EO4HumEn

EO4HumEn+ is a research project of Z_GIS, DLR, the Austrian Red Cross, Spatial Services GmbH, the Department of Geography, University of Tuebingen of the University of Tübingen and Groundwater Relief as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (International Committee of the Red Cross), MSF Section Austria and SOS Children's Villages as associated partners.

The aim is to develop and demonstrate innovative applications for satellite image interpretation and GIS to meet the diverse information needs of the humanitarian community. In particular, we develop methods to monitor the population dynamics in urban settlements during crisis situations, improve the analysis capabilities of the large amounts of freely available Earth Observation data by implementing partly automated routines, and explore the satellite-based suport of groundwater management practices.

The project is funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG.

Up-to-date and custom-tailored information products are provided on amount and spatial distribution of dwellings, dwelling density and internal structure of refugee/IDP camps and temporary settlements.
Monitoring is achieved by automated analysis of Earth observation (EO) data using object-based dwelling extraction, density calculation and camp growth analysis.

One key concern of humanitarian organizations supporting refugee and IDP camps is to provide drinking water in the required quantity and quality. Different data sources (e.g. Geological maps, hydrogeological maps, soil data, satellite data, SAR data, DEM) are integrated to provide hydrogeological reconnaissance maps.

This white paper provides an overview to the possibilities and constraints of remote sensing for groundwater exploration, and gives an overview to current data sources and techniques (link).