Z_GIS department outing to the National Park Berchtesgaden

A full day of information and edutainment, including outdoor activities and of course socializing and networking – this was the Z_GIS department outing to the National Park Berchtesgaden. In the almost 30 years of Z_GIS there has always been a strong relationship and cooperation between the National Park administration and Z_GIS. The director of the National Park, Michael Vogel, started the guided tour in the Haus der Berge, the National Park Centre in Berchtesgaden. After that we got an interesting insight into the research and monitoring activities. Last but not least we enjoyed the unique alpine fauna and flora of the Wimbachtal.

UN-SPIDER supports efforts to manage landslide risk in Bhutan. Z_GIS contributes to workshop on risk and vulnerability assessment.

13 participants from stakeholder organisations in Bhutan attended a training-workshop on landslide risk and vulnerability assessment in Timphu, Bhutan in August. Stefan Kienberger, Z_GIS, led a practical session and discussion on landslide risk and vulnerability analysis.

Stefan Kienberger, Z_GIS, led a practical session and discussion.

Landslide is one of the most prominent hazards in Bhutan. The workshop was conducted by the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) and the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs in Bhutan. The capacity building workshop was conducted as a follow-up to the UN-SPIDER Technical Advisory Mission (TAM) to Bhutan. 

Recommendations for sustainability in the Mondsee area

Hermann Klug, Z_GIS, presented his recommendations for a sustainable development in the area around the lake Mondsee. The team "Frischer Wind für St. Lorenz” had invited him to an event on September 10, 2015. This is a group of inhabitants of St. Lorenz making determined efforts on environmental protection and sustainability in the region. About 40 participants were discussing topics such as sustainable agriculture and forestry, biodiversity and renewable resources. 

Recommendations for a sustainable development in the Mondsee area 

Science goes public: The Z_GIS Landscape Lab

How do scientists measure specific weather characteristics? And what about soil conditions and water parameters? At the autumn festival in Koppl close to Salzburg more than 200 visitors received answers to these questions. 



Hermann Klug, Z_GIS (left), at one of the guided tours through the observation station 

Hermann Klug, project leader of the Z_GIS Landscape Lab in Koppl, offered guided tours through the research field to visitors. He presented the single sensors used for analyzing the changing environmental conditions. The Landscape Lab from a bird´s eye view was another highlight: Sebastian d'Oleire-Oltmanns demonstrated how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used for analyzing the terrain from above. 



Summer Hackademy on 3D Rapid Mapping

During the months of August and September, four University of Salzburg students are working on a smartphone-based solution for 3D rapid mapping. In this "Summer Hackademy", the students try to extract a high-density point cloud from a series of images from uncalibrated cameras ("Structure from Motion") in a joint effort at the intersection of Geoinformatics and Computer Science.

The highly skilled and ambitious students working on the project are Clemens Havas, Nikolai Janakiev, Jakob Miksch and Salman Muhammad, supervised by Dr. Bernd Resch and Prof. Dr. Thomas Blaschke.

The long-term goal is to develop a system for indoor navigation through the identification of key points in the point cloud by an intelligent fingerprinting algorithm.