NOAA Awards $10+ Million in Contracts to Ecopia AI for Nationwide Geospatial Program to Support Climate Resilience

Toronto, ON (Sept. 2, 2022) – Ecopia AI has announced that it was awarded $10 million in contracts ($7.8M USD), with an additional $6 million ($4.6M USD) in options, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to create high-precision mapping data which will support coastal landcover mapping and climate resilience initiatives. The work will be supported by four prime contractors on NOAA’s Coastal Geospatial Services Contract (CGSC) including Woolpert, Dewberry, Tetra Tech, and NV5 Geospatial (formerly Quantum Spatial).

For decades, NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management (OCM) has produced consistent, accurate landcover data at a resolution of 10-30 meters; however, in recent years it has experienced increasing demand for more precise data to better support decision-making at the local level. In response, the OCM has partnered with Ecopia to leverage its ability to generate highly-accurate, comprehensive, large-scale mapping data. This partnership will deliver Impervious, Low and High Vegetation Canopy, and Water classifications for the coastal areas of the contiguous U.S and the entire State of Alaska. These high-precision mapping products will bolster NOAA’s efforts in producing 1-meter publicly accessible raster landcover products for the nation.

In addition to these large-scale efforts, Ecopia will support NOAA’s partner agencies at the federal, state, and local levels by providing them with a variety of unique landcover maps. The data will be instrumental in supporting a variety of issues beyond just coastal and climate resiliency, including:

Flood mapping & stormwater utility planning
Green infrastructure deployment
Public safety and emergency response management
Conservation and climate change mitigation
Land use planning and deriving landscape pattern metrics, including urban heat maps

“We’re excited to partner with Ecopia AI to support this important nationwide geospatial initiative,” said Nicholas Schmidt, Science and Geospatial Services Division Chief with NOAA. “Ecopia’s ability to create unique detailed, accurate mapping layers at scale and with speed is key. The dataset that Ecopia will provide is a fundamental and innovative step in the fight against climate change, flooding, threatened public access to natural resources, habitat loss, storm preparedness and recovery, and vulnerable infrastructure and populations. We are excited to build upon this data as part of our Coastal Change Analysis Program and look forward to making those layers available via our Digital Coast site.”

“We’re thrilled to partner with NOAA and provide the foundational geospatial data for their strategic efforts in climate resiliency, and support their transition to sustained high-resolution landcover mapping,” said Brandon Palin, Senior Director of Public Sector & International Development. “This effort highlights Ecopia’s reputation as a trusted partner. We are excited to see the value of our data as it empowers enterprise decision-making to combat some of the world’s biggest challenges including climate change and sustainability.”

About NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management

“Coastal management” is the term used by communities and organizations working to keep the nation’s coasts safe from storms, rich in natural resources, and economically strong. The national lead for these efforts is NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, an organization devoted to partnerships, science, and good policy. This agency, housed within NOAA’s National Ocean Service, oversees major initiatives that include the National Coastal Zone Management Program, the Coral Reef Conservation Program, the Digital Coast, and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. For more information, visit coast.noaa.gov.

About Ecopia AI

Ecopia is on a mission to create a digital twin of the Earth. We leverage artificial intelligence to convert high-resolution imagery into high-definition (HD) Vector Maps. These maps form a digital representation of reality and are embedded into decision-making applications, offering unique insight at scale. Ecopia’s HD Vector Maps are leveraged for hundreds of commercial and government applications across over 100 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.ecopiatech.com.

SOURCE: Ecopia

Tags: Artificial Intelligence (AI), climate change, Geo-Spatial Analysis, InsurTech, resilience