Markus Münzinger receives the SaxFDM FAIRest Data Award

In the new competition in the field of research data management, Markus Münzinger took first place. In the opinion of the SaxFDM FAIRest Data Award jury, the data set he submitted best fulfils the FAIR principles. FAIR stands for data that is findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.

Markus Münzinger created the Canopy Height Model Dresden 2017 data set as part of a research project. The question was how the volume of urban greenery, especially urban trees, can be automatically mapped through the combined processing of different data. The data set developed is a comprehensive height model of all tree crowns in the city of Dresden. The data is freely accessible via the Zenodo science platform (OpenAccess). The code for generating the models is also available to all interested on Github.

"The urban tree population, both in private and public spaces, is indispensable from an urban ecology and social perspective. They provide a wide range of ecosystem services. Canopy height models, or CHM for short, represent the height of tree crowns above the ground and are a valuable tool for researching and managing urban vegetation," explains Markus Münzinger. "The Canopy Height Model Dresden 2017 data set can be used, among other things, to determine the green volume of Dresden's tree population. This characteristic value is an important parameter for making statements about the climate-regulating services of urban greenery. For instance, the influence of urban greenery on air humidity or temperature," says Münzinger.

The data set is also suitable for monitoring urban tree population, as its high resolution with a grid size of half a metre means that even small-scale changes in urban greenery can be tracked. It can also be transferred to other German and even selected European cities and regions. Markus Münzinger has already calculated comparable data sets for some German cities. These will soon be published in the new IOER Research Data Centre (IOER RDC). Like the award-winning data set for Dresden, they will be accessible to everyone in OpenAccess.

On 19 October, Markus Münzinger received the SaxFDM FAIRest Data Award at the SaxFDM Conference in Chemnitz and presented the award-winning data set in more detail to the conference participants. The first place of the award is honoured with a prize money of 500 euros.