Earth Observation Images Processing and Management System

September 10, 2018

The closing date for this challenge has been extended to October 1, 2018 at 14:00 EDT.

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August 15, 2018

The Desired Outcomes and Consideration section of this Challenge Notice has been updated to include new information.

Attachment 1 contains questions and answers related to the challenge.

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This Challenge Notice, amended August 15, 2018, is issued under the Innovative Solutions Canada Program Call for Proposals (EN578-170003/B).

Please refer to the Solicitation Documents which contain the process for submitting a proposal.

CHALLENGE TITLE: Earth observation images processing and management system

CHALLENGE SPONSOR: Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)

Steps to apply:

Step 1: read this challenge

Step 2: read the Call for Proposals

Step 3: propose your solution

Funding Mechanism: Contract

MAXIMUM CONTRACT VALUE:

Multiple contracts could result from this Challenge.

The maximum funding available for any Phase 1 Contract resulting from this Challenge is $150,000.00 CAD (plus tax) including shipping, travel and living expenses, as applicable.

The maximum funding available for any Phase 2 Contract resulting from this Challenge is $500,000.00 CAD (plus tax) including shipping, travel and living expenses, as applicable. Only eligible businesses that have completed Phase 1 could be considered for Phase 2.

This disclosure is made in good faith and does not commit Canada to contract for the total approximate funding.

TRAVEL:  For Phase 1 it is anticipated that two meetings will require the successful bidder(s) to travel to the location identified below:

i) Kick-off meeting - Saint-Hyacinthe, QC

ii) Final Review Meeting - Saint-Hyacinthe, QC

Problem Summary Statement

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is seeking an automated system outside of PHAC infrastructure that would enable the pre-processing of large sets of Earth Observation (EO) data and the storage and overlaying of user defined ground truth data (GT) on pre-processed EO images to help address a wide range of public health needs.

Problem Statement

The large volume of EO data available in Canada and abroad and the high rate at which these data must be updated for disease risk assessment exceeds the information management and information technology (IMIT) capacity and technologies currently available in-house. As the need for high volume data on factors affecting health (environmental, climatic, socio-economic) increases both domestically and internationally, the PHAC is continuously challenged to maintain access in timely, reliable and accurate manner with EO data.

The pre-processed data and GT system would help to answer the need for actors engaged in responses to public health priorities and crisis to improve effective and accurate mapping capacities that support: risk assessments and decision-making during health emergency events; risk communication via the supplied ready to analyze images; and, the evaluation of factors affecting health via risk modelling. There is also a need for enhanced ground information for the surveillance of diseases so that greater emphasis can go towards the development of efficient models and tools that make use of EO data to inform decision-makers. Finally, this is a problem beyond PHAC as it applies to a much wider geomatics/EO audience nationally and internationally.

Desired outcomes and Considerations

The EO data and products will enable estimation of variables and indicators related to environmental determinants of health. Targeted environmental determinants desired are land use and land cover determinants (e.g. forest cover, type and density, forest fragmentation metrics, shrublands, grasslands, croplands, urban and built up areas, semi-urban areas, surface water, wetland types, micro artificial and natural water containers, etc.) and climate and microclimate determinants (e.g. vegetation index, percent vegetation cover, land surface temperature, land surface moisture, soil moisture, accumulated surface degree-days, near surface air temperature, near surface air humidity, precipitation, etc.). (Updated August 15, 2018)

Enhanced access to multi-source open data (e.g. satellite images), along with preprocessing functionality such as image format conversion, re-projection, creation of masks (e.g. cloud and water detection and masking), image correction (radiometric, atmospheric and geometric corrections), spatial integration (co-registration) and down scaling functions. The system should allow users to upload a dataset of GT (e.g. samples of reference data developed from aerial photos, thematic maps, field measurements, etc.) in order to develop a bank of GT with metadata such that they can automatically overlay to image scenes and downloaded for future use. This system could be integrated with other systems. (Updated August 15, 2018)

The solution must support uploading of EO open data (e.g. Landsat-8, Modis, Sentinel series data) from the web and new data with metadata defining new GT, such that the information can be enriched by national and international users on a continuous basis to address the limits that current image processing capacity places upon disease risk mapping activities (going from weeks and months to days and hours). The EO data and products must cover local (spatial resolution < 30 m), regional (30 < spatial resolution < 250 m), national (250 < spatial resolution < 500 m) and global scales (500 < spatial resolution < 1000 m), with a daily, weekly, monthly (climate and microclimate determinants) and yearly (land use and land cover determinants) time frequencies. EO data and products from 1990 to present days are needed. (Updated August 15, 2018)

In addition, the solution must have the requisite storage and analytical capacity to ensure a more rapid analysis/use of the outputs. Functionality for restricted access to some dataset of the GT bank is needed.

Background and Context

PHAC’s mandate is to lead federal efforts and mobilize Pan-Canadian action in preventing disease and injury, and promoting and protecting national and international public health.

PHAC’s roles are to anticipate, prepare for, respond to and recover from threats to public health. PHAC also provides information, advice and leadership in public health to Canadians and stakeholders. In this regard, the current challenge is meant to support the organization's scientific, advisory and communications roles and responsibilities, both nationally and internationally, by enhancing analytical and communication tools such as risk maps that spatially locate and evaluate health events or risks. These risk maps are used by surveillance programs, public health researchers, outbreak investigators, officials engaged in health emergency preparedness and response, and epidemiological risk assessment and modeling teams at many levels of the public health system (local, regional, national and international) and beyond to other decision-makers in society.

Innovative Solutions Canada is designed to seek truly novel solutions from Canadian small business. Challenges posted through ISC may appear to provide few details or specifications on what the desired solutions should look like. This is intentional. Challenge statements will contain some guidance on desired outcomes, but will not prescribe how a solution should work or function. We leave that to the creativity and ingenuity of Canada’s innovators.

Enquiries

All enquiries must be submitted in writing to the Contracting Authority no later than ten calendar days before the Challenge Notice closing date. Enquiries received after that time may not be answered.