Automated change detection of cultivation

The project not only has an interesting name but also an interesting focus. The main focus of the project is change detection in agriculture through the utilization of EO-based markers. The project consortium, consisting of GeoVille and GeoData Services (a Hungarian-based company), will be executing this ESA-funded project. GeoData Services will have a strong focus on the HR data, whereas GeoVille will delve deeper into the VHR data component.

The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) identified and pitched to ESA, is to change the way of thinking from mapping towards monitoring, from seasonal towards in-season, and from static assessments towards continuous processing. With this in mind, the change detection will be automated and will take both spatial and temporal changes into consideration. Spatial changes will rely on homogeneity checks within identified agricultural parcels, and temporal changes will rely on monitoring changes in EO-based markers over time. These preparatory activities will be demonstrated for an Area of Interest (AOI) shared by both partners of the consortium, which is located in the vicinity of the Austrian-Hungarian border (see image).

The kick-off meeting was held online, and a visit to the offices of our project partner in Budapest is still in the pipeline. Nevertheless, this online meeting has proven to be fruitful, as the consortium identified and emphasized the potential of using these products as a metric for food security during this early-stage meeting of the project.