Created with the launch of SPOT-1, the first French Earth Observation (EO) satellite, SERTIT helps space serve the Earth producing geo-information from space imagery. SERTIT is a self-funding remote sensing service within the University of Strasbourg, whose legal representative is the President of the University of Strasbourg (UNISTRA). As a regional, national and European operator, it responds to society’s needs offering solutions in risk management, land planning, natural resource management, the environment and sustainable development.
SERTIT intervenes in emergencies thanks to its world renowned rapid mapping service. This service, pioneer in the domain and unique in France by its 24/7/365 operational nature, and its ISO 9001 certification, responds to information needs in risk and crisis management during disasters. It is notably involved in the European Copernicus Emergency Management Service Rapid Mapping and the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters”. Thanks to the support of the CNES and ESA, SERTIT has become a major player in emergency mapping for civil security services, the services of the European Commission, and international organisations. Presently SERTIT is opening its activity to the insurance and security sectors. Furthermore, this service is involved in crisis recovery work with the CNES and the EU.
SERTIT is a special link between research and applications. It joined ICube Laboratory in September 2015, as a technological platform and service, enabling the optimal transfer of research results to applications, in the domains of image processing, data mining and remote sensing. Thanks to R&D work, SERTIT remains at the cutting edge of an extremely dynamic sector, accompanies French and European space agencies in the development of new space programmes, and foresees new services.
Thanks to its long experience in semi-automatic information extraction from Earth Observation data for floods, fires and landslides detection, SERTIT will contribute, in HEIMDALL, to the improvement and development of EO image processing methods for risk analysis and emergency response (burn scar mapping, flood mapping and landslide monitoring). SERTIT will also participate to the development and deployment of a flood modelling service dedicated to prevention/preparedness and operational purposes.
Through its long term working relationship with key users involved in risk management, especially those of the Civil Security domain but also many others such as Environment and Health services, SERTIT will be involved in the setting up of demonstrations and the analysis of user needs and feedback. SERTIT will then participate in the selection, acquisition and pre-processing of EO data as well as in the development of multi-criteria hazard/risk analyses.