Presented by SERVIR at the CGIAR-CSI Annual Meeting 2009: Mapping Our Future. March 31 - April 4, 2009, ILRI Campus, Nairobi, Kenya

1. SERVIR-Africa
Regional Visualization and Monitoring System
www.rcmrd.org,
www.servir.net/africa www.servir.net

2. SERVIR
The Regional Visualization and Monitoring System
“to serve”
Enabling the use of earth observations and models
for timely decision making to benefit society
• Data and Models
• Online Maps
• Visualization
• Decision Support
• Training
• Partnerships

3. SERVIR Nodes and
Coordination Office

4. The SERVIR Team
Building regional to national to local relationships through SERVIR geosciences
platforms and people
SERVIR-Mesoamerica SERVIR-Africa
Clayton, Panama Nairobi, Kenya
at CATHALAC at RCMRD
SERVIR Test-Bed and
Coordination Office
NASA/Marshall Space Flight
Center
Huntsville, Alabama

5. SERVIR-Africa: Applications
Tangible results making a difference in people‟s lives
• Disaster Analyses
• Environmental Monitoring
• Health Risk Assessments
• Climate Change and Biodiversity
• Short Term Weather Prediction
Flood forecasting and post-
event flood mapping
Potential impacts of
Fire „hot spot‟ monitoring Rift www.rcmrd.org, mapping
Valley Fever risk climate change on biodiversity
www.servir.net/africa

6. Data Acquisition
Current Priorities for SERVIR-Africa
• Direct request (tasking) of NASA‟s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1)
• Envisat products from RCMRD ground receiving station:
MERIS, ASAR, AATSR
• Daily products from MODIS in near-real time
• Meteorological data and ground data to support flood model
development
• 3-hourly multi-sensor NASA TRMM 3B42 precipitation
product in near-real time for input to flood potential mapping
• Digital elevation data derived from ASTER and SRTM
• Roads database developed from ASTER by the ICSU-
CODATA roads working group (CIESIN and AIST)
• GEONETcast receiver being installed
www.rcmrd.org,
www.servir.net/africa

7. NASA EO-1 Tasking
• Advanced Land Imager
• Hyperion – hyperspectral imager
Budalang‟i Floods
www.rcmrd.org,
NASA‟s tasking request system for EO-1 is used by SERVIR-Africa to
November 13, 2008
www.servir.net/africa
acquire baseline and post-event imagery of flooded areas.

8. Envisat Ground Station
• ASAR – Advanced Synthetic
Aperture Radar
• MERIS – Medium Resolution
Imaging Spectrometer
• AATSR – Advanced Along Track
Scanning Radiometer
Rapid acquisition, mapping, and validation
Provides support emergency response
www.rcmrd.org,
www.servir.net/africa

9. Data Processing
Current Priorities for SERVIR-Africa
• Implementation of flood potential and forecast models (e.g.
US Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Modeling System
(HEC-HMS) at RCMRD
• Automated near-real time flood mapping with MODIS using
methodology developed by the Dartmouth Flood
Observatory and NASA
• Post-event flood mapping and validation using high
resolution satellite data
• Rift Valley Fever risk mapping and validation
www.rcmrd.org,
www.servir.net/africa

10. Flood Potential & Forecast Mapping
• Using a regional/global hydrologic model with near-real time precipitation from the
multi-sensor NASA TRMM 3B42 precipitation product to derive flood potential
• Provides an estimate of expected depth of flood inundation at a 0.25 degree
resolution (approx. 25 km)
• Precipitation forecast data can be used with the model to provide longer lead time
forecasts
Model
www.rcmrd.org,
TRMM 3B42 Precipitation Flood Potential
www.servir.net/africa

11. Rapid Flood Mapping using MODIS
• NASA‟s MODIS Rapid Response System provides SERVIR with imagery and
data within 5-6 hours from acquisition.
• These products are used to create rapid flood maps using a semi-automated
approach developed by the Dartmouth Flood Observatory.
• NASA is working to reduce the lag time to less than 3 hours, and trying to fully
automate the MODIS flood mapping process.
Flooding in Mozambique
www.rcmrd.org,
January 27, 2008
www.servir.net/africa

12. Other Applications for MODIS
Desert Locust Areas
• MODIS reflectance and vegetation index data can illustrate changes in
vegetation conditions which provide ideal breeding conditions for Desert Locusts
• SERVIR-Viz provides an interactive tool for analyzing MODIS time series
products from the Columbia University‟s International Research Institute (IRI)
www.rcmrd.org,
www.servir.net/africa

13. Other Applications for Envisat
Rift Valley Fever
• NDVI derived form MERIS
Reduced Resolution can be
combined with Sea Surface
Temperature (SST) data of the
Pacific and Indian oceans
derived from AATSR to predict
the risk of Rift Valley Fever.
www.rcmrd.org,
www.servir.net/africa

14. Data Archive & Distribution
Current Priorities for SERVIR-Africa
• Document existing RCMRD data resources
• Establish metadata catalog and ensure that all
products are systematically archived
• Implement Web portal for data search and
download
• Implement OGC-compliant web mapping services
www.rcmrd.org,
www.servir.net/africa

15. SERVIR-Africa: Platform Goals
• Ensure the SERVIR platform’s long-term
sustainability in Africa.
• Provide support for disaster monitoring
and emergency response.
• Provide data and services to serve a wide
range of other decision-support needs.
• Raise public awareness and promote
general use of the system.
• Increase participation (user contributions)
through incentive technologies and
platforms.

16. SERVIR Platform: User Perspective
Discover
• Managed knowledge base
• Catalog services
• Directory services
• Notification services
Share Acquire
• Browse & search function
• Metadata authoring tools • Ground receiving station
• Community building tools • Data acquisition services
• Feedback mechanisms Web portal • Data processing services
• Reducing barriers to • Data archive
sharing • Geodata services
Use / Create
• Visualization tools
• Decision support tools
• Forecasts and models
• Support for interoperability
• Support for product use
Current Priorities

17. SERVIR Platform: System Perspective
Desktop Clients Mobile Devices
Web Browser
Web / Application Server
WMS / WFS
Web Framework
Mapping Engine
Server Side Apps
Database Systems Additional Services
Metadata catalog Caching and tiling
Database for Web Framework Extended GIS functionality
Application databases Data processing
Non-spatial Archive Spatial Data Archive
Document files Vector files
Media files Raster files
Tools and applications Spatial database
Operating Systems
RCMRD Internal Networks
& Firewall
External Data Systems SERVIR Ground Systems

18. Visualization Tools
SERVIR-Viz is an open-source desktop Earth browser
•Based on NASA‟s
World Wind
•Provides user-friendly
GIS functionality for
non-experts
•Supports OGC
compliant overlays
•Enables users to build
custom plugins

19. Decision Support Tools
The SERVIR Climate Mapper tool puts climate models and other
geospatial data directly in the hands of decision makers

20. Web Services Registry

21. Web Services Registry
Will be accessible through a new map component being developed for
the SERVIR-Africa Web portal
•Manage web services
provided by SERVIR and
others in a structured
interface
•Initially provide simple
mashup capabilities
•Ultimately adding data
querying and reporting
capabilities

22. Directory Services
Tools and services to facilitate networking and cooperation among African
geospatial scientists, projects and organizations