The solution is implemented within GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), one of EU and ESA’s most ambitious initiatives.
It will help to tackle emergencies in the event of fires or floods and will support decision making on environmental issues.
The project amounts to more than €2m and has an execution period of 34 months.
Indra, Spain’s leading IT company and one of the main players in Europe, will develop the system that will provide access via internet to geospatial information covering 38 European countries. This data will be used as basis for the exploitation of information collected by GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security).
The contract exceeds € 2M and increases Indra’s participation in this initiative of the European Union, which is only second in importance to the development of the Galileo navigation system.
The project will become an important milestone, since it will supply the necessary reference information for GMES to be able to provide a number of important services to final users. The information’s usefulness will be twofold, supporting decision making of environmental issues, and enhancing risk detection and response capabilities to natural disasters such as floods or fires.
Besides developing the access system, Indra leads and coordinates the harmonization and integration of the first information layers which have been regarded by several GMES projects as essential for the first round of operative services. This way, the company’s role becomes a key factor within the programme.
The first layer consists of a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) upon which other information layers can be superimposed. The model which covers 8 million Km2 offers elevation data with high resolution.
Additionally, a water layer with complete information for rivers, lakes, dams etc. of the 38 countries at a 1:100.000 scale will be included.
Intermap and the Institute of Aerial Geodesy of Lithuania, will provide the DEM and water layer respectively. The combination of both information sets will make of this the most accurate – public and free – geospatial information produced at European level so far.
The information Indra’s system will give access to, and the system itself, will meet the strictest requirements of the European Community’s INSPIRE Directive. The standardisation of the collection, organization and publication, facilitates the exchange of information between institutions as well as the implementation of advanced and high-quality information services for the administrations, citizens and companies which may require these types of services.
Observation from space
GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) is a European Earth Observation programme led by the European Union in cooperation with ESA. It combines satellite information with data obtained through other channels and incorporates information collected by land or embarked stations, demographic data and industrial production information, etc.
The environmental information thus collected helps understand how our planet is changing and its impact on the life of inhabitants.
Indra in GMES
So far, Indra has participated in several projects of the GMES programme either led by ESA or within the European Union Framework Programme which provides support to R&D.
Among the ESA projects, Indra has led GMES Urban Services – in charge of monitoring the environment situation in European cities – as well as the activities of GSE Land in the urban domain, which offers a global vision of the whole territory combining urban, agricultural and forest information, etc.
These projects provided the basis for the definition of the Urban Atlas standards (land use of the 300 largest European urban areas).
Moreover, Indra Espacio participated, and is still engaged, in the four most important GMES projects (BOSS4GMES, GEOLAND2, SAFER and GMOSAIC) promoted by the European Union.
Indra
Indra is the premier Information Technology Company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the second European company in its sector according to stock market capitalisation, and also the second Spanish company with the most investment in R&D. In 2009, revenues reached € 2,513 M, of which a third came from the international market. The company employs more than 29,000 professionals and has clients in more than 100 countries.