Help bring satellite data down to Earth
App developers from across Europe are invited to apply for this year’s Space App Camp.
Following the registration deadline on 22 July, ESA will select 20 developers to attend the 4th Space App Camp, which will take place on 14–21 September at ESA’s ESRIN facility in Frascati, Italy.
With large amounts of data coming from Earth-observing satellites – in particular from the Copernicus Sentinels – the camp brings together programmers to develop innovative apps that make this information accessible to a wide range of citizens.
During the week-long camp, attendees will be asked to find creative answers to global challenges. Working in teams, they will be tasked with developing apps and business models for one of five subject areas: agriculture, emergency and rescue management, environmental protection, marine environments and maritime transportation, or lifestyle and tourism.
Participants will learn about the many ways satellite data can be used in mobile apps, make contacts all over Europe, and gain insights into how ESA operates.
Interested individuals or teams of up to four people can register at www.app-camp.eu until 22 July. The selection criteria include previous programming work. Travel and accommodation will be covered by the event organisers.
Last year, four computer science students from Denmark’s Aarhus University won with their FieldSense concept, which uses data from the Copernicus missions to aid farmers in managing their harvests.
The group then went on to win the CloudEO Farming Challenge within the Copernicus Masters Competition, and later founded the Ceptu start-up in order to prepare the app for the market.
“Participating in the App Camp and Copernicus Masters, making lots of contacts, gathering all kinds of feedback – all of this has been a tremendous help in taking our idea further and developing it into a commercial product through our start-up,” said John Smedegaard, a Ceptu founder.
The company recently became one of the first to be accepted into the new incubation programme at Aarhus University and the SmartAgriFood business accelerator. A FieldSense prototype is expected to be ready by the end of this summer, with the market-ready app scheduled for launch at the start of the harvest season in 2016.
