Satellite remote sensing has become an essential tool for addressing global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. The Hessian State Agency for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology (HLNUG) has been leveraging this technology across a wide range of environmental domains and specialist areas. The first part showcases practical applications of remote sensing data: These include water quality monitoring using the optical Sentinel satellites, the detection of ground movement with SAR data from Sentinel-1, multi-temporal time series analysis for monitoring the condition of and changes in grasslands, and a long-term evaluation of thermal data as part of the Hessian “Hitzeviewer“ (Heat Viewer) project. These examples illustrate the broad potential of remote sensing for modern environmental monitoring. The second part addresses the key challenges in integrating remote sensing data into public administration. These include technical and methodological aspects such as sensor selection, data processing workflows, and the use of artificial intelligence and cloud-based platforms; as well as legal and administrative considerations, including ensuring reproducibility in the face of sensor evolution and the evidentiary value of satellite-derived results. Based on the experiences, we conclude with strategic recommendations for the establishment of satellite remote sensing in official environmental monitoring.

Large remote sensing data sets are available through publicly funded earth observation programs. Given the increasing demands on the timeliness and quality of the digital landscape model of the Authorative Topographic-Cartographic Information System (ATKIS® Basis-DLM), it is necessary to develop new processes that enable an automated analysis of remote sensing data. By setting up a powerful AI computing infrastructure, the Hessian Administration for Land Management and Geoinformation (HVBG) has layn the foundations for automatically detecting changes in the landscape based on remote sensing data and AI. Within this talk, processes are presented that aim at increasing the quality and timeliness of the ATKIS® Basis-DLM of Hesse.

Extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, have increased significantly in the recent past, both worldwide and in Germany. This increases the challenges e.g. for agriculture and forestry and for flood protection planning. Remote sensing data can make a major contribution in this context when it comes to specialist evaluations, damage documentation, preventive measures and/or monitoring. The Bavarian Satellite Network aims to collect and provide such remote sensing data in the form of highly up-to-date and precisely georeferenced satellite images. The mission concept envisages the use of miniature satellites, so-called CubeSats, which are equipped with multispectral cameras and operate in sun-synchronous orbits at an altitude of approx. 460 km. The launch of a demonstrator mission is planned for mid-2026 and will involve five active CubeSats in space to collect data from a section of Bavaria. In addition to the satellite images, the results of this demonstrator mission include the initial mission and data analysis as well as the creation and evaluation of new acquisition and evaluation methods. The Center for Telematics together with the start-up S4 from Würzburg, the Technical University of Munich and the Land of Bavaria Administration for Surveying are responsible for the realisation of the demonstrator mission.

Die Megatrends in der Geoinformationstechnologie wie Cloud, open source und mobile devices führen dazu, dass die Anbieter dieser Technologien ihre Geschäftsmodelle und Produkte fortentwickeln, bis hin zu strategischen Partnerschaften und Firmenübernahmen. Der Betrieb von GIS-Plattformen in der Cloud ermöglicht neue Formen der Partnerschaft mit Partnern und Kunden mit vielen Vorteilen für alle. Die Produktion und Bereitstellung der Geobasisdaten in der Cloud bietet neue Wertschöpfungsketten und unterstützt die Bestrebungen der öffentlichen Verwaltungen zur Haushaltskonsolidierung. Digitale Souveränität wird dabei zu einem zunehmend zentralen Gestaltungsfaktor – sowohl politisch als auch operativ. Daraus ergeben sich spezifische Anforderungen und Treiber, die über allgemeine IT-Souveränität hinausgehen, um die Kontrolle über Geodaten und Anwendungen zu behalten, die Abhängigkeit von proprietären GIS-Plattformen zu reduzieren, die langfristige Verfügbarkeit von IT-Fachverfahren zu sichern sowie souveräne Cloud- und Hostingstrategien zu entwickeln. Unter dem Dach des Lenkungsausschuss Geobasis entwickeln die Landesvermessungs- und Geoinformationsverwaltungen der Bundesländer und des Bundes gegenwärtig Strategien zur Sicherstellung der digitalen Souveränität für die Geodaten in ihrem Verantwortungsbereich.