With a total of 400,000 euros, two GFZ projects for the transfer of knowledge will be funded. With the GFZ project SAPIENS, the Helmholtz Association promotes the provision of satellite data in order to make use of scientific findings in everyday life. In addition, the Brandenburg Ministry of Science, Research and Culture supports the KONSAB project, which aims to improve the use of satellite data in agriculture and forestry in the state of Brandenburg. SAPIENS is an initiative of the GFZ Knowledge Transfer - SAPIENS stands for "satellite data for planning, industry, energy industry and nature conservation". KONSAB stands for "Communication Initiative for the Use of Satellite Data in Agriculture and Forestry" and is located in the technology transfer of GFZ. Both projects are technically supported by the GFZ section Remote Sensing.

The projects are intended to show users of non-scientific practice what information can be obtained from remote earth observation data, how they have to be processed and how reliable they are. Many of these data are available free of charge, such as the Copernicus Sentinel Missions data, or the USGS Landsat Program.

SAPIENS is aimed in particular at specialized authorities at the level of municipalities, administrative districts, government districts and federal states as well as non-governmental organizations and the media. The focus will be on the development of continuing education opportunities. Webinars will use concrete examples to show how remote sensing data can be used in practice. Behind SAPIENS is the realization that, for example, specialist administrations frequently make decisions based on geoinformation. Examples include land use conflicts in construction projects, the designation of biotopes or compliance with water and nature conservation requirements. It is usually central to determine the ecological status of areas or to determine how this changes as a result of planned interventions. Remote Sensing methods can provide many control parameters over a large area, complementing existing procedures.

KONSAB's target group are agricultural businesses, from sideline farmers to agricultural cooperatives, as well as forestry and consulting firms in the sector. In the next two years, four presence events in the state of Brandenburg will be used to identify concrete needs and questions concerning geo-exploration data with the potential users and to prepare and answer them in a dialogue platform and via webinar modules. One possible topic is obtaining information on the state of agricultural and forest land. The parameters range from the condition of the topsoil to the monitoring of forest and moor areas with regard to forest fires.

In both projects, the focus of GFZ is to provide help for self-help, ie to enable the target groups to use geo-data according to their own requirements through further education formats. At the same time, it supports digitization in administration and agriculture. (ak)

Helmholtz press release