Through early 2024, the Government of Navarra’s public company will be charged with the validation of the Emergency Management Service of Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program
Tracasa has signed a framework agreement worth 4 million euros with the European Commission, as the company being entrusted with the validation of the Emergency Management Service of Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program. Tracasa, which has secured this assignment for the third consecutive time since 2012, will carry out this work until the beginning of 2024.
Tracasa, a public company of the Government of Navarra attached to the Department of Economic and Business Development, renders its main services in the areas of cartography, territorial management and information systems, and offers tailor-made solutions for the modernization of public administrations and private entities, both nationally and internationally.
The experience Tracasa has acquired over the course of these years in the fields of cartography, data processing, and the management of satellite images, the multidisciplinary nature of its work teams, and its knowledge, acquired through numerous tasks related to European institutions, were pivotal for its selection by the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission in Ispra (Italy).
Minister of Economic and Business Development Manu Ayerdi reacted «very positively» to the news of the renewal of this framework contract for the third consecutive time: «It is a sign of the public company’s solid position in the international arena. This recognition of the important contribution that the public network makes to Navarra’s competitiveness is also very satisfying».
Verification and contact with users
Isabel Goñi Turumbay, project manager at Tracasa, sums up the work carried out by the company as part of this framework agreement: «We carry out actions and analysis on demand through activations that we must resolve in specific time frames. Among other activities, we are in charge of verifying the quality of a sample of products created by the Rapid Mapping subcomponent, and by theRisk and Recovering Mapping subcomponent, and of contact with users to analyze the service’s impact”.
Other activities included in the framework agreement are field work to collect data in situ, the validation of thematic cartographic information, analysis of the emergency situation, searches for alternative information sources, and evaluation of the added value that products give users.
As a new development relative to previous contracts, Tracasa will oversee a network of experts in natural disaster risk assessment, with the aim of enhancing the consulting work that was already being done under the previous contract, focused on developing and testing new work methodologies that allow for the implementation of new solutions and enhanced mapping services.
The European Union’s Copernicus Program
The Emergency Management Service for Copernicus provides timely and precise geospatial information from anywhere in the world (extracted from remote sensing data via satellite and supplemented by various sources) to all agents involved in the management of natural disasters, man-made emergency situations, and humanitarian crises. The Copernicus program is coordinated and managed by the European Commission, with the cooperation of EU member states and various European entities, including the Joint Research Center, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Environment Agency (EEA).