GAF and partners successfully conclude work for Presidency of Meteorology and Environment 

Munich, February 26th, 2010 - A group of Saudi Arabian and European partners have completed a project to implement and provide satellite based environmental information products and services to the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The environmental monitoring covers all four environmental domains "land - air - coast - marine" and follows previous experience gained in the European GMES - "Global Monitoring for Environment and Security" programme. The providers are Summit Geoservices (KSA) and a European team lead by GAF and consisting of DLR, Germany and e-GEOS, Italy.

The environment has become a synonym for quality of life, sustainability and global change. The environment and its preservation rank among the top priorities on the agendas of today's societies. Meeting environmental challenges require actions and cooperation on national, regional and global level. Throughout the last decades the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed rapid development in its economy, industry and population. Environmental awareness is recently growing and becoming significant in all areas of daily life.
The Presidency for Meteorology and Environment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (PME) aims at providing environmental information services in KSA according to its mandate and in fulfilment of Saudi Environmental Law. To support PME GAF and partners use space technology and satellite remote sensing to provide timely and nationwide information on the status and evolution of the environment.

Comprehensive and leading edge services have been provided to PME:
Detailed analysis of PME requirements and priorities vis à vis the current state-of-the-art in environmental applications of Earth observation
Design and  implementation of a range of Earth observation based products and services for the Kingdom:
o    nationwide image maps, land use/cover mapping and monitoring
o    air quality monitoring and forecasting services - designed and developed by DLR
o    the demonstration of oil spill detection and monitoring in the Red Sea - designed and developed by e-GEOS
a GeoPortal environmental information has been designed and implemented to facilitate easy access and dissemination of data and information products
technical and strategic consultancy has resulted in the design of a GIS and remote sensing centre and development of business processes implementing international best practice. Strategic plan towards a future National Environmental Information Network has been developed
Training and Know-How transfer
Provision of expert staff and IT equipment, as well as office refurbishment - responsibilities of the partner SGS

GAF and its partners DLR and e-GEOS draw from their extensive experience and involvement in GMES - Global Monitoring for Environment and Security - the joint European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA) initiative on the operational use of earth observation based products and services for the environment.

Thomas Kukuk, GAF project manager states: "This project underlines GAF`s role as a "one stop shop for worldwide comprehensive environmental information services based on earth observation and geo-information." Dr. Peter Volk, GAF CEO, observes: "The success of this project demonstrates the capability of GAF and partners to operationally exploit GMES products and services, to market and to export worldwide".

Project activities started in 2008 and have been successfully concluded now. The continuation is under preparation. The GAF team consists of the partners GAF as lead, DLR, Germany and e-GEOS, Italy. GAF cooperates with SGS in Saudi Arabia.


About GAF AG - Germany
GAF AG, an e-GEOS company, is globally active and has an international reputation as a competent provider of project design, management and implementation services in the fields of geo-information, satellite remote sensing and spatial IT consultancy to private and public clients.   Within the past 24 years, GAF has been active in more than 100 countries throughout Europe, Africa, South-America and Asia.  More on GAF:  www.gaf.de
DLR - Germany
DLR is the German Aerospace Centre and has responsibility for all of Germany's space related activities, including satellite launching, data reception and research at the forefront of modern space based technology. DLR offers through its German Remote Sensing Data Centre cutting edge climate and atmospheric products and related services. For more details please refer to the websites: www.dlr.de/caf and http://wdc.dlr.de
e-GEOS -Italy
e-GEOS is a company owned by Telespazio (80%), a Finmeccanica/Thales company and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) (20%). The company is a leading player in the geo-spatial business at international level through a combined offering of application solutions, content and services. Thanks to COSMO-SkyMed's unique and innovative characteristics, the data acquired from this Italian radar satellites constellation is enabling the company to offer operational monitoring services that up to now were impossible. For further details see www.e-GEOS.it

Summit Geoservices (SGS) - Saudi Arabia
Summit Geoservices is a well reputed KSA based company and provider of GIS software services and solutions to the telecom, power, water, gas, transportation, local government and Geospatial industry sectors. Services include independent GIS consultancy, system implementation, data conversion, migration and maintenance, application development, business application integration, managed application services, training and support. Additional information can be found here: www.summit-Geoservices.com
PME - Presidency of Meteorology and Environment - Saudi Arabia
PME is the central agency responsible for environmental protection and monitoring in KSA. The Public Environmental Law of KSA assigns the overall responsibility concerning the development of environmental standards, the enforcement of environmental rules and regulations to PME.  For more details please refer to www.pme.gov.sa/en

To obtain more information, please contact:
GAF AG
Tel. +49 (0) 89 12 15 28 0
www.gaf.de
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