"Brownfield survey"

Government wants to rely on AI for soil protection

According to the government, brownfield sites and vacant properties should be put to better use. To this end, an AI is now coming into play.

(Bild: Elisa Aschbacher)

Around 11.5 hectares of land are used up every day in Austria. The Ministry of Climate Protection now wants to take countermeasures and survey brownfields using artificial intelligence (AI). By the end of the year, there should be a complete overview of unused sealed areas for the first time.

"Healthy soil protects us from extreme weather events such as floods or mudslides," said Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens). Austria has many brownfield sites, but these are largely unknown. The AI tool is therefore intended to record these and thus contribute to greater soil protection.

So far, there has been a lack of precise information at federal level on the extent, size and location of these areas. Although some regions have made great efforts to gain insights through community surveys, these results are not publicly available, the Ministry of Climate Protection announced in a press release on Sunday.

Healthy soil protects us from extreme weather events such as floods or mudslides.

Klimaschutzministerin Leonore Gewessler (Grüne)

Geodata, aerial and satellite images
The Climate Protection Ministry is working together with the German Fraunhofer Institute and the Federal Environment Agency on the project. The artificial intelligence is to create geodata, aerial and satellite images in order to determine the sector areas. It will be trained with the relevant data. The result will then be made available online free of charge.

The revitalization of existing brownfields and vacancies would provide a lot of impetus for the business location, said Werner Pamminger, Managing Director of Business Upper Austria. The company is involved in the AI training.

Approval from Mikl-Leitner and Achleitner
Approval also came from Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Governor of Lower Austria, and Markus Achleitner, Upper Austrian State Councillor for Economic Affairs and Regional Planning (both ÖVP). In a press release, they spoke of "business settlements without additional land use".