Description:

The 106th DGINS conference organised jointly by Statistics Poland and Eurostat (October 2021) was focused on strategic issues related to the use of Earth observation (EO). Concluding the event, the Warsaw Memorandum was adopted, acknowledging urgent needs and supporting ongoing efforts to make the use of Earth observation data in official statistics more extensive.

EO data are already used by many governmental services and industry. Statistical Offices also have a strong interest to explore the use of EO data and to develop official statistics on a wide range of topics such as agriculture, the environment and climate-related issues, urban planning, business activities or transport, border and maritime surveillance, as well as emergency mapping and early warnings.

The high-level panel aims to pursue the discussion on the effective embedding of EO data in statistical production in an extended format,  with stakeholders and supporters such as national space agencies and academia.

The conclusions of the discussion will surely help to better identify the needs, issues and opportunities related to the implementation of EO methods in official statistics.