The remote sensing-based recording of land sealing for the federal state of NRW is planned. Based on these results, a "sealing" indicator will be created to provide information on the development of land sealing in NRW. The aim is to use the created method in a central calculation service for NRW.

Germany aims to reduce soil sealing to less than 30 hectares per day by 2030. Sealing the soil with artificial building materials for settlements and traffic areas (SuV) restricts its natural functions. North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) as one of the most populous states in Germany has a large share of SuV. In this context, a pre-study was carried out in 2021 in collaboration with the State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection (LANUV) to create the basis for the development of an indicator that continuously captures the soil sealing in NRW. The aim of this project is to capture the sealed areas using digital orthophotos, Sentinel-2 satellite images and machine learning methods. On this basis, the "sealing" indicator will be derived. The results of the main study will be provided and continued in a central calculation service.