Dear Members and Observers of the European Association of Aerial Surveying Industries,
The year 2020 is coming, as some people say “finally,” to an end. But let us remember that despite the Pandemic´s devastating impact on many sectors of society and business, it has given our industry two major opportunities – open skies in 2020 due to reduced commercial air traffic and a considerable acceleration of the digitalization of society.
Airborne survey data is by far the largest provider of data for digital twins of physical reality. There are no efficient large-scale planning processes without coherent geodata – be it telecommunication, urban planning, transportation infrastructure, or agriculture. Even further – the demands and abilities of customer systems are rapidly accelerating to fully include the third dimension. Neither satellites nor UAVs or any other data source can replace our services.
So, what do we have to address to reap the benefit and invest in the future? Create coherence in the industry and visibility towards society and decision makers! That will guide the program for 2021.
We have just celebrated our second Partner Summit, due to the conditions, in a virtual form. As a perk of the online meeting, everybody had the chance to attend from the comfort of the own office or home. On the first day, we received an update on the Action Group work with exciting results showing that there has been a lot of positive energy poured into the cooperation. You can see the final proposals here. We were able to attract World class contributors. In the key-note, Kevin Gallagher, Associate Director of Core Science Systems at USGS, took us on his journey of developing the political, commercial, and operational environment for the ongoing 3D Elevation Program, a Lidar/IFSAR program with a budget of more than $1 bn USD covering the entire U.S.A. with high resolution height data. Andrew Flatman of the Danish SDFE introduced us to the way an NMA was contributing to OGC standards on oblique imagery, Joel Hencks briefed the community on the complexities and solutions connected to our status as SPO-Operators, and Mark Brooks gave us an insight on the year 2020 for MAPPS.
Finally, our SG Marcos Martinez presented the new IDEAS Forum, a platform that we will launch in 2021 to bring the technology providers and you together and guide the development of sensors and accessories driven by our European demand. Even the networking element did not suffer – we had serious and not so serious talks in the four wine-rooms where at the end, as always, most ended up at the bar, represented by Rachel and Florian’s Malbec room. I would like to say a big THANK YOU to Marcos Martinez and Aleksandra Majkrzak, who have prepared and catered for a technologically enjoyable and smooth experience, something I heard few associations are able to offer.
From my personal view, it was a meaningful and delightful event which provided a good close to a special year and hopefully the start to a new cycle of activities. The newsletters will continue to keep you regularly informed and I am looking forward to a strong cooperation.
We will now update the 2021 activity calendar so you can prepare for a new, accelerated year at EAASI.
2021 will be under the Motto “Visibility and Impact,” for which we are preparing an action plan as we speak. The actions will include advertisements, webinars and articles with the aim of increasing awareness and visibility of the aerial survey industry and its applications to the wider market, so stay tuned and let us know if there are topics that you would like to see on the list.
Please use the questionnaire to share your opinions and observations, so Marcos Martinez and the Board can do the best to create an environment that supports all your activities.
For now, all that is left for me to do is wish you and your families and colleagues a Merry and peaceful Christmas and a great start into a New Year. Stay healthy and get some days of rest for reflection and re-charge.
With my best regards and wishes
Simon Musaeus, D.B.A.
President