The main objectives of the DUP are to:

• create an environment allowing for the development of user communities linked to applied research and institutional and commercial applications.
• support industry and user groups in establishing useful and cost effective services, based on applications already demonstrated in the framework of pilot projects.
• develop and validate technology/products in Europe and try to extend the usage also in countries under development.

Industrial participation in the form of direct involvement and/or financing is an important aspect of the DUP, which increases in significance as application service demonstrators get nearer the state where they can be considered operational and hence a basis for continued service provision to end users.

"Rice field mapping and monitoring from space" is a project carried out by theRemote Sensing Laboratories (RSL), University of Zürich, Switzerland, in theframework of ESA's Data User Programme. Its goal is to estimate the arealextent of irrigated rice fields, which is an important parameter for yieldforecasting. Due to frequent cloud cover in tropical areas, optical imagerycannot be used for an operational mapping and monitoring service. However,active microwave instruments like the AMI SAR on-board the European RemoteSensing satellites ERS-1/2 and the ASAR-System on the ENVISAT platform (to belaunched in 2001) operate independently of weather conditions and solarillumination. An approach using SAR and interferometric SAR data acquired byERS-1/2 is being tested in the area of Polonnaruwa (Sri Lanka). In parallel,investigations about market needs for rice maps generated from satellite imagery are carried out.