Ongoing Projects

GEODESOLA Project

The aim of the GEODESOLA project (https://ptgeo.org.pl/en/geodesola/)  is to present a virtual guide on sustainable development, which is a collection of six essays prepared by geographers – academic staff and graduates of the University of Warsaw in collaboration with the Polish Geographical Society.

If you would like to organize your basic knowledge about the concept of sustainable development and, by the way, learn about the effects of the cooperation of the University of Warsaw with partner institutions from Latin America on this subject, you’ve come to the right place! We will be happy to share our knowledge and experiences with you, and short essays seem to work best as our form of communication. The very first essay will give you a smooth introduction to the topic of sustainable development. Next essays are based on Latin American examples. 

Part of the project is the organization of the International Congress of Geographers and Latin Americanists (https://wgsr.uw.edu.pl/congreso2020/)  devoted to sustainable development, initiated by the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies of the University of Warsaw.

The above activities form part of the GEODESOLA project co-financed by the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) under the “Foreign Promotion” program.

 

E-learning course on Time Series Analysis in Remote Sensing for Understanding Human-Environment Interactions (E-TRAINEE)

Processing of time series of remote sensing data is a challenging goal of today’s and future research. Global Earth observation programmes provide extensive image archives dated back to several decades. Aerial images and LiDAR point clouds are acquired on the national level in two to three years cycles. Specific localities are monitored on regular (hourly, weekly, monthly, yearly) basis for research purposes such as monitoring resistance of plants to droughts, invasive species encroachment, melting of mountainous snow and glaciers, desertification, decrease of biodiversity, deforestation or urbanization. Thus, processing methods of the time series of remote sensing data of different time and spatial scales, the combination of heterogeneous and multi-modal data sources and accuracy assessment of the obtained results are becoming a key part of remote sensing and geo(infor)matics curricula.

The project’s objective is to develop a comprehensive research-oriented open e-learning course on time series analysis in remote sensing for environmental monitoring beyond the existing partners’ curricula. The course offers a multidisciplinary approach connecting themes from computer science, geography, and environmental studies. It combines well established and latest technologies of remote sensing (satellite and UAV sensing, multispectral and hyperspectral sensing, 3D point clouds) and methods of artificial intelligence (machine and deep learning) in order to use these technological developments to understand environmental changes and interaction of human activities and environment. It shows how the same environmental phenomenon can be analysed from the perspective of different data sources, scales and time frequencies. 

The e-learning course consists of four modules. The first one provides a general overview on methods for time series analysis and the three others focus on specific processing steps connected to different types of data and their use in case studies on environmental monitoring:

  1. Methods of Time Series Analysis in Remote Sensing
  2. Satellite Multispectral Images Time Series Analysis
  3. 3D/4D Geographic Point Cloud Time Series Analysis
  4. Airborne Imaging Spectroscopy Time Series Analysis

An open e-learning course covering all these perspectives is currently missing in partners curricula. Furthermore, it can be used beyond the geographic applications by other disciplines working with time series of remote sensing data on different spatial scales. Materials and data will be hosted on open repositories which policy is long term data hosting.

The primary target group are MSc and PhD students of geoinformatics and geography who specialize in remote sensing for monitoring Earth surface dynamic and changes. The e-learning course is expected to become a part of the curricula at all four partner universities. Participants and target groups of the project will benefit from the extended course portfolio in terms of novel, streamlined contents and digital teaching methods as well as internationalisation. It is expected that new research collaborations will evolve from joint teaching activities.

Duration of the project: 2020-09-01–2023-08-31 (36 months)

Applicant Organisation:

UNIVERZITA KARLOVA, Czech Republic (Dr Markéta Potůčková, Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Cartography)

Partner Organisations:

UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI, Poland (Dr Adriana Marcinkowska-Ochtyra, Chair of Geomatics and Information Systems)

RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG, Germany (Prof. Dr. Bernhard Höfle, Institute of Geography)

UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK, Austria (Dr. Martin Rutzinger, Institute of Geography)