GIScience / Geoinformatics Research Group

The GIScience Research Group is engaged in innovative basic and applied research at the interface between geography and the computational sciences. We thereby focus on the investigation of user-generated geographical content (VGI, Crowdsourcing, Citizen Science), for which we develop innovative methods and analytical approaches.
More specifically, our thematic focuses are on volunteered geographic information (VGI), big spatial data analytics, smart mobility and humanitarian aid, such as disaster management.
Through the Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology (HeiGIT gGmbH) at Heidelberg University, we have the opportunity to translate our research work into practical solutions.
In addition, we support our institute's study programmes in geography with numerous courses on relevant GI methods that allow our students to formally specialize in geoinformatics.
Please note our vacancies.
Latest News
News from our daily work can be found at giscienceblog.uni-heidelberg.de (also available as RSS-Feed). You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date.
Featured photo: The deleted map displays all deleted elements within the analyzed areas (red). Gray rectangles represent deleted buildings. This past November, our teams at HeiGIT and GIScience participated in Topi Tjukanov’s Twitter event #30DayMapChallenge, where mappers display their creativity and ingenuity with a set of 30 daily prompts ranging from colors to specific datasets […]
Featured Image: Training participants simulating a participatory mapping on the ground with the SketchMapTool. Last week, HeiGIT team member Anne Schauß held a workshop session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during a training of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The international training focused on community resilience and how to assess […]
Featured Image: The peaks of Germany identified by curvature in N/E direction, Jakob Schnell’s contribution for Day 7 (Raster) of the #30DayMapChallenge. This past November, our teams at HeiGIT and GIScience participated in Topi Tjukanov’s Twitter event #30DayMapChallenge, where mappers display their creativity and ingenuity with a set of 30 daily prompts ranging from colors to […]
Featured Map: Percent change in each province of Türkiye and Syria of buildings in OSM. Data from OpenStreetMap, visualized using QGIS and the ohsome API plugin. Welcome back to the how to become ohsome series! If you’re new to the series, you can check out the previous issues (like this one) or the ohsome Region of […]
Am Dienstag, den 16. Mai, werden die Besuchenden des öffentlichen Vortrags “Klimawandel und Infektionskrankheiten in Bezug auf Gesundheitswesen und Mobilität” Einblicke von fünf Experten erhalten, die derzeit Pionierarbeit bei der Erforschung einer der größten Bedrohungen für die öffentliche Gesundheit in Deutschland leisten. Die Veranstaltung findet in deutscher und englischer Sprache im Mathematik-Hörsaal im Erdgeschoss des […]
Featured photo: The geoEpi team attending CGA 2023. Back row from left: PD Dr. med. Thomas Jaenisch, Assoz. Prof. Dr. Bernd Resch, Dorian Arifi and Steffen Knoblauch. Front row from left: Dr. rer. nat. Ivonne Morales Benavides, Apl. Prof. Dr. Sven Lautenbach, and Dr. Yannik Roell. Ever since Dr. John Snow’s 1854 tracing of a […]
On Tuesday, May 16, visitors to the public lecture “Climate Change, Mobility, and the Increasing Risk of Infectious Disease Outbreaks in Germany” will be treated to insights from five experts currently pioneering research into one of the greatest threats to Germany’s public health. The event will occur in both German and English on the ground […]
Featured Image: Figure 1. Total carbon fluxes related to LULCC in Baden-Württemberg between March 2018 and October 2019 (LaVerDi, OSMlanduse+), and March 2018 and March 2020 (OSMlanduse, OSMlanduse cleaned). The upper plot shows the relative difference of carbon fluxes [%] with respect to LULC transition and carbon flux attribution method. The carbon fluxes of method […]
With VirtuaLearn3D (Virtual Laser Scanning for Machine Learning Algorithms in Geographic 3D Point Cloud Analysis), a new project of the 3DGeo group has started. The focus of this project is to enable powerful machine learning algorithms for geographic point cloud analysis by advancing the concept of virtual laser scanning to overcome the lack of training […]
Since the transportation sector is one of the major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters that has not seen significant emission reductions in the last decades, it requires special attention from policymakers. However, estimations of traffic emissions often rely on huge amounts of actual traffic data whose availability is limited. Therefore, Ulrich et al. now propose an […]
Natural hazards threaten millions of people all over the world. To address this risk, exposure and vulnerability models with high resolution data are essential. However, in many areas of the world, exposure models are rather coarse and are aggregated over large areas. Although OpenStreetMap (OSM) offers great potential to assess risk at a detailed building-by-building […]
Pictures of the Group
In Memoriam Peter Meusburger

On 18 December 2017, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Peter Meusburger died far too soon. We mourn for a great scientist, teacher and colleague. In the mid 90s he implemented the first GIS pool at Heidelberg University and started GIS related research. He will not be forgotten. ((Message of the University)