News
- (News from November 1st 2024) Extremely succesful Workshop on the use of EO for Heritage organized by the European Space Agency with the endorsement of EARSeL.
Participants to the ESA – EARSeL Workshop EO for Heritage October 15-16 2024
Outputs of the ESA – EARSeL Workshop on the use of Earth Observation for Heritage
On October 15-16, ESA at Frascati (Italy), hosted the associated workshop. The two days workshop had extremely interesting presentations illustrating the current state of the art as far as applying EO in support of Heritage related activities.
The current tendency indicates that:
- EO is being adapted more and more in archaeological applications. A series of LiDAR and SAR applications in the Maya World were presented. Monitoring of the looting of archaeological sites were also demonstrated. SAR applications related to assess terrain incidence and its eventual effect of the cultural heritage site are increasing. EO services for monitoring heritage sites under eventual threat of forest fires, fooding, etc. are emerging in Europe.
- The ESA Copernicus programme has more and more satellites allowing frequent coverage and increasing the associated data resolution. ESA offers funding opportunities for innovative ideas on the use of EO, opportunities that the EO-heritage community shall take into consideration.
- The heritage community starts being interested in learning the possibilities that EO might offer. For this is necessary to establish a common language and to create awareness among heritage authorities of the benefits that EO brings to some of thier heritage activities.
- Commercial EO companies (private sector) are implementing contracts in relation with EO applications for Heritage. This indicates that the associated EO for Heritage, science and technology, is becoming mature. An eventual commercial market might be emerging.
- Innovative tools and technologies e.g. Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Digital Twins, Virtual Immersion, Virtual Tours, etc. are now being also incorporated into EO for Heritage applications.
Participants were very thankful to the European Space Agency for facilitating this workshop, hosting it, showing the new ESA data visualization facilities to all the participants. EARSeL was recognized as being a partner of ESA for this event. The ESA’s effortrts from Jolanda Patruno and Michela Corvino were highly recognized.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
- (News from: 7th August 2024) European Space agency (ESA) Workshop on The Use for Earth Observation For Natural and Cultural Heritage, 15-16 October 2024, in Frascati, Italy at the premises of ESA. Consider attending and sending your Abstract. Visit the website: https://eo4heritage.esa.int/
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
- (News from: May 17th 2024) The use of Satellite RADAR data and geolgical in-situ data enables to identify the ancient Nile River bed. Scientists have discovered a long-buried branch of the Nile river that once flowed alongside more than 30 pyramids in Egypt, potentially solving the mystery of how ancient Egyptians transported the massive stone blocks to build the famous monuments. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/16/middleeast/egypt-pyramids-nile-river-lost-ahramat-branch-scn/index.html
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
- (News from June 24th 2024) Laser scanning reveals aracheological structures in the State of Campeche, Mexico https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/06/26/maya-structures-discovered-campeche-mexico-lidar-scans
-
The German Aerospace center (DLR) is organizing a free-of-charge Summer-School “Copernicus for Cultural Heritage“, which will take place from July, 3.-6. 2023 at the premises of the DLR, in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich in Germany.
The goal of the workshop is to inform the participants on usage and best practice of Copernicus satellite data provided free of charge by the EU and also for practical exchange between participants and remote sensing experts on using satellite data in cultural heritage and archaeology. - Earth Observation in support of Cultural and Natural Heritage was strongly presented at the ESA’s Living Planet Symposium. The event took place on 23–27 May 2022 in Bonn, Germany and was organised with the support of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Two major events were attended by a large scientific community: An AGORA on the Future of EO for Heritage which was chaired by Jolanda Patruno and Mario Hernandez, and a Scientific Session on Copernicus for Cultural and Natural Heritage.
Cultural Heritage and EO: what you’ll find at LPS22
- The Group on Earth Observation (GEO) supporting Urban Heritage with EO science and technology
The Group on Earth Observation (GEO) launches an initiative to use Earth Observation (EO) to support the assessment of climate change into Urban Heritage. This initiative aims to be active from 2020 to 2022.
https://earthobservations.org/documents/gwp20_22/UHCO.pdf
- The European Space Agency (ESA), through the use of Copernicus data, aims to support bridging the gap between the space and cultural heritage sectors.
- EARSeL SIG on Natural and Cultural Heritage working closely with the EARSeL SIG on Education:
Since September 2016, a dedicated UNESCO Chair has been established by the UNESCO at the Heidelberg University of Education in the Department of Geography: “UNESCO Chair on World Heritage and Biosphere Reserve Observation and Education”.
Such a UNESCO Chair aims to support site managers in acquiring the necessary capacity to use geomatics in their daily heritage activities. In particular for EARSeL this UNESCO Chair is managed by the co-chairman of the EARSeL Special Interest Group (SIG) on Education.
https://rgeo.de/en/p/unescochair/
- Copernicus for Cultural Heritage: satellites to preserve the legacy from our past!
Workshop of March 2018
https://www.copernicus.eu/en/copernicus-cultural-heritage-satellites-preserve-legacy-our-past
- Copernicus Service in Support to EU External Action: Cultural Heritage
The Copernicus SEA contributes to the analysis of the crisis, identifying and monitoring the sites affected by assessing overall damages due to conflict in areas hosting cultural heritage sites: https://sea.security.copernicus.eu/domains/cultural-heritage/
Upcoming events
List of relevant projects
- Under construction