KI4Stereo – Hybrid kick-off meeting at DLR: AI-based analysis of stereo image data for tree monitoring
On January 23rd, 2026, a hybrid kick-off meeting was held at DLR to officially launch the research project KI4Stereo (funded under the KMU-innovativ programme, funding code: 01LY2503A, project duration: December 1st, 2025 – November 30th, 2027). The project aims to develop AI-based methods for analysing stereo image data. The project partners SLU with Dr. Klaus Martin, Larissa Gorzawski, and Marlene Kühnl, as well as DLR with Dr. Michael Wurm (who lectures within our EAGLE Master), Dr. Thomas Stark, and Dr. Tobias Leichtle (who also lectures within our EAGLE Master) were present at the meeting. In addition, the DLR Projektträger with Christine Elflein and Peter Huber as well as the associated partners Landeshauptstadt München/Baureferat Gartenbau, the Forstliche Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt Baden-Württemberg and the Gemeinde Pullach also participated.
The goal of the project is to develop automated, systematic, and precise methods for detecting individual trees in urban and forest environments, assessing their vitality, and identifying tree species. These new approaches provide a reliable and scalable alternative to the predominantly manual, and therefore time- and cost-intensive, monitoring methods currently in use, which are usually limited in their spatial extent. In this way, the project makes an important contribution to comprehensive, efficient, and objective monitoring of tree health: an essential requirement for sustainable forest and urban green management in times of climate change.
The approaches pursued in the project for the automated analysis of stereo image data are closely linked to the research activities in the domain of urban green at our Earth Observation Research Cluster (EORC) in Würzburg.
The image shows four of the participants of the hybrid kick-off meeting. From left to right: Dr. Klaus Martin (SLU), Marlene Kühnl (SLU), Dr. Petra Adler (Forstliche Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt Baden-Württemberg), and Dr. Michael Wurm (DLR).
