Earth Observation in the Balkans (BalkanGEONet)

Overview

The aim of BalkanGEONet was inclusion of all Balkan countries in the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), a decade-long collaboration between governments and international organizations to create a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

Filling gaps in data from the Balkan region is important if the GEOSS network is to provide data, imagery, and analytical software packages relevant to all parts of the globe.

BalkanGEONet aimed to create a permanent Web-based networking facility and a set of roadmaps and recommendations for the coordinated and sustained participation of all Balkan countries in global earth observation initiatives. The network would link to EuroGeoss, the broader European effort to support GEOSS.

The BalkanGEONet consortium included key players from across the Balkans providing and/or using Earth observation data. Although several Balkan countries were already participants in GEO initiatives, many were not, and the project aimed to survey and identify the status and needs of individual countries to encourage their participation.  

The project aimed to link the Balkans, where GEO research was conducted by individual institutions,to a network connecting regional and national research organizations.

IIASA Research

IIASA researchers developed the methodology necessary to survey EO-related activities in Balkan countries, by analyzing existing and planned initiatives in the region, and looking at the contributions the countries could make in the future.

Recommendations were developed with respect to the future involvement of Balkan countries in GEO initiatives.

Last edited: 03 June 2014