April 22, 2022
GEMSTONE monitoring tool initiative gets underway with InCubed support
Czech company SpaceKnow is developing GEMSTONE (the Global Economy Monitoring System delivering Transparency and Online Expertise) under an InCubed co-funding initiative. Based on Machine-Learning-derived data from satellite imagery, the platform will provide users with key insights on industry and supply-chain performance.
Businesses and public institutions often encounter a number of problems in sourcing useful industrial Earth observation data. Not only is it difficult to retrieve information promptly due to the time delay between a phenomenon occurring and related data becoming available, but analysts need to search a wide spectrum of sources to pull together actionable insights. Reliability is also an issue, with concerns that the data received may not be impartial or free from bias.
GEMSTONE seeks to address these obstacles by providing a single point of reference for data, based on indices computed through Machine Learning (ML) analysis of satellite imagery. Users benefit from access to performance information on selected industries and commodity supply chains, drawn directly from unbiased Earth observation data and rapidly processed with state-of-the-art algorithms.
With interactive features allowing customers to tailor the platform to their needs, GEMSTONE is primarily aimed at sectors including banking, insurance, government, automotive and energy. Knowledge can be gained for a specific area or country, or topics of interest can be selected such as lithium or wood production. Customers can also pinpoint sites related to a company or product and then monitor accumulated data at these locations.
GEMSTONE forms an integral part of the wider mission of SpaceKnow. Its Economic Products division is creating what it terms a virtual encyclopaedia of the physical world, fusing satellite imagery data with ML and advanced statistics to create actionable geo-information.
“The things we do at SpaceKnow are supporting key decision making all over the globe, and GEMSTONE will be a premium platform delivering our insights to financial and industry leaders,” commented Jaroslav Javornicky, SpaceKnow’s Co-founder and CEO. “Working with ESA’s InCubed programme gives us access to financing and additional EO expertise that together provide a vital springboard for accelerating our time to market.”
For ESA Technical Officer Piera di Vito, the commercial advantages of GEMSTONE are clear: “GEMSTONE aims to offer a fully scalable product that will bring multiple satellite imagery sources into one place and transform location-specific knowledge into business indices. The platform has the potential to satisfy the demand for a state-of-the-art solution that effectively streamlines outputs without the need for further analysis. As such, GEMSTONE is set to become yet another example of the value of EO in industrial applications, and we’re pleased that InCubed is supporting this activity.”
After kicking off in August 2021, the development of GEMSTONE is progressing well, with data sets and data labelling now complete. The next major review of the initiative is scheduled for the end of April.