The EO4CAM web portal supports authorities and local authorities in Bavaria with issues relating to climate-adapted urban development, forestry and agriculture.
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Earth Observation Research Cluster (EORC) at the University of Würzburg launched the EO4CAM (Earth Observation Laboratory for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation) data portal on 9 March 2026.
The data portal is aimed at municipalities and authorities in Bavaria. It provides them with a wealth of information and precise maps, particularly in the areas of urban development, agriculture and forestry. With its help, it should be possible in future to better plan and evaluate measures to adapt to the consequences of climate change. Other fields of application include geohazards, biodiversity and health.
Better recording of green spaces in the city
Example: In order to make cities liveable, sustainable and climate-resilient, sufficient unsealed areas must be preserved or planned, among other things. There are many good reasons for this: Water and green spaces cool the city, improve the microclimate, promote biodiversity and help to prevent flooding.
"The available property registers do not yet provide sufficient information about the green spaces in a city," says Dr Tanja Kraus from DLR. The new portal provides far more detailed data here. Tanja Kraus is leading the EO4CAM project together with Tobias Ullmann, Professor of Geographical Remote Sensing at the University of Würzburg.
Funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs
The EO4CAM data portal has been around two years in the making; the team from DLR and the University of Würzburg consists of around 40 people. From the very beginning, it has worked closely with future users - city administrations, state offices and ministries - during development. And this will continue to be the case, as the portal will be further developed and expanded until 2028.
The project is financially supported by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy.
State Secretary Tobias Gotthardt came to Würzburg for the launch of the portal: "We are bringing earth observation data from research to where it is needed - namely to the authorities, to the municipalities, to the places where decisions are made. Particularly in view of the increasing number of extreme weather events and the consequences of climate change, this data is worth its weight in gold when it comes to recognising developments at an early stage and making informed decisions."
Application example 1: Agriculture with foresight
Agriculture in Bavaria is facing major challenges due to climate change: increasing heat, drought and heavy rainfall are affecting yields. EO4CAM provides comprehensive data sets on the management of arable land and grassland as well as on landscape structure.
In the data portal, diagrams with parameters for grassland, arable land and hedges provide a quick overview. For field crops, for example, the annual area yields and area shares can be called up at district level.
The digital maps also provide insights at plot level, with detailed information on crops, mowing and hedges in Bavaria. The hedgerow data set , for example, is being incorporated into an analysis by EO4CAM, the Bavarian Farmers' Association in Bad Neustadt and Agrokraft GmbH, which focuses on the economic evaluation of hedgerows in agriculture.
Application example 2: Sustainable forest management
The effects of climate change on forests in Bavaria and Germany are worrying. The pest infestation favoured by this has been causing high losses for years. EO4CAM therefore also provides geodata to support state-wide monitoring of forest development and climate-adapted forest management.
The data sets include essential forest parameters such as canopy loss and canopy height, degree of cover, above-ground biomass, slope inclination and slope orientation. Spatial resolutions of five to ten metres and long-term time series on a monthly to annual basis are available. This enables forestry and authorities to sustainably plan protection measures, timber harvesting, reforestation, fine development and forest reorganisation.
The Bavarian State Forests, for example, are already using the data from EO4CAM to localise damaged areas and for other management measures.
