The EU and ESA (European Space Agency)
are both involved in a project, named Galileo, which will provide EU with
an autonomous satellite system for civilian use. Galileo
will replace by 2008-2010 GPS, an American military system also used for
civil purposes, which is less reliable and precise. Galileo
will provide a safe-and-reliable service for space-temporal localization
which is going to find several applications in the civil
and social environment.
To conclude the project, which expects participation from private business, the EU and ESA created an operative structure, the “Galileo Joint Undertaking” (Galileo JU), which has nearly come to the release of the system.
Within the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission for Galileo calls on almost 30 “subjects” (Statement of Work) have been announced to propose activities and projects. (The calls have been published in May 2004 on the Web site www.galileoju.com – “Galileo Second Call”).
One of this “subject”, called Special User Community is particularly suitable in the touristic and cultural asset field. Co-financed contracts at 50% are provided, whose maximum funding by Galileo JU is 1.250.000,00 Euro. Each of the 3-4 consortia which win the competition received the funding to complete its project in a 18-month period.
Cuspis consortium won the project and started working in June 2005.
CUSPIS: a Cultural Heritage Space Management System
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The CUSPIS project aims to target Cultural Asset sector with the establishment of User Community groups, fostering the design and implementation of selected applications with a strong accent on validation of results, economical viability of systems and its dissemination. Key technologies for authentication, deployment of secure infomobility platforms, (digital) asset and content management, digital watermarking and precise navigation will be exploited in the foreseen demonstrator in key areas of Europe such Italy and Greece.
The safeguard, fruition and support of the Cultural
Heritage show evidence of a growing importance in the European society,
particularly rich of Cultural Assets, demanding a rising attention to
the theme. The European Commission gives highly importance to the subject,
promoting actions for protection and safeguarding, improving understanding
and dissemination of the culture and history of the European citizen,
making Cultural Heritage increasingly available and accessible.
The innovative idea behind this project is to
combine the Cultural Assets infrastructure with another important
European service infrastructure: Galileo and EGNOS.
