A new Defra consultancy contract has been awarded to a team of experts consisting of Geoff Smith (Specto Natura Ltd), Alastair Graham (Geoger Ltd) and Andy Murdock (APM Geo Ltd).

The project will specify a set of generic indicator products as part of the Earth Observation Data Integration Pilot (EODIP) project framework.

EODIP is a collection of projects seeking to foster greater use of Earth Observation data across Defra and the wider community. In this contract (EODIP 6) the team are scoping user requirements for a set of products derived from satellite imagery that support wide-area mapping so that vegetation type, condition and change can be assessed rapidly, and more clearly.

The team will design the technical specification for a future operational system that can generate these intermediate products as a service, soon after the images are downloaded from the satellites. This will enable a time series of maps to be generated that will allow further exploration of vegetation changes. The products have the potential to be used for a variety of topics in agriculture, forestry and in habitat and biodiversity monitoring.

Further details of the companies can be found on their websites:
http://www.apmgeo.co.uk, http://geoger.co.uk/ and http://www.specto-natura.co.uk/ “