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A talented young space scientist with a background in tracking and telemetry and a passion for remote sensing – these attributes make Daniel Matsapola of the CSIR Satellite Applications Centre the ideal candidate for his job: Promoting data democracy.
Data democracy is the term dubbed by the CSIR Satellite Applications Centre for its special project as 2008 chair of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). Daniel explains, “The data democracy theme relies on focused efforts along several fronts, with each front representing a pillar that constitutes the theme. These pillars include unhindered access to earth observation information as well as open source software and open systems, such as freely available image-processing software tools and image-processing systems. We also emphasise adequate dissemination models that reflect the realities of bandwidth in developing countries. Locally-initiated, cross-border collaborative projects and intensive capacity building and training programmes are essential to ensuring the sustainability of our undertaking.”
Data democracy has since been espoused by the current chair of CEOS, Thailand’s GISTDA, as its special project, with an emphasis on software tools in the Asian region.
Daniel and his colleague, Alex Fortescue, were responsible for promoting the data democracy initiative during 2008. This is the year that Daniel joined the CSIR in support of the CEOS secretariat.
The CSIR has now taken up the baton for the second lap, as the data democracy project continues during 2009 with funding from the Department of Science and Technology. In the short term, it focuses on the Southern African Development Community (SADC); in the long term, data democracy will benefit the whole of the African continent.
In this respect, the CSIR CEOS Secretariat (manned by staff from the CSIR Satellite Applications Centre and the South African National Space Agency implementation office) provides invaluable assistance in implementing the data democracy project. Daniel points out, “I am the point of contact, handling all the organisation, facilitation and stakeholder engagements. Alex brings valuable technical capacity to the table, while Wabile Motswasele and Asanda Ntisana ensure invaluable international linkages by carrying this flag at all the CEOS meetings they regularly attend.”
Trained to a T for the job
Daniel comes with an impressive set of credentials for the task in hand. He graduated with an Honours degree in physics from the University of Limpopo. In 2000 he enrolled for the postgraduate diploma in electrical engineering (PDE) at the University of Stellenbosch, where his current CSIR colleague, Pieter Kotzé, lectured him.
This combination gave him the ideal background for his exposure to electromagnetics and satellite communications, and he reconciled the paradigms of science and engineering quite comfortably, “My training in physics helped me to study and analyse natural phenomena to increase understanding and document results. My training in engineering has required me to interact directly with operationalising discoveries for the benefit of mankind.”
Daniel spent more than seven years at the ground station leased by the Department of Communications’s Institute for Satellite and Software Applications (ISSA) from Denel’s Overberg Toets Baan (OTB) in Bredasdorp, Western Cape. With his PDE background, he was trained for six months on how to use the 10 m parabolic dish antenna at OTB to track (without downloading data since there were no licences in place) Earth resources satellites like Spot 2 & 4 and Helios 1A. “I was part of the ISSA remote sensing unit providing data to the remote sensing specialists based at ISSA, some 110 km away, in digital linear tapes,” he reminisces.
“I was always curious about what happens to these data,” he continues. “After joining the CEOS office, I interacted regularly with my colleagues at the CSIR Satellite Applications Centre and I was exposed to many international space agencies. This was an eye-opener for me – there are so many beneficial uses of earth observation data.” His increasing understanding of the value of earth observation data has helped him to answer the question: How should I rate my contribution to the users of these data? Am I making a difference? The answer is, of course, yes!
A CBERS image of the area around Fancourt, George, where the 2008 CEOS plenary took place |
Next steps to entrench data democracy
As part of the data democracyinitiative, the CSIR has distributed the Fundisa disc to local tertiary education institutions. Fundisa is a 700 GB (gigabyte) external hard disc with up-to-date geospatial raster and vector datasets, and several open source software tools for analysing the data. The term, ‘geospatial datasets’, refers to geographical information that has been generated by a geographic information system. ‘Raster’ and ‘vector’ are specific graphical techniques.
Daniel explains, “It became apparent that tertiary education students in South Africa do not have direct access to fundamental geospatial datasets.” This often limits course content and diverse applied research topics as students grapple with the issue of sourcing data rather than focusing on the direct application of the data. It is hoped that the Fundisa disc will be distributed in the near future to the SADC.
Through interaction with the pan-African organisation, African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD), Daniel and Alex are able to utilise every opportunity to present on data democracy throughout Africa. The SADC theme under the AMESD has been defined as agriculture and environmental monitoring. The main players in the SACD AMESD theme are ministries of agriculture and environment, and other organisations mandated to work within these fields both at a national and regional level, as well as some universities.
A key resource for providing data access and capacity building in this context is the free data available from CBERS (China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite) programme.“The main deliverable to the SADC users will be the ortho-rectified CBERS-2B mosaic map of each AMESD participating country. The mosaic will be taken from the 20 m resolution CBERS-2B passes currently being acquired and processed by the CSIR,” he explains. Earth observation images covering a defined area with a particular resolution, are stitched together to create this map. This geoinformation is then available free of charge for use by the average person who, with the right tools (such as open source software), can interact with the data.
Daniel and Alex also envisage development of training material for universities in SADC, to complement existing curricula.
Delegates at the 2008 CEOS plenary; Daniel is in the third row from the back, second from the right
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Counting the highlights
Daniel regards his move to the CEOS office at the CSIR as one of the greatest highlights of his career, “It has allowed me to see the bigger picture.”
He looks back on a trip to Australia in 2002 as another memorable career moment. As part of a Department of Communications team, he received training in space weather forecasting, and gained knowledge on the effects of space weather on humans. This effort was finally operationised at the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory, with the donation of a new instrument, the DPS-4D in 2008. An ionosonde is a special radar for the examination of the ionosphere, which is the uppermost part of the atmosphere.
In 2003, Daniel was part of the ISSA team tasked with receiving MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data, which were then couriered to the ISSA remote sensing unit for further processing and product development. MODIS is a scientific instrument that captures remote sensing data.
Daniel loves travelling – a good thing, given that much of his work is now beyond the borders of South Africa. He is always happy to return to the loves of his life: His wife, Neo, and three daughters, Refilwe (11), Violet (5) and Lerato (8 months).
CSIR Communication:
Biffy Van Rooyen, email: BvRooyen@csir.co.za
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