Spot Infoterra Group to supply Serbian SDI

18 June 2009, 2:25pm

Paris, 18 June 2009 – In partnership with IGN France International, the Spot Infoterra Group – and Astrium division – will supply the Serbian Geodesy Institute (RGZ) with the means to become the central supplier of geoinformation data for public and private institutions in Serbia. Spot Infoterra is a world leader in the field of geoinformation products and services. The contract is worth €15 million approximately.

Marc Tondriaux, CEO of the Spot Infoterra Group, declared: “The flexibility and interoperability offered by the proposed solutions, which are based on the proven expertise of our consortium in the field of national spatial data infrastructures (NSDIs), will provide the RGZ with the infrastructure to quickly implement a powerful and upgradeable system.”

According to Nenad Tesla, CEO of the RGZ, “This tool will allow Serbia to improve the exchange of information and communication between its various administrations. This infrastructure will also allow us to introduce online services, which will be a major asset ensuring the decentralisation, diversity and quality of the services offered to our fellow citizens.”

Geoinformation is a key decision-making tool in numerous fields (town and country planning and development, protection of the environment, security, etc.). Ensuring the availability of this data, ensuring it is up-to-date, and allowing local and national government, the private sector and citizens to access it has almost become an obligation for any country dedicated to improving the effectiveness of its general government and to supporting the sustainable development of its economy.

The IGIS programme, which is being managed by the Spot Infoterra Group (Astrium Services) and implemented together with co-prime contractor IGN France International, will provide the RGZ with all of these services. The RGZ will also be able to deploy an NSDI that will facilitate the production and maintenance of mapping data, and develop geoinformation services.

The project has three parts:

• The provision of a set of satellite and airborne remote sensing data, which will supply several families of applications of national interest, in the fields of mapping, town and country planning, agriculture and the environment

• The deployment of the entire IT infrastructure needed for data hosting, management and access, as well as the implementation of production workshops for transforming remote sensing data into geoinformation. Various applications for mapping and managing natural areas and farm land will then be introduced.

• The provision of a vast support programme (training and knowledge transfer, operational support) that will allow the RGZ to carry out this project independently through to its conclusion. The work is scheduled for completion in three years.

Spot Infoterra Group

IGN France International

Geo: International