Hatfield leads workshop in Bogota, Colombia focused on advances in remote sensing technology for sustainable development applications

Aug 27, 2019

As part of the Earth Observation for Sustainable Development (EO4SD) – Fragility, Conflict and Security (FCS) cluster, supported by the European Space Agency, remote sensing specialists from Hatfield organized and delivered a workshop on Earth observation technologies and their application to support FCS activities in Colombia. The workshop was held on July 9-10, 2019 in Bogotá, and was graciously hosted by the Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi (IGAC), with support from the World Bank’s Colombia office. Participants included members of the World Bank, IGAC, and the Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM).

The objectives of the workshop included transferring knowledge regarding the latest remote sensing technologies, including a review of existing cloud-processing platforms, and advancing the adoption and integration of information derived from remotely sensed data in the different priority areas.  These priority areas were cadastral mapping to support the establishment of property rights post-conflict, environmental monitoring of critical wetland habitat, and understanding migration dynamics through monitoring urban growth over time.

In total, more than 30 participants attended the workshop, which included IGAC’s experts from the cadastral, cartography, and geographical studies divisions, as well as GIS and remote sensing analysts from the Colombia Center of Investigation and Technological Innovation (CIAF) and the Colombia National Planning Department (DNP). Biologists and engineers from the Ecosystems and Geographical subdivisions of IDEAM and from the regional World Bank office also attended the two-day event.

The workshop included practical hands-on training on the selection and preparation of satellite optical images to provide cadastral information, and on the analysis of big data and available cloud-processing platforms.

Open source software to process commercial and open satellite data was of high interest to participants, as well as the overview of the latest cloud-processing platforms. IGAC and IDEAM expressed interest to further develop expertise in the themes presented at the workshop – specifically radar processing, machine learning, big data, and cloud-processing platforms – during the next phase of the EO4SD FCS project. Hatfield remains actively engaged in discussion with the World Bank, IGAC, IDEAM, and other organizations in preparation for the next phase of this project.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Andy Dean
Senior Partner
HATFIELD CONSULTANTS PARTNERSHIP

E-mail: hcp@hatfieldgroup.com
Tel.: +1-604–926-3261
Toll-Free: +1-866-926-3261