Sertit

The SERTIT

SERTIT, a ICube laboratory service platform within the University of Strasbourg, is dedicated to put Space at the service of the Earth by producing geographic information from satellite, aerial and drone images.

SERTIT missions

From the local to the international level, SERTIT, an ISO 9001-certified scientific operator, responds to the needs of society by offering solutions to the challenges of risk and crisis management, natural resource management and regional planning. It provides decision-support tools that can immediately be used by its customers and partners, tailored to their specific needs.

From emergency…

A pioneer in the field of emergency mapping, SERTIT’s Rapid Mapping Service, operational 24/7/365, is recognized worldwide and unique in France. It quickly responds to the information needs of risk management, crisis management and reconstruction stakeholders in the event of natural, industrial or humanitarian disasters.

It is a major operator of the European Copernicus Emergency Management Service – Rapid Mapping and Risk & Recovery Mapping, of the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters, and of the fire and flood crisis management services of the France 2030 plan, both for its expertise, for the management of activations and the production of added value.

It also works alongside local and regional actors, as well as the insurance industry. SERTIT is at the cutting edge in the creation of tools for extracting, interpolating and extrapolating floods, and calculating water depths for rapid mapping activities.

… long term monitoring

In parallel with its emergency activities, SERTIT is involved in monitoring essential climatic variables. Water is a major issue, and time series of surface area and volume variations make a major contribution to knowledge and proper management of a region’s water resources.

Volume variations are obtained by combining surfaces, detected from optical and radar time series, and heights in situ or measured from space. Satellite altimetry is booming, thanks notably to the SWOT mission in which SERTIT has been involved since 2013. SERTIT also provides its expertise to the management of forest resources and, more generally, of the green infrastructure (“Trame Verte”), as well as biodiversity, black infrastructure (“Trame Noir”) and land use.

Space observation: a user as well as a prescriber

The SERTIT also plays an advisory role in space applications, through its involvement in the Copernicus Relays network, as well as working with space agencies to promote existing space sensors and specification of future systems.

Observation satellite - SERTIT

Through its links with the world of research, SERTIT works to develop innovative and rapid solutions based on Earth observation technologies such as flood modelling or artificial intelligence, in order to offer ever more effective products and services.


Thus, SERTIT enables several worlds to converge: space technologies and their users, research and industrial applications, researchers from all over the world, as well as political and economic actors.