the Danube Strategy

04.2013

ReSAC experts are actively involved the development of common resources for a territorial planning for the cross-border area between Bulgaria and Romanian, which comprises large part of Lower Danube. The work is in the scope of a Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) Project "Common Strategy for Sustainable Territorial Development of the cross-border area Romania-Bulgaria", funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

The Bulgarian Agency for Sustainable Development and Eurointegration (ASDE) is the leading partner of the work package, related to the development of a comprehensive spatial database for the cross-border area for the needs of the elaboration of common strategy for sustainable territorial development. The project started in February 2012 and will end in February 2014.

The detailed technical activities comprise a setting-up and development of systems and information services allowing the integration of the new, harmonized spatial databases and services with the existing information systems at county/district level. The database will ensure the necessary data for a comprehensive set of indicators at NUTS 3, 2 and LAU (local administration unit) level.

A particular output of the project will be the generation of detailed common land cover database for the cross-border area, built-up on the base of the philosophy of the Land Cover Meta Language (ISO 19144-2) and fully in compliance with INSPIRE principles. Common specification will ensure efficient cross-border analysis and reporting.

In parallel to that, ASDE and ReSAC initiated a technical collaboration with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC) in Ispra within the scope of the Danube Strategy, and in relation to the CBC project. The MARS Unit of JRC currently prepares a set of activities, aiming to provide a methodological support in various land monitoring aspects of the project, such as:

• Use of the CAP management tools (LPIS, CwRS) as a successful example of 'project' development and good governance practice of EU fund expenditure
• Land cover classification and harmonization approaches (TEGON concept, test-bed of INSPIRE data specification for land cover – Annexes F and G).
• Tool to extract land cover information from IACS data (land cover/land use, indicators, geo-referenced statistics).
• Selection of relevant indicators (agri environment indicators, urban indicators).

Regular Working Meeting of the EUFODOS Project, 7th FP for Research and Technological Development of the EC, Was Held in the Office of ReSAC

03.2013

On 21^st and 22^nd of March 2013 a working meeting on the project EUFODOS funded by the 7th FP for Research and Technological Development of European Commission was held. The main goal of the project is to develop specific downstream forest services related to forest damage assessment and mapping of forest structural parameters. The meeting was hosted by ReSAC and it was held in its administrative office.

The project EUFODOS is a collaborative project (with duration 3 years January 2011 – December 2013) coordinated by the JOANEUM RESEARCH INSTITUTE – Austria. ReSAC develops services that will be provided to Executive Forest Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The services are related to preparation and updating of GIS databases for the forest cover and forest cover changes, forest infrastructure as well as rapid mapping for disaster management. The project consortium includes several European organizations including research centers, institutes and private companies active in R&D and Earth observation: VTT (Finland), GAF (Germany), University of Freiberg (Germany), EURAC (Italy), RapidEye (Germany), ReSAC (Bulgaria), EAA (Austria).

On 21^st of March for the end user organizations in the forest sector from Bulgaria, Austria, Germany, Poland and Italy field trip was organized to biosphere reserve "Bistrishko Branishte", Vitosha Mountain. During the field work the expert from Executive Forest Agency and the Directorate of Vitosha Nature Park introduced foreign experts with the activities carried out in the region in fighting forest fire and infestation of bark beetles in the park.

The meeting continued in the Game Administration "Vitosha - Studena" – where the participants exchanged experience in the management of forest area and forest disaster management. On the meeting, together with the above mentioned organisations representatives from Game Administration "Vitosha - Studena" and Southwest state enterprise of Ministry of Agriculture and Food took part.

At the same time the project consortium held technical meeting with a discussion of administrative issues.

On the 22^nd of March the meeting continued with participation of consortium partners and end users of the project. Each of the project partners presented the state of forest management services in which they participate. In the frame of the project the RUSH Mode and NON-RUSH Mode services are ready. The RUSH Mode provides a quick product in a few days after a natural disaster and gives information about forest damages, while the second type of services generates products with more detailed assessment of the damages types.

The next EUFODOS meeting will be held on October 2013, Copenhagen in the office of the European Environment Agency. On this meeting, the portfolio of services that the consortium is ready to execute when certain natural disaster occurs in forest area on the territory of European Union will be presented.