June 16, 2015 — Former Copernicus Masters competition winner EOMAP has launched the first harmonised, high-resolution inland water quality monitoring service based on satellite data.
The free web application, called eoApp, enables anyone with a web browser to view various water quality parameters in a selection of sites across the globe.
“Harmonised water quality information has never been easier and faster to access or incorporate into the business workflows of water agencies and industries such as dredging, desalination or aquaculture,” said Thomas Heege, EOMAP CEO.
“Access and analysis of aggregated global water quality information, whether through the easy-to-use eoApp web application or delivered directly into a user’s information environment, enables an improved understanding and management of inland waters, which ultimately are so important to both our environment and society.”
The eoApp’s data products include maps of turbidity – cloudiness caused by particles in the water – and chlorophyll content. These are important parameters for monitoring sediment plumes from dredging and dumping activities, as well as land run-off.
New data on these parameters will be provided by the Sentinel-2 mission, which carries an innovative wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager that can monitor inland water bodies and the coastal environment, among other applications. The first in the two-satellite mission, Sentinel-2A, is set for launch on 23 June.
The addition of Sentinel-2 data to the eoApp service will greatly expand its coverage of inland and coastal waters.
“It is exciting to realise that the EOMAP technology is ready to immediately incorporate the current and future Sentinel satellites into these operational services,” said Thomas Beer, Copernicus Policy Coordinator at ESA.
EOMAP has a long history with ESA. The development of the German company was initially supported by ESA’s Business Incubation Centre in Bavaria, one of the nine centres set up by the Agency to support start-up companies in developing new business in Europe drawing on space technology and satellite services.
In 2011 the company won the ESA App Challenge of the Copernicus Masters competition for its idea for AquaMap – a near-realtime water quality service on mobile phones. Two years later, EOMAP’s satellite service for mapping global seafloor topography won the competition’s T-Systems Cloud Computing Challenge.
The Copernicus Masters competition seeks applications for business and society based on Earth observation data, while fostering creative product development and entrepreneurship in Europe.
“This entrepreneurial spirit and drive of innovation fosters the sustainable market development for space-based services, in particular those relying on precise and easy accessible Earth observation data,” said Dr Beer.
