Welcome
Mapping land cover, crops and habitats is something we’re good at. It has all become a bit routine but during a, now all too familiar, Zoom call back in August a member of our Data Services Team reported that we had mapped over 600 million km² in the last year, albeit many areas more than once. As it turns out the conversation did not stop there and it transpires that we have done a lot more than that. The interesting thing is that we can now do this work at scale from a few hectares to many thousands of square kilometres, something that was just not possible a few years ago. This issue of Sphere demonstrates that we have developed a world class capability in this area.
Contents
One Million Fields Surveyed!
Visualisation
Agri-Environment Scheme Analysis Drives Policy
Simple, Pragmatic, Usable!
Rail Network Habitat Mapping
G-Cloud
Our Impact on the Environment
One Million Fields Surveyed!
Incredible as it may seem, during one of the weekly updates between members of our Data Services Team they calculated that we have surveyed over one million fields in the last year. When we take into account the number of repeat visits to some of these fields, the land area we have covered is well over 600 million km². We’re always busy in the UK but more recently we have been expanding our focus to include Latin America. We have covered huge areas of soybean cultivation in Brazil and Argentina, 70,000 km² in Peru and 68,000 km² in Colombia for the EO4cultivar project. In addition, under the project extension, we have also surveyed areas of Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, Belize, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cuba and Mexico.
In most cases we are mapping commercial farms. We have become quite the experts in banana plantation maps for example! When we say mapped it is more accurate to say classified and monitored. In many instances no maps exist and we have become very adept, using our own algorithms, in creating field maps so that farmers and their supply chains can readily identify and deal with issues as they arise. Multi-temporal monitoring of crops and identification of growth stages is beginning to revolutionise the way that growers manage their assets.
Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites provide the majority of the data we process but we are also avid consumers of Planet and other commercial sources, with much of the analyses automated using our own algorithms developed in-house.
Visualisation
These days we have to deal with huge volumes of data the challenge is how to communicate the information and knowledge we derive from it to enable the end user to act. Increasingly we are using dashboards as a key part of how we deliver the results of our endeavours.
Data dashboards support analysis and interpretation of data through visual representation of the data. They are web based, interactive and can automatically update as new data are acquired. They provide an at-a-glance overview of complex data to support and improve decision making through the use of statistics, maps, graphs and pie charts to name a few. The exciting thing is that data dashboards can present a wide range of data including statistics, spatial data (maps), right down to field scale, crop extents, crop growth stage, areas of bare soil, planting opportunities, natural capital evaluation, coastal areas at risk of storm surge, in fact pretty much anything that we choose to present from the data we process.
As a result, we can offer our customers dashboards which are specifically focused on the information they need with associated graphs and statistics. Whilst dashboards can be interactive and present data over time, we are also using other dashboards or ‘story maps’ which show static data in useful ways. To do this we make extensive use of a number of software platforms including Tableau, ESRI (with support from our friends at Triage) and even our own web viewers when needed. This gives us the ability to choose the right mix of technology for accessing and visualising data.
Agri-environment Scheme Analysis Drives Policy
Agri-environment schemes (AES) provide funding to farmers and land managers to farm in a way that supports biodiversity, enhances the landscape, and improves the quality of water, air and soil, but how effective are they? The latest Natural England Agri-environment Evidence Programme annual report draws from eight projects, four of which Environment Systems was involved in.
The projects were collaborative and focused on key areas. Our partners on each project are shown in brackets.
- An assessment of gradual climate change and changes in the frequency of extreme weather events on farming and the ability of AES to deliver the desired environmental outcomes (CCRI and LUC)
- The contribution of AES to Natural Capital (Vivid Economics and York University)
- The effective ness of AES on improving SSSI condition – covered in Sphere Autumn 2019 (CCRI and LUC)
- Phase 3 of the evaluation of the the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund established as part of Countryside Stewardship to support cooperation between farmers and land managers at the landscape scale (CCRI and LUC)
Each project report provides key insights, for example, how hedge and hay cutting dates are beginning to clash with earlier egg laying and bud burst. Positive outcomes include the encouraging effect of AES on natural capital but also various shortcomings, such as the lack of up-to-date data available for analysis.
The robust approach to monitoring and evaluation is central to the design and roll out of the Environmental Land Management scheme (ELM) which is due to be in place by the end of 2024, replacing the schemes currently available under the Common Agricultural Policy. Environment Systems continues to be a key provider of evidence and insight that will help to inform future policy and the introduction of the ELM schemes.
Simple, Pragmatic, Usable!
Sometimes we need to understand a particular user’s perspective in order to deliver precisely the information that is both useful and actionable. In the Caribbean, which suffers more than its fair share of extreme weather events, the devastation wrought by hurricanes and associated storm surges, we have taken this approach, the end users being planners. Taking 100 years of hurricane data detailing their direction, frequency and strength we have used our SENCE modelling methodology and the key factors that influence storm surge to provide simple maps. The maps show areas at risk from storm surge, where there are opportunities to enhance, restore and recreate natural defences such as planting mangrove and restoring dunes and how these measures will impact on vulnerability.
The key factors include steep slope, the presence of coral and mangroves, which are scored high because of their ability to break up high waves. Shallow sloping beaches with no natural dunes left intact obviously score low because they don’t present a significant defence against storm surge.
The maps clearly show where the risks are highest, and therefore make it possible to inform a simple decision such as whether a site is suitable for a new development. The opportunity maps show where it might be useful to create new areas of coral, plus red or buttonwood mangrove and even where to establish dunes and the species that form and hold them together. They also illustrate the impact these measures will have if implemented.
Rail Network Habitat Mapping
Earlier this year we were asked to survey two pilot areas for ECUS, an environmental consultancy, as part of a study to investigate the feasibility of mapping the Network Rail estate.
Network Rail owns, operates and develops Britain’s railway infrastructure which comprises 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. Either side of the land on which the rails sit there are a huge variety of unmapped habitats.
Using long-established remote sensing techniques which we have developed in-house we have become extremely good at mapping habitats and land cover. On this project we used Sentinel-2 imagery and some aerial photography to map two areas in Kent and Sussex into habitat classes as part of the evidence base to support better land management of the estate.
G-Cloud
The Government’s G-Cloud Framework, sometimes referred to as the Digital Marketplace is an online service that enables public sector organisations, including agencies and arm’s length bodies, to find and buy cloud technology and specialist services for digital projects. We are delighted to report that from 28th September we have been included in the latest Framework 12 where we offer an Earth Observation Data Service for the provision of on-demand analysis-ready satellite data plus environmental and agricultural metrics.
You can find us in the Digital Marketplace here.
Our Impact on the Environment
As an environmental consultancy we have always been aware of our own impact on the environment and back in 2012 we were accredited to BS8555 and have since evolved our Environment Management System (EMS) which enables us to monitor, improve and control our environmental performance.
This year we successfully updated our policies and procedures from BS8555 2013 to BS8555 2016. We were able to achieve a total reduction in the waste we produce by 33%, and reduce waste going to landfill by 8%. Earlier this year we reported on our collaboration with World Land Trust which enables us to be a carbon balanced company. This was achieved through a collaboration between the EMS team and the Ethics Committee here at Environment Systems. World Land Trust’s Carbon Balanced programme enables individuals and organisations to offset their residual greenhouse gas emissions through the protection and restoration of carbon-rich wildlife habitats in the tropics.