Problem summaries
Optimal placement of trees
Planting millions of trees could help combat climate change and the flooding which come with it. Some estimates suggest that the UK needs to “plant 1.5 billion trees if it is to meet its pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2050”.
This challenge from Natural England will look at how to define a robust methodology for spatial placement of a large number of trees, and a strategy for implementing the planting in different environments. Variables such as ground type, absorptive capacity, aesthetics, climate conditions, land use, land ownership, environmental sensitivity, current C storage, etc. could be considered to develop an “optimal” layout, while planting rates, weather patterns and other temporal factors might be considered to develop a planting strategy.
Read the full challenge statement.
Topography and its effect on our highways
Highways England measure average speed across approximately 17,000 sections of road throughout the day to understand how the strategic road network is performing. These sections of road have been mapped against a linear network model built of line features but do not account for the topography of the terrain.
Highways England would like:
- to understand if any relationships exist between the average speed on network sections and identifiable topographic features and if possible if these can be modelled?
- to predict how weather interacts with the network and particularly where aquaplaning or flooding could occur.
Read the full challenge statement.
Estimating the height of buildings from satellite imagery
The height of a building can be estimated from the generation of a digital surface model (DSM) using photogrammetry from two or more satellite images over the same region.
Geospatial Insight would like to explore the determination of the height of a property from multiple (ideally 2) high resolution (30-60cm) panchromatic image chips of individual buildings. Available tools such as ASP allow for such a DSM to be created via its internal photogrammetry algorithms.
Is it possible to:
- determine a buildings height from the provided ASP derived DSMs across multiple scenes?
- determine a building's height from the original panchromatic, map projected fortuitous stereo imagery?
Read the full challenge statement.
Event organisers
The Geospatial Study Group with Industry is organised by the Knowledge Transfer Network and hosted by the Institute for Mathematical Innovation.
