Via Massaua 12, 70132 Bari, Italy
Planetek Italia s.r.l.
Partner entity description and relevance
PTK is an Italian SME, established in 1994, which provides solutions to exploit the value of geospatial data through all phases of data life cycle from acquisition, storage, management, analysis and sharing of information to produce and generate knowledge. At all stages, PTK adopts the principles of strategic design to create and develop strategic solutions able to meet the wishes of our users, adopting the best technologies available on the market, with full respect for economic, social and environmental sustainability.
PTK operates in different application areas:
● Satellite, aerial and drone data processing for cartography and geo-information production:
● Design and development of Spatial Data Infrastructures for geospatial data archive, management and sharing;
● Design and development of real-time geo-location based solutions, through positioning systems such as GPS/Galileo/GNSS and indoor location systems;
● Development of software for the satellite on-board data and image processing and for ground segment infrastructures.
PTK is active in both national and international markets. PTK group operates at an international level by providing solutions for the EC and its agencies, space agencies, national and international public administrations, research institutions, private companies and engineering firms working at global level. PTK is, furthermore, a member of EARSC (European Remote Sensing Companies Association). PTK provides solutions with a great experience in in Spatial Data Infrastructures compliant with OGC/ISO standards and INSPIRE implementing rules. The PTK’s experience conjugates mastering of advanced remote sensing processing, with GIS Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) competence and real world application delivery.
Planetek expertise includes among others:
● PTK focuses on mapping services of coastal areas in an integrated approach which consists of the extraction of features and maps – both at sea and on land – and the following realization of indexes which aims at providing information to support end user’s monitoring, analysis and reporting duties. For the sea side, it developed automatic services which rely on different sources of EO data and in particular Copernicus ones, for characterizing the surface and the sea bottom.
● The basis of the proposed Platform is Rheticus™, an existing, operational and relatively new platform developed in early 2015 by the Planetek Group. Rheticus™ is an automatic cloud-based geo-information service platform, designed to deliver fresh and accurate data and information on the environment. Rheticus™ was placed amongst the finalists of the European Earth Observation (EO) product of the Year by EARSC, and awarded the “Application of the Year 2016” award by the OpenGeoData Association.
● Expertise in Design and development of Spatial Data Infrastructures for geospatial data archive, management and sharing. PTK developed the technical components of the INSPIRE Geoportal at European Level. The system, based on Open Source technologies, is realized through national nodes interconnected with each other, providing geographic data, metadata, and services, in compliance with the regulations established at the European level and standards such as those defined by the ISO and the OGC ®.
● Expertise in Design and development of real-time geo-location based solutions, through positioning systems such as GPS/Galileo/GNSS and indoor location systems.
Expertise from previous and ongoing projects
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Project title
Integrated Coastal Water Monitoring (ICWM) for MED
Acronym
ICWM
Duration
2015-2017
Abstract
An ESA ARTES project with the objective to demonstrate the benefits of a service based on the integration of EO based products, Satellite Communication and Navigation solutions together with Terrestrial assets and crowdsourcing features, for the set-up of an improved coastal surveillance and water quality monitoring service in support to current practices on coastal areas for environmental monitoring and reporting, in particular to EU Directives.
Targeted users are environmental agencies and coastguard authorities. In particular the integrated solution provides access to real time information about the water status over the area of interest obtained combining EO mapping, Tracking Water Quality devices, other in situ measurements, modelling and crowdsourcing information. The resulting service intends to improve existing practices and solutions – both from EO and traditional at sea measurements – adding also a “time critical” component. -
Project title
MarCoast1 & MarCoast2
Duration
2005-2008 & 2010-2012
Abstract
MarCoast1 (2005-2008) and MarCoast2 (2010-2012) are GMES Service Element Project addressing the marine environment and is funded by the ESA. MarCoast2 is delivering on a regular basis a wide array of products to support the monitoring of European Seas in terms of water quality, alga bloom and indicators to specific users directly involved in the project. The WQ services are pan-European and are addressed to users in charge of operational implementation of international, EU and national environmental policies, such as the EU Water Framework Directive, ICZM recommendations, etc.
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Project title
Data Intensive Technologies for Multimission Environments Programme (GSTP)
Acronym
DAME
Duration
2016-2018
Abstract
The overall objective of the project is the development of the prototype of a software system for the exploitation of Earth Observation data; the setup of this system in the context of the Italian Collaborative Ground Segment infrastructure, as part, thus, of a federation of collaborative facilities in support of the Thematic Exploitation Platform (TEP) concept at national level and the execution of a proof-of-concept demonstration of its operational concept through a selection of use cases, aimed at highlighting the benefits that the establishment of such a system can bring to different user communities.
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Project title
C-TEP
Duration
2016-2018
Abstract
Thematic Exploitation Platforms (TEPs) are innovative virtual platforms, which aim to simplify the extraction of information from Earth Observation (EO) data. The ESA funded group of TEP projects, shall move the processing of data to the data source using cloud technology. Their main objectives are: • Exploration of Earth Observation (in particular Copernicus), in-situ and model output data selected by a thematic users’ community
• Support services (Platform as a Service) to develop and generate new information products for advanced users (“players”)
• Management and scientific animation of the users’ community.
C-TEP is an online service, funded by ESA, which will provide access to an extensive archive of over 20 years of EO data, near-real-time (NRT) satellite data streams, in-situ measurements, and the tools necessary to process and extract information from said data. The tools provided will support the advancement of scientific insight into dynamic marine processes and coastal interactions, which will promote understanding of our dynamic and valuable coastlines. -
Project title
costeLAB
Duration
2017-2019
Abstract
The main objective of the project is to implement a virtual laboratory which intends to provide to the scientific community studying the coastal zone a framework where to analyse, develop and test EO data, applications and products for the monitoring and the management of coastal risks on both land and sea sides. Furthermore the platform will also act as a hub for consolidated services in a pre-operational environment for providing EO based products on the coastal area.
The virtual laboratory will be designed in order to support the scientific developments and at the same time to be a reference point for the scientific community and fostering the sharing of research and results
Infrastructure and equipment
● Rheticus™data fusion centre, cloud-based EO data and services hub able to deliver products through automatic complex processes. Rheticus is a completely innovative data fusion centre, that is a cloud-based EO data and services hub able to deliver products through automatic complex processes and, if appropriate, a minimum interaction with human beings. It allows to progress from user designed services to user operated ones.
● Standard facilities include: PC and corporate network environment, Productivity Suite: MS Office 2016.
● Management data exchange: Exchange (email) and SharePoint (documents).
● Adopted design tools include: MS-VISIO 2013 Enterprise.
● Adopted GIS editing and analysis tool include: Hexagon Geospatial Power Portfolio 2015, ArcGIS Desktop 10.0, QGIS
Key Personnel
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Ms. Daniela Iasillo
Senior Technical Manager Geoservices.
She received the Degree in Physics at the University of Bari (Italy) in 1995. She holds the Specialization in Signal Processing and Remote Sensing data. She has 20 years of experience in remote sensing applications to provide information on land, water, forest. In the field of Earth Observation technologies she has vast experience with optical high resolution image processing in several application fields (forestry, agriculture, urban, marine, coastal zone) ranging from basic pre-processing to advanced image analysis methodologies, encompassing both automatic feature detection and interactive interpretation techniques for the creation of EO added value products. She works as Project Manager of Earth Observation products/services development projects for the Space Agencies and the European Community. Main activities are the technical and administrative management, the coordination of the working group, the interface for the clients and partners. She has great experience in Copernicus land products working as Project Manager for the “GMES Initial Operations 2011-2013 Land Monitoring Services: High Resolution land-cover characteristics of 5 main land cover types” (EEA/SES/11/004) Lot 4. She is also involved in the implementation of cross-cutting activities for coordination of the in situ component of the Copernicus Programme. She has experience in User Uptake activities working in the Copernicus User Uptake Information Sessions coordinating the Coastal Zone module and in the Rheticus Marine downstream demonstration based on CMEMS.
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Mr. Mauro Casaburi
Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) Technical Manager
Degree in Electronic Engineering at Università degli Studi of Salerno.After a brief experience in the telecommunications sector at ALCATEL Italia, since 2002 he works in Planetek Italia as a Project Manager, where he has been involved in the design and managing of several GeoPortal and SDI projects at Regional and National level. He has a great experience with Geoportals powered by Open Source Software and web services that are compliant with OGC and ISO standards and the INSPIRE Directive requirements. He has also great experience with designing and managing Linked Open Data (LOD) systems that allow the users to browse and retrieve data compliant to the Open Data paradigm.
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Mr. Giulio Ceriola
Senior Technical Specialist - Geoservices
He is currently working in Planetek Italia s.r.l. (European Institutions SBU) as project manager and senior technical specialist. As project manager he leaded/leads ESA funded projects and is responsible of the MarCoast2 Water Quality Monitoring line (managing 13 sub-partners) and member of the AquaMar Technical Coordination Board. His technical expertise concerns environment application focusing on advanced EO processing techniques. He is/has been senior technical manager for projects concerning the sea water quality monitoring (e.g. MarCoast1 and 2, AquaMar, SIMS etc.) and for the study of the urban heat island effects (UHI). He has a degree in Physics and a master in Technologies for the Remote Sensing from Space, both at the University of Bari. He has more than 7 years of experience in remote sensing applications.
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Francesco Coletta
Senior Technical Manager
Currently Senior Technical Manager at Planetek Italia. In this position, I have direct responsibility for project execution, team management, technical proposal writing, analysis, design and development Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). Furthermore, with the role of Product Owner, currently i manage an Agile team. Long technical experience as Software Developer and Architect first and Team Manager then. Excellent understanding of system integration and web development techniques. Well-respected lead of team members. In case, capability to assist them directly with coding and debugging problems. Experience in the procurement of complex IT systems from hardware to software. Particular mix of domain specific knowledge, that spans from embedded systems, passes over large-scale integration and system engineering problems and arrives at geo-informatics.
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Mr. Michele Antonicelli
Junior Researcher
He received the Master Degree in Environmental Engineering at the Polytechnic of Bari (Italy) in 2016 with a thesis based on the monitoring of the invasive alien species "Water Hyacinth" through Object Based Analysis. He holds a position of junior researcher in Planetek Italia and has been involved in European projects as FLOWERED investigating the potential of vegetation stress detection (related to fluorides contamination) from satellite remote sensing analysis, DAME related to coastline evolution-oil spill- ship detection with SAR Data. In 2016 while working as research assistant in Danish Technical University (DTU Environment) got some experience in the field of satellite biomass detection for energy production. He has been accepted as intern at the DHI headquarter in Hørsholm (DK) performing 3D modelling applying the software MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM ECO LAB and analysis based on model outputs. This module is capable of simulating the spatial distribution of key parameters concentrations and is generally applied in environmental quality studies in coastal areas, estuaries and lakes. Currently He is working on water quality products (Chl and Tsm concentrations) and Oil spill products.
Relevant publications
● “Rheticus: fusion of Earth observation and INSPIRE data for the environmental monitoring”, D. Illuzzi, P. Manunta, V. De Pasquale, C. Abbattista, L. Amoruso, L. Agrimano, S. Samarelli, M. Casaburi, Proceedings of 2016 Conference on Big Data from Space, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, 15-17 March 2016
● G. Ceriola, V. Avgikou, P. Manunta. Integrated use of MERIS and other EO data for water quality and red tide monitoring along United Arab Emirates coasts. Proceedings of ESA Living Planet 2013, PUBLICATIONS ESA SP, 722; ISSNX: 1609-042X
● Outcomes of 6 years of MERIS derived WQ products over Italian and Greek seas within MarCoast project. Towards Sentinel-3 – Giulio Ceriola, Daniela Iasillo, Paolo Manunta, Stelios Bollanos – Proceedings of the Sentinel-3 OLCI SLSTR and MERIS (A)ATSR Workshop 2012 – 711 ESA Communications, Noordwijk, 2013
● Remote water quality measurements of the marine environmental state in Apulia region – Nicola Ungaro, Daniela Iasillo, Giulio Ceriola – “The Growing use of GMES across Europe’s Regions” – Joint publication from NEREUS and the ESA(2012)
● MarCoast Water Quality Services for the European Seas – Daniela Iasillo, Giulio Ceriola, Antonio Buonavoglia, Monique Viel, Paolo Manunta – Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Application of Physical Modelling to Port and Coastal Protection: Coastlab’08, Bari, Italy, July 2-5, 2008
