European Space Imaging (EUSI) has successfully completed another year’s CwRS campaign in record time supplying almost cloud-free imagery well inside collection windows in keeping with their reputation for speedy delivery of high-quality data.
EUSI has been the most reliable data supplier to the European Commission in the Controls with Remote Sensing (CwRS) program and has delivered the bulk of the data for a yearly increasing number of control sites since the program’s inception in 2004. Earlier this year, EUSI has been awarded an exclusive multi-year Framework Contract for the supply of VHR data to the CwRS program.
In 2014, EUSI had 100% success over a total of 561 control sites distributed across Europe and totaling more than 299,000 km². More than half of the sites were collected within 15 days of the window opening and about one third within 7 days. This corresponds to an overall average site completion time to within the first quarter of the requested windows. All collections were made accessing the DigitalGlobe constellation of satellites (WorldView-1, WorldView-2, GeoEye-1, QuickBird and IKONOS) and in close cooperation with DigitalGlobe and supported by the Image Processing Facility (IPF) of e-GEOS.
European Space Imaging has the benefit of operating their own ground station which, in combination with manual satellite tasking based on real-time weather conditions, leads to the speedy delivery of data for distribution to European Union Member State administrations.
In 2015, the demand for VHR imagery is bound to grow by a significant percentage to accommodate the requirements of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union. European Space Imaging is looking forward to continuing its role as dependable imagery partner and to supporting the EU Commission and EU Member States with data supply into the future.
“We are extremely proud to have again successfully carried out this challenging and important campaign. We have gone to great lengths to make this campaign run smoothly. It was a major team effort between European Space Imaging and DigitalGlobe” says Adrian Zevenbergen, Managing Director of European Space Imaging.
About CwRS:
Since 1993, the European Commission (EC) has promoted the use of “Controls with Remote Sensing” (CwRS) as a system to control agricultural subsidies granted under the EC’s Common Agricultural Policy. Following the real time evaluation in 2003 and the successful operational application since 2004, the EC’s Joint Research Centre (Director General JRC), in agreement with Director General AGRI, provides VHR satellite remote sensing data, to the EU Member States (MS) administrations for their CwRS area-based subsidies.
Since 2010, VHR Imagery acquired under the CwRS Campaign has also been used for the quality assessment of the Land Parcel Identification System – which is the main geo-database in the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS – the main administration tool for managing of farmers’ applications).
The Director General JRC provides technical guidance regarding the CwRS strategy as well as managing the image acquisition, ordering and communication with the MS administrations and image providers. Also, in close cooperation with the MS, they support the definition of the imagery required. Satellite imagery is acquired through third party suppliers selected by the DG JRC like European Space Imaging who has been a key third party imagery supplier to these campaigns since the programs’ inception.
About European Space Imaging
Operating a multi-mission capable ground station European Space Imaging (EUSI) has continued to provide access to the most advanced very high-resolution (VHR) satellites commercially available and related services to customers throughout their region.
EUSI has extended its global product offering to include imagery at 40 cm from archive data or for new tasking orders from the WorldView constellation and images from WorldView-3, the new super-spectral, high-resolution commercial imaging satellite.