Steffen Fritz

Steffen Fritz first came to IIASA in June 2004 when he spent three months working with IIASA’s Greenhouse Gas Initiative. In January 2007 he returned to the Forestry Program where he worked on the GEO-BENE project. The project aimed at assessing the benefits of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.

Currently, Dr. Fritz is work package leader of the EU funded EUROGEOSS projects and continues to work on EO related benefit studies. Dr. Fritz has been the initiator and co-ordinator of Geo-Wiki.org a global land cover validation tool based on crowdsourcing. He has published reports, book chapters, and peer reviewed papers in the field of earth observation, crowdsourcing, fuzzy logic, remoteness mapping, global and regional vegetation monitoring, crop yield and crop acreage estimations of agricultural crops, and wild land research.

Dr. Fritz studied physics and geography at the University of Tübingen and received his Master of Science degree from the University of Durham in 1996. His thesis was entitled “Mapping and Modeling of Wild Land Areas in Europe and the British Isles, a Multi-Scale Approach.” He received his PhD from the University of Leeds in 2001. Dr. Fritz has been carrying out a number of consultancy projects in the field of wild land and vegetation mapping. He received a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Joint Research Centre in 2002 where his tasks were to mosaic, harmonize, and produce the Global Land Cover 2000 database, and to carry out the validation of the regional GLC-2000 contributions within the tropics. In 2004 he took up a research post at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and got involved in the GEOLAND project where his task was to develop a methodology for acreage estimations of different agricultural crops in South-Western Russia.

His research interests are: Geographical information science, advanced spatial analysis techniques such as fuzzy logic and neural nets, remote sensing and land cover mapping, land cover change, fires and deforestation in the tropics, studies on the distribution of global biomass, crop yield, and crop acreage estimations as well as EO related benefit assessment studies.


Last update: 15-JUN-2010

Comber,A. See,L. Fritz,S. van der Velde,M. Perger,C. Foody,G. (2013)

Using control data to determine the reliability of volunteered geographic information about land cover ... More

Fritz,S. See,L. van der Velde,M. Nalelpa,R.A. Perger,C. Schill,C. McCallum,I. Schepaschenko,D. Kraxner,F. Vakolyuk,M. Albrecht,F. Shaw,B. Obersteiner,M. (2012)

Downgrading recent estimates of land available for biofuel production ... More

Mosnier,A. Havlik,P. Obersteiner,M. Aoki,K. Schmid,E. Fritz,S. McCallum,I. Leduc,S. (2012)

Modeling impact of development trajectories and a global agreement on reducing emissions from deforestation on Congo Basin forests by 2030 ... More

Schepaschenko,D. Fritz,S. McCallum,I. Shvidenko,A. Perger,C. Schill,C. See,L. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. (2012)

A platform to visualize, analyze and improve biomass datasets: http://biomass.geo-wiki.org ... More

Heumesser,C. Fritz,S. Obersteiner,M. Pearlman,J. Singh Khalsa,S.J. (2012)

Benefits and challenges of voluntary contribution to GEOSS ... More

Seebach,L. McCallum,I. Fritz,S. Kindermann,G. Leduc,S. Bottcher,H. Fuss,S. (2012)

Choice of forest map has implications for policy analysis: A case study on the EU biofuel target ... More

Nicholson,E. Collen,B. Barausse,A. Blanchard,J.L. Costelloe,B.T. Sullivan,K.M.E. Underwood,F.M. Burn,R.W. Fritz,S. Jones,J.P.G. McRae,L. Possingham,H.P. Milner-Gulland,E.J. (2012)

Making robust policy decisions using global biodiversity indicators ... More

van der Velde,M. See,L. Fritz,S. Verheijen,F.G.A. Khabarov,N. Obersteiner,M. (2012)

Generating crop calendars with Web search data ... More

Strassburg,B.N.B. Rodrigues,A.S.L. Gusti,M. Balmford,A. Fritz,S. Obersteiner,M. Turner,R.K. Brooks,T.M. (2012)

Impacts of incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation on global species extinctions ... More

Fritz,S. McCallum,I. Schill,C. Perger,C. See,L. Schepaschenko,D. van der Velde,M. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. (2012)

Geo-Wiki: An online platform for improving global land cover ... More

Fritz,S. Fuss,S. Havlik,P. Szolgayova,J. McCallum,I. Obersteiner,M. See,L. (2012)

The value of determining global land cover for assessing climate change mitigation options ... More

Obersteiner,M. Rydzak,F. Fritz,S. McCallum,I. (2012)

Valuing the potential impacts of GEOSS: A systems dynamics approach ... More

Hojas Gascon,L. Eva,H.D. Gobron,N. Simonetti,D. Fritz,S. (2012)

The application of medium-resolution MERIS satellite data for continental land-cover mapping over South America: Results and caveats ... More

van der Velde,M. See,L. Fritz,S. (2012)

Conservation: Citizens add to satellite forest maps ... More

Schepaschenko,D. See,L. Fritz,S. McCallum,I. Schill,C. Perger,C. Baccini,A. Gallaun,H. Kindermann,G. Kraxner,F. Saatchi,S. Obersteiner,M. Santoro,M. Schmullius,C. Shvidenko,A. Schepaschenko,M. (2012)

Observing forest biomass globally ... More

van der Velde,M. See,L. Fritz,S. (2012)

Agriculture: Soil remedies for small-scale farming ... More

Perger,C. Fritz,S. See,L. Schill,C. van der Velde,M. McCallum,I. Obersteiner,M. (2012)

A campaign to collect volunteered geographic information and land cover and human impact ... More

Fritz,S. See,L. McCallum,I. Schill,C. Obersteiner,M. van der Velde,M. Bottcher,H. Havlik,P. Achard,F. (2011)

Highlighting continued uncertainty in global land cover maps for the user community ... More

Schepaschenko,D. McCallum,I. Shvidenko,A. Fritz,S. Obersteiner,M. (2011)

A new hybrid land cover dataset for Russia: A methodology for integrating statistics, remote sensing and in situ information ... More

Havlik,P. Schneider,U.A. Schmid,E. Bottcher,H. Fritz,S. Skalsky,R. Aoki,K. De Cara,S. Kindermann,G. Kraxner,F. Leduc,S. McCallum,I. Mosnier,A. Sauer,T. Obersteiner,M. (2011)

Global land-use implications of first and second generation biofuel targets ... More

Fritz,S. You,L. Bun,A. See,L. McCallum,I. Schill,C. Perger,C. Liu,J. Hansen,M. Obersteiner,M. (2011)

Cropland for sub-Saharan Africa: A synergistic approach using five land cover data sets ... More

Schneider,U.A. Havlik,P. Schmid,E. Valin,H. Mosnier,A. Obersteiner,M. Bottcher,H. Skalsky,R. Balkovic,J. Sauer,T. Fritz,S. (2011)

Impacts of population growth, economic development, and technical change on global food production and consumption ... More

Fritz,S. See,L. McCallum,I. Schill,C. Perger,C. Obersteiner,M. (2011)

Building a crowd-sourcing tool for the validation of urban extent and gridded population ... More

Carver,S. Fritz,S. (2011)

Modelling remoteness in mountain areas - Case study ... More

Fritz,S. Shchepashchenko,D. McCallum,I. Perger,C. Schill,C. Baccini,A. Gallaun,H. Kindermann,G. Obersteiner,M. Santoro,M. Schmullius,C. Shvidenko,A. (2011)

Observing terrestrial biomass globally: http://biomass.geo-wiki.org ... More

Fritz,S. See,L. (2011)

Mapping out a more secure food future ... More

Fritz,S. (2011)

Geo-Wiki ... More

Schepaschenko,D. Fritz,S. McCallum,I. Perger,C. Schill,C. Shvidenko,A. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. (2011)

A platform to visualize, analyze and improve Biomass datasets: http://biomass.geo-wiki.org ... More

Fritz,S. See,L. Rembold,F. (2010)

Comparison of global and regional land cover maps with statistical information for the agricultural domain in Africa ... More

Comber,A. Carver,S. Fritz,S. McMorran,R. Washtell,J. Fisher,P. (2010)

Different methods, different wilds: Evaluating alternative mappings of wildness using fuzzy MCE and Dempster-Shafer MCE ... More

McCallum,I. Wagner,W. Schmullius,C. Shvidenko,A. Obersteiner,M. Fritz,S. Nilsson,S. (2010)

Comparison of four global FAPAR datasets over Northern Eurasia for the year 2000 ... More

Obersteiner,M. Rametsteiner,E. Kraxner,F. McCallum,I. Aoki,K. Bottcher,H. Fritz,S. Gusti,M. Havlik,P. Kindermann,G. Reyers,B. (2010)

Towards a sound REDD ... More

Fritz,S. McCallum,I. Williams,M. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. (2010)

Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) ... More

Shvidenko,A. Fritz,S. McCallum,I. Shchepashchenko,D. (2010)

Harnessing the power of satellites ... More

McCallum,I. Fritz,S. Khabarov,N. Fuss,S. Szolgayova,J. Rydzak,F. Havlik,P. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. Aoki,K. (2010)

Identifying and quantifying the benefits Of GEOSS ... More

McCallum,I. Fritz,S. Schill,C. Perger,C. Achard,F. Grillmayer,R. Koch,B. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. Quinten,M. (2010)

Geo-Wiki.org: Harnessing the power of volunteers, the Internet and Google Earth to collect and validate global spatial information ... More

Fritz,S. McCallum,I. See,L. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. (2010)

Comparison of global land cover products: Community remote sensing to validate areas of high disagreement ... More

Obersteiner,M. Huettner,M. Kraxner,F. McCallum,I. Aoki,K. Bottcher,H. Fritz,S. Gusti,M. Havlik,P. Kindermann,G. Rametsteiner,E. Reyers,B. (2009)

On fair, effective and efficient REDD mechanism design ... More

McCallum,I. Wagner,W. Schmullius,C. Shvidenko,A. Obersteiner,M. Fritz,S. Nilsson,S. (2009)

Satellite-based terrestrial production efficiency modeling ... More

Fritz,S. McCallum,I. Schill,C. Perger,C. Grillmayer,R. Achard,F. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. (2009)

Geo-Wiki.Org: The use of crowdsourcing to improve global land cover ... More

Bottcher,H. Eisbrenner,K. Fritz,S. Kindermann,G. Kraxner,F. McCallum,I. Obersteiner,M. (2009)

An assessment of monitoring requirements and costs of 'Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation' ... More

Meze-Hausken,E. Patt,A. Fritz,S. (2009)

Reducing climate risk for micro-insurance providers in Africa: A case study of Ethiopia ... More

Obersteiner,M. Huettner,M. Kraxner,F. McCallum,I. Aoki,K. Bottcher,H. Fritz,S. Gusti,M. Havlik,P. Kindermann,G. Rametsteiner,E. Reyers,B. (2009)

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation: A Systematic Approach ... More

Aoki,K. Fritz,S. Gusti,M. Havlik,P. Leduc,S. McCallum,I. Mosnier,A. Obersteiner,M. (2009)

Fragile ecosystem - Robust research ... More

Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. Fritz,S. (2009)

Stopping deforestation and degradation of forests ... More

Fritz,S. McCallum,I. Schill,C. Perger,C. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. (2009)

Towards a geospatial Wikipedia (Abstract) ... More

Schepaschenko,D. McCallum,I. Shvidenko,A. Kraxner,F. Fritz,S. (2009)

A hybrid Land Cover Dataset for Russia: A new methodology for merging statistics, remote sensing and in-situ information (Abstract) ... More

See,L.M. Fritz,S. McCallum,I. Obersteiner,M. Bone,S. (2009)

A cross-border deforestation index to understand underlying drivers of deforestation ... More

Fritz,S. Havlik,P. Schneider,U.A. Schmid,E. Skalsky,R. Obersteiner,M. (2009)

Uncertainties in global land cover data and its implications for climate change mitigation policies assessment ... More

Reyers,B. O'Farrell,P. Fritz,S. (2009)

The role of GEOSS in monitoring ecosystems and their services ... More

Kidd,R. McCallum,I. Fritz,S. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. (2009)

GEO Information For Disaster Recovery -- Case Study: The Use of Orthophotos in Aceh, Indonesia ... More

Liu,J. Fritz,S. Wesenbeeck,C.F.A. van Fuchs,M. You,L. Obersteiner,M. Yang,H. (2008)

A spatially explicit assessment of current and future hotspots of hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa in the context of global change ... More

Fritz,S. Scholes,R.J. Obersteiner,M. Bouma,J. Reyers,B. (2008)

A conceptual framework for assessing the benefits of a Global Earth Observation System of Systems ... More

Fritz,S. Massart,M. Savin,I.Y. Gallego,J. Rembold,F. (2008)

The use of MODIS data to derive acreage estimations for larger fields: A case study in the south-western Rostov region of Russia ... More

Fritz,S. See,L.M. (2008)

Identifying and quantifying uncertainty and spatial disagreement in the comparison of Global Land Cover for different applications ... More

Kindermann,G. McCallum,I. Fritz,S. Obersteiner,M. (2008)

A global forest growing stock, biomass and carbon map based on FAO statistics ... More

Fritz,S. See,L.M. Rembold,F. Massart,M. Negre,T. Hagen,C. von (2008)

Comparing different land cover data sets for agricultural monitoring in Africa ... More

Comber,A. Carver,S. Fritz,S. McMoran,R. Washtell,J. (2008)

Mapping uncertainty in perceptions of landscape 'wildness' ... More

McCallum,I. Kidd,R. Fritz,S. Kraxner,F. Obersteiner,M. (2008)

Banda Aceh-The Value of Earth Observation Data in Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction: A Case Study ... More

Fritz,S. (2007)

The First 100 Steps to GEOSS ... More

Fritz,S. (2007)

Developing a strategy for global agricultural monitoring in the framework of Group on Earth Observations (GEO) workshop report ... More

Fritz,S. (2007)

An analysis of 21 years of NDVI and 30 years of precipitation data on a province level for the Horn of Africa with respect to population, agriculture, and vulnerable people ... More

See,L.M. Fritz,S. (2006)

A method to compare and improve land cover datasets: Application to the GLC-2000 and MODIS land cover products ... More