doing business and teaching geospatial analysis from a distance

Greek e-⁠resident Dimitris Sykas is founder of GEO University and teaches geospatial analysis and earth observation to students from all over the world

Dimitris Sykas has beeing fascinated by remote sensing and geospatial analysis since his undergraduate days. While studying rural and survey engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, Dimitris got into remote sensing, the science of gaining information about objects or areas from a distance, usually relying on images taken by aircraft or via satellites.

"I really liked algorithm design in general, and processing things," Dimitris recalled. "The ability to observe an area or object from a distance, without touching it, was exciting for me," he said. "For me, it was love at first sight."

Dimitris has since challenged that love into a career in geographic information system (GIS) analysis. Since April 2021, he has served as the chief technology officer for Cloudeo, a Munich, Germany-based company that allows users to upload a variety of data and access geoinformation services from an array of international providers. "I'm responsible for handling all the technological and technical stuff that's related to our products and services," Dimitris said.

In addition, he has founded his own university to better educate students and professionals about GIS and Earth Observation (EO) approaches. The result, called GEO University, is a success by any metric. The university offers diverse courses specific to the increasingly popular domain of GIS. According to Dimitris, GEO University has offered classes and observation opportunities to over 30,000 students from more than 200 countries since it kicked off operations in February 2018.

"So, practically wherever there is internet available, we have a student," Dimitris remarked.

The global coverage of GEO University makes sense, not only when you consider the nature of the courses taught, but also because the university, while managed by Dimitris and two other Greeks, is actually incorporated in Tallinn, Estonia, and its official address is just a quick walk from the city's medieval Old Town. Dimitris is a holder of Estonian e-⁠Residency, which allows him to manage his university using the Northern European country's bevy of digital services, from wherever he happens to be observing the Earth from. According to Dimitris, he found out about e-⁠Residency when the program launched at the end of 2014 and has long held e-⁠Residency.

"At that time, I was just looking for a business-friendly environment," Dimitris said of the search that led him to Estonia. "When I started, Greece was not the best place to start an online business, although we have since become a very good place to start such a business," he said. Managing online payments in particular posed a challenge to managing such an operation from Greece, an issue that Estonian e-Residency made easy, along with a stable, business friendly taxation system. "That was good in terms of not having more troubles than necessary," he said.

He also happened to really like Estonia, having visited Tallinn multiple times for business:

Dimitris also said that the rules related to running an Estonian business are simple and easy to follow. "You don't need to be a lawyer with two PhDs," said Dimitris. "Everyone can understand them."

With the hassles of running an online university mitigated by Estonian e-⁠Residency, Dimitris has been free to focus his attention on GEO University. Dimitris said he originally had the idea for GEO University while he was getting his PhD at NTUA, and then decided to create the university with two partners in 2018. Initially, he taught courses at the university alone, but realized soon enough that he didn't have all the knowledge to teach everything necessary.

"It's a huge domain," said Dimitris. "There is no single person who has the knowledge to teach everything." Dimitris instead began cooperating with other instructors, some of whom had put together their own courses. These were validated by GEO's team and added to the platform.

A reason for the university's success has been its devotion to the domain of GIS analysis and Earth observation. Dimitris said that some material is covered in other courses, but not in place. "Anyone who is interested can find aspects of what they want to learn on our platform," he said.

Interest is coming from remote sensing students as well as professionals. Interestingly, GEO University has not advertised at all over the past two years, and most find out about the university through being referred by current students. In the university, students learn to use observational data, such as government-supported public satellite data, alongside data with much higher spatial resolution that is created by private companies for their specific purposes.

Experts use this data to inform authorities. In forestry, for example, one can use such data to obtain knowledge about the lifecycle of forests, including data about growth and seasonal changes. "You can extract valuable information that can be used for decision makers," he said.

For the agricultural sector, one can use GIS or EO data to track the cultivation of crops, and use such data to make forecasts about potential differences in yield. "This can actually be translated into different types of policies," said Dimitris, "which can be informed and not random."

And then there are natural disasters, which Dimitris, as a Greek, knows too much about, unfortunately. There were more than 80 wildfires in Greece last summer, resulting in €600 million in damage. About 1.8 million square kilometers burned during the summer heat waves.

"Satellite images help to mitigate the problems that have happened, as well as to see potential risks," said Dimitris. "You can see the landscape, where people are located, or the factories, and in the event of a fire or flood, you can estimate the threat that you are under in each case."

Looking ahead, Dimitris said he will continue to expand the university, offering more tailored content. "We want to push it to the next level, to offer courses that can help students and professionals grow their careers, and to include exams and certificates that can provide you with value," said Dimitris. "It's a new area in terms of the technology, which keeps changing constantly," he added. "It's hard to find people who really know what they are doing and being able to educate them and verify this knowledge is important for the growth of this domain."

Dimitris will continue to manage GEO University as an Estonian entity, enthusing:

If one thing could be improved related to the program, he said, it would be the availability of a service to help e-residents liaise with their local tax offices. While the Estonian side of the equation is straightforward, it's not always clear what tax treaties are in force between different countries, and how to avoid issues with double taxation.

"That would be of great value for the program," Dimitris said of such an offering. "In Europe, it would make a lot of sense, because there might be some European laws that contradict our local laws or your local laws," he said. "I think a process to familiarize people with these things would help, so that they are not in the gray zone," he added. "It would be a huge improvement."