

About us
The Research Group of "Remote Sensing and Spatial Modelling" is part of the Institute of Landscape Ecology (ILOEK) [en] of the University of Münster (WWU) [en]. We study and teach the acquisition and analysis of spatio-temporal environmental dynamics in a board spectrum of landscape-ecological topics. We combine multi-scale remote sensing data with methods of spatial modelling in order to obtain continuous spatio-temporal information from limited ecological field samples.
The complexity of environmental systems requires the use of modelling strategies that take complex relationships into account. For this reason, we focus on the application of machine learning methods. In addition to their application for research questions in the context of landscape ecology, we also develop new modelling strategies for spatial and spatio-temporal data. Thus, the research group is at the interface between Geoinformatics and Landscape Ecology [en] und and has the aim to contribute to an increase in knowledge in ecosystem research via satellite data processing, modelling and simulation.
New publication in Nature Communications
The recent wave of published global maps of ecological variables has caused as much excitement as it has received criticism. In our new publication "Machine learning-based global maps of ecological variables and the challenge of assessing them", we look into the data and methods mostly used for creating these maps, and discuss whether the quality of predicted values can be assessed, globally and locally.
Meyer H, Pebesma E. 2022. ‘Machine learning-based global maps of ecological variables and the challenge of assessing them.’ Nature Communications 13.
Link to the paper
New publication in Methods in Ecology & Evolution
In a new publication "Nearest neighbour distance matching Leave-One-Out Cross-Validation for map validation" led by our former master student Carles Mila, we propose a new cross-validation method that considers the geographical prediction space of spatial prediction models to obtain better accuracy estimates.
Mila C, Mateu J, Pebesma E, Meyer H. 2022. ‘Nearest neighbour distance matching leave-one-out cross-validation for map validation.’ Methods in Ecology and Evolution n/a.
Link to the paper [en]

Study project Amtsvenn - The UAS-field season 2022 has been successfully started
Fieldwork in the snowy Fichtelgebirge
Measurements in the Carbon4D project are in full swing and will continue until the end of 2022. Every week, the team from the University of Bayreuth takes 3 cores in the study area to quantify the mineralization of soil organic carbon. Each month, the team from the University of Münster relocates all profile probes to measure soil temperature and moisture. In the picture gallery you can see some impressions of the field work in the snowy Fichtelgebirge. More information can be found on the project page [en].
Photos

Drilling a hole for the installation of a profile probe.© Maiken Baumberger Drilling a hole for a profile probe.© Linda Adorf Taking a drill core to quantify soil organic carbon mineralization.© Maiken Baumberger Equipment for the installation of a profile probe.© Maiken Baumberger Knocking down a soil sampling corer to determine the soil texture.© Maiken Baumberger Measurement of soil respiration with a soil respiration chamber.© Maiken Baumberger Profile probe for measuring soil temperature and soil moisture.© Maiken Baumberger Profile probe for measuring soil temperature and soil moisture.© Maiken Baumberger

We are looking for a new team member

New Publication in the project Antarctic Science Platform

First meeting of the Earth Observation Network in the Bavarian Forest


New online course about the area of applicability

Start of the field campaign of the Carbon-4D project
Winner of the poster price
Photos

Poster von Antonia Bilger und Lena Wild© Antonia Bilger und Lena Wild Poster von Anna Koch & Lara Hummel© Anna Koch & Lara Hummel Poster von Janna Krickau & Jan Steen© Janna Krickau & Jan Steen Poster von Emma Hebbeler & Maj Zimmermann© Emma Hebbeler & Maj Zimmermann Poster von Arwen Henrich & Amke Hinrichs© Arwen Henrich & Amke Hinrichs

Welcome to the working group, Maiken!
Symposium on Statistical Approaches for analyzing Remote Sensing Imagery
A digital symposium on Statistical Approaches for analyzing Remote Sensing Imagery will be held on July 23, 2021.
Organisation: Edzer Pebesma (WWU), Roland Fried (TU Dortmund), Hanna Meyer (WWU)
Speakers: Anton Thielmann, Marius Appel, Ribana Roscher, Emanuel Büechi, Jana Gierse, Maite Lezama-Valdes, Marvin Ludwig
More information and registration [en].

Field campaign on bird sanctuary islands “Große Kirr” and “Barther Oie”

New publication in Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Our team is growing
More News...
Older news can be found in the archive [en] of the Remote Sensing and Spatial Modelling Research Group.