Learn more about Earth Observation with the EO4GEO Training Actions
The EO4GEO courses offer a broad variety of case-based training in the boosting field of Earth science. The first EO4GEO Training Actions already successfully took place, but there is more to come!
The EO4GEO Training Actions are separated into three domains — Integrated Applications, Smart Cities, and Climate Change — covering many topics to fit the needs of different stakeholders and audiences.
The Training Actions were developed and use Moodle, an open-source course management system and learning platform that supports cooperative teaching and learning methods. An own instance of Moodle was created and set up to fit the needs of the EO4GEO educators and the participants of the Training Actions.
Which Training Actions already took place?
Two webinars and one workshop were held until now:
Workshop: EO-based agro monitoring to support regional decision-making. The first EO4GEO Training Action was a workshop that introduced Earth Observation and the Copernicus programme to the Agriculture and Environmental students at the Universitat Jaume I (UJI).
The workshop was aimed at unveiling the potential of EO and Copernicus data as the biggest source of relevant and timely geospatial data for agricultural and sustainable monitoring. Despite not being able to directly discuss and interact with students due to Covid-19, the virtuality of the Training Action happily entailed the participation of UJI researchers and professors willing to know more about what EO and Copernicus could offer to their specific domain. The material of the workshop (in Spanish) is available here.
Webinar: The rise of Artificial Intelligence for Earth Observation. 250 attendees joined the webinar hosted by Planetek Italia as part of the EO4GEO training action program and allowed European academics, students, professionals coming from the private and public sectors to start a fruitful discussion to connect the AI expertise with the EO monitoring capabilities. The webinar introduced the AI concepts and algorithms (Multi-Layer Perceptron, Convolutional Neural Networks, and Generative Adversarial Networks) applied to image recognition. This is the base for the EO image processing and interpretation for image segmentation and classification for feature extraction but also for change detection and time series analysis. A huge number of applications can benefit from these methodologies. The video recording is available on our website.
Webinar: Identification of local heat islands to support city planning. This webinar dealt with Urban Heat Islands and the importance of their identification in a spatial planning context, and more specifically how to use EO-derived surface temperature maps to identify areas prone to heat stress in the urban environment. The webinar, mainly non-technical, targeted over 80 planners on different levels in cities or municipalities, Climate adaption coordinators, GIS technicians, researchers and ecologists presenting a real-case from the City of Stockholm. The video recording is available on our website.
Next EO4GEO Training Actions
Many training actions will take place in the following months. Stay tuned on our EO4GEO website: slight changes can still happen.
Optical Earth observation data for landslide risk management (Domain: Integrated Application What: Workshop / When: 15th of April 2021)
The Department for Geoinformatics — Z_GIS of the University of Salzburg will hold a Training Action that aims for exchange between research and practice and therefore addresses landslide experts from infrastructure operators and public authorities as well as researchers in geomorphology and natural hazards. The participants will discuss the potential of optical EO data for deriving landslide information and the resulting benefit for risk management. The online workshop will be held in German.
EO for urban greenery management (Domain: Climate Change What: Webinar / When: 26th of April 2021)
This webinar is dedicated to the use of remote sensing data in the management of urban greenery. Urban greenery is a key element of a healthy human environment: when properly designed and nurtured, it generates a variety of benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban spaces. The webinar is addressed to students interested in urban science. By participating in the webinar, students will understand how to acquire data on urban greenery using remote sensing methods and how such collected data can be used to improve urban greenery management, especially in the context of climate change adaptation. The webinar will be held in English.
Fast disaster response — satellite technologies for surface displacement monitoring (Domain: Integrated Application What: Webinar / When: June 2021)
The Training Action of the Faculty of Geodesy of the University of Zagreb focuses on the contribution of satellite technologies (EO and GNSS) after catastrophes. Relevancy of fast response, short theoretical background on technologies and practical application examples as well as how scientific interpretation can be given are included in the webinar. Data related to the strong earthquake which hit Petrinja, Croatia on 29.12.2020 will be used.
Landslide affecting Cultural Heritage sites — Roman Thermae of Baia (Domain: Integrated Application What: MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) / When: July 2021)
This Training Action offers a learning path for a simple methodology to exploit ground displacement maps derived by satellite radar interferometry (InSAR). The Integrated Application makes use of Copernicus EO data and services to assess the landslide risk affecting the tuffaceous volcano slope on which the Baia Roman Thermae are built on. The Persistent Scatterers processing allows for ground displacement analysis focused on the detection of historical and recent landslides, thus helping technicians and site managers to properly address mitigation actions for the best conservation of Cultural Heritage.
Other training actions are foreseen in the three domains:
Integrated Applications:
- Academic course: Geospatial data and technologies applications for monitoring land-use change
- Project work: Development of a citizen science project within the MijnTuinlab (MyGardenLab) environment
- Webinar: The Copernicus programme for a new Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) closer to European Regions and Citizens
Smart Cities
- Webinar: Evaluation and planning of urban green structures
- Thesis: Improving the sustainability of cities to storm and water
Climate Change
- Webinar: Air quality monitoring and management
- Workshop: Solar potential maps at a municipal level
- Webinar: Development of CO2 budgets and solar potential maps at a municipal level
- Webinar: Early warning for disease epidemics at a regional level
Outlook to the EO4GEO Summer Schools
Two EO4GEO summer schools will be organized, which complement each other in scope, target audience, and implementation mode.
The international summer school “Intelligent Earth Observation” will take place virtually in June/July, including a final event at the ISDE / GI Week 2021 hosted by the University of Salzburg. The summer school will address recent advancements in artificial intelligence in EO*GI comprising topics such as analysis-ready data, data assimilation, machine learning, hybrid AI, data quality and reproducibility. The target audiences are students, academic instructors, training providers, and EO service providers. The format of this international summer school is designed in a way that attendance from different cultural backgrounds and time zones is encouraged; the language will be English.
The second summer school entitled “Advanced Satellite Techniques for Environmental Monitoring”, if the pandemic situation allows, will take place in presence in Italy. The summer school is going to be Italian, but all the material will also be provided in English for its replicability. It is expected to take place in September. The scope of the summer school is to offer to the audience the theoretical tools and application examples required to better evaluate the actual potential of the use of Earth Observation applications in monitoring natural, environmental and industrial risks. The summer school will be addressed to the local public administration, small and medium-sized enterprises, and individual professionals.
All relevant details on scope, target audience, organization and requirements involved regarding summer schools will be published soon on the EO4GEO website.
