Join us at Impact Day on May 15th in the foyer of the Neue Universität, organized by the Heidelberg University! The event will showcase the university’s knowledge and technology transfer, spotlighting projects across four focal areas: socially relevant, industrial, sustainable and tangible. The “Socially Relevant” island addresses pressing social issues, while the “Industrial” island highlights collaborations driving technological advancement. The “Sustainable” island presents projects dedicated to environmental preservation, including ours: “Waterproofing Data – Engaging Stakeholders in Susta ..read more

“Geographic Information Science for a Sustainable Future” – The theme of this year’s conference held by the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories in Europe (AGILE) in Glasgow, UK, on 4-7 June 2024. Attendees of the AGILE 2024 conference will explore the crucial role of geographic information science (GIS) in the relationships between the environment, society, and the economy. We at HeiGIT are happy to announce that members of our team will be part of the AGILE 2024 conference, presenting their work in the form of a poster, a short paper and two workshops. The projects that will be ..read more

The 2024 Fachtagung Katastrophenvorsorge (Disaster Risk Reduction Symposium) centered around the theme “On the Edge? Disaster risk reduction in uncertain times.” Held in a hybrid format on April 22 and 23 at the Tagungswerk Berlin, this conference served as a platform to address the challenges, opportunities, and current developments in disaster prevention and management amidst a backdrop of climate change, health crises, and social and geopolitical tensions on both national and global scales. Our workshop, titled “Mapping local knowledge with the Sketch Map Tool – potentials and challenges of ..read more

During GeoNight 2024, HeiGIT partnered with Mannheimer Mapathons to host a mapathon together. Mapathons are events where volunteers come together to map crucial features like roads, buildings or waterways on OpenStreetMap, often in response to specific needs or crises, such as post-earthquake or post-flood scenarios. We were privileged to connect with volunteers from OSM Ghana, gaining insight into their vital work within the region. During this event, geospatial enthusiasts collaborated to map over 1,000 buildings in Lebanon, striving not only to generate geoinformation but als ..read more

Excited to announce the CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS! Are you passionate about mapping with communities? Join us at the “Mapping with communities: Contemporary approaches and challenges” workshop at AGILE 2024 conference on June 04. Share your experiences, methodologies, and digital innovations in engaging communities with geospatial data. Submit your extended abstract by May 20 to mappingwithcomm@glasgow.ac.uk ..read more

Our next Mapathon is just around the corner, and this time, we’re joining forces with OpenStreetMap Ghana to improve coverage and to help disaster risk assessment. Join us and be a part of the GeoNight 2024 to celebrate geography together in all its forms and facets! Everyone is welcome and no previous knowledge is needed! Do bring your laptop and preferably a mouse, everything else will be provided! Snacks and drinks will be provided. When: Friday, 12.04.2024, at 6 p.m. Where: Mathematikon, INF 205, 5th floor (IRW ..read more

The HeiGIT gGmbH (Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology) team has just released a version 2.0 of the Sketch Map Tool, a low-tech solution for participatory sketch mapping through offline data collection, digitization and georeferencing of local spatial knowledge. Thanks to continuous support from the German Red Cross and financial support by the German Federal Foreign Office, the HeiGIT tool has undergone significant enhancements. These updates introduce new features aimed at broadening the tool’s accessibility ..read more

We’re proud to share our recent conference experience with you! Our HeiGIT Product Owners for Big Data and Smart Mobility, Benjamin Herfort and Julian Psotta, had the privilege of attending the FOSSGIS 2024 conference, where they contributed valuable insights and expertise. The results of an exciting six years of joint work and shared projects between HeiGIT and the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy of Germany were presented by our Product Owner Julian and Florian Micklich from the RoutingPlus-Team of BKG. The presentation “From openr ..read more

OhsomeNow stats makes it possible to monitor contributions to OpenStreetMap (OSM) in real time. We developed this new dashboard as part of our long-term cooperation with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), an international organization dedicated to humanitarian action and community development through open mapping. This dashboard has replaced the Missing Maps Leaderboard with a comprehensive overview of how much mapping takes place at certain mapping events and campaigns. With version 1.0 we have introduced even more features, which we will take a look at now. New features 1. Show ..read more

We’re thrilled to announce the release of openrouteservice (ors) version 8.0, designated “Wilfried”, as a tribute to Prof. Dr. Wilfried Juling, whose steady support and advice fundamentally shaped the growth and success of HeiGIT since its beginning. With countless hours and dedication poured into development and innovation, we’re excited to present a rich set of new features, enhancements, and fixes: Changes Configuration overhaul: Openrouteservice can now be configured by a much cleaner YAML configuration and/or entirely by environment variables. We provide a configuration migration tool to ..read more