The GAIA App won the challenge by proposing the use of satellite data for agriculture, matching areas of interest with possible diseases. This would allow farmers to benefit from early warnings, for evaluating crops at risk. It could also provide tips on how to respond to possible dangerous situations in their fields.

With four participants representing Germany, Greece, Austria and Spain, the winners had the youngest member ever on their team. Germany’s Pascal Weinberger is only 18 years old and recently finished secondary school, while the other three winners, John Zachilas, Lukas Böhler and Pablo Garcia-Nieto Rodriguez, are all university students in computer science and electrical engineering.

John Zachilas from Greece stated: “It was great and extremely interesting to meet such people, since not many of my friends in Greece are into such things.”

Each member of the winning team was presented with a cash prize of €625. All teams were encouraged to apply to one of ESA’s 19 Business Incubation Centres to develop their ideas further.

Team members:
Lukas Böhler | Pablo Garcia-Nieto Rodriguez | Pascal Weinberger | John Zachilas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The following other app concepts were developed:

Rocket Tourist
This app uses Earth observation and crowdsourced data to locate the best spots for activities

Team members:
Simon Hofmann | Tobias Kaufmann | Johannes Staehlin | Robert Weller

gQUERY
The gQuery App is an Earth observation-based geolocation search engine for decision-makers and the public.

Team members:
Claire Crotty | Philipp Drieger | Robert Fujara | Anthony Thomas

PEBLY
PEBLY is an easy-to-use app for tourists, which provides information on typical holiday activities such as sunbathing, surfing, snorkelling and swimming.

Team members:
Lucian Baiesan | Tibor Hatala | Janos Szedlacsek | Istvan Udvari

SATVR
This app enables dedicated industries such as construction companies and the mining industry to visualise ground deformation by combining Earth observation data and augmented reality.

Team members:
Radoslaw Halski | Robert Labus | Tymoteusz Wojtyla | Seweryn Zeman

BIOME
BIOME simplifies the process of research projects for scientists and governments by gathering in situ data and validating EO data in a better way.

Team members:
Spencer Dixon | Ferdinando Primerano | Andrea Rossi