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GIScience Blog

Category: Publications

  • Fusion of human and remote sensor data in urban environments

    OpenStreetMap (OSM) currently represents the most popular project of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI): geodata are collected by common people and made available for public use. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) enables the acquisition of high-resolution digital elevation models that are used for many applications. Our new study combines the advantages of both ALS and OSM, offering…

  • GIS-Based Roughness Derivation for Flood Simulations

    Natural disasters like floods are a worldwide phenomenon and a serious threat to mankind. Flood simulations are applications of disaster control, which are used for the development of appropriate flood protection. Adequate simulations require not only the geometry but also the roughness of the Earth’s surface, as well as the roughness of the objects hereon.…

  • A Review of OpenStreetMap Research

    User-generated content (UGC) platforms on the Internet have experienced a steep increase in data contributions in recent years. The ubiquitous usage of location-enabled devices, such as smartphones, allows contributors to share their geographic information on a number of selected online portals. The collected information is oftentimes referred to as volunteered geographic information (VGI). One of…

  • Members of GIScience research group receive the best paper and presentation award of SCCH’2013 Conference

    The fourth conference on Scientific Computing and Cultural Heritage (SCCH) 2013 organized by Heidelberg Graduate School of Mathematical and Computational Methods for the Sciences (HGS MathComp) took place on 18th of November 2013 at the University of Heidelberg. This conference brought together scientists from computer science and applied mathematics on the one hand and researchers…

  • New WebPortals by GeoNet.MRN – Network, Energy Atlas, etc.

    Our “Network Geoinformation of the Metropole Region Rhine-Neckar” has a new updated Web Portal at http://www.geonet-mrn.de. Also the first prototype of the interactive Web-based Energy Atlas http://energie.geoportal-mrn.de/ for the Metropole Region Rhein-Neckar went online already some time ago. Recently our Master Student Sabrina Helsper has developed a Atlas on thermal energy for all of Germany…

  • The emergence and evolution of OpenStreetMap: A cellular automata approach

    Collaborative mapping projects, such as OpenStreetMap (OSM), have received tremendous amounts of contributed data from voluntary participants over time. So far, most research efforts deal with data quality issues, but the OSM evolution across space and over time has not been noted. Therefore, a new study is dedicated to the evolution of the contributed information…

  • About quality assessment for building footprints data in OpenStreetMap

    In the past years, several applications of generating 3D buildings from OpenStreetMap (OSM) have been made available, for instance, OSM-3D, OSM2World, etc. In these projects, 3D buildings are reconstructed using the buildings’ footprints and information about their attributes, which are documented as tags in OSM. Therefore, the quality of 3D buildings relies strongly on the…

  • 3D-LiDAR and GIS for Gully Detection in Peru

    Cushion peatlands are typical features of the high altitude Andes in South America. Due to the adaptation to difficult environmental conditions, they are very fragile ecosystems and therefore vulnerable to environmental and climate changes. Peatland erosion has severe effects on their ecological functions, such as water storage capacity. Thus, erosion monitoring is highly advisable. Erosion…

  • LiDAR Research Group @ ISPRS Laser Scanning Workshop 2013

    The LiDAR Research Group participates the Laser Scanning 2013 Workshop on Nov, 11-14th in Antalya, Turkey. The workshop brought together experts from different disciplines which are focused on the modeling and application of point cloud data acquired from laser scanners and other active imaging systems, such as range cameras and gaming sensors. All aspects related…

  • Mapping land-use from OpenStreetMap

    An approach toward generating land-use patterns from volunteered geographic information (VGI) without applying remote-sensing techniques and/or engaging official data has just been published in the latest issue of the International Journal of Geographic Information Science. Collaboratively collected OpenStreetMap (OSM) data sets are employed to map land-use patterns. Initially the spatial pattern of the landscape was…

  • About the “Geo” in Social Media: What about Location Based Social Networks?

    The growing penetration of GPS equipped smartphones allowing users to constantly share geographic information on their current whereabouts has led the way to an augmentation of existing Social Network Sites with location-based features or the creation of new ones exclusively around geographic information. Within these Location Based Social Networks vast amounts of geographic information are…

  • Open Data Opportunities for LBS

    The advent of web technologies and the promotion of data sharing practices have fostered open data initiatives. The main motivation of governments in sharing data with the public is to stimulate economic growth by enabling the creation of new products. One of the areas that could benefit from open data initiatives is that of location-based…