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New technology for efficient environmental monitoring from Finland
09.10.2006
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a software framework for environmental monitoring applications. It utilises satellite image data. The applications can be used, for example, to detect floods and landslides, assess forest resources, assist winter navigation or enhance road safety.
The concept developed at VTT is based on earth observation (EO) data from
satellites and other geographic information. It uses a software framework,
which enables implementing novel environmental monitoring services. The
software and application prototypes are currently being tested in practice.
Diverse applications in one package
The natural disaster monitoring system developed in the Envimon project
expedites the detection of natural disasters such as floods and landslides and
serves as a tool for local rescue operations. The distributed system concerns
acquisition, processing and analysis of satellite data to manage, refine and
distribute disaster-related information.
The forest resource application provides accurate data on tree species and
amount of wood to support wood procurement of forest industry.
The maritime application can be used to provide data on ice conditions for
winter navigation.
The traffic monitoring application is designed to improve road safety through
automated traffic monitoring. The application provides, for example,
information for traffic analysis purposes and for improving safety at
dangerous intersections.
Seasonal phenomena, such as the development of ruska (autumn colouring) in
northern Finland, may also be monitored through a specific application. The
system uses all available data, such as satellite imagery, seasonal changes
observed by individuals and Web camera images.
The objective of the applications developed in the Envimon project is to
enhance operative environment monitoring in the user organisations. VTT has
packaged the computational methods and application logics used by the
applications into a common software framework which allows effective and quick
development of new environmental monitoring applications. This enhances the
quality of the work done in the field and reduces costs both in service
development and in implementation. The applications can be implemented over
the Internet as distributed systems. Computers around the world can together
collect, analyse, store and distribute the information.
Besides VTT, the following parties were also involved in the Envimon project:
Stora Enso, Finstaship, the Finnish Maritime Administration, the Helsinki City
Planning Department, the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council, the Radiation and
Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland, Savcor Indufor and Metsähallitus. The
project was funded by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation
(Tekes).
A follow-up project concerned with developing the applications further towards
operational implementation is currently being prepared. The forestry
application, which is expected to be launched in 2007, is closest to reaching
this goal.
Image 1
With the forestry application it is possible to obtain accurate
information about the forests' state and characteristics, e.g. the total stem
volume of the growing stock.
Image 2
With
the maritime application satellite image based information about the ice
conditions and their changes is provided to the ships operating in the
northern Baltic Sea, especially the ice-breakers.
Image 3
The
Internet-application for seasonal change monitoring enables, e.g., countrywide
monitoring of the autumn colouring (ruska) progress.
Image 4
Using
the traffic application the traffic volume and speeds in the interesting
locations, such as intersections and roundabouts, can be determined using for
example traffic surveillance video cameras.