HeiGIT: Making Geodata Useful for Mobility Support and Humanitarian Aid

Mapping and routing service that shows where medical facilities can be accessed. HeiGIT - Klaus Tschira Foundation bolsters funding for Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology Freely accessible route planners that can be quickly used after catastrophes for work by aid organisations or can point people who have difficulty walking to the route with the fewest obstructions: the Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology (HeiGIT) is working on intelligent routing and navigation services that access diverse geodata using geoinformation technologies and methods from geoinformatics. HeiGIT under the direction of Heidelberg University researcher Alexander Zipf is backed by the Klaus Tschira Foundation, which has recently extended and substantially increased its funding. "We believe in the important, first-rate work HeiGIT performs and want to give the institute the necessary backing to pursue high-quality research and develop more useful applications for the good of society," states Carsten Könneker, Managing Director of the Klaus Tschira Foundation. The over 20 HeiGIT employees are currently working in three core areas. Besides developing route planners to support customised mobility, they also harvest geodata for humanitarian aid. After an earthquake or flood, for example, first responders are able to quickly gain a geographical overview of the affected areas and determine possible deployment routes.