Aim
Aim of this course is to provide you with an overview on geographic processes of urbanization, the related demographic and structural changes of cities, and data analyses methods using remote sensing data for applications in urban geography.
Content
Humankind is within its largest migration ever: from rural areas into cities. The drivers of this global process of urbanization from demographic to economic and the related structural changes cities are facing will be discussed in this course. Remote sensing is one crucial data source in this dynamic transformation and its products are highly relevant for urban planning, as well as environmental management. Within this course different approaches and techniques are covered focusing on deriving relevant information about urbanized areas on different levels of detail. Uni-temporal-, multi-temporal-, and time series based image classification, segmentation, the analyses of point patterns, GIS analyses to assess spatial context and dependencies, as well as analyses in the 3D domain will be addressed in this course. This will be done providing and discussing example applications from different regions globally (e.g. urban sprawl analysis of megacities, the development of new dimensions of urban landscapes such as mega-regions, the rearrangement of business districts within the urban landscape, etc.). You will learn what capabilities Earth observation data, methods and products have for urban research and applications and how to design remote sensing based urban analysis, how to avoid caveats, troubleshoot errors and interpret the results.
General Course News and Updates
EAGLE MSc Defense: Active Learning and Parameter-Efficient Feature Adaptation for Cross-City Seismic Building Type Transfer Using DINOv2 and Street-Level Imagery
On November 12, 2026, Christina Krause will present her Master Thesis on " Active Learning and Parameter-Efficient Feature Adaptation for Cross-City Seismic Building Type Transfer Using DINOv2 and Street-Level Imagery" at 14:00 at the EORC Meeting Room (1st floor) in...
EAGLE MSc Defense: Robust and Uncertainty-Aware Informal Settlement Mapping — Cross-City Generalisation Across Diverse Urban Morphologies Using High-Resolution Satellite Imagery in the Global South
On November 12, 2026, Marlene Bauer will present her Master Thesis on " Robust and Uncertainty-Aware Informal Settlement Mapping — Cross-City Generalisation Across Diverse Urban Morphologies Using High-Resolution Satellite Imagery in the Global South " at 13:00 at the...
EAGLE Internship Presentation: Internship with Blackfooted Cat Working Group
On November 17, 2026, Jolien Grafe will present her internship results on " Internship with Blackfooted Cat Working Group" at 12:30 at the seminar room 3 in John-Skilton-Str. 4a. From the abstract: The internship with the Cologne Zoo included a fieldwork period with...
EAGLE MSc Defense: Robust and Uncertainty-Aware Informal Settlement Mapping — Cross-City Generalisation Across Diverse Urban Morphologies Using High-Resolution Satellite Imagery in the Global South
On November 12, 2026, Marlene Bauer will present her Master Thesis on " Robust and Uncertainty-Aware Informal Settlement Mapping — Cross-City Generalisation Across Diverse Urban Morphologies Using High-Resolution Satellite Imagery in the Global...
![[spotlight] Lecturer Spotlight: Thilo Erbertseder](https://eagle-science.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Thilo_Lecturer_Portrait_EAGLE_EORC_2026-400x250.jpg)
[spotlight] Lecturer Spotlight: Thilo Erbertseder
Thilo is the person at EORC who can tell you exactly how much air pollution was hanging over a given megacity in any given year since the 1990s, and what that actually meant for the people living there. He teaches atmospheric composition and urban remote sensing at...
A First Get-Together with the New EAGLE Generation 🦅
A new EAGLE generation means new faces, new ideas, and the start of another journey in Earth Observation. And what better way to kick things off than with a relaxed evening at the pub? Our first social event brought together the new students, older EAGLE generations,...
Welcome, new EAGLEs!
The newest group of EAGLE students arrived in Würzburg! They come from different countries, with different backgrounds and different skills, and that’s exactly what makes this program special. Remote sensing is a big field, and it gets better when people look at it...
EAGLE student Jolien Grafe spent her internship in Kruger National Park
Jolien spent her internship in Kruger National Park in South Africa, working together with SANParks. She was part of an ongoing DFG project here at EORC that looks at how fire and drought shape savanna ecosystems. The project is led by Mirjana Bevanda and Tobias...
Night shifts with the black-footed cat: Jolien Grafe’s internship in Benfontein
Most remote sensing work happens in the daylight, at a desk or in a field with a drone. Jolien Grafe, one of our EAGLE M.Sc. students, spent a good part of her internship doing the opposite: sitting on a hill at dusk, listening for a beeping signal from a very small,...
![[Spotlight] Lecturer Spotlight: Julian Faeth](https://eagle-science.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Julian_Faeth_EORC_EAGLE_2026-400x250.jpg)
[Spotlight] Lecturer Spotlight: Julian Faeth
Dr. Julian Fäth is a postdoctoral researcher at our EORC. His teaching combines remote sensing, forest ecology and geospatial data science with a strong focus on operational applications and climate adaptation. Since 2018, Julian has been actively involved in...