openrouteservice use-case: how equitable is access to urban green space?

A recent study used openrouteservice to analyse walking accessibility to culturally valued green spaces in Jakarta. Network-based travel times revealed clear socioeconomic inequalities, highlighting the importance of realistic accessibility analysis in urban sustainability research.

https://heigit.org/?p=41611

We’ve updated the Climate Action Navigator to make data-driven local climate action easier 🌍

🔍 High-resolution data on walkability & bikeability, heating emissions, CO₂ budgets, and land-use change
⚡ Faster vector-based maps
🌐 Interface now in English & German
📄 Reports exportable as PDF

Explore the new version 👉 https://climate-action.heigit.org/

#climateaction #opendata

Happy holidays 🎄

As the year comes to a close, we thank our partners and collaborators for advancing open geoinformation technologies with us for the benefit of society and the environment. Together, we turn geospatial data into actionable insights for humanitarian response, climate action, and informed decision-making.

If you missed it, our Year in Review highlights key milestones from 2025: https://heigit.org/year-in-review-looking-back-at-2025-and-ahead-to-2026/

Wishing you a restful holiday season and a great start to the year ahead.

End of the year release! 🎉

We have released and deployed a new version of ohsome-dashboard together with a new version of ohsome-quality-api to production.

It brings translations into German, a new welcome screen and an extended search interface for quality topics and their supported indicators. Oqapi extended its support for currentness to all topics.

Happy Analyzing! 🙂

https://dashboard.ohsome.org

#OpenStreetMap #opendata #research

Can we infer citywide traffic speeds without sensors or proprietary data?

In our #research, we explore an environment-driven approach to #traffic speed classification using #OpenStreetMap road context and Street View Imagery. By focusing on speed classes, the framework supports spatial completion across an entire urban network, including data-sparse areas.

Tested on #Berlin with OSM data quality assessed via the ohsome dashboard.

👉 https://heigit.org/new-paper-estimating-road-speed-classes-integrating-openstreetmap-and-street-view-imagery-for-missing-data-imputation/

#opendata #GIS

How to use Earth observation data and techniques in studying different domains of disaster management? 🌍

Our contributions featured in Data-Driven Earth Observation for Disaster Management: From Theory to Practical Applications talks exactly about that!

Read more 👉 https://buff.ly/xqN9RHj

𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗶ó𝗻 𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗜𝗚 𝗮𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗮 𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗶é𝗻 𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗮ñ𝗼𝗹!
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗙𝗥𝗖 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗚𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵:
https://giscience.github.io/gis-training-resource-center/spanish/content/es/es_intro.html

Together with German Red Cross, we have already put the new translated version into practice in a Training of Trainers in Bogotá 🇨🇴 with several LatAm National Red Cross Societies.
It´s great to see #GIS training become more accessible for humanitarian work.

We have added two new indicators to the #HeatingEmissions assessment tool in the Climate Action Navigator: you can now visualize not only the heating emissions, but also the construction year and the energy carrier of residential buildings.

Let´s test these new features by looking into residential heating emissions in Kalbach-Riedberg (#Frankfurt). Some areas seems to have zero emissions: how is this possible?

🔎 Find out in the Map of the Month below and on our blog: https://heigit.org/new-indicators-for-residential-heating-emissions-building-construction-year-and-energy-carrier/

The latest #SketchMapTool release now integrates with #OpenAerialMap, letting you add freshly captured drone or openly licensed imagery as a background layer using just an image ID. 🗺️

This empowers local actors and community mappers to combine aerial views with on-the-ground knowledge in a single, seamless workflow.

As a result, #ParticipatoryMapping becomes even more accessible and efficient, in #humanitarian contexts and beyond!

👉 https://heigit.org/?p=41381

#droneimagery #mapping

What’s your take on AI-assisted mapping in #OpenStreetMap? 🤖
More map data is now created automatically, often with little human input. Our research looked at how the OSM community views AI-assisted mapping and whether AI-generated roads can be detected once they’re in the database.

The results were mixed—geometric and temporal cues help, but they’re unstable.
Without clear tagging, data origins may become opaque.

👉https://heigit.org/?p=41526

We have released a new hiBike update in the Climate Action Navigator🚲
You can now assess urban #bikeability including:
🌳 Greenness – How much greenery is there along cycling paths?
🚳 Detour Factors – Can cyclists take the shortest route to their destination?
📊 Extended Summaries – more detailed overview stats, also to assess data quality

Read more: https://heigit.org/?p=41475
Try out hiBike for your city: https://climate-action.heigit.org/webapp/dashboard

#ClimateAction #ActiveMobility #OpenData

2025 was an exciting year for HeiGIT! 🎉

We expanded our research, strengthened international collaborations, and launched initiatives to make open geoinformation more actionable for society. As always, we continue to support humanitarian aid, sustainable mobility, and climate resilience, all grounded in our expertise in big data analytics and machine learning.

Thanks to the Klaus Tschira Stiftung and all partners for their support. There is more to come in 2026!

👉 https://heigit.org/year-in-review-looking-back-at-2025-and-ahead-to-2026/

How can dynamic data save lives in humanitarian crises?

When bridges collapse or floods cut critical roads, static routing becomes outdated fast, slowing down relief.

Together with Logistics Cluster, we’re developing dynamic routing that integrates real-time, mission-specific data directly into route calculations, helping responders adapt on the fly and avoid delays.

👉 Read more: https://heigit.org/rethinking-humanitarian-routing-when-every-minute-and-mile-matter/

#humanitarianLogistics #humanitarian #routing #openrouteservice

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗳𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵🗺️
In a new study from the #UndercoverEisAgenten project, volunteers mapped ice-wedge permafrost patterns in the Arctic using the open-source app MapSwipe.
Results show that citizen science can successfully contribute to climate research.

👉 Blog: https://heigit.org/new-paper-on-the-contribution-of-volunteered-geographic-information-to-mapping-arctic-permafrost/
👉 Full paper: https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/19/6355/2025/

@awi @DLR

Next week, join our first online Mapping with Communities event, co-organized with the UBDC!

Join an inclusive space for mappers and community initiatives to share experiences, challenges, and spark collaborations.

✔️ Attend or present your work
✔️ Two sessions across time zones: 8 & 9 Dec

Register: https://heigit.org/events/mapping-with-communities-online-workshop/
Submit your project: https://heigit.limequery.org/341954?lang=en

We welcome anyone working in participatory mapping, community assets, or grassroots GIS.

#CommunityMapping #GIS

At the 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬, we had the opportunity to discuss how geoinformatics can support global digital health.
Some of our open-source GIS tools with applications in #GlobalHealth:
▫️ 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 (indicators for active mobility)
▫️ 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 / 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗟 (accessibility analysis and heat-avoiding routing)
▫️𝗦𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹 (participatory mapping)

🔎 https://heigit.org/geoinformatics-meets-global-health-at-the-global-digital-health-project-week/

Influence of Meteorological Variables on PM₂.₅ in Temuco, Chile

Air pollution from PM₂.₅ is a major health concern in cities with cold winters and biomass heating.

In Temuco data from 11 stations (2019 winter) show how temperature, wind, humidity, pressure and precipitation shape both temporal dynamics and intra-urban variability of PM₂.₅.

Policy needs to consider meteorology, spatial heterogeneity and a transition away from polluting heating technologies.

https://heigit.org/new-paper-influence-of-meteorological-variables-on-pm2-5-concentrations-in-cities-heated-with-solid-fuels-a-case-study-from-temuco-chile/

#research

We are thrilled to contribute to the Climate Change AI Workshop at #NeurIPS 2025 in San Diego 🇺🇸. Our research team member Steffen Knoblauch will give a Spotlight Talk and present two posters that advance AI applications for climate action and resilience.

📅 6–7 December 2025
🔗 buff.ly/lQtfLfN

#AI

#𝟯𝟬𝗗𝗮𝘆𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 - 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟵: 𝗥𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿
𝘖𝘚𝘔-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘜𝘓𝘊 𝘮𝘢𝘱 of 𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘴𝘳𝘶𝘩𝘦, 𝘎𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 2021🛰️🗺️

Satellite imagery shows how our landscapes evolve. In the LaVerDi project, HeiGIT and @BKG combine OSM data with Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery to make land-use and land-cover monitoring across Germany more precise and responsive.

🔍 More about LaVerDi: https://heigit.org/laverdi/

#OpenStreetMap #OpenData #LULC #Karlsruhe

December starts with a brand-new lecture by the Heidelberg Geographical Society: Large-Scale Forest and Climate Protection? A Critical Look At Carbon Trading Post

This lecture will explore how Tropical forests are home to high biodiversity and play an essential role in mitigating global climate change.

📆 December 2, 2025 7:15 pm
📍 Lecture Hall 2 (HS2), Kirchhoff Institute for Physics (KIP), Heidelberg
🗣️ Prof. Dr. Christine Schmitt (Universität Passau)
🔤 Lecture in German