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The European Union’s ambitions in space were in focus during a recent visit to the European GNSS Agency’s (GSA) Prague headquarters by French State Secretary for European Affairs Amélie de Montchalin, who visited the Agency on Friday 29 November.

Madame de de Montchalin was in Prague to visit the GSA and, during her visit, she noted that: “European ambition in space is considerable, as we saw on 28 November in Seville, and the GSA is transforming this ambition into concrete projects that are improving the life of European citizens.”

The EU is a global leader in space and the space sector in Europe employs over 231,000 professionals, with an estimated value of €53-62 billion to the European economy in 2017. What’s more, Europe manufactures one third of all the world's satellites and, according to Eurospace, the space manufacturing industry posted sales worth €8.5 billion in 2018.

Read this: Horizon 2020 key to international cooperation for Galileo & EGNOS

French Space Agency (CNES) President and GSA Administrative Board Chair Jean-Yves Le Gall following his attendance at the European Space Agency ministerial meeting in Seville, Spain on November 27-28 welcomed Madame de Montchalin to the GSA headquarters. “We are very pleased to welcome Madame de Montchalin to the GSA, her visit bears testimony to the importance that France places on ensuring that space serves all Europeans,” he said.

Key contribution

At the meeting, GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides highlighted the central role of Europe’s GNSS programmes in the overall contribution of space to the European economy. “According to the latest edition of our GNSS Market Report, European companies account for an estimated 27% of the global GNSS downstream market, which is forecast to increase to EUR 325 billion in 2029,” he said.

“France has been a valued partner for the Galileo programme since the launch of the first operational satellite from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou in French Guiana in 2011, and the critical Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) for our Galileo launches is controlled from the CNES Space Centre in Toulouse,” des Dorides said.

‘With the GSA taking on new its responsibilities in becoming EUSPA at the beginning of 2021 and with Galileo reaching full capability, it is important that all the Member States continue to support our activities, and so we are pleased to take the opportunity of the visit of Mrs Montchalin to explain the evolution of the Galileo services,” he said.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is launching the 2019 edition of its Galileo User Satisfaction Survey and its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. These surveys aim to gain a better understanding of the needs and requirements of Galileo and EGNOS end users and to ensure that these needs are taken into consideration in future evolutions of the programmes.

Users have always been at the heart of European GNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) service provision, and feedback from users on their experience of Galileo and EGNOS is invaluable in shaping these services, helping ensure that they continuously improve and better serve the user community.

Tailored by segment

The Galileo User Satisfaction Survey is tailored to fit different categories of users and market segments. Likewise, this year’s EGNOS survey is broken down per EGNOS market segment (Aviation, Maritime, Rail, Road, Agriculture, Surveying and Mapping and LBS). When responding to the survey, select the market segment in which you operate; the market segment that corresponds to your main area of activity; or the market segment that is the most important for your company or organisation, if you are active in multiple market segments.  

Read this: Latest updates to Reports on User Needs and Requirements released

The EGNOS survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the EGNOS service provider’s management of EGNOS User Support Services.

If you are a Galileo or EGNOS user, we strongly encourage you to participate and let your voice be heard. The more users that respond, the better the GSA and the Galileo and EGNOS systems will be able to continue to meet your requirements. The surveys will only take about five minutes to complete, and your feedback will make a real difference to future EGNSS service provision.

Survey results

Based on the 2018 Galileo User Satisfaction Results, we can see that user satisfaction was up compared with the previous year, with 90% of users satisfied with Galileo. In total, 98% of users would recommend Galileo to others. Based on feedback from the community, a number of actions were identified for implementation to strengthen Galileo’s market position. 

These include spreading the message that Galileo is already available and performing well; putting additional communications and training efforts in place in the LBS community; and collecting all user related information on EGNSS in a single website, in order to provide users with an integrated interface to support them with application development.

The 2018 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey also showed a positive trend, with a global user satisfaction score of 8.3 out of 10, up from 8.1 in 2017. User satisfaction was highest in the road segment, which scored 9.4 points. User satisfaction with the accuracy, availability, continuity and coverage of the EGNOS Safety of Life (SoL) and Open Service were all up compared to the previous year. 

The main outcomes and conclusions from the 2018 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey are available, and can be downloaded here.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is launching the 2019 edition of its Galileo User Satisfaction Survey and its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. These surveys aim to gain a better understanding of the needs and requirements of Galileo and EGNOS end users and to ensure that these needs are taken into consideration in future evolutions of the programmes.

Users have always been at the heart of European GNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) service provision, and feedback from users on their experience of Galileo and EGNOS is invaluable in shaping these services, helping ensure that they continuously improve and better serve the user community.

Tailored by segment

The Galileo User Satisfaction Survey is tailored to fit different categories of users and market segments. Likewise, this year’s EGNOS survey is broken down per EGNOS market segment (Aviation, Maritime, Rail, Road, Agriculture, Surveying and Mapping and LBS). When responding to the survey, select the market segment in which you operate; the market segment that corresponds to your main area of activity; or the market segment that is the most important for your company or organisation, if you are active in multiple market segments.  

Read this: Latest updates to Reports on User Needs and Requirements released

The EGNOS survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the EGNOS service provider’s management of EGNOS User Support Services.

If you are a Galileo or EGNOS user, we strongly encourage you to participate and let your voice be heard. The more users that respond, the better the GSA and the Galileo and EGNOS systems will be able to continue to meet your requirements. The surveys will only take about five minutes to complete, and your feedback will make a real difference to future EGNSS service provision.

Survey results

Based on the 2018 Galileo User Satisfaction Results, we can see that user satisfaction was up compared with the previous year, with 90% of users satisfied with Galileo. In total, 98% of users would recommend Galileo to others. Based on feedback from the community, a number of actions were identified for implementation to strengthen Galileo’s market position. 

These include spreading the message that Galileo is already available and performing well; putting additional communications and training efforts in place in the LBS community; and collecting all user related information on EGNSS in a single website, in order to provide users with an integrated interface to support them with application development.

The 2018 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey also showed a positive trend, with a global user satisfaction score of 8.3 out of 10, up from 8.1 in 2017. User satisfaction was highest in the road segment, which scored 9.4 points. User satisfaction with the accuracy, availability, continuity and coverage of the EGNOS Safety of Life (SoL) and Open Service were all up compared to the previous year. 

The main outcomes and conclusions from the 2018 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey are available, and can be downloaded here.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is launching the 2019 edition of its Galileo User Satisfaction Survey and its EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. These surveys aim to gain a better understanding of the needs and requirements of Galileo and EGNOS end users and to ensure that these needs are taken into consideration in future evolutions of the programmes.

Users have always been at the heart of European GNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) service provision, and feedback from users on their experience of Galileo and EGNOS is invaluable in shaping these services, helping ensure that they continuously improve and better serve the user community.

Tailored by segment

The Galileo User Satisfaction Survey is tailored to fit different categories of users and market segments. Likewise, this year’s EGNOS survey is broken down per EGNOS market segment (Aviation, Maritime, Rail, Road, Agriculture, Surveying and Mapping and LBS). When responding to the survey, select the market segment in which you operate; the market segment that corresponds to your main area of activity; or the market segment that is the most important for your company or organisation, if you are active in multiple market segments.  

Read this: Latest updates to Reports on User Needs and Requirements released

The EGNOS survey covers all market segments and services, including the Open Service, the Safety of Life Service and the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS). It also assesses the EGNOS service provider’s management of EGNOS User Support Services.

If you are a Galileo or EGNOS user, we strongly encourage you to participate and let your voice be heard. The more users that respond, the better the GSA and the Galileo and EGNOS systems will be able to continue to meet your requirements. The surveys will only take about five minutes to complete, and your feedback will make a real difference to future EGNSS service provision.

Survey results

Based on the 2018 Galileo User Satisfaction Results, we can see that user satisfaction was up compared with the previous year, with 90% of users satisfied with Galileo. In total, 98% of users would recommend Galileo to others. Based on feedback from the community, a number of actions were identified for implementation to strengthen Galileo’s market position. 

These include spreading the message that Galileo is already available and performing well; putting additional communications and training efforts in place in the LBS community; and collecting all user related information on EGNSS in a single website, in order to provide users with an integrated interface to support them with application development.

The 2018 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey also showed a positive trend, with a global user satisfaction score of 8.3 out of 10, up from 8.1 in 2017. User satisfaction was highest in the road segment, which scored 9.4 points. User satisfaction with the accuracy, availability, continuity and coverage of the EGNOS Safety of Life (SoL) and Open Service were all up compared to the previous year. 

The main outcomes and conclusions from the 2018 EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey are available, and can be downloaded here.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

The Finnish team uMaze was declared the winner of the GSA’s Accuracy Matters challenge in the Galileo Innovation Challenge, which took place at Traficom Headquarters - Dynamicum, in Helsinki on 29 November – 1 December. The hackathon was organised by Ultrahack, with support from the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) and European Space Week. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) acted as a partner, providing mentors and judges and sponsoring a challenge.

The contenders for the challenge were tasked with designing, developing and demonstrating a beta version of an innovative application that benefits from Galileo’s enhanced accuracy. In total, seven teams of innovators and developers from around the world took up the challenge, and worked over the three days to either create a new app or enhance an existing one to demonstrate how accurate positioning adds value in a variety of use cases.

The top four

uMaze took the EUR 3000 first prize for their app, which creates mazes in specific outdoor areas in which users can play. The uMaze team also reached the finals of the MyGalileoApp competition. Since then, they have taken their app to the next level, increasing accuracy and including a function that informs users when the phone’s Galileo positioning is working. Given the level of precision required by the mazes, the user experience really depends on whether the phone has Galileo, so it scored highly on the hackathon’s ‘Galileo relevance’ criterion.

Read this: First Galileo-enabled autonomous vehicle successfully demonstrated

“For its part, Traficom wants to help Finnish industry and application developers to be at the forefront in introducing new services based on the Galileo system. The objective of the Galileo Innovation Challenge is to raise public awareness about European satellite navigation and support application developers in creating more solutions based on Galileo,” says Senior Specialist Tero Vihavainen from Traficom.

There was a tie for second prize of EUR 2000 between the Heim.tech and Kill it before it Kills You teams. The Heim.tech app monitors and manages wild fires using a drone equipped with a very sensitive thermal sensor to detect even small fires; a mobile app for people on the ground, and a user interface for controlling operations.

At the hackathon they focused only on the mobile app interface for managing assets and resources on the ground, mapping distances to the fire, calculating the human and material resources needed to reach the fire, providing an overview of where the fire is growing, and optimising the speed and efficiency of the response.

The Kill it before it Kills You app, which monitors the spread of contagious diseases, consists of two parts: one for the disease control centre and one for the infected patient. The app creates heat maps for contagious diseases and also tracks infected people, monitoring where the disease might spread.

The idea is that when infected people go to hospital and are diagnosed, they are given free drugs in exchange for using the app to track where they go. The business case is that prevention is cheaper than cure, and that only by having a clear overview of where a disease is spreading will it be possible to put crisis centres in place and organise a targeted response.

And this: MyGalileoApp: the results are in!

Finally, third prize worth EUR 1000, went to the Approach team, for their crowdsourced app for climbers. The app is able to pinpoint arrival and destination marks for a climb and, based on user input, calculate the optimal path for reaching a climbing destination. The app uses the enhanced positioning of Galileo, pinpointing every step of the climb and mapping the continuous decision-making process of climbers as they navigate the most secure paths.

“All of the apps presented at the Galileo Innovation Challenge rely on the positioning provided by GNSS and Galileo, the apps that we supported and evaluated as part of the ‘Accuracy Matters’ stream really took advantage of Galileo and dual frequency, to the point that accuracy really determined the outcome and quality of the user experience,” said Justyna Redelkiewicz Musial, in charge of LBS and IoT market development at the GSA.

“App developers are a great community to work with because they completely understand the ‘user-centric’ ethos which is also at the heart of our work at the GSA,” she said.

Quantum leap progress

All the winning apps made quantum leap progress during the 48 hours of the hackathon and made the most of the support provided by the GSA in terms of strategic guidance, technical mentoring and business development.

Along with the cash prizes the top three teams will be able to take advantage of some one-to-one coaching on preparing an application to the Finnish ESA Business Incubation Centre, where the value of the potential incubation amounts to EUR 75 000 EUR. The winning teams will also get the opportunity to network with a wide selection of potential investors at European Space Week, which is taking place immediately after the Galileo Innovation Challenge, at Helsinki Congress Paasitorni on 3-5 December.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).