Space For Municipalities
The advent of mobile internet connected devices, through their key features (i.e. fast and reliable sharing and dissemination of information everytime and everywhere), has boosted the amount and the quality of the mobile services that municipalities can offer to their citizens. Most of the time government information does not reach citizens on the right time and at the right place. Hence there is a potential to expand the portfolio of services, which are part of the Government to the Citizens (G2C) services, and that provide useful information to the inhabitants of the city exploiting the capability of locating people and objects outdoor and even indoor. In the same way, citizens can exploit technological solutions to provide the so-called Citizens to Government (C2G) services.
What we look for
Kick-start Activities elaborate the business opportunity and the technical viability of new applications and services exploiting one or more space assets (e.g. Satellite Communications, Satellite Navigation, Earth Observation or Human Space Flight Technology).
This Kick-start Activity is dedicated to the theme "Space For Municipalities", which means that is open to ideas for services addressing the needs of local authorities, municipalities and citizens. Such services can cover topics as:
- Infotainment location-based services
- Buildings and asset management
- Monitoring of Illegal house and shanty towns
- Crime prevention and civil enforcement
Exploitation of space-based data and technology is key for the proposed Kick-start Activity theme, with the following considerations:
- Earth Observation imagery can be used to provide periodic images of the area which needs to be monitored. By comparing time-series images, changes of the area can be highlighted. Nowadays, the algorithms of change detection are well advanced and they are able to automatically detect man-made objects such as roads and buildings. Several of these algorithms use Synthetic Aperture Radar images and this assure that the images are acquired under all weather conditions and also during night time.
- Satellite Navigation (SatNav) is essential to provide precise positioning and guidance, they also support trace and tracking application and geo-tagging data collection. GNSS data are used for outdoor services. Other technologies (e.g. wifi, Bluetooth, magnetic fields) are used to complement GNSS data enabling indoor applications. SatNav is required for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAs) operations. RPAs can be used as complementary solution for monitoring purposes to fill the gap between space-borne acquisitions and when an higher spatial resolution is required.
AUTHORISATION OF FUNDING
For the Thematic Call on "Space For Municipalities" Kick-start Activities, the following ESA Member State has already made funding available:
Norway and the United Kingdom.
In case you intend to submit a proposal for a Thematic Call and your company/organisation resides in another country, you are encouraged to contact the National Delegation.
WEBINAR
The webinars for this topic were scheduled on:
20 October 2017, 11:30 - 12:30 CEST (recording and presentation below)
31 October 2017, 11:30 - 12:30 CET
The webinars are designed to guide you through the scope of work and bidding processes for this Kick-start Activity.
Webinar Recording
The recording of the webinar held on 20 October 2017 can now be re-watched:
WEBINAR Presentation
Registered users can now download the webinar presentation from 20 October below.
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