CGI and University of Leicester project develops scalable, easy-to-use wildfire risk monitoring service for global application

CGI, a leading global IT and business consulting services firm, has collaborated with the University of Leicester on a project to develop a new wildfire risk monitoring service that will provide more accurate mapping of wildfire risk and can potentially be applied to any global location.

This initiative to design the Earth Information System and Service for Wildfire Risk Mapping expanded on the Intellectual Property (IP) developed earlier by the University of Leicester, involving a set of methods that uses optical remote sensing data from Sentinel-2 satellites to better understand the condition of vegetation in relation to its potential as a fire fuel source.

Previous research carried out by CGI and the University of Leicester using Earth observation, AI and cloud computing, developed a novel service for mapping wildfires in Australia and France. That study laid the groundwork for the current project to design a novel, regular wildfire risk monitoring service that can help meet the operational and performance needs of various sectors including transport, utilities, insurance, forestry and agriculture to help mitigate the impact of wildfires.

The SPRINT project will pave the way for the commercialisation of global Earth Observation data by delivering a near-real-time service to identify, track and monitor fire risk conditions. It has enabled CGI to develop a prototype service, built on the CGI GeoData360 solution, where a user can upload their assets and then view the changing dynamics over time of the potential fire risk in the vicinity of those assets, reflected by the condition of the vegetation in terms of its greenness or dryness.

The project with the University of Leicester was part of the £7.5 million SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) programme. SPRINT provides unprecedented access to university space expertise and facilities. SPRINT helps businesses through the commercial exploitation of space data and technologies.

Dr Clive Farquhar, Earth Observation expert and senior consultant at CGI said: “We are keen to exploit technologies such as Earth observation and cloud technology to support our clients across industries who will benefit from access to real-time EO based information such as insurance and telecoms who need access to real-time analysis of the prevalence of wildfires.

“The University brings years of scientific experience, expertise in algorithm development, familiarity of the subject area and IP to the project. By industrialising the algorithms, we can create an opportunity for clients to see the benefits of new concepts prior to commercialising the service.”

Kevin Tansey, Professor of Remote Sensing at University of Leicester added: “By using satellite data to look at vegetation fuel condition, we can use the indicators to get near real-time views of vegetation and the potential for fire occurrence. This system, that complements traditional meteorological fire risk systems, will help with the management of vegetation and reduce the risk for people living in or around areas of vegetation that may be affected by fire.”