Catalonia has become the center of excellence in southern Europe in terms of research and development in nanoscience. The recent addition of the Alba synchrotron to Spain’s list of major scientific and technological facilities places Barcelona in a leading position in the international nanotechnology scene. All these reasons have contributed to the Catalan capital hosting the GENNESYS 2010 Congress, an international meeting on nanotechnology, on May 27 and 28.

The accuracy of cartographic information is facilitated in part by increasingly sophisticated technology and advanced, such as satellites. "They represent an objective tool for measuring changes and involvement on the territory, under a continuous repetitive basis and that no other instrumental vector can offer, at spatial and temporal adequate resolutions”, explains Jordi Corbera, head of the Support Centre of the Catalan Program of Earth Observation (PCOT), of the ICC.