PROJECTS

The ClimateCare project aims to use climate and earth observation data to investigate the relationship between urban green spaces and well-being, especially for retirement and nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities where populations vulnerable to heat (heat-vulnerable) live. Specifically, the project will analyse the relationship between urban green spaces and the aforementioned social facilities for heat-vulnerable groups for 10 pioneer cities through the integrated evaluation of climate data, including the integration of climate data, and optical satellite data.

Climate data will serve as a secondary data source and Sentinel-2 satellite data as a primary data source. They will be used to analyse urban green spaces and the needs of heat-vulnerable groups in the 10 Austrian pioneer cities. In addition, very high-resolution aerial images will be collected and included for detailed analyses and qualitative data using the geo-referenced survey tool ‘Bürgercockpit’.

Results will include:

• Identify proximity of retirement and nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities for heat-vulnerable groups to urban green spaces in the 10 pioneer cities and a classification for heat threat.
• Recommendations for investments in greening (rooftops, façades, etc.) that could potentially provide the greatest well-being benefits for heat-vulnerable populations.

ClimateCare can be used to generate recommendations for action on which locations of retirement and nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities greening can be implemented as quickly and cost-effectively as possible and which facilities have the greatest need. This can be applied to both existing and new buildings.

Cities will be able to assess the need for action based on a possible ranking of urgently required investments. This not only results in an improved and targeted competition process, but also raises awareness of the importance of green spaces. This approach can be rolled out further across Austria and the entire DACH region using the free climate and satellite data, thus offering the companies involved a further lucrative economic model.

Coordinator: Spatial Services GmbH
Partners: University of Salzburg – Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS, GRÜNSTATTGRAU GmbH.
Duration: 2026-2028

In Austria, Germany, and worldwide, we are increasingly affected by complex crisis situations such as natural disasters, environmental disasters, accidents, or armed conflicts, which require rapid and targeted action. Authorities and organizations with security responsibilities (BOS), aid organizations, the military, operators of critical infrastructure, as well as actors from the economy and industry, must therefore take effective precautions to manage damage and crisis situations. Professional crisis management is based on precise information about the nature, extent, and interconnections of security-relevant events.

To provide decision-makers with a well-founded situational picture, it is essential to consolidate current insights from various data sources and analyze them interdisciplinarily. At present, the evaluation of security-relevant information is mostly limited to regional or sectoral approaches, making it difficult to obtain a comprehensive situational overview. Moreover, previous research approaches lack consideration of the multiscalar structure of crisis events. A multiscalar, cross-border analysis in real-time, based on a multimodal data foundation, does not yet exist but is a crucial prerequisite for improved crisis management (Green Paper Situational Awareness, 2023).

The goal of the MOSAIK project is to analyze and merge multimodal, heterogeneous open-source data sources using the latest methods from the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enable near real-time mapping of complex situational scenarios across different scales. This aims to allow emergency forces to carry out faster, improved, and more targeted deployment planning and first aid. Thematically and methodologically, MOSAIK builds on the results of the BMBF/KIRAS projects HUMAN+, AIFER, and MUSIG.

MOSAIK information originates from various sources, including emergency responders, drones, satellites, geo-social media, mobile network data, sensor data, or news articles. To avoid delays and incompatibilities, data-sharing and information-processing processes must be efficiently coordinated between research/development and users and integrated into established disaster management workflows.

The MOSAIK project aims to research, develop, and test in practice an analytical toolbox for interdisciplinary situational awareness based on open-source data. Across different spatial (local, regional, supraregional) and temporal (before, at the onset, during, and after an incident) scales, the following research and development priorities are pursued:

• Spatiotemporal analysis of mobile network (Drei.at) and app data (Azira) to estimate population density, numbers, and movements
• Algorithms for dynamic detection of disaster hotspots and multimodal situation assessment in geo-social media (space, time, semantics, aspect-based emotions)
• Researching AI methods for ad-hoc evaluation of live data from operations (e.g., drones, photos, or reports)
• Multiscalar situation monitoring through AI-supported geodata services for cross-border, continuous hazard monitoring based on satellite data (Copernicus Sentinels)
• Capacity building and training: structured preparation of project results as a basis for training

Coordinator: Interdisciplinary Transformation University
Partner: Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz, Landesverband Salzburg, Johanniter Österreich Ausbildung und Forschung gemeinnützige GmbH
Duration: 2026-2027

The increasing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) presents new challenges for demand-oriented and grid-friendly charging infrastructure. A deep understanding of charging behavior is essential for its targeted development—especially to enable grid-friendly charging and to avoid potential bottlenecks in the power grid.
As part of the initiative “Wie lädt Österreich,” eControl regularly collects opinions and habits of EV users. While these surveys provide valuable insights, they are insufficient to analyze real charging behavior in detail, with precise location data, and over extended periods.

This is where the NG-Charge project comes in: its goal is the systematic creation of a comprehensive data space on the usage of public charging stations, based on continuously collected real-time data from interfaces such as TomTom eCharging and the Google Places API, validated with high-resolution charging data from CPOs. Over several months, usage patterns, occupancy rates, energy consumption, time profiles, and location characteristics of individual charging points are documented—regionally differentiated for three to four pilot regions in Austria. This dataset forms the empirical basis for analyzing spatial-temporal aggregated usage patterns, identifying recurring peak load times, and modeling site profiles with significant grid impact.

To contextualize the usage data, supplementary satellite, drone and GIS data are used, providing visual and structural information about the built environment, building usage, proximity to points of interest, transport networks, and the identification of potential local sustainable energy generation (e.g., photovoltaic areas). Seasonal influences such as vegetation or shading are also considered. Additionally, data from grid operators are incorporated, provided via the project activities of partners in the smart grid sector and from the ownership network of the CPOs.

Building on this, prototypical digital applications are developed for grid-friendly and grid-stabilizing planning and optimization of charging infrastructure. These are complemented by AI-based forecasting and recommendation systems—aligned with user needs and grid stability. For time series analysis, state-of-the-art AI methods are employed, including the TiRex model based on xLSTM, developed by the Austrian AI pioneer Sepp Hochreiter, which has achieved top ranks in international leaderboards (GiftEval).

With this multimodal, data-driven approach, NG-Charge provides a robust decision-making foundation for the forward-looking planning, management, and optimization of public charging infrastructure in Austria—a key contribution to sustainable electromobility and system security.

Coordinator: Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH
Partners: ALVERI GmbH, Enlion Innovation GmbH, Dataciders PASO GmbH, Technische Universität Wien, CodeFlügel GmbH & Co KG
Duration: 2026-2028

The increasing traffic density leads to elevated noise emissions, negatively impacting residents’ quality of life. Combining satellite imagery with noise emission data offers a promising approach to deepen the understanding of environmental burdens such as noise and develop effective noise reduction measures. Satellite imagery provides comprehensive information on land use, vegetation, and buildings, while noise emission data offer precise insights into noise pollution, captured and analyzed by experts. By intelligently fusing these data sources, complex patterns and relationships between environmental features and noise emissions can be identified to develop targeted noise reduction measures.The research project aims to create automated noise heatmaps using Artificial Intelligence (AI). These heatmaps will visualize road traffic noise on satellite images in an interactive dashboard as a color overlay. The first step involves evaluating the performance and transferability of existing AI approaches from scientific literature to Austrian conditions. In-situ noise measurements in selected reference areas will be used to assess the quality of AI-based noise prediction. Subsequently, an improved AI model will be developed based on Neural Networks such as the U-Net architecture. This involves rasterizing satellite images and automatically extracting information such as roads, buildings, topographies, noise barriers, and forests. Additionally, mass vehicle movement data will be used to determine traffic flows and speeds. The use of data from the GTIF, such as Moving Truck Detections and Human Mobility Patterns, will also be evaluated. Legally mandated noise measurements will serve as ground truth data to validate the AI model, along with in-situ noise measurements as another data source. Parts of the dashboard will be integrated as layers into the GTIF platform.

The dynamic integration of satellite imagery, vehicle movement data, and in-situ measurements enables the creation of an AI model for noise prediction, suitable even for areas where no legal requirements exist for noise map creation. This approach allows for flexible, dynamic, accurate, and automated assessment of noise pollution in various regions, regardless of their legal classification. The involved partners possess the necessary expertise and extensive experience in satellite data analysis, noise measurements, and AI model development. Despite the high research risk, they are well-equipped to successfully tackle the task at hand.

The project results enable the prediction of noise pollution along traffic routes and in areas where it is not legally required, as well as at higher time intervals. They support the assessment of noise impacts and the monitoring of noise mitigation measures in environmental management. Considering the traffic transition due to the climate crisis, the increased shift to public transportation should reduce noise emissions. These effects can be examined using the AI model without the need for resource-intensive noise measurements each time.

Coordinator: Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH
Partner: ALP.Lab GmbH
Duration: 2024-2026

In ReHIKE we investigate how satellite-based maps of glacier retreat and related geomorphological and periglacial processes in the surrounding alpine landscape can support alpine associations in managing high alpine hiking infrastructure. We use a time-series analysis of Sentinel-1 and -2 data from the Copernicus programme to map glacier extent and glacier foreland features for each year, monitor the instability of slopes, and identify mass movements. We analyse these different types of EO-derived maps and assign them to impact levels that categorise the collective impacts on alpine hiking infrastructure, including trail damage potential and potential risks for hikers. The resulting maps are used to assess the impact on the maintenance effort for hiking infrastructure caused by increased path damage and an increased risk for mountaineers. In workshops and user field trips, we present the example maps created for the study areas Wildspitze and Großvenediger to trail keepers and alpine infrastructure management and discuss their applicability in practice.

Project Partners: German Alpine Association (DAV), Austrian Alpine Association (ÖAV), University of Salzburg – Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS, LO.LA Peak Solutions GmbH.
Duration: 2024-2026

Website: ReHike

The DANSER project is a multidisciplinary initiative focused on the restoration and sustainable management of sediments across the Danube River Basin. This project addresses the pressing challenges caused by climate change and human impact, aiming to restore sediment balance, enhance sediment flow, and improve the quality of water and sediments within the ecosystem. It combines cutting-edge technologies such as sediment transport modelling, geophysical surveys, and nature-based solutions for biodiversity enhancement.

Project Partners: Consortium of 35 entities (https://danserproject.eu/about-partners/)
Duration: 2025-2029

SELINA will provide guidance for evidence-based decision-making that supports the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of our environment. Through a collaboration of experts from 50 partner organisations from all 27 EU member states, Norway, Switzerland, Israel, and the United Kingdom, SELINA will set new standards for international cooperation to promote Ecosystem Services (ES) and Biodiversity (BD) conservation and enhance Ecosystem Conditions (EC).

Providing robust practical information and recommendations to stakeholders from both the public and private sectors, SELINA will pave the way towards the transformative societal change required to achieve the ambitious goals of the European Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the Green Deal.

Project Partners: 50 partner organisations from all 27 EU member states, Norway, Switzerland, Israel, and the United Kingdom: https://project-selina.eu/partners
Duration: 2022-2027

GTIF-AT is clearly missing a dynamic integrated view on surface changes based on the open and free Copernicus Sentinel-2 image time series, i.e., a productively usable change detection and change monitoring view applicable to different application areas for temporal enrichment of other static GTIF-AT layers. There is a new Sentinel-2 coverage at least every 5 days for Austria, offering a potential monitoring possibility providing a unique view on dynamic changes and can enrich existing or be integrated with GTIF-AT thematic domains. The GTIME project provides a comprehensive integration of all Sentinel-2 observations since 2015 in an integrated and meaningful form and a multitemporal view on the green vegetation changes in Austria, which can be combined with most of the existing topics in GTIF-AT as a multitemporal change base-layer. Such a change detection layer adds a temporal component to augment other existing or future layers. For instance, in combination with the existing wind turbines/PV extraction layer it could help deriving the year of construction and, therefore, monitoring the age/dynamic of the build-up. A combination with every applied thematic field would be possible by this approach, supporting the developing of a Digital Twin Austria by a generic multi-temporal approach to identify surface/vegetation changes.

Our approach uses big EO data analyses in a semantic EO data cube and communicates results using a single-layer multi-temporal representation, where colour represents different user-defined time periods and changes. This visualisation colour-codes terabytes of multi-temporal information into a single, comprehensive layer. While this approach is backed by established geovisualisation techniques, we extend it to unveil temporal processes and dynamics hidden in big EO data. The resulting layer can be used in a very simple way: It serves as an interpretable basemap that can be integrated in GTIF-AT as a background layer or as a user defined layer for specific time periods.

The single-layer representation is an approach to communicate multi-temporal analyses to a variety of users, which are directly involved in the project through workshops and feedbacks. Depending on the user’s domains, they can combine the multi-temporal vegetation change layer with more specific application topics of their interest in GTIF-AT. Our approach clearly indicates where changes happened and provides information on change intensity/impact providing contextual information to specific topics. This is different from static base maps currently used in GIS-based decision support system, where often only mono-temporal information serve as background layers (e.g. static maps or aerial/satellite image mosaics with unclear acquisition dates). Application areas include but are not limited to: monitoring of green spaces, energy related land use changes, forest change, environmental and soil protection and nature conservation. This is a cross-domain layer that can serve multiple purposes at the same time; relevant domains are energy, mobility, climate-neutral cities, and agriculture. Austrian users (BML, WLV, UBA, Land SBG, Land Burgenland, AMA) will support the developments through feedback workshops and test use cases in a “user in the loop” approach and would welcome a such a multitemporal generic change layer based on vegetation observations to be integrated in their workflows to be combined with other data and information.

Project Partners: University of Salzburg
Duration: 2024-2026

Integrated Geospatial Information System (GIS), Earth Observation (EO) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) toolbox for European Sustainability Reporting Standards on Biodiversity and Ecosystem.

We aim to develop a suite of automated workflows that integrate Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Earth Observation (EO), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ensure compliance with ESRS E4 requirements while embedding biodiversity and ecosystem considerations into corporate strategy and business models, thereby enhancing their resilience. Our workflows will automatically extract and analyse high-resolution satellite imagery (\>85% accuracy) to quantify biodiversity impacts. One will detect land-cover changes, while another will leverage AI-driven scenario analysis to assess environmental impacts and risks across corporate value chains. This modular approach delivers precise, spatially resolved, and actionable insights, significantly improving sustainability reporting and strategic decision-making

Project Partners: OIKON, University of Salzburg, ESG Chain
Duration: 2025-2027

The market study “color33 for Belgium” aims to explore the Belgian market for color33. color33 is an extension of Copernicus Sentinel-2 images with a discrete spectral palette, enabling the automated extraction of desired information. This innovative approach is intended for rollout across Europe. Belgium was selected due to its large number of Earth observation companies and international organizations.

Duration: 2025-2026

Gateway to EU-funded Space Research & Innovation supporting EU competitiveness and access to space

• Education and skills for space in the EU: The understanding of educational needs required by the research community and industry is fundamental to ensure that adequate educational standards and a skilled workforce are in place to compete in the future global space ecosystem.
• Creation and dissemination of scientific knowledge: Fundamental science and research are essential to enable more advanced technology development.
• Analysis of EU-funded projects in the field of space: Identification of best practices for the upcoming programming cycles.
• Support to the consultation platform: Support the inclusive and structured process established by the European Commission to elaborate a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA).
• Support to communication: Making EU-funded space research more visible and supporting DG DEFIS and HaDEA in their communication activities.

Project Partners: space-tec; RMA; Center for industrial studies; National observatory Athens, ESPI, University of Salzburg, Munich Aerospace, ASD Eurospace, SME4SPACE, Euroconsult
Duration: 2022-2025

In the Sparkling Science v.2 project (www.sparklingscience.at) u3Green, researchers, together with young people from partner schools, are developing a web-based and child- and youth-centered application for collecting, evaluating and sharing information about urban green. The app will be made available to a broad range of youth. The results collected with the app will be communicated with appropriate geovisualization products, such as online maps or storymaps. The core of the project is a strong involvement of young people in the entire process from the conception to the development to the evaluation of the results. This takes place through the participation of students in workshops and spotlight events, and as young Citizen Scientists in the context of internships and work camps lasting several days. The project is intended to enable planning processes in the future to take better account of young people’s demands on urban green space and to raise social awareness in this regard.

Project Partners: University of Salzburg Z_GIS (Lead); University of Salzburg School of Education SoE; Salzburger Institut für Raumordnung und Wohnen SIR; Österreichischer Dachverband für Geoinformation AGEO; Private Pädagogische Hochschule der Diözese Linz PH Linz; Naturpark Weißbach; Wissensstadt Salzburg; University of Salzburg Uni 55-PLUS; Akademisches Gymnasium Salzburg; ASO Stadt Salzburg; BG Zaunergasse Salzburg; BORG Oberndorf; Holztechnikum Kuchl; Werkschulheim Felbertal.
Duration: 2022-2025

With PeaceEye, we are developing a state-of-the-art technology-conflict-peace interface to better analyse, understand and respond to security challenges. By integrating various geospatial and non-geospatial data sources, we provide stakeholders involved in conflict resolution, mediation, peacebuilding, diplomacy, humanitarian and development aid, together with local actors, with an asset to identify locations of potential violence before it occurs. This increases their capacity for emergency preparedness and contingency planning. Furthermore, it allows them to guide acute interventions and prompt adequate responses. PeaceEye enhances situational awareness for all actors involved in the HDP-Nexus (Humanitarian-Development-Peace), and comprises different interlaced components.

Project Partners: University of Salzburg – Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS, Andreas Papp Consulting e.U.
Duration: 2023-2024

EO kann räumliche explizite Informationen über die zeitliche Dynamik von Umweltfaktoren auf lokaler Ebene liefern und Proxy-Informationen für wirtschaftliche Aktivitäten an einem bestimmten Ort oder für eine Parzelle liefern. Andere Standortinformationen – verkörpert in GIS oder Kartensystemen wie OpenStreetMap (OSM) gespeichert – spiegeln die wirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten und ihre Fußabdrücke breiter. Während das Projekt von realen Problem ausgeht und drei KMU umfasst, hat es eine starke Forschungskomponente und wird durch die Integration heterogener Datenquellen, die vom räumlich-zeitlichen Slicing eines von Parzelleninformationen bis zum Footprinting reichen, zur Weiterentwicklung der Geoinformationswissenschaft und Erdbeobachtung beitragen von wirtschaftlicher und Satellitendaten.

Project Partners: UbiC, DSS, PLUS Z_GIS
Duration: 2022-2023

Earth Observation (EO) and geospatial information can make a major contribution to the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that anchor the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. INTERFACE will provide a user-friendly national data and information service prototype that will enable the use of Copernicus data and information services to be established within public administration in Austria.

Project Partners: EODC, ENVEO, PLUS Z_GIS, Joanneum Research, TU Wien, ZAMG
Duration: 2022-2025

The Copernicus Philippines (CopPhil) program, launched in April 2023, is a significant initiative aimed at leveraging space technology for sustainable development in the Philippines. It focuses on utilizing the vast amounts of data provided by the European Union’s Copernicus program, a leading provider of Earth observation data.

Project Partners:University of Salzburg – Z_GIS, Collecte Localisation Satellites, Geoville Information Systems and Data Processing GmbH, Indra Sistemas, S.A., GMV Aerospace and Defence S.A.U., INDRA Philippines, ARGANS Ltd, ITC (Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente), ALSO Space Srl, GMV Innovating Solutions S.R.L. / GMV Romania
Duration: 2023-2025

The project focuses on the automated extraction of collective movement information from geo-social media, mobile phone data and in-situ image data with AI methods, and the scenario-oriented fusion of movement information in a novel mixed-methods approach, as well as its provision for crisis management.

Project Partners: Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz, Johanniter Österreich Ausbildung und Forschung gemeinnützige GmbH, JOANNEUM RESEARCH, eurofunk KAPPACHER GmbH
Duration: 2021-2023

The European earth observation program Copernicus as a joint initiative of the European Commission and the ESA is considered one of the most ambitious technological European programs. The introduction provides an essential basis for the dissemination and uptake of this technology by public authorities and administrations and ultimately a boost for opportunities in the private sector (new space). The EO*GI sector competence strategy tries to bundle capacities and use synergies in order to optimally exploit the potential of this technology to deal with current societal challenges (climate change, digitization, demographic change and migration, loss of biodiversity, etc.) at European level and internationally.

Duration: 2022-2023

The EO-Lab cloud is part of the Strategy “Artificial Intelligence” of the German Federal Government. It provides German entities for science and development easy and efficient access to earth observation data, a virtual working environment for processing these data, as well as extensive information and training to support users.

Project Partners: Urbetho CF GmbH, DLR-DFD, terrestris GmbH & Co. KG, Universität Salzburg, Fachbereich Geoinformatik – Z_GIS
Duration: 2022-2024

For more information: EO-Lab website

CAVE will combine innovative models of “community engagement” and vulnerability assessment and expertise from the social sciences and humanities (GSK) disaster research with possible technical applications and develop usable solutions from them. The aim is to analyze where risks and vulnerabilities may exist in the future and in the event of possible new pandemic scenarios (“disease X”) and how these can be countered in a participatory manner.

Project Partners: University of Salzburg Z_GIS, University of Innsbruck UIBK; Bundesministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit, Pflege und Konsumentenschutz BMSGPK; Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung BMLV; Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz ÖRK; Disaster Competence Network Austria DCNA; Lebenshilfe GmbH; safeREACH GmbH
Duration: 2021-2023

The sealing of soils continues to increase, while advances in earth observation data sources (e.g. Copernicus) and technologies, data cubes for earth observation (EO – Earth Observation), open up new possibilities to detect and monitor changes on a regular basis. Existing methods do not yet meet the national requirements or are not mature enough to provide targeted information to decision-makers.

Project Partners: University of Salzburg Z_GIS
Duration: 2021-2022

The proposed project develops midstream EO technology to simplify data retrieval and access, increase interoperability of big EO data by means of semantic integration, and remove barriers between EO midstream technology and downstream applications. It combines novel technologies for systematic and automated information mining from EO data together with long time series of essential climate variables that are derived from heritage and Copernicus satellite data (AVHRR and Sentinel-3). The resulting cross-sensor semantic EO data cube will be linked to smart phone applications to execute pre-selected, relevant semantic queries on-the-fly. This provides uncomplicated public access to visualisations of EO-data-derived information about environmental changes due to seasonal effects and climate change.

Project Partners: University of Bern, Institute of Geography (UniBern), SPOTTERON GmbH (SPOTTERON)
Duration: 2020-2022

The project ‘SINUS’ (Sensor Integration for Urban Risk Prediction) explores the feasibility of matching wearable physiological sensors with data interfaces of urban data ecosystems for improving the current state of the art of predicting risk patterns for vulnerable road users in urban road networks. Different sensor equipment and setups are used and evaluated in a test field  in the city of Salzburg. Between the recorded sensor data and other, formerly isolated data sources, semantic interoperability is established. Based on the resulting data set, machine learning algorithms are applied and refined for a prediction model. To assess effects, viability and transferability of the developed approach, different ICT-supported information applications are developed and tested in a field study.

Project Partners: University of Salzburg Z_GIS, TraffiCon – Traffic Consultants GmbH, Kompetenzzentrum – Das Virtuelle Fahrzeug Forschungsgesellschaft mbH (VIF), Know-Center GmbH (KNOW)
Duration: 2019-2022

Katastrophenereignisse und Großschadenslagen wie beispielsweise Hochwasser, Waldbrände, extreme Schneelagen oder Stürme stellen den Katastrophenschutz vor große Herausforderungen hinsichtlich (1) Verfügbarkeit und Verwendung von echt-zeitnaher und großflächiger Information zur Lageerfassung und -einschätzung, (2) Auswertung der Daten in naher Echtzeit und (3) Fusion von abgeleiteten Informati-onsebenen für intuitive, transparente und fokussierte Entscheidungsunterstützung.

Project Partners: Johanniter Österreich Ausbildung und Forschung gemeinnützige GmbH (JOAFG), Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz – Landesverband Salzburg (SRK), IFES – Institut für empirische Sozialforschung GmbH (IFES)
Duration: 2021-2023

Smart Cities are urban areas that use technology to improve the quality of life for citizens, increase efficiency, and reduce environmental impact. Two of our key products that contribute to the development of Smart Cities are Urban Emotions and Geo Social-Media. 

Both products are technology driven, state-of-the-art products that will help to make life in cities more enjoyable and help governments to transit to smart development for tomorrow’s needs.Technology such as wearable sensors detect stressful moments experienced by individuals while moving –  cycling, walking and driving in the city. This information can be used to identify areas of the city that are particularly stressful for citizens and to develop strategies to improve safety and reduce stress. Together with geolocated social-media posts, such as tweets from Twitter, can detect hotspots of target information. This information can be used to identify areas of the city where certain issues or events are taking place, such as traffic congestion, crime, or community gatherings. This technology can support wearable sensors and can be used by city officials to make more informed decisions and respond quicker to issues in the community.

Duration: 2022-2023

EO4GEO is an Erasmus+ Sector Skills Alliance gathering 26 partners from 12 countries from academia, private and public sector active in the education/training and space/geospatial sectors. EO4GEO aims to help bridging the skills gap between supply and demand of education and training in the space/geospatial sector by reinforcing the existing ecosystem and fostering the uptake and integration of space/geospatial data and services in end-user applications. EO4GEO will work in a multi-interdisciplinary way and apply innovative solutions for its education and training actions including: case based and collaborative learning scenarios; learning-while-doing in a living lab environment; on-the-job training; the co-creation of knowledge, skills and competencies; etc.

Project Partners: GISIG, KU Leuven, University of Salzburg Z_GIS, Climate-KIC, Universitat Jaume I (UJI), University of Zagreb (GEOF), University of Patras (UPAT), Friedrich-Schiller University Jena (FSU-EO), University of Twente (UT-ITC), University of Basilicata (UNIBAS), Institute of Geodesy and Cartography (IGiK), Planetek, IGEA Ltd., Epsilon Italia, NOVOGIT, GIB, EARSC, Romanian Space Agency (ROSA), UNEP/GRID, NEREUS, VITO, CNR-IREA, Institute for Environmental Solutions (VRI IES), ISPRA, ALFA Liguria
Duration: 2018-2021

The design or transformation of public space is considered an essential prerequisite for further promoting sustainable, active mobility. However, there is still a lack of a standardized methodology for evaluating the impact of urban mobility interventions. For this reason, the POSITIM research project aims at the creation of a generic methodology for impact assessment and evaluation of traffic planning interventions through the interdisciplinary linking of approaches from traffic sociology with data-based, spatial evaluation and monitoring routines. In addition to established approaches (qualitative surveys, GIS-based potential and environment analyzes, ego videos, urban videos), human sensorics data are also used as the central innovation element for the evaluation. Together with the associated cities / municipalities, the integrative methodology will be specifically evaluated and validated in several field studies. The project results will provide the opportunity to evaluate interventions in the mobility space using a structured, standardized and transferable methodology and to estimate their impact on mobility behavior (stress perception, acceptance, displacement effects, etc.).

Project Partners: University of Salzburg Z_GIS, con.sens verkehrsplanung zt gmbh, apptech ventures GmbH – FACTUM, i.n.s. – Institut für innovative Städte
Duration: 2020-2022

In the field of hazard documentation and assessment in the context of disaster risk management, a large number of databases or inventories exist in Austria. Often these event, damage and risk data are not comparable because they were collected for different purposes and above all with different requirements. The aim of this project is to develop a robust national incident and damage database as a semi-automated, autonomous technical system that allows data from different sources to be harmonized, presented and used for further analysis under uniform standards. Specifically, a demonstrator for two states (Lower Austria and Styria) and three hazard categories (storm, flood and mass movement) will be implemented for the period from 2005 to 2018. A systematized synopsis of event documentation enables the public authorities to perform their tasks including the preparation of national risk analyzes, compulsory reporting under the UNISDR Sendai contract and the effective assessment of disaster relief funds.

Project Partners: University of Salzburg Z_GIS, Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG), Joanneum Research (JR), Geologische Bundesanstalt (GBA)
Duration: 2019-2021

This project aims to investigate multi-modal (spatial, temporal, semantic) machine learning algorithms for social media analysis to support decisions in humanitarian action, disaster management and epidemiology through information provision in near real-time. Therefore, this project covers the workflow from data gathering and filtering to analysing and classifying social media posts. Additionally, a demonstrator of a decision-support dashboard for user-tailored result visualisation will be created. We design and validate our approach for the use case of disaster management and then transfer it to other use cases, i.e., epidemiology and the detection of refugee movement to support humanitarian action.

Project Partners: Universität Salzburg, Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS (PLUS)
Duration: 2020-2021

The cartographic demarcation and designation of biotope or habitat types represent an essential technical and legal basis for nature conservation in Austria. The alpine zone has a special nature conservation significance. It is the habitat of many ecologically extremely sensitive biocenoses. The exceptionally high nature conservation value and the high sensitivity of the Alpine zone are also reflected in the legal anchoring of strict protection regulations for the habitats of the alpine zone in the nature conservation laws and nature conservation regulations of the alpine Austrian states. These factors mean that a comprehensive terrestrial terrain survey is technically difficult, time-consuming, very time-consuming and associated with correspondingly high costs. We are developing a multiphase biotope mapping methodology for the area above the permanent settlement area, combining the use of satellite imagery, aerial imagery and terrestrial survey methods for a multi-phased inventory, highlighting that the benefits of different inventory tools and procedures can be optimally exploited.

Project Partners: University of Salzburg Z_GIS, Naturraumplanung Egger e.U
Duration: 2017-2019

The considerable energy and climate policy need to face the commitment to achieving international climate protection targets as well as national energy and climate change strategies raises the question of the extent to which cities and municipalities can contribute to the reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. So far, however, the elimination of action strategies at the municipal level in favor of an increased consideration of energy and climate policy premises is made difficult by the fact that there is no overview of the initial situation with regard to the total energy consumption and the total volume of greenhouse gas emissions from a municipality. The aim of the project is the development of a geobased database at the municipal level, which comprehensively presents energy-relevant structural data as well as the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of all Austrian cities and municipalities and enables decision-makers to assess development strategies in terms of their energy, mobility and climate relevance.

Project Partners: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences BOKU, University of Salzburg Z_GIS
Duration: 2017-2019

The goal of 3D Vision is the development new methods and processes for the automated valorization of 3D point cloud data. The 3D point clouds are pre-processed with innovative evaluation methods, automatically classified and converted into high-quality, detailed vector models of buildings, vegetation and infrastructure as well as into digital plans. These results are picked up and further refined by the network partners for the creation of industry-specific new products, 3D viewers, augmented reality environments and innovative services.

Project Partners: Laserdata GmbH, GRID-IT, Arch. Stefan Rutzinger
Duration: 2018-2020

HUMAN+ is a project for ensuring humanitarian safety through real-time situational awareness for efficient management of migration movements. The aim is to detect and predict migration movements, create near-real time overviews about current migration movements including data analyses and short-term forecasting, as well as information and decision support in form of user dependent interactive information visualization, assessment of quality and interoperability.
HUMAN + aims to contribute to ensuring humanitarian security and preparedness for migration, while at the same time fully considering legal, ethical and sociological conditions. The project approach described aims at the use of social media, as well as their integration with established methods of remote sensing to create an integrative real-time situational picture and a short-term prognosis. Thanks to the real-time situation picture obtained in this way, the emergency services are better prepared for migration waves and can make well-informed, tailor-made decisions.

Project Partners: JOANNEUM RESEARCH, IFES, IFR, Die Johanniter, University of Salzburg Z_GIS, Universität Graz, Bundesheer, Fraunhofer IAIS, Universität Kassel, THW, VOMATEC, CrisCom, Universität Passau, Deutsche Hochschule der Polizei, Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz
Duration: 2017-2020

The vision of the project CopHub.AC is to establish a long-term Copernicus hub to consolidate and sustain the Copernicus Academy as a knowledge and innovation platform. To fulfill this several nodes will be created – like a new form of research briefs, knowledge landscape, outreach and sustainability. It will focus and link ongoing R&D activities in Copernicus-relevant academic fields and sustain the innovation process from academia to business on a high scientific and technical level.

Project Partners: University of Salzburg Z_GIS, University of Basilicata, Evenflow, Climate-KIC, EARSC, KU Leuven, GISIG, University of Malaga, Rasdaman, Cyprus University of Technology, Klaipeda University
Duration: 2018-2020

The project Sen2Cube.at will be one step towards an Austrian data and information cube. The project will show that content based image and information retrieval is possible in big EO databases, allowing human users to query and analyse EO data on a higher semantic level.

Project Partners: University of Salzburg – Z_GIS, AMA, ZAMG
Duration: 2018-2020