The creative space {\it "Espacio Creativo"}, is an initiative from the PRIAS Laboratory, that arises as a need to create a web space, to share geo-information and aerospace applications creatively from Costa Rica to the world. The Creative Space is a web application that is presented as a space for easy access, flooded with curiosity, with capabilities to explore, learn and share about geo-information and aerospace applications available for a wide range of users and activities. PRIAS is a Geomatic Laboratory of the National High Technology Center of Costa Rica with an emphasis on Earth Observation and is the national link for scientific airborne missions. Thanks to its ability to work with the triple helix between academia, government and industry, through the creative space platform, PRIAS motivates students to develop computer tools and technologies for the web space with a focus on spatial scientific dissemination, taking advantage of the capacity computational and GeoCenter of the PRIAS Laboratory, to carry out knowledge transfers in a collaborative way. This project is led by a young woman in engineering of computing science and through these activities it also seeks to inspire the participation of girls and women in STEAM and engineering areas with space. Using tools such as Artificial Intelligence and virtual reality, this initiative will support the interest in the generation of knowledge about the different earth observation systems. The creative space will help promote, through this educational strategy, interest in research and innovation in space science and technology among children, young and adults.
The Costa Rican agro-export sector presents numerous challenges to achieving environmental policies aimed at the sustainable use of natural resources that allow international markets to acquire environmentally sustainable products. To address this country's need, the Monitoring of Change of Use in Productive Landscapes (MOCUPP) project emerged as a management tool to monitor the dynamics of various crops and their interaction with the surrounding tree cover, with technologies based on earth observations. The PRIAS Laboratory of the National High Technology Center implemented this innovative idea in its technical phase, which ended successfully at the end of September 2022. The study was carried out throughout the entire continental territory of Costa Rica, using the Google Earth Engine platform to process annual mosaics of images from the European Space Agency's Sentinel 2 sensor. These mosaics were segmented using software developed by the University of Berkeley and classified using the Land Cover Classification System Tool of the Food and Agriculture Organization, focusing on identifying pineapple, palm, and grass crops, with a classification validated according to the Chuvieco 2010 method. This sequence of steps was carried out over several periods, allowing for an in-depth analysis of crop dynamics and the relationship between agricultural expansion and tree cover distribution in the study areas. We used Geographic Information Systems software such as ArcGIS and QGIS for these analyses. As a result, digital layers representing pineapple (2017, 2018, and 2019), palm (2018 and 2019), and grassland (2018 and 2019) production landscapes were generated. This information is available for consultation in the National Territorial Information System, GeoExplora, and UNBiodiversity Lab. Also, studies of distribution and changes in the agricultural landscape in the country complement it. These results can significantly influence the decision-making of different actors at t
Geospatial information has become increasingly relevant to understanding the global processes that affect planet Earth. In the specific case of Costa Rica, the use of geospatial data and the application of different tools has allowed the generation of key inputs for decision making. In this area, the PRIAS laboratory of the National High Technology Center of Costa Rica has been a pioneer in the country. PRIAS was created in 2003 as an Airborne Research and Remote Sensing Program focused on developing and collaborating on scientific missions and projects. During its 20 years of experience, the laboratory has focused on geospatial research through technological innovation, multi-sector articulations, and international cooperation. Therefore, the aim is to describe the contributions and challenges of the PRIAS Laboratory in geomatics and Earth observations fields and its prospects. A review and systematization of historical data was carried out from the beginning of PRIAS as a program, followed by its transformation into a laboratory and its progress up to 2023. PRIAS has covered six research areas in which it has implemented different strategies for obtaining and analyzing geospatial data. Within these, it has carried out more than 50 collaborative projects with various institutions belonging to the academic, governmental, non-governmental, public, and private sectors at national and international levels. Within these, it has carried out more than 50 collaborative projects with various institutions belonging to the academic, governmental, non-governmental, public, and private sectors at national and international levels. These projects have included urban planning, science and policy, natural sciences, socioeconomic data, geographic information systems, and decision-making. In this context, projects with multidisciplinary teams stood out for their innovation and contribution to Costa Rica and the international community. It has generated knowledge and development thro
This article presents part of the results of a reforestation initiative to help recover the Guanacaste Conservation Area (ACG) of Costa Rica's biodiversity after forest fires. An experiment was designed to analyze germination in three selected forest species: Madero Negro (Gliricidia sepium), Cortez Amarillo (Handroanthus ochraceus) and Cortez Negro (Handroanthus impetiginosus). These germination test results include temperature, humidity, and water control. Viability tests that include the germination percentage, and the germination speed per species under different treatments are the next step. As part of this upcoming stage, dispersion tests are designed to be carried out in a pilot plot to later determine the percentage of seeds' survival out of laboratory conditions. The seeds are released from a bio-inspired water rocket prototype, intended to be a safe, fast, and practical solution to disperse seeds in areas that are difficult to access or destroyed by fires. Our mentor is the Cardamine hirsuta plant, which releases its seeds in seconds after a little explosion. In addition, a launch pad has been developed to facilitate the execution of the rocket launch. This rocket is replicable so that, together with personnel from the Horizontes Experimental Station of the Guanacaste Conservation Area, it can be later applied by the forest rangers themselves. Part of our mission is to make their work more practical. This project aims to become an innovative mechanism for the reforestation of affected areas by forest fires and the sustainable use of aerospace research to support the restoration of ecosystems. This paper is the continuation of a preliminary theoretical initiative presented by the lead author and her collaborators (Leiton et al., 2023) at the IAF Global Space Conference on Climate Change (GLOC).