When the Earth shook with a magnitude of 9.0 off the coast of Japan on Friday, 11 March, Olaf Kranz and his team at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen had to react quickly. In close cooperation with the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, we analysed the satellite data and drew up maps of the affected areas. The aim was to identify the damage and find ways of providing the best possible support for the local aid effort, says Kranz, Project Manager of the DLR’s Centre for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI).
Providing maps quickly is a must for relief operations in the wake of natural disasters. Recent events in Japan show there is no alternative to intensive international cooperation, says Prof. Karl-Friedrich Thöne, President of the German Association of Surveying – Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management (DVW e. V.), issuing an invitation to the world’s biggest conference trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation and land management from 27 to 29 September 2011 in Nuremberg. Taking as its theme ‘Knowledge and action for planet Earth’, INTERGEO has for years been making an important contribution to cross-industry dialogue and worldwide networking. We will, of course, continue to drive forward these aims at Nuremberg.
INTERGEO exhibitor Astrium GEO-Information Services has announced the launch of four new satellites that will optimise the parameters for international disaster relief by enabling the flexible recording of larger areas, the accurate depiction of smaller areas with image products accurate down to 50 centimetres and faster availability of image data.
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