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ISO 9001-certified geospatial company aids Haiti relief

by Garry Lambert*

ISO 9001:2008-certified RapidEye AG, of Brandenburg/Havel, Germany, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical earth observation satellites, has supported Haiti relief efforts by carrying out imaging of all the regions most affected by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit the country on 12 January 2010.

RapidEye delivered images of Haiti at no cost to governmental and nongovernmental aid organizations and institutions in need of the most current earth observation information available for this region.

ISO Focus+ asked Michael Prechtel, RapidEye's Head of Marketing and Sales, to comment on the value of its quality management system in such an emergency situation.

He replied, "We are an ISO 9001:2008-certified international company providing geospatial solutions and satellite imagery. The scope of our certification covers our data which gives us a clear protocol when dealing with customers who are requesting images of natural disasters. Haiti is the most recent example of an emergency situation which we imaged quickly, so that relief organizations could quickly react to the situation."

The organization’s five satellites operate from an orbit 630 km from Earth, and are capable of downloading over four million kms of high resolution, multi-spectral imagery per day. Despite unfavorable weather, RapidEye managed to cover more than 80 percent of Haiti between 13 and 17 January, 2010, including the region around the epicenter of the earthquake.

European Space Agency

RapidEye is also contracted to provide the European Space Agency (ESA) with satellite imagery for monitoring areas prone to natural disasters, by revisiting an area before and after an emergency event has occurred to provide the most up-to-date information on environmental changes.

ESA will use RapidEye's satellite imagery mainly for the "Safer" security and emergency project of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme in Europe, to reinforce the European capacity to respond to emergency situations deriving from storms, fires, floods, earthquakes or landslides.

About RapidEye

RapidEye AG is an ISO 9001:2008-certified geospatial information provider of customized and industry specific images by satellite to global customers in agriculture, forestry, energy, infrastructure, government, security and emergency. Currently, the organization employs more than 120 experts from over 20 countries, with plans to grow the team to 130 during 2010.

In addition to offering satellite imagery of high-risk areas, RapidEye provides satellite data of millions more square kilometres of Earth, which can be chosen from the expanding collection of imagery in the RapidEye Library.

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* Garry Lambert is a Switzerland-based freelance journalist