KLIPS will use an information platform to locate heat islands and predict and simulate them using AI algorithms. The research project is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure with a total of around 2.3 million euros as part of the Modernisation Fund (“mFUND”) funding guideline.
Cities face many challenges. On the one hand, they are becoming increasingly dense due to the expansion of transport infrastructure and the continued influx of people for many years. On the other hand, dense development seals off climatically important open spaces and green spaces, making the city even more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Large concrete, glass and asphalt surfaces store far more heat than parks and other green spaces. The result is heat islands, the temperature difference of which can be up to 10 Kelvin compared to their surroundings. Heat islands can lead to health problems for particularly vulnerable parts of the population and can also cause high levels of damage and costs to infrastructure due to burst asphalt surfaces and warped tracks.
The recently launched KLIPS research project – AI-based information platform for the localisation and simulation of heat islands for innovative urban and transport planning – which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), shows that heat islands can be combated through forward-looking measures. The aim of KLIPS is to develop a digital information platform for the localisation, forecasting and simulation of heat islands. The platform should make it possible to not only localise heat islands in real time, but also to predict them through the combined use of a local sensor network (“swarm sensor technology”) and artificial intelligence. The benefits are obvious: better informed and forward-looking planning could prevent or at least minimise heat islands. At the same time, it would be possible to estimate the measures to contain heat islands in advance and to select the alternative with the greatest effect and/or the least restrictions for living, working and transport.
For KLIPS, a sensor network is being set up in the pilot cities of Leipzig and Langenfeld in the Rhineland, which continuously supplies current temperature data. Both cities, like many other (large) cities, are affected by heat islands. The sensor data obtained is merged with other data (e.g. remote sensing data, cadastre data as well as weather and climate data) and evaluated in real time. This allows any heat islands in the urban area to be localised. At the same time, AI algorithms for forecasting and simulating heat islands are trained using the collected data.
The project has a duration of three years. The consortium leader is Software AG. The research partners are ERGO Umweltinstitut GmbH, the German Aerospace Center, the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, the Institute for Information Systems at Hof University of Applied Sciences, the Leibniz Institute for Ecological Spatial Development, the City of Leipzig, Pikobytes GmbH, terrestris GmbH & Co. KG, meggsimum (Office for Geoinformatics Christian Mayer) and the City of Langenfeld as an associated partner. KLIPS is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) as part of the mFUND, which deals with digital data-based applications relating to Mobility 4.0.
terrestris, in cooperation with its partner meggsimum, will prototypically construct a central service-based geodata infrastructure and integrate it into the KLIPS platform. Central result data of the project can be merged by the KLIPS services. Specific demonstrators exemplify the potential for the usability of the services and are a component of the digital information platform to be created.
The city of Leipzig is available as a test field and provides important basic data as well as its experience in the field of urban climate for the project. It is responsible for the procurement of up to 300 temperature sensors and, together with other partners, their installation at pre-selected points in the urban area. “The city of Leipzig faces particular urban climate challenges due to the climate crisis. KLIPS is intended to help identify particularly affected districts in real time and to be able to react to deficits more quickly than before. The findings will help to develop our city in a sustainable way,” says the city.
The city of Langenfeld has been heavily involved in climate protection for over 10 years and in recent years also increasingly in adapting to the consequences of climate change. A current project of the city of Langenfeld in this regard is the creation of a small-scale urban climate analysis with an examination grid of only 10 x 10 m, which the municipality in the Rhineland will contribute to the project. “The KLIPS project means a sensible alliance between climate impact adaptation and digitisation for Langenfeld,” explains Mayor Frank Schneider, adding: “I am looking forward to an exciting project collaboration.”
Funded by mFund / Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure
About the mFUND
As part of the mFUND research initiative, the BMVI has been funding research and development projects relating to digital data-based applications for Mobility 4.0 since 2016. In addition to financial support, the mFUND supports networking between stakeholders from politics, business and research as well as access to the mCLOUD data portal with various event formats. Further information can be found at www.mfund.de.
Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure
KLIPS is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) as part of the mFUND, which deals with digital data-based applications relating to Mobility 4.0.
