Geotagged photos to complement Earth Observation data
A tool that allows high quality and trusted geotagged photos taken by farmers to complement Earth Observation and field data (gathered through sensors and other means).
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Output Description
This product will deploy a framework that will capture geotagged photos from the farmers with a high quality, which can be verified securely. The main idea is to utilise user-generated geotagged images as a reliable data collection mechanism that reduces field visits, saves time and resources. Photo data may complement gaps in land cover and land use data from EOs. Also, photos can convey the visual elements existing on a field that may not be detected in EOs even at a very high resolution. For example, signs of soil erosion or unique landscape features.
The DIONE geotagged photos mobile application will supplement the overall data collection process. The process will be triggered when the farmer receives a task/action by the Paying Agency Inspector through the mobile application to capture geotagged photos. It will include features that allow the user to receive and manage notifications about needed evidence, manage active tasks to provide photos for each parcel, navigate proper parcel locations, and collect photos supported by Augmented Reality (AR) features. Positional accuracy will be improved using multiple location differentiators and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). The data collection process will also be supported by a series of methods aiming to ensure the geotagged photos' integrity, validity, and anonymisation, including image forensics (i.e. techniques to detect potential manipulations and alterations in the acquired photos). This process will occur while verifying the origins and secure transmission of the data and the location and time integrity.
Relevance for monitoring and evaluation of the CAP
The information and data to be derived by geotagged photos supplement EOs and support monitoring. As such, the information derived from geotagged photos should not be considered a stand-alone data product.
For monitoring, reliable geotagged photos will minimise field visits allowing for broader coverage of controls. They will provide inspectors with a more comprehensive idea of the general issues in an area.
Due to the processes and mechanisms securing photo anonymisation, the photos may be available to evaluators. The information from photos can improve and supplement the quality of the data available for evaluation from the other tools of DIONE. For example, suppose the evaluation concerns soil erosion using EO biophysical markers. In that case, photos can cross-validate the presence or absence of gullies or other permanent erosional forms that are a prerequisite in using specific soil erosion models.
In the long term, user-generated images may also contribute to research in evaluation methodologies by examining the possible application of landscape evaluation methodologies through images. The tool should be easily transferable to other areas and Member States since it only depends on the willingness of the farmers to participate.
Relevance of the output per CAP Objectives
- Specific Objective 4 - Climate change action
- Specific Objective 5 - Environmental care
- Specific Objective 6 - Preserve landscape and biodiversity
Additional output information
Data collection systems used:
- Ad-hoc data collection
Type of output:
- New / improved data for M&E
- Methodology
- Visualisation tools
Associated evaluation approaches:
- Impact evaluation ongoing
Spatial scale:
- Parcel
- Farm holding
Project information
An integrated EO-based toolbox for modernising CAP area-based compliance checks and assessing respective environmental impact
DIONE will devise a prototype toolbox in an operational environment that will use automated technologies to support CAP monitoring.
The overall aim of the toolbox is to ensure more frequent, accurate and inexpensive compliance checks and support the assessment of environmental impacts.
The DIONE toolbox will:
- Demonstrate the capabilities of the Copernicus DIAS cloud platform as a state-of-the-art (SotA) cloud infrastructure for building country-scale or even continent-scale EO-based monitoring systems. These systems will support the automated monitoring of green direct payments, aligned with the paying agencies’ requirements and recognised best practices at a Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7), implying a system prototype demonstration in an operational environment.
- Improve the resolution of free and open Sentinel data and combine them with high-resolution drone and commercial data to consider smaller EFA types of increased environmental impact.
- Develop and demonstrate ground-based geo-tagged photos that ensure photos with increased positioning accuracy and suitable orientation that are tamper-proof and securely transmitted to the Paying Agency’s compliance monitoring tool, which will complement EO data.
- Implement a low-cost system based on spectral sensors that can measure and assess soil quality (organic carbon, level of erosion), quantifying the current level of land degradation in the referenced land parcel.
- Integrate the results of the Sen4CAPOpen link in new window project concerning the freely available produced crop-type maps, the improved resolution maps identifying non-productive EFAs and complementary information sources into DIONE’s compliance monitoring tool.
- Design and implement an environmental performance tool, which will be integrated with Paying Agencies’ monitoring tools through a machine learning-based inferencing system at the regional or national scale.
Project’s timeframe: 2020 – 2022
Contacts of project holder: Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (info@dione-project.eu)
Website: DIONE: https://dione-project.eu/Open link in new window
CORDIS database: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/870378Open link in new window
Territorial coverage: Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Slovenia