Under Barbara's leadership, millions of satellite images have been made available to the general public at no charge, allowing scientists, planners and policy makers to make better-informed decisions on environmental problems. Barbara's career began in 1974 at the USGS. From 2008 to 2012, she was Director of the WMO Space Programme, and from 2012 to 2018, Ryan was the Secretariat Director of GEO in Geneva, Switzerland. In January 2021, Barbara became Executive Director of the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), a global not-for-profit trade association of private-sector companies working in the geospatial and Earth observation ecosystem.

Abstract

Empowering participatory geospatial data for local decision-making

Too often in the international development and geospatial sectors we talk about the power of geolocated information for reporting on SDG outcomes and making high level decisions without taking into account the most vulnerable populations and what their role is creating and using geospatial information. In the land sector, Cadasta Foundation focuses on enabling local people without formal land rights to participate in creating and using their own data to secure legal land rights and to make community decisions. Local partners train communities in their land rights, on gender inclusion, and on how to use simple digital geospatial and survey tools to document and map their community boundaries and parcels. This data empowerment is an important element in achieving the SDGs, whose implementation by design starts in local communities. We also help land sector actors use geospatial data to communicate with one another, for example through a dashboard and data portal created with the Liberia land Authority to upload and track civil society efforts at documenting and titling land. A simple dashboard allows the LLA to see which organizations and donors are working where, and to track where land titles have been submitted, verified, and issued. Closing the geospatial gap doesn't just mean making geospatial technologies accessible to low-resource communities--it also means closing the information gap between communities, government agencies, donors, and the private sector, who experience real challenges in engaging with one another. Digital maps, geolocated data analysis, dashboards, and other geospatial tools empower all stakeholders to collect, visualize, share and manage data in new ways that help them make decisions that improve lives and strengthen communities.

Abstract

WaPOR - Monitoring Water Productivity through Open access of remotely sensed derived data

'Andreas Littkopf holds a degree in agriculture (terrestrial ecology) from the Humboldt University in Berlin (1986) and a degree in business management (2000). After working as head of the department in a local environmental agency, he acted as Pre-Accession Adviser and residential Twinning Adviser in Poland and Slovenia implementing environment related EU directives. From 2007 he led the European Topic Centre for Land Use and Spatial Information (ETC/LUSI, 2007-2010) and the European Topic Centre for Spatial Information and Analysis (ETC/SIA) during 2011-2012. He also co-ordinated research activities of the University teams and was task manager in several FP7 projects related to earth observation and environmental information management. In July 2012 he started working at the Environment Agency Austria, where he was responsible for project development with European and international financial institutions and coordinated a Central Asian project on environmental monitoring. From 2015 he has been leading the European Topic Centre on Urban, Land and Soil systems and since 2022 the new ETC data integration and digitisation, which supports the EEA among others in implementing the Copernicus land monitoring program. Furthermore, he supports the development of remote sensing expertise in the European Neighbourhood East and participates as a data expert for monitoring Nature based solutions in H2020 projects.'

Aster Denekew YILMA is a Geographic Information Officer working in the Geospatial Information Management System Section at the African Centre for Statistics of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Ms. Yilma joined ECA in 2010. Her area of expertise is in Geospatial Science and Technology, which includes GIS, Remote Sensing, Earth Observation and Space Technology. Before joining ECA, Ms. Yilma worked as GIS, IT and Database Expert in the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), an international research organization, where she had contributed to several research outputs. She also worked in the public sector as GIS Specialist and Computer Programmer in Environmental Protection Authority and as Senior Statistician in Ministry of Mines and Energy. Ms. Yilma has more than 20 years of professional experience in the field of geospatial science and technology, earth observation and space technology. In her current capacity, she is involved in promoting the use of geospatial information and technologies in African countries to support decision and policy making for sustainable socio-economic development, environmental impacts and societal benefits. For this cause, she contributed in many areas such as the development of national spatial data infrastructure in African countries by providing technical assistance and policy support to Member States; support the United Nations Global Information Management (UN-GGIM) initiative; integration of statistical and geospatial information; capacity development in African countries through capacity building and training workshops; development of space policy and strategy in Africa; and working in collaboration and providing assistance to regional and international organizations such as Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), African Regional Institute for Geospatial Science and Technology (AFRIGIST), Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association, Geospatial Media and Communication, and Group Earth Observation (GEO), Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Ms. Yilma holds a Master of Science degree in Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation from the University of Twente, Faculty of Geoinformation and Earth Observation, formerly named International Institute for Geoinformation and Earth Observation (ITC), The Netherlands; Professional Masters degree in Geoinformation Science specializing in Geographic Information Systems from ITC, The Netherlands; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Ms. Yilma contributed in several professional and scientific papers as author and co-author. Some of her publications include Volunteer Geographic Information in Africa; Spatially Enabled Africa; Spatial Characterization of the Nile Basin for Improved Water Management; Characterization and Atlas of the Blue Nile Basin and its Sub Basins; Water Resources and Irrigation Development in Ethiopia; and Ontology Based GeoPortals for Accessing Geospatial Data and Web Services.

Abstract

Building fundamental geospatial datasets for the sustainable development goals in Africa

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) indicators require the use of modern, innovative technologies, including geospatial technologies, for comprehensive, disaggregated and frequent data collection, across all three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social, and environmental). The availability of consistent and accurate detailed geographic information is a key enabler for the growth of national economies. Mapping Socio-economic indicators improves the ability to make a better decision in the various socio-economic development sectors. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) conducted a study in the identification of fundamental datasets that are relevant for the SDGs. The Geospatial Data Taxonomy for the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa identifies all the SDG indicators that requires geospatial data and the corresponding geospatial themes and layers. ECA is currently undertaking an assessment on the availability of geospatial datasets that are relevant to track and monitor the SDGs. The presentation summarizes the findings of the assessment.

Shin-ichi Sobue got a master degree of engineering from Toyohashi university of Technology in Japan in 1989 and got a philosophical doctor of engineering from Kennedy-Western University in USA in 2000. His major is image data analysis of earth observation data. He joined JAXA in 1989 and had been work for earth observation satellite ground system development and data research management. From January 2017 to 2021, he served Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) project manager. From 2022, he serves deputy chief officer of Earth Observation missions and ALOS-2 mission manager in JAXA. He also plays a role of co-lead of GEOGLAM Asia-RiCE team, ISPRS commission I workgroup 1 co-chair and vice president of remote sensing society of Japan.

Abstract

JAXA's Earth Observation Satellites and SDGs

Dr. Pooja Mahapatra is responsible for geospatial and remote sensing solutions at Fugro. Since 2019, she has worked on commercializing a variety of cutting-edge Fugro innovations, with applications ranging from coastal resilience to railway track maintenance. Through Fugro, she is an active member of the Disaster Resilience Working Group of the WGIC. From 2016 to 2019, she led the global technology deployment and replication efforts in the geospatial domain at Shell, and provided internal consultancy on remote sensing, geospatial analytics and geodesy to various parts of the business. Prior to this, she was a senior InSAR engineer at SkyGeo. Pooja holds a PhD from Delft University of Technology on satellite remote sensing (InSAR) for ground deformation monitoring. Her passion lies in applying geospatial to real-world challenges, and was honoured to be selected as one of "Geospatial World's 50 Rising Stars" in 2022.

Abstract

Geo-data for making better decisions on climate change adaptation - focus on small islands

Mikael J.A. Maes is an Environmental Data Scientist at the Environment Directorate of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He specialises in using geospatial data and statistical programming to understand better environmental processes and the impact of climate change around the world. At the OECD, he supports countries by developing data and indicators on the amount of protected areas and by studying the impact and vulnerability of countries to air pollution and climate hazards, amongst other themes. Mikael has more than eight years of experience in climate change and environment research in academia, public, private and international spheres. During his Ph.D., he studied the relationship between mental health, cognition and nature exposure and how these ecosystem benefits can be better integrated into SEEA accounting. He holds two M.Sc. degrees and a B.Sc. in Environmental Science and Biology.

Abstract

GoldenEye H2020 project

We give human analysts superhuman powers with our proven and awards winning suite of AI platforms.

OPT/NET team is solving the most challenging real-time geo analytical and telemetry analysis problems.

Two of our flagship projects are funded under EC Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) funding. These two Horizon 2020 projects are GoldenEye and CENTURION. These advanced AI projects demonstrate the advanced EoD and Big Data processing platforms that we developed over the years through collaboration with ESA, Copernicus, European Commission and the industry.

The most successful and commercially attractive use cases for which OPT/NET has solutions are in mining, agriculture, forestry, maritime and emergency management sectors.

Our mission ready platforms are available today, offering unparalleled capabilities for near real time processing of all types of sensor data at the lowest cost and minimum effort from the operators.

Our mission is to improve the lives of more than 1 billion people in the next 5 years by applying powerful AI to processing of the Earth observations data and systems telemetry.

Abstract

During the last decades we have seen a great effort from the scientific community, governments and organizations to bring awareness of the real threat that climate change is for humanity. Many industries are investing in their transition towards sustainability, and many others are seeing how they can support the fight against climate change and the energy transition.

Space is one of these industries, and specifically, the ability to monitor our Earth from space, in order to provide information to policy makers and organizations worldwide in a timely manner.

GEOSAT is a European Earth Observation satellite operator and data and services provider, which is also contributing to Earth monitoring, energy transition and to the fight against climate change.

GEOSAT has developed tools, such as a Lithium detection algorithm, in order to identify key resources for the energy transition. We also contribute with the monitoring of land usage, environmental impact assessments, tracking of renewal energy projects, as well as carbon mapping. Thanks to LEO satellites, large areas can be monitored in a short period of time, providing biomass area calculation, and tracking carbon credit initiatives.

Alex Sweeney is a Senior Geospatial Data Analyst at Locana with a decade of experience in the climate, environmental remote sensing, and GIS fields. Her experience includes working with multivariate geospatial data ranging from satellite derived products, climate models, and ground-based observational data. She utilizes both open source and proprietary software for the acquisition, management, processing, and delivery of data. Her interdisciplinary background and foundation in climate science (B.S. Earth and Space Exploration, M.A. Climate and Society) affords her the ability to leverage different geospatial techniques to draw meaningful insights and publish sector-specific outputs.

Abstract

Open-Source Climate Adaptation Decision Support Tools: Why they're imperative and tales from the field

It is extraordinarily clear that climate change is accelerating, the time to act is dwindling, and climate policies are underperforming in their ability to reduce emissions and prohibit unabated climate change. It is equally clear that Geospatial Data and Technology will play a vital and central role in identifying responses to the array of climate related challenges. In this scenario, the most vulnerable populations often lack tools and information necessary to mitigate the disastrous impacts of climate hazards on their lives and livelihoods and develop fact-based strategies for long-term adaptation. As the world experiences increasing extreme weather events and changes in climatic patterns, already vulnerable agrarian and agropastoral communities will bear the brunt of the impacts. Agricultural producers are confronting the climate crisis in real time, and individuals, communities and governments need reliable information to support decision making - farmers and farmer-cooperatives need to understand what adaptation options exist for their specific location and crop/livestock mix, businesses need support in understanding how changes in climate may impact their entire value chain, and governments and international cooperation actors must have a multidimensional view into the impacts of and countermeasures for the deepening climate crisis in their areas of interest. Open-source Climate Adaptation Decision Support Tools can provide much needed data points to help answer user specific questions. These Tools not only foster education and collaboration, they also allow users the agency to make data driven decisions. Locana has recently formed partnerships to build out two unique decision support tools. Our presentation will demonstrate how together we brought their ideas to life - the rationale behind the tools, what open-source solutions we used, as well as where the future lies for these types of tools. Within this, we'll deep-dive into what data is needed, how to automate data pipelines, the critical need for tailored analyses, and tech stacks for optimal reusability.

Over a 20-year career in cybersecurity and information technology, Ajay has seen companies create true competitive advantage from successful management of security and technology initiatives. At the same time, healthcare is burdened with outdated technology infrastructure and inefficiencies - which are often measured in human lives. Ajay decided to take his understanding of technology and implementation to disrupt and innovate healthcare.

In launching HSR.health, Ajay leverages the best of tech to transform American healthcare into a system that innovates healthcare delivery achieving improved quality, lower costs, and health equity. Under Ajay's leadership, HSR.health pivoted to support COVID response in the US and globally. And through its lessons learned has developed insights into how health risks impact broader markets. The company is developing a digital Pandemic Early Warning and Response Platform to identify and mitigate impact of future pandemics.

In addition to his work at HSR.health, Ajay Chairs the Health Domain Working Group for the Open Geospatial Consortium, the global standards setting body for all things Geo; serves as the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Holy Cross Health, a multi-hospital social safety net health system in Montgomery County, MD; and is on the College Board of Visitors for Wake Forest University. If he isn't using the HSR.health geospatial platform to map disease rates against social factors to identify solutions to population health challenges, such as the opioid epidemic or maternal mortality, you can find him at sporting events (#LetsGoNats, #ALLCAPS) or behind the mic bursting eardrums while belting out his favorite pop music tunes from U2, Sting, George Michael, or Imagine Dragons.

Dr. Ingo Simonis, Chief Technology Innovation Officer, leads the development and execution of the OGC-wide technology and innovation strategy that will achieve objectives in the short, medium and long-term while enabling sustainable growth of OGC's impact in society and markets. As OGC's CTIO, Ingo is responsible for driving innovation through R&D and leveraging emerging technologies to bring the newest innovations to the organization, its members, and clients globally. Dr. Ingo Simonis is the head of the OGC Innovation Program and responsible for planning, managing and execution of OGC's R&D initiatives. With his outstanding background in enterprise system design and development of standards-based software architectures for large scale distributed systems, he supports member organizations in their adoption process of state-of-the-art open, distributed, standards-based enterprise architectures.

Wei leads the GeoSpatialX research lab at National University of Singapore. He used to be a research fellow at Harvard Medical School. He develops novel human assisted GeoAI tools to address the most critical challenges facing the world including epidemiology, supply chain, energy crisis, food security, and climate change. He has developed a series of big data analytical models and geovisual analytics tools to support near real-time prediction and decision making for crisis management (i.e., disease prediction and control, water security, supply chain prediction and disruption) for public policy-making, government, and environment-related industry consulting. His contributions in geovisual analytics help him win 2019 Waldo-Tobler Young Researcher Award from Austrian Academy of Sciences' Commission of GIScience. His research has been covered by top media outlets such as: CCTV. He co-founded GeoHealth Hub to bring top health scientists and enterprisers around the world for interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. His research team will continue to engage with communities, stakeholders, and industrial partners to make the real-world impact research and commercial products.

Abstract

Infectious disease has threatened the world over the entire human history. In the past decades, increasing population density and movement have made novel infectious disease more frequent and harder to control. New data collection and analytic approach are key for infectious disease surveillance, prediction, and control. This talk would present several research on this topic such as COVID-19 and dengue. This talk will use a series of examples to illustrate the importance of developing big data analytics frameworks to support near real-time disease surveillance, prediction, and control.

Clinton Heimann is the Deputy Director General of Spatial Planning and Land Use Management in the National Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development.

A registered Town and Regional planner by profession, he holds a Master's degree in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Pretoria. He has more than 24 years of professional experience, with a specific focus on strategic planning and programme development and the management of infrastructure and agricultural projects, including infrastructural and institutional development for rural and urban areas in South Africa. He has worked in numerous National Departments, including the: 1. Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, 2. Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, 3. Department Cooperation Governance and Traditional Affairs.

He is currently responsible for managing and implementing the Department's policies, programmes and budgets across all regions and provinces, as well as promoting integrated spatial planning and land management throughout South Africa through strategic partnerships with relevant national and international stakeholders. He represents South Africa at the UN-GGIM and the UN-GGIM Africa and various other high-level meetings and partnership the SDG Data Alliance.

His current functions include administering the following National Acts: 1. Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act; 2. the Spatial Data Infrastructure Act; and 3. the Planning Professions Act. His key areas of focus over the next 3 years are: 1. The embedding and implementation of the recently gazetted, National Spatial Development Framework 2050, which is South Africa's long-term vision for spatial planning and development, and 2. The development of the South African Spatial Data Infrastructure (SASDI) the cornerstone of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), will enable the integration of spatial information into decision-making to this end the SDG Data Alliance provides a sound basis for information and technology sharing. This work includes supporting and strengthening the Committee on Spatial Information in terms of coordination, monitoring, and development of spatial information policies, standards, and strategies across the different levels of government.

Abstract

South African Sustainable Development Goals Geospatial Roadmap

South Africa is one of the countries participating in the Sustainable Development Goals Data Alliance and is receiving support from the SDG Data Alliance partners to develop and SDG Data Hub. Although the output of the project is an operational SDG Data Hub, the outcome is also of outmost the importance as the focus is beyond technology but more about strengthening partnerships and a strong governance. Strengthened partnerships and strong governance are critical elements required to sustain the relationship between the two entities responsible for National Statistics System and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure which are Statistics South Africa and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

The three components of governance, technology and people are outlined in the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF) as developed by the United Nations - Global Geospatial Information Management Committee of Experts. The IGIF framework provides a basis and guide for developing, integrating, strengthening, and maximizing geospatial information management and related resources within a country. The same framework is applied to formulate the South African SDG Geospatial Roadmap which outlines the path taken and the progress made towards an Integrated Statistics and Geospatial SDG Reporting Programme. Even though the SDG Data Hub is a project with timelines, an Integrated Statistics and Geospatial SDG Reporting Programme is a long-term arrangement between Statistics South Africa and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

The long-term vision of the South African SDG Geospatial Roadmap as outlined by the two entities is to have an integrated statistics and location-based information recognised and accepted as official data for the SDG monitoring and reporting. The main goal is to have every statistical record linked to space(location) because everything happens somewhere.

The first stage of the project included an assessment of both institutions focusing on governance, legislation, policies, standards, data, technology, quality assessment frameworks, etc. In respect of governance, both the Statistics and the Spatial Data Infrastructure legislations provide a solid foundation that fosters collaboration, coordination, and cooperation amongst organs of the two organs of state in support of SDG reporting.

Caroline has been in defence, governmental, transport, energy, planning and the environmental geospatial sectors with a keen interest in agricultural policy. She is Founder and Lead Cartographer at Clear Mapping Co. She is a Journalist for Maplines, the membership magazine, for the British Cartographic Society. Caroline is Unite Lead at Women+ In Geospatial, covering Diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is a member and Middle Manager with the Chartered Management Institute. Caroline is a Fellow and Chartered Geographer with the Royal Geographical Society. She has a keen interest in sustainability, resilience and supporting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Nathan Vercruyssen is one the senior-scientists engineer of cosine's Remote Sensing business unit. cosine is a leading worldwide company in the development of space instrumentation, such as Silicon Pore Optics or remote sensing solutions with onboard processing. These are used in scientific, industrial, medical, environmental, energy, agri/food, security, semiconductor and space applications, with customers ranging from small high-tech companies to large space agencies. Based in the Netherlands, the company combines physics and technology to bring out-of-the-box solutions to its clients. cosine has been developing and delivering innovative measurement systems for space and industrial applications since 1998.