The SPOT Research and Development Project, funded by MISE under "Major R&D Projects - PON Enterprises and Competitiveness FESR 2014/2020" and developed in collaboration with the National Research Council and the company Digimat Srl, has aimed to develop an ICT platform for the provision of innovative services based on the application of Earth Observation (EO) technologies. The platform enables the provision of services based on the integration of latest data and satellite products with in-situ observation data and numerical model products, with the objective of addressing the major inherent social challenges, e.g. territory security and energy-environmental sustainability. Geocart focused its research activities on prototyping an infrastructure monitoring service based on information acquisition from satellite images processing as well as in-situ sensors for the diagnosis of operations or monitoring of areas on which they insist (technical electromagnetic and seismic).
The solution, developed for the "Gravina Bridge" study area, including automation of data processing workflow, acquired on-site developed by the CNR partner, made the output data and information easily accessible and interpretable even by non-expert users. Another relevant aspect for the project was the 3D reconstruction of the test infrastructure from LiDAR and photogrammetric survey which allows to model and study the structure for engineering purposes.
Specifically, Geocart was responsible for the following Project Implementation Objectives:

• OR1 Analysis of data, services and products based on EO satellite missions
• OR9 Prototyping of Infrastructure Monitoring Pilot Service
• OR11 SPOT Platform experimentation

Project Partners: Digimat S.p.A. (Lead Partner), Geocart S.p.A., National Research Council-Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (CNR-IMAA).

Time Period: 2017 – 2019

Smart Basilicata project, approved by MIUR under the "Smart Cities and Communities" call, was a real driving force behind the transition to a Smart configuration of the Basilicata Region's territorial system. The project covered the identification and development of innovative technological solutions for efficient and sustainable environmental management, mobility, energy, social participation, and for application of Smart services by the Italian Public Administration (IPA) and citizens.

Geocart has worked in the research and development of solutions, algorithms, or methodologies in the primary field of "Sustainable natural resources" and in the secondary fields "Smart Energy", "Smart Mobility", and "Smart Culture and Tourism". The activities specifically included:

• the study of an automatic process chain for production of data suitable for assessment of Land Cover indices by exploiting multispectral sensors, which enabled the development of Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 data processors for the production of multi-temporal maps on vegetation health (NDVI and NDWI maps), and on the type of land coverage (Land Cover map);
• potential assessment of integrated EO systems (i.e. satellite, airborne, ground) for monitoring biomass productivity and soil pollution, which has highlighted the potential for the integrated use of free optical EO satellite data acquired regularly by the Copernicus Program (Sentinel-2) as well as laser-scanner data acquired from a multi-sensor airborne platform to evaluate the biomass productivity and detect soil characteristics;
• Digital mapping, creation, and implementation of a SIT (Territorial Information System) in regards to regional hydroelectric productivity in small hydraulic jumps, the final result of which was the D.S.S. HYDRO SMART POWER, a Decision Support System enabling the estimation of regional hydroelectric productivity from pico-, micro-, and mini-hydro installations covered by Unibas;
• The feasibility study for the optimal hydromethane generation from renewable sources and its application in urban areas through which the process of producing hydromethane for its potential use as a fuel for local public transport (LPT) was identified by evaluating its technical, economic, and environmental feasibility in the case study of LPT by bus in the city of Potenza;
• the efficient use of the solar resource on an urban scale in which Geocart participated by capturing high-resolution Lidar data from the urban area of Potenza city. Throughout the process, geometric characteristics of the building covering surfaces were extracted. In addition, digital models (DSM - Digital Surface Model, DBM - Digital Building Model, and DTM - Digital Terrain Model) were generated, which are useful for urban environmental reconstruction and on which the algorithms used by the CNR-IMAA for the estimation of high-resolution solar potential have been tested;
• the feasibility study to identify suitable areas for construction of helipads intended to support the natural/environmental risk management activities, and also identification of further potential uses, including transport for tourist services as well as business, public and private managers;
• The development of Geocart mat3d, an open-source and web-browsable tool for 3D visualization and application of the point cloud of Matera city (https://www.geocartspa.it/smartbas).

Project Partners: TeRN Consortium (CREATEC S.c.a.r.l. - e-GEOS), E-DISTRIBUZIONE SpA, University of Basilicata (UNIBAS), National Research Council (CNR) and National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA)

The Ambi.Tec.Fil.Legno (ALFORLAB) project, funded by the PON tool (PON03_00024_1), has as its strategic goal the development and the integration of innovative technologies for the enhancement of the environmental and forest resources of Calabria region and primarily of wood, material with high environmental sustainability, through actions of industrial research and experimental development in all the different phases of the forest-wood-environment chain, from production, to transformation, to the use of nanotechnologies.

Among the ecological systems that supply goods and services, forest ecosystems play an irreplaceable role, which is continuously growing in importance and recognition, even at international level.

These are renewable resources that are more strategic than ever with enormous prospects of scientific progress and technological innovation on which to base sustainable biosphere management policies, to increase the productivity of bio-materials in a framework of conservation and improvement of ecosystems.

Generally, the goal of the project is to optimize the wood supply chain in all its phases (growth, collection, characterization and processing, up to the development of the products needed for final use), with the aim of reducing costs and improve products. The final target market is that of companies that work and use wood. The strength of the project consists in the integrated vision of these issues in relation to the aspects of the supply chain and can, therefore, fully favor the exploitation of all the technologies involved in the process.

The activities carried out by Geocart are included in those provided by Line 1 "Advanced monitoring and inventorying", with specific regard to the acquisition and supply of lidar data, orthophotos and hyperspectral data.

Project Partners: CNR (Lead Partner), CREA, University of Calabria, Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, CETMA Consortium, Fabiano Legnami srl, TeRN Consortium, Officina InfoByte srl, Tarsia Petroli / SLL Legnami, CREATI s.c., GST Italia srl, Laboratorio Tevere s.r.l., SuperElectric s.r.l.

Time Period: 2014 - 2017

Project website: www.alforlab.it