GIS & RS Laboratory - Faculty of Environmental Sciences CZU Prague

Focus of the laboratory

The Laboratory of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) was formally established in April 2016 as part of the faculty, however, the application of geoinformation technologies in various environmental fields has been practised since 2007. The laboratory is managed by the Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning and by the Spatial Science in Ecology and Environment research team. The laboratory consists of field and mobile instrumentation, computer technology and software, which are used for teaching, research and practical applications. We deal with the possibilities of collecting, processing and evaluating various geodata, including analysing their quality and subsequent usability for a wide range of not only environmental applications.

The equipment of the laboratory is used mainly in practical teaching in subjects like GIS and Remote Sensing, but also in Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Unmanned Systems in the Environment, Collection and Processing of Spatial Data, etc. These subjects are completed annually by about 1800 students. It is newly beginning to be used in the teaching of the specialized study program Geographic information systems and Remote sensing in Environmental Sciences (started in the academic year 2018/19). Last but not least, the laboratory also plays a significant role in summer schools (e.g. SPLIT Remote Sensing Summer School, Summer School of Applied Ecology) and other activities such as Scientists' Night, Science Festival, Science Day, Life Sciences Film Festival, GISDay or Faculty and University Open Days.

The laboratory is used in projects of the department, faculty or university focused on spatial ecology and biogeography (GACR, Internal Grant Agency - student projects), physical-geographical characteristics of post-mining areas and ecology of restoration (GACR), detection and monitoring of bark beetle infestation (TACR), safety mapping of the vegetation (TACR), protection of waterfowl wintering grounds (TACR), mitigation of the impacts of landscape fragmentation (Norwegian funds), research on land ownership fragmentation (GACR, Earth Program II) or responsible water management in urban and landscape (OP, TACR). Other topics include geoinformatics support for risk mapping (Security Research of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic). Important activities are also networking projects focused on monitoring vegetation in a changing climate (Norway grants, Visegrad Funds).

The research application closely connected with the solution of bachelor's, diploma and dissertation theses fall mainly into the field of spatial sciences in the environment. Research projects together with modern equipment contribute to high-quality graduate theses, where the achievements of bachelor's and master's students in interuniversity competitions or their co-authorship of articles are no exception.

Equipment

The laboratory has a wide range of geoinformatics equipment, such as several unmanned aerial vehicles, geodetic equipment, computer servers and more, see below.

Unmanned aerial vehicles - we have wing-type drones from the Swiss manufacturer SenseFly SA - eBee classic, eBee Plus, eBee X. Very popular compact models capable of fully autonomous flight based on a predefined mission. In addition to standard high-resolution RGB cameras, we have also equipped the aircraft with multispectral sensors and thermal imaging. The second types are rotor devices manufactured by DJI, namely Matrice 600, Phantom Multispectral, Phantom 4 Pro and others, which are capable of detailed imaging of the territory in the visible spectrum, as well as taking images in other spectral channels. For this purpose, we had them equipped with a professional multispectral camera from the company Tetracam, miniature MAPIR sensors, a thermal camera from Workswell and an advanced SWIR sensor.

The laboratory is also equipped with professional Leica and Trimble geodetic instruments with the possibility of measuring in the RTK mode. The devices are used for practical teaching in the subject Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Cartography and Mapping and for solving graduate theses. Students learn both field measurements and differences between measurements with geodetic accuracy and simple, less accurate acquisition of position information. A variety of common Garmin GNSS receivers are also available, including wireless universal GNSS modules (GLOs).

For computationally intensive analyses, the lab is equipped with a hardware 24/7 professional HP Z840 workstation. In addition, the laboratory also uses virtual machines. The laboratory also includes a so-called mobile classroom, Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and Lenovo Tab3 tablets with all accessories, including external GNSS Garmin GLO modules. The mobile classroom is designed for field teaching, teaching in centres, summer schools, etc.

For postprocessing of acquired data, the laboratory is also equipped with professional commercial solutions such as LeicaGeoOffice, Pix4DMapper, Agisoft Metashape, eCongnition, Exelis ENVI or ESRI ArcGIS Enterprise. Of course, the use of open-source software such as QGIS, SNAP, R and more.