Aim

PUC2 focuses on identifying potential migration routes used by forced migrants, whether displaced internally or across borders, and detecting temporary settlements near the EU’s external borders resulting from political and security instability. The use case comprises three phases. Phase 1 provides strategic situational awareness by assessing the severity and scale of the event and estimating the affected population in the vicinity of the crisis. Phase 2 delivers surveillance and monitoring capabilities through the THEIA platform to track displaced populations within a country or across borders along known or emerging migration routes. Phase 3 supports the identification of temporary settlements near the EU’s external orders. Settlement detection will enable the estimation of displaced populations, strengthening the early warning capabilities developed within THEIA. PUC2 will exploit multiple data sources, including UAS and terrestrial sensor imagery, web-based information (media, official statistics, economic and demographic data), and social media content accessed through THEIA search tools. Depending on operational requirements, satellite imagery (optical and radar) and open-source geospatial datasets will complement the analysis and support route monitoring, settlement detection, and population estimation activities.

Objectives

The fundamental objectives are the automatic identification of new potential migration routes within a country or in neighbouring countries, and the automatic identification of settlements along the EU’s external border that could indicate early warning events. Furthermore, the web search tools provided by THEIA, which enable advanced analytics and interconnections, will support the objectives of this use case. The benefits include defining a strategic situational awareness of the severity and breadth of the event, as well as estimating the size of the displaced population. Additionally, PUC2 will provide as a major benefit the candidate land corridors for border trespassing and border areas that the displaced population will attempt to reach.