Remote Sensing from Space, 2009 Supporting International Peace and Security

David Stevens Space-based information, which includes earth observation data, is increasingly becoming an integral part of our lives. We have been relying for decades on data obtained from meteorological satellites for updates on the weather and to monitor weather-related natural disasters such as hurricanes. We now count on our personal satellite-based navigation systems to guide us to the nearest Starbucks Coffee and use web-based applications such as Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth to study the area of places we will or would like to visit. At the same time, satellite-based technologies have experienced impressive growth in recent years with an increase in the number of available sensors, an increase in spatial, temporal and spectral resolutions, an increase in the availability of radar satellites such as Terrasar-X and ALOS, and the launching of specific constellations such as the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), COSMO- SkyMed (COnstellation of small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin Observation) and RapidEye. Even more recent are the initiatives being set-up to ensure that space-based information is being accessed and used by decision makers, such as Sentinel Asia for the Asia and Pacific region and SERVIR for the Latin America and Caribbean region.

Preface. About the Editors. List of Acronyms. About the Contributors. Introduction; Bhupendra Jasani et al. Part I Security, crises and the role of earth observation. 1. Definitions, concepts and geospatial dimensions of security; Clementine Burnley et al. 2. European security policy and earth observation; Anthony Cragg et al. 3. Satellite based information to support European crisis response; Stefan Voigt et al. Part II The contribution of GMOSS in the context of GMES and security. 4. The security dimension of GMES. Network of excellence GMOSS: a European think tank for EO technologies in support of security issues; Delilah Al-Khudhairy et al. 5. A novel approach to capacity building for security applications; Peter Zeil. 6. Games and scenarios in the context of GMOSS; Adrijana Car et al. 7. GMOSS: infrastructure and standards; Donna Kodz. Part III Image processing tools for security applications. 8. Feature recognition techniques; Andreas Wimmer et al. 9. Change detection tools; Rob J. Dekker et al. 10. Data integration and visualization for crisis applications; Robert Meisner et al. 11. UNOSAT grid; Einar Bjorgo and Alain Retiere. Part IV Security applications. 12. Treaty monitoring; Mort Canty et al. 13. Early warnings and alerts; Bhupendra Jasani et al. 14. Can earth observation help to improve information on population? Indirect population estimations from EO derived geo-spatial data: contribution from GMOSS; Daniele Ehrlich et al. 15. From real time border monitoring to a permeability model; Nathalie Stephenne et al. 16. Remote mapping and damage assessment; Bert van den Broek et al. Summary and outlook. Index.