Projects
Towards a methodology for landscape characterisation in Flanders
The landscape is the expression of a long-lasting interaction between people and their environment. Since the Second World War, that landscape has changed faster than people can adapt. Landscape trans…
Smart crowd security management through adaptive routing
Public safety is one of the most pressing concerns in the cities of today. Whenever multiple citizens gather in public space, crowd dynamics can cause hazardous situations. To avoid evacuations and di…
MiLAND - The impact of migration on landscape identity in an urban and a rural context
The interactions between people and their surroundings play an important role in the construction of their identities. We know the landscape we live in, we interact with it daily and in doing so, we m…
Modelled rainfall distribution in tropical mountains – a case in Ethiopia, incorporating response of vegetation and hydrology
Topoclimate, and more precisely orographic rains on windward slopes and leeward rain shadow, controls the spatiotemporal variability of rainfall, vegetation, and hydrology in tropical mountains. Such …
Humanitarian situation in the Tigray War
In view of its longstanding research in the Tigray region , the Physical Geography research group shares the plight of the local communities, often partners in our research since decades. In this proj…
What does landscape mean to people? Investigating the holistic human-environmental relationship
Landscapes result from continuous interactions between humans and their physical environments. This dynamic reciprocal interaction is strongly determined by the understanding people have of landscapes…
A global analysis of polycentric urban regions
This project aims to contribute to the scientific literature on ‘polycentric urban regions’ . In its most basic guise, the PUR notion applies to regions characterised by the presence of a set of nearb…
Integrating public transport and spatial development: Identifying opportunities drawing on node-place modeling
This doctoral research project originated from a research proposal for a study commissioned by the Flemish Government. The study, ultimately granted to and conducted by VITO , involved a full-scale m…
EURECA: Finding traces of European culture in archive collections and investigating cultural differences through social media data.
This collaborative project with TU Wien follows the trends towards location-based services and personalized/contextualized content and investigates them in the context of cultural heritage collection…
Defining spatiotemporal characteristics of climate change trends in Central Asia and its impact on water resources in typical river basins
This project focusses on the possible effects of climate change on the water resources in multiple rivers in Central Asia. Firstly, the general circulation models are downscaled to estimate the spatio…
Integrated methodology for soil moisture analysis using remote sensing data in Mongolian agricultural area
Soil moisture is an important factor for agriculture in Mongolia, certainly in semi-arid and arid circumstances. Understanding soil moisture is essential for current situation in Mongolian agricultura…
Schools as hotspots for safe water and improved sanitation (Dogu’a Tembien, North Ethiopia)
In Northern Ethiopia, safe water and improved sanitation facilities generally lacking, especially in rural areas. In order to improve both the water and sanitation infrastructure, as well as to improv…
Estimation of the forest biomass in the Bulgan province using remote sensing data
In this project we have developed a method for estimating biomass using allometric equations and clarified forest trunk shape coefficients. The relations were conform the forest biomass and the satell…
Characterizing soil moisture variability for prediction of drought and precipitation in Xinjiang, China
Soil moisture is an important parameter in the fields of hydrology, meteorology and agricultural science. Its spatial and temporal distributions have strong effects on water, energy and biogeochemical…
Study on Formation Mechanism of Mountain Torrent in Kunlun Mountain Area under Mixed Rainfall and Ice
This project includes four main parts: field investigation, data collection, assessment of desertification process and its driving mechanism research. Datasets of vegetation, climate, soil and land-us…
The Ecological and Climatic Effects of Modern Oasis Evolution on the North Slope of Tianshan Mountains
Since the 1950s, the area of the oasis has increased around four times on the north slope of Tianshan Mountains, because of the large-scale water-soil development. However, the influences on the fragi…
Explorıng the Cognitive Processes of Map Users Employing Eye Tracking And EEG
This research aims to understand how different map users read, interpret and use the visual information presented in maps by using sketch maps, eye-tracking and EEG. Therefore, we designed user experi…
Indoor wayfinding systems
Navigating in complex buildings can be very challenging. As the indoor environment is cognitively different than the outdoor environment, people have different needs and preferences when navigating in…
Study of drought characteristics in the arid zones of Central Asia over the last 50 years
This project aims to study the drought characteristics in the arid zones of Central Asia. In the first step, drought is identified and characterized based on different drought indices ). The basic dro…
Monitoring desertification and assessment of its driving forces in Central Asia
This project includes four main parts: field investigation, data collection, assessment of desertification process and its driving mechanism research. Datasets of vegetation, climate, soil and land-us…
I-Use: I Use Statistics in Education
Data overwhelms our modern lives. Statistical approaches offer tools to help organize and interpret data. The site provides easily accessible statistics both readymade and links to databases. The aim …
GI Learner: Developing a learning line on geospatial thinking in secondary education
GI Learner is aiming at integrating geospatial literacy, geospatial thinking and GIScience into schools. Although spatial thinking is seen as one of the most important sectors in the economy it is sel…
SEED is the Smart Entrepreneurial Education and training in Digital farming Project
The SEED project aims to: • increase the employability of young people, by supporting the development of a highly skilled, qualified and mobile workforce, also thanks to transnational placement; • s…
UGESCO - Upscaling the Geo-temporal Enrichment, exploration and exploitation of Scientific Collections
The majority of digital collections at the FSIs still have data issues affecting the exploration, interpretation and exploitation of their content. The coherence between the collection items and thei…
Creation and validation of: geodetic and tidal datums, acquisition tools at sea and in the intertidal zone
This project aims to develop a real time hydrodynamic model of the Belgian Continental Shelf, southern North Sea, and to determine an accurate and easily accessible 3D description of the Lowest Astro…
Building Land Resilience in NW Ethiopia
The Land Resilience project is part of the larger VLIR IUC institutional cooperation with Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia, and aims at improving the resilience of the land in the framework of buildin…
FASCINation
The objective of the FASCINation project is to strengthen collaboration and exchange expertise between the Department of Geography , the UFR de Géographie et Aménagement and the Earth and Life Instit…
Valorization of ecosystem services from exclosures in the Tembien Highlands (Ethiopia)
Forest cover is key to tackle land degradation in relation to climate change. North Ethiopian exclosures deliver ecosystem services such as increased groundwater and carbon, and can deliver non-timber…
IALE 2017 European Congress
From 12 to 15 September 2017 the Landscape research unit of the department of Geography of Ghent University and IALE-Europe have organised the IALE 2017 European congress 'From pattern and process to …
Systemic analysis of dam-driven transitions of downstream alluvial plains in Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, many big dams are constructed to increasingly provide electricity and irrigation agriculture for its population . These dams have very important implications for the downstream alluvial p…
Non-invasive landscape Archaeology of the Great War
The Great War had an enormous impact on the landscape and can be seen as a cultural calamity. This event created a complete new landscape full of mud, craters and military structures. One hundred yea…
Flood Impact and Risk Assessment for Urban City Ghent
Previous studies have reported that Ghent and regions nearby are insufficiently protected against storm surge events from the North Sea, whether combined with high upper drainage by abundant rainfall…
HBIM model of the church of Saint Barbara in Bois du Luc
The last few years the Building Information Modeling process improved through the development of innovative technology and approaches of working practices, especially in the field of documentation of …
Simulation study on the response of ecosystem carbon cycle to global change in Central Asia
This project includes three main contents: field investigation, data collection and model simulation. Physiological ecological parameters and validation data are investigated by field investigation. D…
Landscape perception, landscape experience, landscape and health
The PhD of Lien Dupont focused on the use of eye tracking in landscape perception research and aimed at analyzing how people observe landscapes. Therefore, experiments were performed with a remote RE…
SoleWay: Let's create a wiki for indoor navigation
Today, many navigation problems have been solved, but the question remains on how to perfectly find your way indoors. There are still several major issues with indoor navigation. How do we get an accu…
Perception and preference of designed landscapes using eye-tracking
The PhD project of Xinyi Zhou is focusing on perception and preference research of designed landscapes using eye tracking technology. Principles of landscape architecture and methodologies of environm…
Historical and spatial dynamics & processes of mountain landscapes and its actors.
The majority of European landscapes are represented by a continuous and endless interaction between its natural and anthropogenic components. Through time, a shift from more ‘traditional’ towards post…
Graben: Integrated geographical research for sustainable land management in the closed basins along the Rift Valley in northern Ethiopia
The project concerns a major development corridor of Ethiopia, the closed basins at the interface between the Highlands and the Rift Valley. Such basins are sensitive to environmental changes on the s…
Landscape character assessment of cultural landscapes in Lushan National Park, China
Description of the project : National parks of China with unique natural and cultural landscape value are facing the rapid urbanization process and unsustainable tourism, which result in landscape fr…
Assessment of Ecosystem Services and Optimization of Green Infrastructure Network in Urban-rural Gradients in China and Belgium
Green Infrastructure provides a range of ecosystem services such as carbon storage, runoff regulation, flood reduction, air purification, cooling, humidification, noise reduction and cultural service…
DYNAcity: The smartest city for mobility
The DYNAcity project researches from the standpoint of the end-user which information and mobility sources a city needs to have a successful dynamic mobility management. The city of Ghent is the offic…
Little Flanders Beyond Wales
Following the Norman-Conquest, Flemings settled in the British Isles. The only relatively well-documented community was in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, where King Henry I between 1107 and 1111 would ha…
CHeriScape Cultural Heritage in Landscape
CHeriScape is a landscape-focussed network that originated as part of the transnational pilot call of the European Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage. Landscape and cultural heritage ar…
CREST: Climate resilient coast
More than 634 million people, or approximately 8.7% of the world's population, live in low-elevation coastal areas below 10 m. These zones are vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise and an increa…
Evaluation of the usability of neogeography maps
So-called 'neogeography maps' on the Internet are often not created by cartographers and were never evaluated by the actual end users. Consequently, besides accuracy, their usability is also questiona…
Mobility Panel Flanders
A mobility panel analyses different measures on various scales which can lead to transitions in mobility patterns. Doing so enables us to investigate travel behaviour of individuals and households ove…
Policy- and decision-making processes in Belgrade
A study on the policy- and decision-making processes regarding the urban megaproject Belgrade Waterfront, particularly focusing on the interaction between different levels of scale. This project, whic…
Urban networks in Southeast Asia
This project tries to reveal spatial and temporal patterns of intercity connections in different dimensions of the urban network and incorporating innovative modeling, analytical, and visualizationtec…
International land deals, local people's livelihood, and environment nexus
Following the global raise in demand for food and bio-fuel production, companies are acquiring large scale agricultural land in developing countries. The government of Ethiopia is supplying millions o…
Capturing archaeological sites and finds in Honduras
Researchers of the Department of Geography have been invited by Dr. Cameron McNeil of Lehman College to join the PARAC project, investigating the reasons for the collapse of the Mayan civilization. T…
Travel behaviour, residential location choice and attitudes
This study analyses differences in travel behaviour between urban and non-urban residents. Travel-related attitudes, however, can affect this relation as persons can have a preference for a specific n…
Ghent-Lille geomorphological investigations: hydrogeomorphology in the Aa river basin
The GeLiGeo project is a research cooperation between the Physical Geography group of Ghent University and the UFR de Géographie et Aménagement of the University Lille I . The Aa valley has been selec…
STREAM: Spatiotemporal research infrastructure for early modern Flanders and Brabant
STREAM intends to develop a spatio-temporal research infrastructure for early modern Flanders and Brabant. The infrastructure consists of a GIS and database in which original and harmonized statistica…
NOMOB: a research map on noblemen's mobility in the Austrian Netherlands
The all-in-one research map examines both knowledge on the historical landscape based upon a retrogressive map analysis and 18th century geographical data on transport and mobility in maps and letters…
Rapid land use and cover changes and the hydrogeomorphic impact in rural western Shoa, as driven by the proximity of Addis Ababa city (Ethiopia)
Addis Ababa is one of the largest cities in Africa South of the Sahara, and is growing rapidly both in terms of population and economic activity. To support the urban demands, the rural hinterland of …
Development of software for flood simulation
In this research, the LATIS software is further extended. LATIS is a modelling software that was developed in collaboration with Flanders Hydraulics Research to measure flood damage and flood risk. Th…
Automated analysis of sports team movement tactics
With the use of QTC , the movements of the players are being converted to an internal data format. With QTC, interactions between players can be analysed in a qualitative way to reveal tactical patter…
Geometric modelling for a 3D archaeological GIS
The use of 3D models in the field of archaeology and cultural heritage is focussed on in this research. These 3D models are generated through highly accurate acquisition techniques such as photo model…
Spatial and spatio-temporal data analysis based on the CSTM
Based on the CSTM , this research try to develop a theory framework and some algorithms for multi scale spatio-temporal data analysis. Different from existing GIS analysis framework and algorithms, th…
Tracking of moving objects
These days a lot of people own a device which is capable to connect wireless with other devices through Bluetooth or WiFi. With Bluetooth and WiFi scanners the MAC-address, unique identifier, of these…
3D Modelling of Historic Topographic Equipment
The department of Geography owns a wide collection of historic topographic equipment . These artefacts are used in exhibitions to show the rich history of land surveying and geomatics. The 3D data re…
Modelling and inventorizing heritage in Xinjiang (China)
In the Chinese Xinjiang region, different field campaigns were set up to collect data using various land survey techniques of the Yar City ruins on the one hand and the numerous karez on the other h…
Talus slope geomorphology as impacted by permafrost thaw (Valais, Switzerland)
Talus slopes are one of the most common landform in high mountain environments and an important debris storage. Therefore, they're often subjected to geomorphological processes, such as different type…
Monitoring tides at open sea
The Flemish Agency of Maritime and Coastal Service is responsible for a safe and smooth shipping traffic from and to Flemish harbours. Other main objectives of this governmental organization are coas…
Lafreri: Italian cartography in the Renaissance
In September 1862, Willem d'Hanens-De Wolf, alderman of the City of Sint-Niklaas, presented an 'atlas de vieilles cartes' to the Society of Antiquaries of the Land van Waas . That rather bland descrip…
Risk analysis in small island developing states
This research investigates the vulnerability of Small Island Developing States . These developing countries are extremely vulnerable to natural hazards. An adequate risk assessment is necessary to com…
3D Archaeology in the Altai Region in Siberia (Russia)
Since 2005, the 3D Data research group supports the field surveys, of the Department of Archaeology, to the Altai Region in Siberia, Russia. This region is a very important archaeological heritage are…
Integrated data-acquisition for hydrographic applications
This project examines how the integration of all kinds of sensors and inertial navigation systems ) can be optimized. It also aims to develop a low cost system for the mobile mapping of hydrographic …
Planning space via spatio-temporal accessibility studies
Because traditional accessibility metrics do not fully consider personal and temporal restrictions, more dynamic accessibility measures are needed. Geographic Information Systems address this issue b…
Strongbow: Environmental changes in Southern Ethiopia
The expansion of agriculture at the expense of natural forest may not be a problem if the agricultural land use system is implemented in sustainable way, however such is not the case in the Bench Maji…
Eye tracking for studying the natural wayfinding behaviour in buildings
Eye tracking can shed more light on the features that are distinctive and salient in an environment and how the spatial structure of a building is analysed by an observer. In this way, more informati…
Indoor landmarks: the study and implementation of navigational aids
When formulating route instructions people refer to salient objects along the route . These objects are called landmarks and allow the observer to locate himself and to point out directions. They help…
Methodological advancements for space-time analysis of animal habitat use patterns
This project applies spatiotemporal analysis methods that are commonly used in geographical sciences on ecological data. More specifically, studies mainly focus on exploration of spatiotemporal patter…
Integrating data sources for route planners
In this research, the question is asked how the contemporary vast set of Geographic Information can be used to improve online route planners. As these have become part of our daily lives, more and mo…
Predictive modeling of spatiotemporal phenomena in GIS using Machine Learning
This research focuses on modelling spatio-temporal phenomena from sensor-network data. This research originated in the quest to model pedestrian behaviour, crowdedness and crowd flows at mass-events, …
SeArch
The SeArch – Archaeological heritage in the North Sea – Project aims to develop an efficient assessment methodology and approach towards a sustainable management policy and legal framework in Belgium.…
Developping a 4D archaeological GIS
This research project attempts to take a first step towards the development of a 4D archaeological GIS. Archaeological data consist of thematic and spatial elements, which are currently not managed an…
The use of GIS in health research
A recently described fundamental problem in studies examining the effects of area-based attributes on individual behavior is the Uncertain Geographic Context Problem . The UGCoP states that findings o…
The Vassivière Project: an Erasmus Intensive Program in Hydrography and Geomatics
The Erasmus Intensive Program in Hydrography and Geomatics enabled students from 3 European graduate schools to work on the cartography of the Vassivière Dam reservoir. The project concerned a hydrog…
3D modelling of historical globes
During this project the 3D modelling techniques were used to reconstruct two historical globes. A large number of images were used for the digital representation of two 16th century globes, made by Ge…
Integrated Geomatics Internship in Bois-du-Luc
Since 2013 the Department of Geography has established a partnership with the Walloon government to document the mining site of Bois-du-Luc in the municipality of La Louvière. Each year, an intensive…
Water and sediment budgets of Lake Tana for optimisation of land management and water allocation (Wase-Tana)
This project, in northwest Ethiopia, will increase the understanding of hydrology and sediment in order to develop tools and strategies that would contribute to proper planning and management of land…
Geomorphological mapping, land degradation and resilience in the western Balkans
In terms of landforms, the western Balkan shows a great variability, ranging from sand and rock coasts , karst plateaus, large poljes, high mountains holding a glacial imprint, canyons, and more. In …
A closer look at the Ferraris maps of the Austrian Netherlands
Between 1770-1778, the Belgian territory was homogeneously mapped on a scale of 1 : 11,520 under the guidance of count de Ferraris. This Cabinet map is considered to be the oldest topographical map of…
Spatiotemporal analysis for sport events
This research focuses on the spatio-temporal analysis and mining of data of moving objects. Specifically, various spatio-temporal data analysis and mining approaches are adopted in order to analyse, d…
Tunnel Ovalisation Monitoring
This research project answered the question how laser scanning, as a typical example of innovative 3D measurement techniques, can be used to contribute to tunnel ovalisation monitoring. A measurement…
Modelling Mexican Mayan temples in 3D
Four successful field campaigns have been undertaken by our department to map Mexican Mayan temples in 3D. At the sites of Calakmul and Edzna, the archaeological structures were photographed from dif…
Liber Floridus: the world in a book
Liber Floridus 1121. The World in a Book takes us into the world of a medieval encyclopaedist. Through the eyes of the author, Lambert of Saint-Omer, we are introduced to the intellectual world of his…
GeoMobiel
GeoMobiel offers teaching materials about geomatics for students of the 3th grade of secondary school, so they get in touch with the possibilities and opportunities of geography and geomatics. The pro…
Cartographic usability evaluations based on eye tracking studies
This research focuses on map users and more specifically how they can read and interpret the visual information on maps. In turn, this information can be used to improve their design: colours, layout…
Land degradation and resilience in natural and renatured areas in north-west Europe
The research group on Physical Geography at Ghent University carries out research on land degradation and particularly resilience in natural and renatured areas in north-west Europe. This includes a w…
iGUESS: Integrating GIS use in education
GIS learning in Europe is lagging behind compared to the use of GIS applications in everyday life, like car navigation systems, interactive maps on the Internet, etc. Progress could be made by initiat…
Environmental changes in the Northern Ethiopian Highlands since the late 19th century
The research group on Physical Geography at Ghent University carries out research on medium- and long-term environmental changes in the Northern Ethiopian Highlands, upper Tekezze basin. This involves…
SYGIAP: integrated management system for the protected areas
The total lack of available recent cartography and reliable geographic information for all World Heritage sites at DR Congo was an enormous problem for conservation planning and implementation. It was…
Scientific map creation
Scientifically justified maps are realised for third parties by the CartoGIS research group. One of the examples is the collaboration in the desing of ‘Atlas De Boeck’. During the realization of these…