GRAS: visualizing ecological and social impact
About GRAS
Meo Carbon Solutions is an innovative solution provider helping companies, ministries and institutions to increase sustainability. Meo Carbon Solutions has extensive worldwide project experience and is connected to a large network of international partners. It collaborates with partners worldwide, which have demonstrated their professionalism and reliability in many joint projects. Against this background, Meo Carbon Solutions is able to handle large projects on an international level with high quality in a timely manner.
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact usAbout Wabion
Wabion is a leading Google Cloud Integrator with companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is certified for Google Cloud Solutions and listed as a Google Cloud Partner. It also integrates and build applications for Google Maps, Google Workspace and Google Cloud Platform.
Companies that sell biofuels in the European Union must receive certifications to prove that producing their fuel – often made from agricultural crops – does not cause deforestation, the loss of biodiversity, or the loss of carbon stocks. Not only can it be difficult to ensure an area is environmentally-sustainable, but more and more companies want to know if an area is socially ethical. GRAS was established to provide that data required to support a credible certification and determined that the most effective way to provide this data was to build a web app that overlays data from multiple sources over maps. Auditors can then compare before-and-after maps of a certain area, and based on the changes in the habitat, analyze the information needed to grant or deny certification.
Google Maps Platform Results
- Ability to handle 10-terabytes of geodata
- Visualize layers of more than 100 data types — including agriculture, deforestation and social welfare — on top of the map
- Enable users to upload and visualize their own data sets or easily search locations with the Autocomplete feature
10-terabytes of geodata
"Through GRAS, we've made this information accessible not only to governments and NGOs, but also to businesses, financial institutions and individuals. We provide social indices because companies with international supply chains have a great deal of interest in getting an understanding of what the social conditions are in a producing area or country: there are several countries with problems of forced labor and child labor, and providing that information on the GRAS site, auditors and representatives of companies can see if there are any supply chain social problems in that area."
—Dr. Norbert Schmitz, Managing Director, Meo Carbon SolutionsMeo Carbon Solutions developed Global Risk Assessment Services (GRAS) a Maps-based tool to provide reliable information about the ecological and social risks of expanding agriculture into natural habitats. GRAS partnered with IT consultant Wabion, a Google Premier Partner, to build the website. They tested several map solutions, including open source options, but chose Google Maps Platform because of its high performance, ability to easily integrate data from multiple sources, flexible APIs, solid support and large user community. The tool combines mapping information with data from dozens of government agencies, NGOs and other global databases. The GRAS site has gone beyond its original mission, expanding the data it can layer upon maps to include about biodiversity, land-use changes, available carbon stock, as well as numerous measurements of social health, ranging from the Global Slavery Index to the Global Hunger Index, and the UNICEF index of access to drinking water and sanitation.
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact us
About GRAS
Meo Carbon Solutions is an innovative solution provider helping companies, ministries and institutions to increase sustainability. Meo Carbon Solutions has extensive worldwide project experience and is connected to a large network of international partners. It collaborates with partners worldwide, which have demonstrated their professionalism and reliability in many joint projects. Against this background, Meo Carbon Solutions is able to handle large projects on an international level with high quality in a timely manner.
About Wabion
Wabion is a leading Google Cloud Integrator with companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is certified for Google Cloud Solutions and listed as a Google Cloud Partner. It also integrates and build applications for Google Maps, Google Workspace and Google Cloud Platform.